The GADA Belt

This new device replaces hard plastic side guards and single-strap sports belts!

PROS:

• Replaces hard plastic side guards
• Reduces skin damage & breakdown
• Keeps clothes clean & dry
• Improves seating position & posture
• Improves handling & performance of your chair
• Makes you feel safe & secure
• Costs much less than traditional side guards
• Makes your chair lighter
• Fits all shapes and sizes
• Is for men & women

“The GADA Belt was born from ten years of personal experimentation after many falls and after ruining pair after pair of pants. As active as I am, I really felt like I needed a seat belt for my chair,” says Craig Kennedy, President of Access Anything.

The GADA Belt, named after the company’s motto Go Anywhere, Do Anything™, is a soft, secure, waterproof side guard set/clothing protector for manual wheelchairs that is also used as a sports belt, and is great for maintaining proper seating posture. This multi-functional device was designed to replace the hard-plastic side guards that typically come with manual chairs (and can cost as much as $300) and gets rid of the need for separate, single-strap lap belts often used by wheelchair athletes in sports such as tennis, basketball, and rugby.

The GADA Belt’s soft canvas design reduces skin damage and breakdown, and actually improves the handling and performance of your chair while playing sports and recreating outdoors. This product is currently designed to fit all Quickie and Ti model manual wheelchairs. Design modifications for other models such as Invacare, Lasher Sport, Colours, Kushcall, and Flight Ultralight are underway and GADA belts will be available for these brands soon.

For active wheelchair users and business men and women that need to look professional, the GADA Belt also keeps clothing clean & dry, and is a great way to keep business jackets neatly tucked in. And for people with hip and/or pelvic alignment issues, the GADA Belt has been recommended by physical therapists to help correct and ensure good posture and alignment.

ParaGolfer

Golf is a sport that has been accessible to people with mobility impairments and other disabilities for many years now and the equipment has gradually improved along the way. I have golfed extensively with the SoloRider and other adapted carts, and until I came across the ParaGolfer from the German based company Parabasetec, I thought I was privy to the best equipment. The ParaGolfer, now sold on US soil exclusively by Legs Don't Work, the newest addition to the accessible golfing world, is far and above any other golf cart I have used!

Overall Rating: ***** 5 Stars

Pros:
Stands golfer fully upright
Ability to produce a full, normal, two handed golf stroke
Versatility – can be used for multiple sports
Great for lengthening hamstrings & quads
Joystick for driving

Cons:
Play time is lengthened with any adaptive cart
Potential extra charge for adaptive cart usage
Price

Review:
The most unique feature about the ParaGolfer is that it is not designed like any other golf cart ever created. Instead of having a front end and steering column like most vehicles, this cart is designed with the seat at the front of the vehicle and the rest of the cart behind you. It also features a joystick control, with several different speeds, that makes driving very easy. Not having to swing your seat to the side for every shot and being able to adjust your position with the joystick while lining up for your shot are huge advantages over other adaptive cart models and should increase pace of play.

What makes the ParaGolfer revolutionary in the world of adaptive golf is the fact that it will stand mobility impaired golfers fully upright allowing for a full golf swing. Until now, adaptive carts have only put golfers in a “somewhat upright” position where often times a one-handed swing was necessary to play. By standing the golfer all the way up, skill and distance of travel are also improved. There are also therapeutic advantages to this system, including better circulation and improved muscle strength and flexibility.

The only potential problems with the ParaGolfer are based around the game of golf itself and the course you may be playing at. There may or may not be an additional cost to use the cart, even though we really don’t have a choice of whether to walk or ride, and you won’t be able to play with other friends with mobility impairments unless the course has two carts.

In addition, the ParaGolfer is quite expensive compared to other adaptive carts currently on the market. But as with any new invention, prices will come down considerably as the demand for them grows.

Overall, I would recommend the ParaGolfer to anyone who has tried, or wants to try adaptive golf. I would especially recommend this product to adaptive golfers who are looking to take their game to the next level.


See our November 2007 blog on the SoloRider adaptive golf cart for comparison.

Ti-Lite ZRA Wheelchair

I have been using a wheelchair now for more than 12 years and have been in many different brands and models. From “new and innovative” wheelchairs to chairs with shock absorbers to titanium-framed sports chairs, I have seen them all. Now that I am in my 2nd ZR-Series chair from Ti Lite, the ZRA, I have found the perfect fit for my active lifestyle.

Overall Rating: ***** 5 Stars

Pros:
Incredibly light 11.5lb. frame
Durable, thick tubing
Adjustability
Titanium’s natural shock absorbent nature
Ease of break-down & stowage

Cons:
Price
Plastic brake components

Review:
Now that I have found the “perfect” wheelchair for my lifestyle I need to brag about a few of the best features of the Ti Lite ZRA. My last Ti chair was heavier and more difficult to pack and travel with. The newest design, however, is even lighter at just over 11 pounds and with the fattening of the main frame and the removal of the secondary frame pieces, this chair is super easy to take apart and put back together, especially when getting in and out of my car. I also travel extensively for business and have found these features very helpful when stowing my chair on airplanes. For those that enjoy doing their own repair work, Ti Lite has made the adjustability and repairs as simple as possible.

