Drive Medical Rollator Walker Review

By Maurice

If aging, a disability, or medical condition is making it harder to maintain your independence due to limited mobility, consider the options to improve your current situation.

If there are physical issues making it increasingly complicated to move around the house easily, get out and do errands or participate in activities like you used to, you can take action to get back out there and enjoy your freedom again. Limited mobility doesn’t have to mean a limited lifestyle.

Consider the benefits of the great mobility products on the market today, such as the Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker. This lightweight rollator walker can give back the quality of life you are missing.

Since 2000, Drive Medical has been an industry leader in mobility aids with a variety of rollator walkers to restore confidence and independence to their customers.

In this review, we’ll take a look at the features, pros, and cons of the Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker. Most importantly, we’ll show you just how this rollator walker can help you gain back your mobility and confidence.

Review of: Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker

Please click image for more info

What We Like:

Affordable
Easy, no tool assembly
Lightweight
Easy to manuever
User-friendly handbrakes

What We Don’t Like:

Bit bulky
Smaller wheels

Our Conclusion: With the ability to accommodate taller users, a higher weight capacity, a roomier seat all at a lower price point, the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker offers a great solution to your mobility concerns.

Features of Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker

This model features:

Comfort

Enjoy the comforts of adjustable, ergonomically designed, firm grip handles to prevent hand strain and pain.

When out and about but needing to take a break, you never have to worry about finding a place to sit. This rollator comes with a comfortable and quality padded seat.

For additional back support, you can take advantage of the padded backrest. For convenience, the backrest is removable and fully hinged, so it can fold up or down as needed.

User Friendly

The conveniently located hand grips, handbrakes and height adjustment controls are designed for easy gripping, use and comfort.

Knowing how important it is to carry personal items along for the ride, the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker has an under-seat zippered pouch for secure storage of your personal items.

Safety

To ensure a high level of safety, you’ll feel more secure while operating the deluxe, easy to grip and handbrakes.

When the rollator is not in motion, the handbrakes employ a loop lock system to prevent movement or slippage.

Maneuverability

The sturdy 6” caster wheels give a smooth, stable ride both indoors and outdoors. Due to the smaller 6” wheels, this rollator maneuvers well outdoors but the wheels cannot handle extreme outdoor terrain like long grass, rough and cracked pathways or steep hills.

Durability

Don’t be fooled by the lightweight aluminum frame. Drive Medical builds its products to last and even offers a limited lifetime warranty on the frame.

Portability

Speaking of a lightweight aluminum frame, the low weight of the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker, at only 13 pounds, makes it an ideal choice for lifting, packing, and unpacking. It’s a convenient travel companion and folds easily for storage or transport.

While most users can handle lifting the rollator in and out of their vehicles, there may be some users who require assistance or lack the upper body strength to lift the rollator by themselves.

It seems there are some issues with keeping the rollator in position once folded down for storage. You may need to use a separate strap to keep your walker in its folded position.

Specifications of Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker

Overall Size: 24.5” (W) x 27.5” (D) x 32”-37” (H)
Material: Aluminum
Number of Wheels: (4) 6” caster wheels
Handles: Height adjustable
Inside Grip Handle Width: 17”
Padded Seat: 12” (D) x 14” (W) x 20” (H)

Fold-up Padded Backrest
Weight of Rollator: 13 lbs.
Weight Capacity: 300 lbs.
Recommended User Height: 5’2”-6’0”
Storage: Under-seat zippered pouch
Available in Blue, Red or Black
Warranty: Limited Lifetime (frame)

Video Overview of Drive Medical Nitro Euro Style Rollator Walker

Pros of the Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker

PROS

This 4-wheel model gives you high quality at an affordable price.
Easy, no-tool assembly which requires only the installation and adjustment of handles and handbrakes.
Very lightweight for easy lifting, storage, and transport.
Maneuvers well both indoors and outdoors.
Roomier than the average padded seat.
Adjustable handle height accommodates a good number of all size users.
A roomy zippered bag stows away neatly and allows for plenty of secure personal storage.
Easy to operate and user-friendly handbrakes provide extra safety.

