NOVA Medical Products Lightweight Transport Chair with Locking Hand Brakes, Purple, 1 Count

Bought this chair for my mother to use when we go shopping. She loves it. The chair is easy to fold and lightweight as stated. But it also seems to be durable. It held up very well during our first 2-hour shopping trip. We have several more shopping trips planned. A few of the features on the chair we received are different from the features shown in the video. So, I think the video should be updated.Differences: The wheel brakes are not set by flipping down the hand breaks as the video shows. The wheel brakes have to be pushed up against each of the back wheels by hand or foot. There is not a click when the wheelchair is pulled out for sitting as indicated in the video; therefore, there isn't a release bar as demonstrated in the video.That being said, I actually like these newer features better. I think the new features make the chair easier to set up, fold, and safer to use. It probably won't wear out quickly either. I approve of the changes. So, that's why I decided to give it 5 stars.The hand brakes work great. The wheel brakes are sturdy and don't allow the chair to roll when in use. I was looking for a chair that is lightweight yet durable. This chair checked all of my "must-have" boxes. Worth the bit of additional cost to make sure my mother is safe during our outings. It's also easy to maneuver and fits right into the trunk of my car. I'm a small woman and had no trouble lifting it in and out of the car.

I have been using my old transport chair for over a decade, so I decided it was high time I got a new one. I spent a while looking at the various designs and styles before picking this one, and I am very pleased with my choice. My previous chair was also a Nova and was fantastic, but this one feels even lighter. My husband says it glides incredibly easy when he pushes me, and it's lightweight and easy for him to collapse and put in and out of our trunk.For my part, the seat is very comfortable and the arm rests are exactly the right height. I love the design feature that the arm bars swoop lower down earlier towards the front than other chairs, making it easy to slide in under desks and tables. I was able to comfortably eat in my chair without needing to lean far forward or risk dropping food in my lap.The way the arm bars can be lifted up and out of the way is also very nice and makes getting in and out of the chair from different angles a breeze. It's all very easy to do, as well; it doesn't require strength or force to pull them up or put them back down, but they still lock in very securely.For braking, I love having the very secure wheel locks that I can use myself from in the chair. At the same time, there are also the hand brakes my husband can use while pushing the chair, either to slow it down going downhill, or to put down to lock in the brakes. These are not as strong as the wheel locks, but they work very well nonetheless.The anti-tippers I am still getting used to as we didn't have them on our previous chair. I like that you can have them pointing up or down. We put ours pointing up since we don't need the anti-tip and we like to be able to lean the chair back far to get it up or down curbs. On my previous chair there was just a nub there, and my husband uses his foot on that nub to help tilt the chair back for curbs. On this one, since the anti tippers have little wheels, his foot can slip off if he's not careful when he goes to do it. This isn't really a problem, just something we're adjusting to since it's different from the chair we've been using for 10 years. The little anti-tipper wheels themselves rattle slightly when going over bumps and cracks, since they're just hanging up there not in use, which is pretty minor, but it's a sound we're not used to so it has been catching our attention; I suspect we'll be used to tuning it out soon. There is the option to remove them entirely if desired, which is nice to have.The color is beautiful. I got this chair in the purple, but my previous one from the same maker was red, and I can say both colors look wonderful. It really livens it up to have a splash of color instead of the standard, boring medical black most things come in. Their colors have a nice shine to it and it looks very classy and nice. I regularly got compliments on the red of my previous chair, and I won't be surprised if I get compliments on the purple I chose this time. I can also say that the color lasts very well. Again, my previous chair was by this same maker, and I have used it for over a decade. There are only a few scratches on the paint of that one after all this time, going in and out of trunks and travelling a lot, and in very unnoticeable areas, so I'm happy knowing already that the beautiful color on this one will last too.Another great aspect of this chair is that all the parts are replaceable from the maker, Nova. I've replaced parts on my previous chair from them, and it is very easy, reasonably priced, and ships fast. In this chair's case, I happened to be missing a little washer, so I contacted my seller, Mobile Mobility Services, and they responded to me within a couple hours, and after following up with them, they had the missing washer sent from Nova, and it arrived the next day! Both my individual seller and the wheelchair maker have fantastic customer service, so you can rest easy buying one of their chairs!

