Drive Medical Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair Review 2024

Do you have a long-term mobility issue? If so, it has almost certainly impacted your quality of life, and not in a good way.

If you’ve been searching for an electric wheelchair to give you more mobility and greater independence, you’ll love the following review. The Drive Medical Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair, is, in our view, one of the best electric wheelchairs on the market today. 

We like it so much that it placed a strong second in our recent roundup review, only being beaten out by the mighty Karman XO-202, which offers some exotic features that this one doesn’t have. Of course, it also costs four times more than the Cirrus Plus, so we rate this model as the best value on the electric wheelchair market. In other words, this chair is a game changer.

In the following sections of our Drive Medical Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair review, we’ll discuss everything this wheelchair offers and highlight its few negatives. Even if you ultimately decide this isn’t the right model for you, you’ll agree that it is a solid design with much to offer. Drive Medical wheelchairs are generally exceptional.

If you want to know more, read on and see what the Cirrus Plus can do!

Key Features of Drive Medical Cirrus Plus EC Power Wheelchair

Electric mobility devices take two basic designs: motorized wheelchairs and scooters. 

The Drive Medical Cirrus Plus EC power wheelchair falls quite clearly into the first category. One of the first things you’ll notice when you see it is that it looks like a transport chair that the Terminator might use. It’s got a rugged, functional, and all-business look to it.

While we wouldn’t call it an unattractive chair, it’s fair to say that the Cirrus Plus design team placed much more emphasis on function than form. We appreciate that because what good is a great-looking chair if it can’t get you where you want to go?

Wheelchair Specifications

Taking a deeper look at the design, here are the chair’s basic stats:

Adjustable Seat

Adjustability is another thing that the Drive Cirrus Plus EC power wheelchair gets right.

On some models, you don’t find much in the way of adjustability. The chair’s dimensions are the chair’s dimensions. If they fit you, great. If they don’t, you’re out of luck.

The Cirrus Plus Folding Power Chair, however, is different. In addition to specifying your desired seat width at the point of sale, you can adjust the seat tension for added comfort.

Adjustable Footrests

The footrests’ length can be adjusted to preference, and they swing away, just like the footrests on many manual wheelchairs.

This is handy because it allows you to roll right up to the dinner table and enjoy a meal with the family without the hassle of having to transfer from the wheelchair to a dining chair.

Adjustable Armrests

One thing we liked was the armrests, which are also height adjustable. While several models on the market offer height-adjustable armrests, few have a better feature implementation than the Cirrus Plus.

Just press the button located beneath each armrest and adjust to taste. That’s it. No tools are required. We love it. In our view, that should be an industry standard, so kudos to Drive Medical for making it so easy and convenient!

Well-Padded Chair

Where comfort is concerned, you’ll find the padding surprisingly comfortable. While it’s not a plush, overstuffed recliner, you’ll have no problems sitting in this chair, even most of the day. The only thing you can’t easily do is nap, but that’s true of most of the wheelchairs (electric or otherwise) being sold today. We were impressed by the level of comfort offered here!

Extras

Four noteworthy “extras” exist for this model, all of which come standard with the chair.

One of our chief complaints about the Karman XO-202 is that it doesn’t come with many extras. You can order plenty at the point of sale, but the base model doesn’t offer many.

Storage

The Drive Cirrus Plus EC Power Wheelchair is quite different in that regard. The seat and seat back cushions are plush and comfortable, and the seat belt and storage pouch on the back of the chair come standard.

While we’d much prefer to see some storage under the seat so it can be easily accessed by the person sitting in the chair, that’s not possible here because that’s where the batteries go. Be aware that if you put something in the storage pouch, you’ll need to get out of the chair and move around to the back to get whatever you’ve stored.

Anti-Tippers

The other nice “extra” that comes standard are the anti-tipping struts. Again, a few models offer this feature, but only as an add-on; you can buy at the point of sale. Given the importance of anti-tippers, we were thrilled to see them included in the base model. Kudos to Drive Medical!

Outstanding Indoors, Above Average Outdoors

The Cirrus Plus Folding power chair’s motor is powerful enough to easily handle a wide range of outdoor terrain. Curbs won’t present much of a problem, and you’ll easily pass over cracked sidewalks.

Of course, every chair has limits, so when testing the waters on a new terrain you haven’t traveled before (loose gravel, cobblestones, etc.), your best bet is to have an assistant close in case it gets tricky. But if sensible precautions are taken, you should be able to navigate most outdoor terrains easily.

Maximum Range

The only real disappointment is that if you use the chair mostly outdoors, its fifteen-mile maximum range on a charge may be slightly limiting.

Worse, since the chair is relatively heavy, if you run out of juice somewhere in the great outdoors, your trusty assistant will likely be exhausted when they get you back home.

Even so, as long as you’re mindful of the range, you shouldn’t have any significant issues.

Turning Radius

Indoors, the chair handles like a dream once you get used to the controls. Until you master them, be prepared to ding your furniture and doorways, as you’re apt to move the chair somewhat jerkily until you get a good feel for how it handles. With a 30-33” turning radius (depending on which seat width you ordered), you should be able to navigate through even fairly tight spots once you’re comfortable with the controls.

Minimal Assembly Required

The Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair comes (almost) ready to use when it’s delivered to your door. You’ll only have to attach the footrests and position and plug in the batteries. After that, you’re ready to roll!

Slight Learning Curve

As with all electric wheelchairs, there is a slight learning curve. You’ll want to spend several minutes familiarizing yourself with the controls and the various adjustment options so you can drive without dinging your furniture and doorways and fine-tune the chair to be a perfect fit.

All told, these things will probably take you no more than thirty minutes to do, and once you’ve gotten the hang of the chair’s handling, you’ll be navigating even challenging, tight spaces with relative ease.

Drive Cirrus Plus EC Power WheelChair Pros & Cons

We like almost everything about the Drive Medical Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair and believe our review reflects that.

Rather than rehashing all the great things about this model then, we’ll take this opportunity to draw your attention to its (very few) shortcomings.

As much as we love it, it’s not a perfect chair, so these are the things to be aware of:

In all seriousness, though, its weight is about the only negative, and even that isn’t a deal breaker as there are heavier electric wheelchairs and scooters on the market.

The only minor thing we’d note is that we’ve seen other steel-framed chairs that can support upwards of five hundred pounds of user weight, so we were surprised that this model is only rated for a max. of three hundred pounds. Even so, that weight limit makes it a fantastic option for a large swath of the market.

Drive Medical Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair Review Conclusion

As we said early on in this Drive Medical Cirrus Plus Electric Wheelchair review, we regard it to be the best value on the electric wheelchair market today. It’s a superb design built to last and has enough customization options to make it a perfect fit for you. With good range and solid handling on various terrains, this model will serve you well indoors or out.

We recommend it without reservation for anyone with a long-term mobility issue. We still recommend it for those with shorter-term needs, but we’ll point out that it may be too expensive to fill a temporary, short-term role. A manual wheelchair may be a better option in those cases, but if you’ve got the money to spend, you won’t be disappointed in this model!

Recommended Reading

Official Manufacturer Support

REFERENCES & RESOURCES

• Drive Medical, Official Brand Website.
• Benefits of Seat Elevators on Power Wheelchairs, American Seating and Mobility.
• Advantages of Wheelchair Cushion, Red-Cliff-Health.