In addition to traveling I am also very active in outdoor sports and recreation. The durable and now thicker titanium frame allows me to be a little rougher on my chair, such as bumping up and down curbs and stairs, and camping and hiking. And my back, which takes a beating from these types of activities, doesn’t get as sore thanks to the fact that titanium is naturally shock absorbent.

I really only found two downfalls with this new ZRA. First and foremost, as with most high performance chairs on the market today, the price is very high. If you have good insurance this is not a problem, but with all of the insurance short falls in the U.S. right now, these chairs are just not available to many people who want and need them. The other issue I had with this chair was the fact that the brake components that come standard with the chair are plastic scissor brakes. I was very surprised to find plastic components on a chair that costs several thousand dollars and was glad that I could replace them with the metal brakes that came standard on the previous model that I had been using.

Overall, I would recommend this wheelchair to anyone who is active in their everyday life. The pros definitely outweigh the cons here and as long as you have good insurance, this chair will make your active life a lot easier and will last a long time.

SIGG Water Bottle

When we found out this month that polycarbonate plastics were carcinogenic, and we could no longer use the faithful nalgenes we had built our outdoor hydration upon, we decided to look into the alternatives and found SIGG. With hundreds of colorful and even declarative designs, switch-out caps, and several sizes to choose from, my attachment to nalgene was entirely usurped.

Why not nalgene or polyC plastic? Apparently when it breaks down, which happens after six months, if you put it in the dishwasher, use it for hot liquids, or forget to wash it at all, the plastics turn to nasty chemicals our bodies can't handle, turn into cancer tissue, and create dis-ease. If California's pulled all the baby bottles made of this nasty stuff, you can bet I'm listening. NOTE: Polycarbonate plastics are labeled 3 and 7. 1, 2, and 5 are safe. But don't drink out of something you're going to throw away either, there's a US-sized island of plastic drifting in the Pacific we're trying to reduce!

There are other options than SIGG, such as Klean Kanteen (no fancy designs, less choices), CamelBack (great for wearing your waterbottle but not for carrying it), and the old fashioned Sacajawea bovine bladder sack, but after my usual extensive research for this product, I found SIGG to be as handy as its Swiss Army Knife brother.

Overall Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Pros:
Earth Friendly
Metal keeps the water cool
Lightweight design
22 interchangeable lids
Speak your mind with one of 144 designs
Sizes give you options

Cons:
We had to find good uses for 8 nalgenes
Nalgene is losing money faster than you can say Oh Sh*$


Review:
Sure, having to replace perfectly "good" items is a drag, but when those good items are shortening my life span, that $20 bill flies out of my pocket like dandelion fluff.

SIGG has been around 100 years, has that self-respecting product model that its Swiss Watches and Swiss Army Knife brothers are made of, and there are plenty of pros to this item that keep us from feeling too bad about not "buyin' American."

Even in Steamboat, where we don't even have a Target, I found three stores that carried SIGG and over a dozen designs, sizes, and lids to choose from. I like the idea of not spilling water down the front of me like my fat-lip nalgene did. But I LOVE the idea of being better on the planet. It's not only drinking from polycarbonates that are bad, the production of them is worse. I also like the idea of interchangeable lids, one that squirts easily when I'm cycling (and yes, my brown 18oz bottle with trees on it fits in my cycle's bottleholder), and one that has a convenient hole in it for a carabiner to hook onto. I'm also impressed with the weight of this bottle, I would have expected it to be heavier than my nalgene, but it's not.

Craig's red bottle with Chinese motif dragons and tigers on it fits nicely into his wheelchair bag and is easy to find when he reaches in there. He fills his up 5-6 times a day or more, though, so it's got to be easy to reach.

You can also put anything in them. Not just water; juices, energy drinks and alcohol aren't leaked into the sides as they are with plastic. And buying SIGG, you're giving back. They're a 1% for the Planet company committed to donating this portion of their sales to environmental causes.

If you're like us, everything else you buy is tough, you need a SIGG, "The World's Toughest Water Bottle."

Canon PowerShot S2IS

An improvement on its S1IS predecessor, the S2 increased to a 12x zoom 5.0 mega pixel powerhouse that is unparalleled by other cameras of its size.

We purchased this camera in 2006 and although we are in the constant market for new equipment and have had a digital SLR on our list for years, we are still so content with this camera that it's the only one we use.

