In a Nutshell:
Recommended For: Anyone on a budget but still wants the convenience of an electric wheelchair – provided that you weigh no more than 275 pounds.
Are you on a budget? Are you looking for a decent electric wheelchair you can use to get away from your old manual one, and hoping to find something that won’t break the bank? Are you holding out the hope that you can find one that’s also not so heavy that taking it with you on the road is still possible?
If so, then you’re going to like what you see as you read this Comfy Go 6011 review. ComfyGo isn’t an obvious choice, where electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters are concerned. An importer, they bring their wares in from China, where they are manufactured by the Buvan corporation.
Chinese imports suffer from slightly inferior quality as compared to their counterparts made in Western nations. The Chinese are catching up fast, though, and the difference in quality isn’t nearly as great as it was ten or even five years ago. Given the low price of Chinese labor, you can get a lot more wheelchairs for your money if you’re open to the idea of buying an import.
We’ll be quick to point out that this chair has its share of shortcomings and limitations. It’s not for everyone, but for the right user, it’s a surprisingly good, robust option available for a relatively low price. If that is of interest to you, read on. In the sections that follow, we’ll tell you everything this model has to offer, and where it’s a bit wanting.
An Overview of the Comfy Go 6011 Folding Electric Wheelchair
The first thing you’ll notice about the 6011 wheelchair is that it sticks solidly to convention. At a glance, it looks almost exactly like a manual wheelchair, complete with handles on the back of the seat for your trusty assistant to hold on to when pushing you around.
The only giveaways are the joystick controller jutting out from one of the armrests, the batteries mounted to either side of the seat, and the fact that the rear wheels are slightly smaller than they would be on a manual model.
Despite sticking to convention, the design team did make at least a token effort at a distinctive look by coming up with a two-toned upholstery. If you decide you want one of these, you can order yours in blue/black, red/black, or black/grey.
Before we go any further in this section of our Comfy Go 6011 review, we would be well-served by taking a moment to review the basic stats that define this model. Here are the basics:
- Overall Product Dimensions: 22” (W) x 30” (D) x 32” (H)
- Seat Dimensions: 17” (W) x 20” (D)
- Top Speed: 4 mph
- Maximum Range: 13 miles
- Maximum Climbing Angle: 6 degrees
- Chair Weight: 60 pounds without batteries, 67 pounds with batteries
- Turning Radius: 33”
- Maximum Supported Weight: 265 pounds
These numbers are a mixed bag, but mostly good news. The overall footprint of the chair is small enough that it will easily sail through a standard-width door frame with a bit of room to spare so you won’t have to be especially careful as you navigate around your house.
The seat dimensions are okay but a little wonky. Most 17” wide seats are only 18” deep. This one is 2” deeper, and if you have especially short legs, it may not fit you well. Bear in mind that the seat sits 20” off the ground. Measure carefully before you commit to a purchase!
At four miles an hour, the top speed of the chair is decidedly underwhelming. As long as you’re not in a hurry, it will serve you well. If you’re looking for an electric wheelchair with some zip to it, this model isn’t for you.
The range is average. It’s not hard to survey the market and find chairs with shorter ranges, but you also don’t have to look far to find chairs that offer significantly more on this front. This one is strictly middle of the road.
The turning radius is also slightly disappointing. It’s a small thing, and unless you live in a tiny house, it probably won’t be an issue.
Just bear in mind that there are plenty of options out there with a turning radius in the 20” to 24” range, so this model won’t be your first choice if you’re looking for something that can turn on a dime.
The weight, however, is spectacular. The design team used tubed aluminum for the frame and created a robust little chair that doesn’t weigh too much more than manual wheelchairs, which is pretty awesome. We’ll have more to say about that a little later in this review, but, for now, the important thing to note is the weight makes this a fairly travel-friendly model.
Adjustability and Comfort
There are no adjustable features on the Comfy Go 6011 folding electric wheelchair. As mentioned above, the seat height is 20,” and it can’t be changed. Again, measure before you buy!