CONS

This model is still a bit bulky when folded.
It’s difficult to keep in a folded position for storage and transport.
Smaller 6” wheels don’t handle outdoor terrain as well as a model with larger wheels.
Lack of detailed assembly instructions for installing/adjusting brakes.

Who Should Purchase a Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker?

This rollator is for any adult or senior dealing with injury rehabilitation, disabilities, chronic medical or age-related issues restricting stability or mobility. This rollator walker is meant for users who are mostly mobile and need only light assistance to keep stable and mobile. It’s not the walker for users who are more dependent on a walker and need to put more of their weight on the frame.

How Does It Stack Up to the Competition?

As a comparison to the Drive Medical Aluminum Rollator Walker, the Healthline Super Light Rollator Lightweight Aluminum Folding Walker is a similar make and model. Let’s take a look at how these two models compare.

The Drive Medical model is about 3.5” wider and adjusts to taller heights than the Healthline model. It seems that the Healthline model is geared toward more petite users, starting at around 4’11”. The adjustable height range for the Healthline model maxes out at 22” vs. the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker, which caps out at 37” high. A taller user may have to walk with a somewhat hunched posture while using the Healthline model at its highest height adjustment of 22”.
Both models are lightweight, constructed with aluminum frames and comparable in total weight. The Drive Medical unit weighs 13 pounds, while Healthline is only slightly heavier at 13.5 pounds.
While both rollators offer a good amount of standing space in between handles, the Healthline model offers an inside grip handle of 18” wide vs. Drive Medical at 17” wide. A user who needs a little more room for standing in between the handles gets a full inch more with the Healthline walker.
As for user weight capacity, Healthline’s model goes up to 250 pounds, while the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker accommodates users up to 300 pounds. A heavier user who is at or near the rollator’s weight capacity would be better going with the higher limit.
Both models come with four 6” caster wheels for a smooth and comparable ride both indoors and outdoors. Healthline boasts a “soft grip” feature on their wheels, which may be a slight advantage for indoor use.
Both models offer comparable handbrake systems with comfort grips and user comfort designs.
Both models offer a comparable under-seat, removable storage pouch.
One of the biggest features of these 4-wheel lightweight rollators is the convenience and comfort of a seat. While both models offer padded seats, the Drive Medical model offers more room with a 14” vs. 12” wide seat vs. Healthline’s 12” x 12” seat. The Drive Medical seat also adjusts to a height of 20” vs. the Healthline model which only goes up to 17”.
Both models come with color choices of either red or blue but Drive Medical also offers black.
As for price, the Healthline model is priced about $25 higher than the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker. If it comes down to price, Drive Medical is slightly more affordable.

Comparison Summary

While the Healthline model is only slightly heavier, both models are made with a durable aluminum frame. Both models are great for users who need an extremely lightweight and easy to handle rollator for transport and storage.
Most of the features are comparable for both models relative to the wheels, braking system and design, storage availability and comfort features like grips.
One difference in favor of the Healthline model is the ability to accommodate petite users with its height adjustments of 18”-23” vs. the Drive Medical adjustments of 32”-37”.
Another big difference is the Healthline advantage of offering an inch of additional space between handles for users looking for more room while operating the rollator.
The Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker comes out ahead with its ability to accommodate heavier users of up to 300 pounds vs. Healthline’s 250 pounds.
Drive Medical also comes out ahead in the number of color options and price.

Conclusion

Since both models are geared towards users who need only light assistance with their mobility issues, after reviewing the side-by-side comparison, our pick is the Drive Medical aluminum rollator walker.

The Drive Medical rollator walker offers a user-friendly, lightweight option that consumers are looking for, while not having to give up other items on their checklist.

Drive Medical Rollator (Click image for more info)

Sources:

Godman, Heidi. “Two Questions can Reveal Mobility Problems in Seniors.” Harvard Health Publishing. Harvard Medical School. Posted September 18, 2013

Drivemobility

Sen, Mona. “Mobility and MS: I’ve Been Liberated by my Rollator.” For My Health @ everydayhealth.com. Posted January 25, 2017