Pride Mobility Jazzy Elite 14 Power Wheelchair Review 2024

Do you suffer from some type of mobility issue? Is the issue serious enough that you have to spend at least part of every day in a wheelchair? Do you like spending time in the great outdoors?

If you answered yes to the questions above, and you’re in the market for an electric wheelchair or scooter designed to help make your life easier and get you where you want to go, then the Jazzy Elite 14 might be the chair you’ve been looking for.

A quick word of warning, though: This is not one of Pride’s strongest and most highly rated models. It’s still a very good chair, but it does have a couple of limitations that we’d describe as serious. For the right user, they won’t really matter, but for some, and perhaps many people, they’ll definitely factor into your thinking.

In the sections that follow here in our Jazzy Elite 14 review, we’ll tell you everything this model has to offer, and we won’t pull any punches when it comes to describing the limitations of the Elite 14’s design.

That way, you’ll have all the details at your fingertips and can decide for yourself if this is the chair you’ve been searching for.

If that sounds good to you, read on, and we’ll take a closer look!

An Overview of the Pride Mobility Jazzy Power Chair

We note here in our Jazzy Elite 14 review that the scooter offers an aesthetic that’s similar to most of Pride’s other electric wheelchairs. It’s a sleek, modern eye-pleasing design. If you decide you want one of these, you can order yours in either Jazzy Red or Jazzy Blue, at your preference.

Before we start talking about the specific features this model brings to the table, it will probably be helpful to look at the Elite 14 by the numbers. With that in mind, here they are:

These numbers are a mixed bag. The chair is a sizeable one, but it’s not one of the heavier models Pride offers, and that’s a point very much in its favor. It supports a strictly average amount of weight, though it’s slightly better than average at handling slopes and inclines and has impressively sized drive wheels.

The turning radius is so-so but is certainly small enough to be useful indoors, even if you live in a smaller home or apartment.

We love the fact that the seat is offered in three different size configurations, but it’s unlikely that the 22” wide seat will be useful here given the maximum supported weight.

If you need a 22” wide seat, then you probably weigh more than 300 pounds.

We’re not thrilled with the top speed of this chair. Four miles per hour isn’t exactly speedy. A power-walker will likely outpace you. That’s a pity because Pride makes other models that have significantly higher top speeds, and we wish this was one of those.

The thing that’s most disappointing to us, though, is the range. 9.8 miles is average to slightly below average. Given that this chair was designed for mixed indoor/outdoor use, we were expecting much more.

It’s a real limitation.

While you will certainly have a few problems using this model in and around your property, you could find yourself stranded if you take it too far from a power outlet and you’re not paying attention.

Adjustability and Comfort of Jazzy Elite 14 Scooter

While the core stats that define the Jazzy Elite power chair reveal some limitations, the Elite 14 is a highly adjustable chair. The seat can be height adjusted in a range that spans 15.75” to 17.75.”

This is a very good height range that’s useful for both shorter and taller people. It doesn’t quite venture into the big and tall territory, which typically starts at 18,” but it comes close enough to count. Most people won’t have any problems finding a seat height they can use comfortably.

In addition to that, the seat sports a height-adjustable headrest, and the padded armrests are height, width, and angle adjustable. That’s impressive.

Even better, if you are taller, this model can be ordered with an alternate seat lift mechanism that makes it adjustable in a band from 20” to 22.” That’s pure awesome.

The seat incorporates conventional block foam padding, which is common in much of the furniture sold on the market today. There’s enough of it to provide a comfortable seating experience for up to four hours or so.

You’ll probably want to invest in some additional padding if you plan on spending longer than that in the chair at a stretch, but note again the range of this chair. If you do spend longer periods in it, you’ll probably be sitting in it while it’s plugged in and recharging.

The only real point of weakness here is the upholstery. Like all of the chairs Pride sells, this model is upholstered in vinyl. We understand why. It’s inexpensive, good-looking, and low maintenance. Those are good things.

