ICON 60

Wheelchair Description:
The ICON 60 is an aluminium, rigid, adjustable, monotube wheelchair made by Rehasense. It is a little different from other active wheelchairs, in that it is available in a pre-configured box option – you simply select your width and the chair is delivered to you within a few days. This is groundbreaking within the active wheelchair world, as typically chairs have a lead time of several months. The ICON 60 box version comes with the most popular features as standard, things like a tension adjustable backrest, carbon fibre side guards and scissor breaks, that would typically be upcharges on any other chair. This is the chair that I tried out.
If you decide that you do want something different to their standard set-up e.g. push handles or ergonomic push rims, then the ICON 60 is also available in a fully customisable version, where you can have your pick of a wide variety of different wheels, backrests, brakes, colours etc to suit your needs, just as with other popular wheelchair brands. You can order these through a Rehasense authorised dealer and wait around 6 weeks for delivery.

Source Of Wheelchair:
This wheelchair was lent to me by Rehasense in exchange for a review – all opinions are my own

Diagnosis:
Not Disclosed

Personal Opinion:
I’ve enjoyed using the ICON 60 over the past few weeks. I enjoy the aesthetics of the chair; I feel it looks sporty particularly in the sleek matte black. It has a slight insert into the frame which makes it look much more tailored to you and everything about it is minimalist from the small scissor brakes to the d-ring footplate. I felt like it almost disappeared beneath me, making me the main focus rather than the chair, something my day to day chair doesn’t do so well. It’s lovely to feel like Isobel and her wheelchair, rather than the wheelchair with Isobel in it.
The chair is comfortable to use and runs smoothly, I had no problems completing all my daily tasks using it. It is responsive, doesn’t feel like it takes a massive push to get it going and has a tight turning circle. The ICON 60 weighs about the same as my Quickie Argon2 – not the lightest active chair out there by any means but lighter than some and easy for me to lift into the car by myself.

Upsides of the chair

A big upside is the quick delivery times – if you need a chair tomorrow then the ICON 60 is the one for you.

The ICON 60 is highly adjustable, including having a depth adjustment which is typically only found on paediatric chairs. For me this is one of the chair’s highlights, as my personal chair is too shallow but I only realised this after using it for a few weeks and am now stuck with it. I can barely get my feet on the footplates and it aggravates my knee pain. However, with the ICON 60 this would not have been an issue as I could simply have made the seat deeper. You can adjust almost every aspect of the chair, enabling you to find your perfect set-up.

The chair comes with carbon fibre sideguards as standard, which would usually be large upcharge. They come up high above the wheel and provide lots of protection against the countryside mud, but can be easily flipped up when transferring. I did have one that wobbled about rather though!

The back upholstery is a padded mesh that is comfortable and allows your skin to breathe. It’s much nicer than the standard upholstery of my Quickie Argon2 and again, comes as standard rather than being a large upcharge.

The chair has soft roll casters that again, are typically an upcharge but something everyone wants, and these ones offer a smooth ride over most surfaces. However, they are 4 inches rather than 5 like on my personal chair, which took some getting used to.

Downsides of the chair

For me the biggest downside is the push rims. It comes with the standard small round aluminium pushrims that have been the standard on wheelchairs for many years. However, ergonomic pushrims such as the ones made by Surge or Ellipse, are becoming increasingly popular. I don’t think I know a wheelchair user that once they made the switch to the ergonomic pushrims, ever considered going back. I personally found that in the month I used this chair, my wrist pain came back which had gone away when using my ellipse push rims. They are available as an upgrade, but I wish they were included as standard.

The cushion that comes with the chair is very basic and doesn’t offer much support. The cushion is not as deep as the chair, meaning you get this awkward gap between the end of the cushion and the start of the backrest that you fall down. After using it for a few days, I changed to using my Jay cushion. If you are interested in this chair, I would budget for a better cushion that actually fits the seat size you need.

The tension adjustable backrest as standard is great in theory but a little lacking in practice. The top supports are a different style to the bottom ones, and I never really managed to get them tight enough to offer me the support I was looking for. If the supports were the same as the bottom ones the whole way up, you would be able to get it a lot tighter.

Overall

Overall the ICON 60 is a brilliant entry level active user chair. You get a lot of chair for your money and it can be delivered to you in a matter of days. If you are looking for your first chair, need a chair now, are a part time user or need a second chair to go with your power add-on, then the ICON 60 is the perfect chair for you. However, if you are an experienced user looking for an everyday chair, or have more complex postural support needs, then the ICON 60 may be too heavy or not customisable enough for you.