alt Hacker News$1k for a manual wheelchair? and that is considered cheap?
I have no idea why a wheelchair should be that expensive. We get them here in India for far less - you can buy pretty good wheelchairs for much less than $100. You can get powered wheelchairs for around $500.
https://www.amazon.in/b/ref=dp_bc_aui_C_3?ie=UTF8&node=11365...
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Those are not good wheelchairs for independent people to spend 16+ hours in.
I work in EMS and see all kinds of "budget" wheelchairs and they'll all shit.
The parts alone for this lightweight chair have to crack $300.
I am not a wheelchair expert but $1k is quite a lot, also there are quite a lot of cheap options in Europe for less than ~$350 and some of them are covered by the public health care system.
Customized to your dimensions wheelchair. Because people shopping for these are permanently disabled and are looking for long term comfort and performance. Performance meaning the chairs can actually be used to enjoy life instead of being a fragile "medical chair".
There are plenty of sub $200 wheelchairs on US Amazon.
Let me use a car analogy.
I have no idea why a car should be more than 10k. On Amazon you can get a go-kart for less than 100: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=go-kart
It is really the same comparison. A true every-day wheelchair or a "hospital" wheelchair that will make you sweat after 10 yards
Here in Malaysia we can get pretty good quality wheel chair for US$46. I am genuinely surprised to see people consider $1k cheap for a wheel chair!
https://www.lazada.com.my/products/gt-medic-germany-ultra-li...