Unfortunately, it’s also not breathable, and it doesn’t age well. The more time you spend sitting in the chair, the hotter and sweatier you’re going to be. If you use the chair every day or nearly every day, then your pretty vinyl will start peeling and cracking after about 18 months (two years at the outside).

The good news is that if you invest in padding for the seat and seatback, you can at least partially solve both problems. Since you’re no longer sitting directly on the vinyl, it’s not apt to be as hot. It will also be subject to relatively less wear, which will make it last longer.

Extras and Options of Pride Elite 14

Other than the highly adjustable seat, which can almost be counted as an extra in its own right, and the built-in, inline joystick controller, the Pride Mobility Jazzy Elite scooter doesn’t come with any other extras. We wish it came with a lap belt standard because that’s such an important safety feature. If you want one, you’ll have to buy it separately.

Pride does really well where extras are concerned, offering a wide range of them that allows you to customize based on your specific needs. Their extras include:

With the possible exception of the safety flag, these are all excellent additions (and we realize that some people will even like the flag – we just happen not to)

Given the poor range of this model, we’d definitely recommend investing in both the rear basket and the saddlebag storage options.

You might be able to engineer enough storage to bring some solar panels with you that can recharge a small battery pack and use that for an emergency recharge if you do get stranded outdoors and away from a convenient power outlet.

Portability and Ease of Use

Although it’s a hefty chair, the Jazzy Elite 14 Pride Mobility is actually more travel-friendly than you might think.

That’s because Pride has engineered most of their chairs so they can be dismantled quickly. Once dismantled, each piece is of manageable weight and significantly easier to store in your trunk or backseat, wherever you’ve got the room.

The big drawback here is the fact that travel becomes something of a time sink. Before you can hit the road, you have to take time to take your chair apart. Once you get where you’re going, instead of hopping out of the car and having fun, you have to take time to put the thing back together.

If you’d rather avoid that time sink, you’ve got two options: A lift or a ramp.

Lifts are great because they work on most vehicles, allowing you to simply carry your chair behind whatever you’re driving. Ramps can work if you drive a truck or a van. In both cases, they save a ton of time, but the tradeoff is that they require you to spend more money. Ultimately, it comes down to which you have more of; time or money.

Given that airlines charge by the pound and the fact that you can get a good manual travel wheelchair that weighs 30-40 pounds, it’s just too expensive to try and travel by plane with one of these. That’s if the airline you’re flying with allows it at all.

If you’ve got your heart set on it, it pays to contact the airline you’ll be flying with and ask about their policies because each airline sets its own policies about what they do and don’t allow. Don’t be terribly surprised if you get a no.

Pros & Cons of Pride Mobility Elite 14

The Pride Elite 14 gets a lot right, but it suffers from two significant drawbacks that may make it unsuitable for some users.

First and foremost, it’s got a super disappointing range. Any chair that says it’s designed for outdoor use, we expect to have a range of at least 15 miles or so. This one falls well short of that, which significantly limits where and how you can use it outdoors.

We’d count the low top speed as a significant drawback, especially in a chair that is specifically marketed to be an outdoors/mixed-use design.

Ultimately though, it depends on how and where you plan to use your chair. It’s certainly possible that you won’t see either of these as serious issues.

Pride Jazzy Elite 14 Review Conclusion

We like the Elite 14, but we don’t love it. Ultimately, we feel that it only marginally succeeds at the mission it was designed for.

It’s not at all hard to find faster chairs with longer ranges that are as good or better at handling outdoor terrains. Given that, we can only give this model a provisional recommendation here in our Jazzy Elite 14 review.

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Official Manufacturer Support

References & Resources:

• Pride Mobility, Official Brand Website
• Pride Mobility Jazzy Elite 14 User Manual
• Getting the Right Wheelchair: What the SCI Consumer Needs to Know, MSKTC
• The Power of Power Wheelchairs: Mobility Choices of Community-Dwelling, Older Adults, Taylor & Francis Online
• Power Wheelchairs in the Community: Wheelchair Choices of Older Adults, icord