Please look at the dates of reviews. One of the "most helpful" reviews for this chair was posted six years ago!We recently purchased this for my father, and I am pleased to report the chair is AWESOME!If you're looking for a lightweight chair, however, this isn't it. It weighs about 30# with the footrests attached. Fortunately they're extremely easy to pop on and off, and you'll probably want to remove them before folding and lifting the chair into your trunk, so expect the lifting weight to be about 27#. We previously "test drove" a loaner from the nursing home that was spec'd at 19#, and I really enjoyed the weight of that one. However, it lacked features we wanted and felt pretty flimsy, so this Nova 352 was our choice. And am I ever glad we settled on the 352!!!First of all, the build quality is awesome. It feels like the Rolls Royce of transport chairs. It pretty much "drives" itself. On level ground and a smooth floor, you can push it with one finger and hardly feel the pressure. It's that smooth. Opening and closing is effortless. The footrests are extremely easy to put on and take off, and I'd advise that whenever you put it into a car trunk as it reduces the weight 2-3 pounds and also makes it that much more compact (and less chance of banging it in your trunk and damaging the footrests or vice versa).A huge plus for this chair is the arms. We might never need to remove them or lift them out of the way; time will tell whether we need that feature or not. But I'm glad it's available to us. But what I love about the arms is that they allow full access to a table due to the armrests only being at the elbow end of the arm. The front part is low enough to allow the chair to fit under a table, and this has made a world of difference for my father. With the loaner chair, when we took him into a restaurant, he was forced to sit well back from the edge of the table, and he kept dropping food in his lap. (Plus it was a little awkward for him to reach some things on the table.) Now he can get as close to the table as his stomach will allow. He actually asked us to back him off an inch the other day because he felt it was too close! So "desk arms" is a feature I would highly recommend for anyone who expects to use a transport chair for dining. If you're only going to use it to move someone for a couple minutes, then that's probably a feature you don't need, but we wanted to buy a transport chair once, not buy a cheap one then realize we needed another feature or two and have to buy another.Another must-have feature for us was the hand brakes. The Nova 352 has two sets of brakes. One is the traditional lever that either the transporter or the seated person can operate. They're convenient to reach back if you're in the seat; not so much if you're standing behind it pushing, as it requires you to bend down each time. The hand brakes are a separate braking system and are extremely convenient. You pull up on the handles to temporarily engage the brakes, and push down on the handles to lock the brakes. So you can lock the wheelchair in place either way, or both ways. We rarely use the front, patient-accessible brakes when we're transporting my dad. The handbrakes do what we need, and are so easy to operate.Again, the build quality on this is a joy to experience. We'll see how it holds up after hundreds, or thousands, of transports, but if it eventually wears out from that, I'll probably want to just buy another one.By the way, I didn't care for the color of blue in the photos I saw, and ordered red instead. We were then called by the vendor who said red was on back order but they could ship the blue immediately. I somewhat reluctantly agreed to the blue, since we wanted the chair right away. We were very pleasantly surprised that the blue is an attractive deep, metallic finish, not a lighter shade implied by some of the photos I've seen.After a couple outings we decided to purchase a gel cushion for this, since my dad sometimes sits for an hour or more at a time in it, such as at church or at a restaurant. I let my wife pick out the cushion, since she's a nurse who has been around wheelchairs for years. We ended up buying a Drive Medical Deluxe Skin Protection Gel "E" 3" Wheelchair Seat Cushion, Dark Blue, 18" x 16" 3" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VWJZHE/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . For under $30, we couldn't complain about the price and decided if it didn't fit the bill, we wouldn't cry over the money and would find another cushion. So far I can recommend that cushion. My dad is 5'6" or so now and about 145#. The cushion lifts him up enough that the arm rests are a perfect height for him, and he says the cushion is very comfortable. The first one we were shipped was leaking and there was clearly moisture between the cushion and the plastic wrap. You could really feel the weight shift as you tilted the cushion from side to side. I simply made a few mouse clicks and Amazon immediately sent a replacement, and had UPS come to my door the very next day to pick it up. They had a return label already with them. It was a total no-hassle return. No cost to us. And the replacement cushion is fine. I know this part of my review belongs under that product, but I did want to share our shopping and using experience here as an overall part of the transport chair review.So to summarize, if you only want a very lightweight transport chair to move someone from point A to point B for a minute or two and they won't use the chair for dining or otherwise sitting at a table, a cheaper chair will probably suffice for you. But if you want a chair to use for outings, need "desk arms" that will fit under a table, want handbrakes for your convenience, removable foot rests for the patient's safety and comfort, and want a chair that is built extremely well and makes you and the person you're transporting feel safe, secure, and comfortable, I highly recommend the Nova 352. (Sure wish I was in the Vine program and got this free! Oh well. Money very well spent!)

We've tried other transit wheelchairs and they were flimsy and hard to maneuver on uneven services. The additional larger wheels in the back make it sturdier. But, beyond this, the chair folds up in a very smart manner and fits smaller trunks. The upper brakes help maintain control on slightly declines and the fact that the person can be wheeled right to the table is another bonus. It is a solidly built product and I highly recommend it.

Light weight. Well built. Easy to fold up and down. Fits into pretty much any trunk. Very comfortable. Highly recommended.

So far so good! Sturdy and stable, easy to manoeuver. Worth every penny to be able to take my Dad on outings just about anywhere. This fits in my my Honda Civic trunk. Love this chair!

Great chair, easy to push and not to heavy.

Excellent product at the correct price point. Good brakes, comfort, compact design, easily collapsible to fit into trunk of car. Footrests have adequate adjustment. The removable and retractable armrests are a definite plus. Many of the competitor models do not have armrests which make egress from the chair rather difficult for a person with severe knee pain problems. Amazon's delivery service was very quick and efficient.Maneuverability of the chair is fairly good. Seat height and width is good and the chair folds up easily with the hand grips. The only negative feature is the heal strap pins on the footrests. The pin, which anchors the strap to the front of the footrest, is placed in such a way that it makes it difficult for the a person with swollen ankles to place their foot on the footrest. I will try re-positioning the pins. Overall, we are very pleased with the selection and Amazon's delivery.