Firstly, let’s understand rollator: a four-wheeled walker with brakes, a seat, a container and usually a backrest. Now for transit wheelchairs: a four-wheeled wheelchair with small front and rear wheels and foot brakes. They can sound very similar, but you’ll find essential distinctions that will make the wrong item damaging for the wrong application.

A rollator is created for walking on. It has a seat that the user can use if they get tired. In that situation the user would lock the hand-brakes (if applicable) and sit thereon until they want to walk again. The wheels- more accurately the welding of the wheels to the frame- are created for static weight. This implies that you possibly can put 100kg on most rollator seats no problem, but you cannot move the frame with this weight on the seat. It stresses the welding and will snap the wheel clean off. It might not take place at the first try, maybe not even on the 37th time, but finally (and when you least expect it) the front caster will fall off and the whole frame will go over with it. I’ve personally seen broken walkers at least 3 or 4 times a year and every single individual has come clean and admitted to using it as a transit chair.

What makes it seem so pleasing is both the cost and the weight when compared with a transit wheelchair. Rollators are, on average, almost half the cost of a transit chair. Also, they are usually half the weight. The irony here is that they are also, in this case, half as strong. The reason they are so inexpensive and light is because they are lacking the robustness and strength to allow for propelling. That is why the directional casters are on the FRONT of the walker- it is so you can steer whilst walking. While the person is being pushed from behind it’s impossible of directing and therefore you hear people criticize about how it is a bad design. Rather, they are asking a product to do what it is not intended to. And in the end it will bite back.

If you really, really want to get a rollator\transit wheelchair all-in-one, you have models out there that are strong enough to do this. Surprise, they cost more and are heavier, but they’re not going to kill you if you use them as both a walker and a wheeler. Check out the Pride Airgo Navigator as an example of a sturdy alternative.

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