Magic Mobility Frontier V6
4 reviews
Feature rich, some weird. Support somewhat lacking – My brother purchased a Magic Mobility Frontier V6-AT second hand, primarily because it came with a huge array of features which included a fitting for a motor vehicle docking station. He paid Magic Mobility over $1800 to service the chair and adjust it to his needs. Magic Mobility were at all times very pleasant to deal with however I have some issues with their products and services including:
- Some screws came loose (after the service). Luckily I found them before they fell out. Not a big deal, but part of the $1800+ invoice was to "Tighten Fittings and Fixtures".
- One of the arm rests was installed too close to the body, which meant that it couldn't be raised past 45 degrees (it hit the backrest), which meant it obstructed hoist access to and from the chair. I refitted the armrest myself using alternative mounting points (existing) which effectively moved the rest about 8mm. My brother wasn't able tell the difference but the arm rest can now be raised to vertical which puts it out of the way for hoisting. It wasn't difficult for me to fix but again, it's something I would have expected the "fitting" process would have picked up.
- The chair is loaded with features which are fantastic, however the control logic behind the joystick is much less sophisticated than the Glide chair which it replaced. It is most noticeable when travelling faster than walking speed. On one occasion, while travelling along a footpath at a brisk walking pace, a minor direction adjustment saw the chair veer aggressively sending it up a grassy embankment. Luckily I was close enough to physically stop it from falling over and steer it back to the footpath using the rear controls. This was an operator error but it did make us realise that the joystick control of the Magic Mobility chair movement is not as forgiving as what my brother had become accustomed to in the other chair. The advice from Magic Mobility was "to use one of the lower speed profiles or adjust the speed within the profile to suit the terrain the chair is used on"
- Perhaps the most significant anomaly with the Magic Mobility chair is that it stops & raises its front wheels when going up an incline(see attached video), for example on the ramp into a vehicle. We're told that this is to facilitate climbing up onto curbs, and that it cannot be disabled. We have found this feature to be quite disconcerting and not helpful at all. Going up the ramp it is merely disconcerting because of the unexpected pause and that it exaggerates the incline for the chair occupant. Going down however this "feature" is potentially disruptive, if not dangerous. When reversing, down the ramp, as the front wheels are lifted, the casters can spin around meaning that when they hit the ramp again, they need to rotate 180 degrees again & on the ramp there isn't room, especially if the casters turn in opposite directions. On at least one occasion I've had to intervene because the chair had become stranded on the ramp.
Peter is happy with his chair and if you're shopping for an electric wheelchair I would not cross Magic Mobility off the list, but test the chair in all common use scenarios, monitor their work closely, do your own checks and be prepared to do some of your own maintenance.
Love my wheelchair – I’ve had a rental Magic Mobility V6 for six months, then my own V6 for two years now. It’s comfortable and handles rough terrain well. Service and support from Magic Mobility has been really good (even when their service partners let me down).
Serious Disappointment – Lag time: switching between modes is ridiculous. You have time for a nap while switching between programmed modes. Torque: it has zero torque. This is supposed to be an all terrain chair. It is not! If you get stuck the castor wheels will make sure you get well and truly stuck! In fast mode the castors constantly cavitate, not to bad if you want a vibrating massage while en route to an appointment, but otherwise you pretty much have to come to a complete stop, to stop the castors from cavitation.
All Terrain capability: ZERO. This is definitively beyond any doubt not at all terrain chair. It’s zero torque will ensure the moment you run into anything marginally soft it will come to a complete stop. Then you need to rely on the help from passersby to get going again.
Anything faster than setting 3 will ensure when you need to make a tight turn, it will lift off the ground and thump back down... unless you have 3 minutes to change modes and profiles to make the turn more,comfortable.
Exceptionally disappointed... I live north and this was sold to me as an optimal wet season, dry season chair. It is definitely not. It’s wet season capability is zero.
Apologies for the negative review, but north of the 27th parallel, this chair does not come close to cutting the mustard.