It has done so well since it's release in 2005, in fact, that it's price range is $50-75 higher than it was when we bought it in 2006.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Pros:
Extending lens with 12x zoom
Additional equipment available (waterproof casing, lens protector)
Battery life
Video recorder is better than our $750 Sony Video Camera
Settings, settings, settings
Movable viewfinder
Pop up flash

Cons:
Heavy weight - 14.3 oz
For some people the settings could be overwhelming
Off button is sometimes mistaken for the shutter button


Review:
Still after 18 months I can't say enough about this amazing piece of machinery. I took my time researching for this purchase, and am very glad I did. The features on this camera are endless, but I'll run through my favorites to save the lengthy read this could easily become.

The Auto Mode takes a fool-proof darn good picture, but if you know anything about cameras and various modes, this model provides them all. Indoor, Mountain, Portrait, Macro, Sports, and Panoramic modes, especially the latter, are better than any other camera I've owned. The Macro has to be about 2' away, but the pictures come out like an SLR. As the occasional sports-photographer, a major selling point of this camera was the unlimited speed-shutter setting that takes as many pictures as it can while I hold down the shutter.

You could get by with these modes and come off like a professional, but the S2 offers more. Color changing, four manual modes, and multiple scene modes including fireworks make for a list so long that if you haven't read the instructions, this camera wasn't worth your money. Change the length of the auto-timer. Change the noise of the shutter or the appearance of your menus. Change the LCD brightness or the auto-focus to save batteries. You can even change the color of the car you just snapped, make your subjects tanner, and make that sunset brighter without any help from photoshop! They pulled out all stops on this one.

The programs it comes with are easy to use, the download of images is quick, and the neck strap is comfortable, all worth mention as well.

The video mode was the most pleasantly surprising for us. We had bought a Sony Video Camera the Christmas before, and this Canon takes better video, hands down. Having two video cameras is great during our ski camp, so no regrets, but I make most of our professional post-camp videos with this little helper. Hint: Get a 2 or 5mb high res SD card for this if you're going to take a lot of videos.

Next, the viewfinder. Seriously a component worthy of its own article, this viewfinder bends, twists, flips, and reverses itself to make self-photos, timer-photos, spy-photos, and protect the viewfinder when you're not using it. Magnificent. Nothing worse than a scratched viewfinder.

The few downfalls to this genius are hardly worth mention, but the camera IS heavy, and why wouldn't it be when it has the entirety of Mary Poppins bag of tricks in it? If you're not an instructions-reader, honestly, don't bother with this camera; but it's worth it's weight in gold if you are. And last, the "off" button is where some camera's shutter is, so when we hand this camera to a passerby to snap one rare one of US, it's often turned off and we have to pose again. I never make the mistake personally, but it's ruined the split second missed-shots of our first Hawaii sunset, so I felt it worth mention.

Freedom Factory – Revolution Pro Comp Monoski

After a couple years of learning how to ski again after I broke my back, I graduated from the now-extinct Shadow Monoski to the much more advanced Freedom Factory Revolution Pro Comp. Thanks to this monoski, I am now an expert skier again and having more fun than I ever did standing up!

Overall Rating: ***** 5 Stars

Pros:

Very durable
Adjustable for different ability levels
Affordable replacement parts

Cons:

Shock is not strong enough for advanced skiers
Monster Binding

Review:
I bought my monoski used (barely) and from the first day I could see a huge difference in my abilities as a skier over the Shadow that I had learned on. The first 700 days (about 8 years) that I skied on the Revolution Pro Comp this rig was incredibly durable taking nearly every beating that I handed it. I skied bumps, powder, steeps, and trees, as well as taking it off its fair share of jumps and drop offs and the only regular maintenance I had to perform was to have the original shock rebuilt or recharged every other year or so.

What I really liked about the Revolution was that as my level of ability increased I was able to make minor adjustments to lengthen the struts to leaned me forward more. From my experience, the more you are leaning forward, the stronger you ski – faster, tighter turns, and more control. After more than 700 days of skiing, and as parts started to wear out and/or break, I found that replacement parts for the Pro Comp were actually pretty reasonably priced through the family-owned factory (Works Performance).

What I liked least about the Pro Comp is the durability of the stock shock that comes with the rig. The first few years, as I was learning and not really testing its limits, the shock performed very well. But as I got better and started pushing the limits of the shock by skiing bumps and hitting jumps, I found I had to take the shock in often for rebuilding and/or recharging. Now in its 9th season, even after having the factory (WP) rebuild it and replace some parts, I get hardly any performance, play, or length out of the shock and it’s just basically time for a new one. Unfortunately, they aren’t as cheap as the rest of the parts I’ve had to replace.

I also had a chance to try out Freedom Factory’s Monster Binding that is built specifically for the Revolution Pro Comp and was not satisfied with this accessory at all. Even after mounting the binding to the exact specifications recommended and then again after several adjustments by professional ski technicians, I could not get the binding to hold my rig in while skiing.

Overall, I would recommend the Pro Comp to beginner, intermediate, or advanced level skiers. Once you are an expert however, I think its time to look elsewhere for better durability (stronger struts, bigger bolts and rods, etc) if you are skiing frequently and really pounding out your bumps and turns.