Comfort-wise, the 6011 is okay for short periods of 1-2 hours. If you plan on using it for longer periods than that, you’re almost certainly going to want to invest in some additional padding for the seat and probably the seatback too.
The upholstery is sturdy nylon, which is breathable, but this chair sports only a nominal amount of padding.
Comfort is marginally enhanced by the presence of a calf strap and lightly padded armrests. Calf pads would have been better, but they’re slightly more expensive. Also, we believe that the designers were interested in keeping the total cost of the chair as low as possible.
In any case, padding is available from a whole host of third-party vendors and at generally good prices, so you can make the chair as comfortable as you want it to be.
Extras and Options
Surprisingly, there are two “extras” to talk about where the 6011 Comfy Go electric wheelchair is concerned. It comes with a safety belt as a piece of standard equipment, which we regard as excellent. Honestly, we feel that safety belts should be standard on every wheelchair sold, electric or otherwise, but the rest of the industry clearly disagrees. In any case, we were thrilled to see one included here.
The other “extra” that’s worth mentioning is the fact that this chair comes with attendant handles built into the back of the seat. You may never need them, but if you’re out somewhere and the batteries die, their presence makes it easy to get a helpful push to the nearest power outlet for a recharge.
That’s it, though, and ComfyGo doesn’t offer any accessories that we could find on their page (though they do have a variety of spare parts available, should something break down on your chair).
That’s not really the end of the world. There are a whole host of third-party vendors selling a wide range of accessories, so you can customize to your heart’s content. One thing we absolutely recommend investing in is some type of storage, especially if you plan to use this chair when traveling!
Portability & Ease of Use
Given the weight of the ComfyGo 6011, it’s a very good traveling companion. It folds into a relatively small package that will easily fit in the trunk of most full-sized sedans, which makes fitting it into the back of a truck, SUV, van, or hatchback even easier. While you may need a bit of help hefting it into and back out of storage, it collapses and unfolds easily enough, and travel overland shouldn’t be an issue.
Air travel is probably a non-starter with this model, however. The company outright says that it hasn’t been FDA approved. As such, most airlines will probably give you a hard no even though it’s technically light enough to take with you on a plan.
Joystick controllers are all pretty much the same. It’s well-understood, time-tested technology, and this one is no different. It will only take you a few minutes to master the basics, and, after half an hour or so, you’ll be well on your way to expertise.
Note, too, the impressive tread on the drive wheels. This chair can handle open ground as easily as flat, paved surfaces. While it might get bogged down in beach sand and would struggle over challenging hiking trails, you’ll have no problem using it around your property, at most parks, and on campgrounds. If you have an RV and like to stay at campgrounds, this model will serve you very well there too.
Pros & Cons of Comfy Go Power Wheelchair
The main driver that keeps the overall score of the Comfy Go wheelchair low is the fact that ComfyGo isn’t a big, well-respected brand. While they boast 24/7 support services, their support just isn’t at the same level you’d get from Pride, Drive, or other major brands. Even so, ComfyGo puts its heart into it. If you also have a problem, they’ll do their best to see that you’re taken care of.
As we mentioned at the start, the overall quality of this machine isn’t quite on par with those offered by the major brands, but it’s not awful. You may find that the mounting holes for the joystick controller aren’t quite precisely positioned, for instance.
These tend to be relatively minor issues. This chair isn’t as rugged or as long-lasting as a more expensive model offered by the big established brands, but it will provide you with at least a few years of mostly reliable service. For the money, that’s not bad.
Comfy Go 6011 Review Conclusion
While it’s true that this chair has some limitations, we don’t regard its negatives mentioned here in our Comfy Go 6011 review as being dealbreakers, and we believe that most people would feel the same. If you’re on a budget and not especially brand conscious, this is a good option to consider. On that basis, we provisionally recommend it.
References & Resources:
- ComfyGo Mobility, Official Brand Website.
- Design Tools For Providing Wheelchair Access, Iowa State University.
- Temporary Use of a Wheelchair, Infinitec.
- Wheelchair Usage, SCIRE Professional.
- We Need More Awareness of Ambulatory Wheelchair Users, The Mighty.