BTW the final cost on this chair was nudging $37K. Yet to see the independent drive motors act “independent” when one wheel gets stuck the other just free wheels. MagicMobilty needs to rethink their “all terrain” concept. All terrain implies some sort of slip diff capacity (LSD) or equivalent. One wheel stuck and the other free wheelin’ is a 2WD not an “all terrain”! Very happy to consult with you guys for a fee. I spent 25 yrs negotiating some of the most inhospitable terrain in the Australian Outback, I reckon you guys could get some very valuable advice about drive trains, torque, and 4WD vs AWD vs 2WD, what classifies as independent drive etc... and if you going to sell a chair as “all terrain” let’s make sure it’s “all terrain” and not a glorified shopping trolley.
The most seriously f#@king useless chair in the solar system! F#ck me, I was reviewing a land purchase, couldn’t have been flatter than coles car park and the completely useless about as much torque as “fart in in cyclone” (that’s my patented expression to describe this chair) got bogged... it had rained 4 days previously. F@cking seriously... don’t dupe clients to forking out the cost of a mid range 4WD to buy this piece of sh#t!!!
And mind you if you think I am single of mind, and bloody of purpose, you’ve hit the nail on the head!!! The f#cking assh#oles need to be held accountable!!! You have a spinal injury.through not fault of your own, and immediately all these f#cking leaches and parasites come out of the wood work. Suddenly installing a dunny goes from $343 to $638 because it’s paid for by NDIS. And what does the f#cling govt do, agree to pay the cost instead of asking why a conventional toilet has suddenly doubled in price. Govt and Insurance co’s need to extract their finger from their anuses and hold companies like MagicMobilty f#cking a countable, for their wanton lustful SCREWING the system....
FRONTIER V6: No Magic and No Mobility – Magic Mobility design and manufacture electric wheelchairs from their facility near Melbourne, Victoria and have been in business for about 25 years. They have recently been acquired by the Sunrise Medical group. In 2017 when a 12 year old wheelchair began to fail, we were advised to consider purchasing an "Australian Made" wheel chair for a family member with a spinal injury and little use of lower limbs.
The primary use of the wheelchair is for inside within a large aged care Nursing Home, with some taxi transport use to medical appointments and outings.
We decided to purchase a Magic Mobility Frontier V6 - Compact 73 fitted with electric seat lift, electric seat tilt, and electric leg raise. The retail price of the Frontier V6 with the rehabilitation aids fitted is about the same as a new Toyota Corolla.
Selling Points:
This company designs electric wheelchairs to go Off Road, and this model comes with two large Direct Drive motors each supplying power to one of the two drive wheels.
The wheelchair is Australian Made, so availability or parts should not become an issue during the service life of the chair.
The electric seat lift and tilt allow for the user to remain in the chair and be treated by health care professionals, reach items on shelving, wardrobes and so on.
The Joy Stick control unit comes with an LCD display and allows the user to move through the menus with visual prompts.
No Magic, No Mobility:
What was meant to be an upgrade with increased functionality and features enabling the user to be as independent as possible, has turned out to be the exact opposite. The chair has spent way too much time at the service agent's premises in a short 18 months, the last visit being for 3 weeks.
Joy Stick Controller - Power Module : has experienced several software problems not "holding" the pre-set programs such as speed limiting; not taking the chair in the direction it is meant to go; computer freezing requiring it to be "reset" to get going again.
Footrests: with the electric leg unit lift fitted, each foot has a separate plate to rest on. Unfortunately, keeping one's feet on the foot plates is problematic. A knock into a solid object resulted in two bones fractured and six weeks in plaster.
Wheels: Unfortunately not made in Australia, and the design of the alloy wheels have them mounted to a Hub Unit. In the event of the failure of the Hub, there is no safety redundancy design to ensure that the alloy wheel does not "FALL OFF" the wheel chair. Yes, to the absolute dismay of the nursing staff and the user, this occurred in a common area of the nursing home, with the chair coming to a stop at a wall with a stained glass window at face height.
No Magic and No Mobility for three weeks whilst the dealer investigated the problems.
RECOMMENDATION:
(i) If the wheels simply fall off your ride, there is No Magic and No Mobility.
(ii) Caveat Emptor ( let the buyer beware )
Like other Product Reviewers, I do try and be as objective about the product or service provider I am writing about. In this review however, I have found it particularly difficult given the attitude of the manufacturer after a major failure of their product to a disabled and elderly patient.
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Once again, after about 3mm of rain on a 5 degree DOWNWARD slope the chair decided it wanted dig holes for tree planting rather than moving forwards... has as about as much torque as a fart in a cyclone