In a Nutshell:
A fantastic chair, offered by one of the most respected names in the industry. Basic yes, but with a few surprising features that will leave you smiling. Medline K4 Basic wheelchair is recommended for anyone. In our view, this is the best value on the market today.
Customization options
Ease of Use
Comfort
Performance
Overall Rating
4.2/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Anyone. In our view, this is the best value on the market today.
Are you having trouble getting around like you used to? Are you looking for a great, reasonably priced wheelchair to get your mobility back and improve your quality of life?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, then you’re going to love our review of Medline’s K4 Basic wheelchair. We’ve taken an in-depth look at a number of models, and in our view, this one is hands down, the best value on the market today. It won’t cost you an arm and a leg, and for the money spent, you get a superbly designed chair that will serve you well for years to come.
If our glowing introduction doesn’t convince you, keep reading, and in the sections that follow, we’ll go over everything this rugged little chair can do, and point out its limitations (it has a few), so you’ll have everything you need at your fingertips to make an informed purchase decision.
If that sounds good, let’s dive right in and see what the K4 Basic can do!
An Overview of the Medline K4 Basic Wheelchair
The first thing you’ll notice about the K4 Basic is that it lives up to its name. It is literally a generic-looking wheelchair, basic black with chrome highlights, and so unassuming that you may be inclined just to write it off. That would be a loss because although this little chair looks fairly generic, it’s got a lot going for it.
Medline isn’t the biggest vendor in the mobility market, but they are one of the major players and a highly respected company with world-class post-sales support. As to the basics, here are the chair’s relevant stats:
In addition to that, the K4’s frame is constructed of carbon steel. Most other wheelchairs sold today are constructed using high-grade aluminum, so this one is both stronger and more durable, and has chrome plating to boot!
At 33 pounds, the Medline K4 Basic Lightweight Wheelchair doesn’t weigh a lot more than some of the heavier transport chairs we’ve reviewed. Also, it collapses down into a small enough package that it shouldn’t present tremendous difficulty when moving it from Point A to Point B. You’ll find that you can squeeze it into the trunks of most full-sized sedans, and of course, you’ll have plenty of room for it in most SUV’s.
Features of the Medline K4 Basic Wheelchair
Adjustability & Comfort
This is the heart and soul of our Medline K4 Standard Lightweight Wheelchair review. For a “basic” chair, you’ll find a lot of customization options on offer here.
Let’s start with the two, big point of sale options available. You can order the chair with a seat width of 16”, 18”, or 20”, so you can be sure that when the chair arrives at your door, it’ll be a good fit for you. In a similar vein, you can opt for a seat depth of either 16” or 18”.
As we mentioned in the section above, the default seat to floor height is 20”, but the front wheels are also height adjustable. If you lower them, you can lower the seat to floor height to 18” if that’s a better fit for you but doing so comes with a caveat.
By lowering the front wheels, you are sacrificing a bit in terms of handling. The front wheels are 8” in diameter, which is quite common in the industry. But, by lowering their height, you may find that the chair struggles over uneven outdoor terrain, and may even have difficulty moving over thick, plush carpet indoors. Your mileage will vary here, so it pays to experiment to find the optimal configuration for you and how you plan on using the chair.
In addition to that, the height of both the armrests and footrests are adjustable, and the footrests also elevate, giving the Medline Excel Transport Chair something of a recline feature.
Note that the seatback does not recline, so it’s not a real reclining wheelchair, but having the ability to prop your legs up if you want to is a super nice touch that we were impressed with!
The footrests also swing away, which means that the person sitting in the chair can pull up quite close to a dining table and enjoy a meal with the family without having to transfer from the wheelchair to a dining chair. That’s a fairly standard feature, but a nice touch and convenience.
Finally, the height of the seat back can be adjusted too! As we said, this chair may be listed as “basic,” but with all the adjustment features on offer, it sure doesn’t feel basic, and from a practical perspective, it means you can fine-tune the chair until it’s exactly how you want.
Where comfort is concerned, the Medline K4 Lightweight Wheelchair doesn’t fare as well. It’s not an uncomfortable chair, but it does have limitations on that front. The seat is designed like that of a simple, straight-backed chair, and there’s no padding to speak of. Even so, it’s comfortable enough for short to medium-duration sitting, although if you plan on spending all day in the chair, then you’ll almost certainly want to invest in an after-market cushion for the seat, and probably one for the seatback as well.
On-Board Storage & Extras
This is another area where the Medline Basic Aluminum Transport Chair comes up short. We have to count the elevating foot and leg rests as “extras” since these are not found on most other wheelchairs. Aside from that, there’s really only one other thing to talk about here, and that is the fact that the rear wheels are “quick release,” and even better, you can order 12” rear wheels as an accessory.
