So, I bought this cushion from a manufacturer named ease cushions a little over a year ago, and despite getting an initial warm and fuzzy feeling about the product, I ended up with one of those expensive product nightmares.

As a wheelchair user, our goal is to avoid pressure sores at all costs. In order to do this, we often have to lift ourselves up to enable proper circulation to our lower extremities. As you could imagine, that can be exhausting at times and perhaps implausible for disabled persons without proper grip, strength or capacity.

That being said, a cushion that automatically relieves pressure Can come in quite handy for us, folks in wheelchairs.

I bought my first ease cushion a few years ago for my iBOT personal mobility device (PMD), which is a form of powered wheelchair. Since I’m in my chair for hours at a time, the cushion made perfect sense for me even at the significant personal expense. I’m a veteran with VA healthcare coverage, which includes all the items associated with my disabilities. However, the VA does not offer these cushions for issuance currently.

I enjoyed the first cushion so much and got so much good usage of it that I bought a second a few months later for my vehicle. That cushion enables me to drive for longer periods of time without risking pressure related injuries. So, it was only natural that when I saw the advertisement for the smaller version of my power chair cushion that I would get one for my manual wheelchair, which is my primary mode of mobility.

For the past year since I’ve received the 18 inch cushion, I’ve had to return it 4 times due to malfunction. Each time I returned it, it took nearly a month to get it back. So, just the amount of time it took to get a replacement consumed months of the paltry one year warranty.

So, here I sit (literally) with a useless $700 cushion that will require repair or replacement at additional cost to the end user. Or, I have an expensive paperweight.