S3 Swing
Rigid wheelchairs are lighter as a whole than folding wheelchairs, and have less flex to their frame, meaning more of your energy is directed into propelling yourself, rather than lost on the frame flexing. Roughly three quarters of active wheelchairs sold are rigid framed, as they are the obvious choice for those after the most efficient, responsive ride. However, rigid framed chairs normally have fixed fronts with footplates that cannot be moved out of the way, or at best can be flipped backwards slightly. This can cause difficulties with forward transfers for those who need to get their feet directly in front of or under the seat to get in and out of their wheelchair. The S3 Swing uniquely features both a rigid frame and swing-away legrests, giving you the advantages of both.
S3 series
The S3 Swing is otherwise a version of the popular S3 series of Panthera wheelchairs. It features Panthera's trusted chrome molybdenum box frame that makes it incredibly sturdy yet lightweight, with a transport weight from just 4.4kg, with the wheels popped off and legrests removed.
Customisation
Panthera chairs are made a little differently from other manufacturers' models - they are available in a small range of chassis widths, and are assembled with your selected options on (e.g. different wheels, push-handles, sideguards) and then adjusted to your dimensions. This means they are built a lot quicker than most other manufacturers' chairs (unless you go for a different colour frame) but don't have the same thousands of configuration variations that competitor products would have. While Panthera chairs can be made to fit most people, in some cases they won't suit or have the configuration options you want.
Our Verdict
If you want the combination of a rigid framed chair with swing-away legrests, the Panthera S3 Swing Wheelchair is the obvious choice. It's a high-performing lightweight chair with easy access for forward transfers. Other models to try alongside it that have swing-away legrests will all be folding models; the Xenon2 and Krypton F are worth trying but don't offer the same performance as a rigid chair. If you don't need swing-away legrests, then we'd recommend the regular S3 instead, which is overall lighter.