In other words, you can turn this wheelchair into a transport chair if you want to. That’s a nice feature, but there are two caveats to consider:
One is, as you’ll see in the next section, this chair is only average at handling outdoor terrains. Putting smaller wheels on the back is going to make the K4 even less capable of handling the great outdoors, so if it’s something you’re considering, then your best bet would be to keep this one for strictly indoor use.
The second caveat is that the K4 doesn’t offer handbrakes, which means that if you reconfigure it as a transport chair, the caregiver who’s pushing you isn’t going to have nearly as much control over the chair as he or she would when using a transport chair with handbrakes.
Combine that with the fact that most transport chairs are lighter than the K4, and it only makes an average transport chair. Even so, it’s nice that the option is available if you want or need it!
Of note, the Medline Excel K4 Basic Standard Wheelchair doesn’t come with a safety belt or onboard storage. Both of these can be remedied via aftermarket extras, and of the two, the lack of storage is a minor problem, but depending on how and where you use the chair, the lack of a safety belt could be a genuine issue.
Given the design of the seat, that, combined with the absence of a safety belt means that this isn’t the chair you want if you plan on navigating sloping outdoor terrains. Going down a hill could see you sliding forward in the seat and eventually tumbling out if you’re not careful.
While you can improve the situation with an aftermarket safety belt, you can’t change the way the seat is designed, so even in the best case, if you plan on using the chair outdoors a lot, and you live in a hilly area, there are better wheelchair options available for you.
On some wheelchairs, with a bit of creativity, you can rig up a storage basket under the seat so you can easily access your stored items while sitting in the chair. This isn’t an option with the K4 so any onboard storage you buy will have to be slung over the back of the chair, which means you’ll either need help to reach it or have to get out of the chair. It’s not optimal, but it’s what you’re working with where the K4 is concerned.
About Average on Outdoor Terrains
With the chair configured such that the seat height is 20” (front wheels not lowered), the Medline K4 Basic Wheelchair handles well on all indoor surfaces and on relatively smooth and flat outdoor surfaces.
We’ve mentioned that it’s not ideal for handling sloping terrains, and will struggle on challenging, uneven outdoor terrains, making it about middle of the road where handling is concerned. Ultimately then, this comes down to where you plan on using the chair.
If you’re buying it mostly for indoor use and only plan on going outside occasionally, it’s an awesome choice. If you plan on spending more time outside though, some other model is probably a better fit.
No Learning Curve, Some Assembly Required
While many chairs come ready to roll (or nearly so) right out of the box, there is some assembly required to get the K4 ready for first use. Even so, it’s not a long, complicated process, and the chair can be assembled without the use of tools. Plan on spending fifteen minutes or so familiarizing yourself with the design and another ten to fifteen actually getting it ready to roll. After that, it’s smooth sailing.
From the perspective of functionality, there’s nothing to learn, really, and as such, no learning curve to speak of. Once the chair is assembled, you’ll be able to sit down and move around freely.
Pros & Cons of the Medline K4 Basic Lightweight Wheelchair
There’s a lot to like about the K4, and again, we regard it as the best value on the wheelchair market today. You’re just not going to find a more capable wheelchair with more adjustability offered at this price.
Our two favorite aspects of the design are that so many of the chair’s default settings can be customized to taste, and the fact that Medline has world-class post-sales service and support, so if there’s ever a problem with the chair, getting it fixed will be a painless, hassle-free experience.
The only significant downsides are a function of design decisions, and not outright failings of the chair itself. We’d much prefer that onboard storage and a safety belt were part of the base model package, but it’s not terribly expensive to add these post purchase.
The closest thing we can come to naming an outright design fail would be the absence of handbrakes. We regard this as a failure because the chair was specifically designed as a hybrid, capable of serving as either a wheelchair or a transport chair.
Unfortunately, it’s a subpar transport chair as currently offered, given its weight compared to actual transport chairs and the absence of handbrakes. Even so, our sense of it is that this isn’t the reason most users would buy the chair, so we can’t deduct heavily for the failing.
Finanl Thoughts on Medline K4 Lightweight Wheelchair Review
And that’s the Medline K4 Basic Wheelchair. We love it, and we stand by our decision to name this the best overall value on the wheelchair market today.
Having said that, it’s not for everyone. We highly recommend it for people who plan on using it exclusively or mostly indoors, but if you want a chair that can handle a variety of outdoor terrains, then we’d urge you to take a look at some of the other models available. That’s just not something the K4 does as well as it could.
Highly recommended then, for primarily indoor use.
References & Resources
- Medline K4 User Manual.
- Medline, Official Brand Website.
- Fitness Advice for Wheelchair Users, National Health Service.