Iso Tech
The Ethos has a completely unique frame design. For the first time ever, the seat frame is completely isolated from the base frame. Both rear wheels and castors are attached to the base frame; the seat and footrests are attached to the upper seat frame. Between the two frames are interposed four polymers - these act in unison to significantly reduce transmission of vibration to the seat frame - and thus yourself. These polymers can be individually selected to cater to your weight and preferred ride experience, ensuring your Ethos provides you the ride you want.
You might expect the dual frames to make the Ethos significantly heavier than a traditional mono-tube rigid chair - but this is not the case. With a transport weight from just 5.26 kg, it weighs barely more than the Rogue 2. What's more, the base frame has been engineered with incredible rigidity for optimum performance.
Seating
As you would expect from a Ki Mobility chair, the Ethos' seat is built around you - with a perfect fit, and a vast selection of customisations to choose from. This includes footrests, sideguards, backrests, cushions and more. The Ethos really is one of the most comfortable active chairs on the market.
Axiom cushions and backrests can be fitted for your comfort, support and pressure requirements. Third party add-ons can also be catered for, should you have an existing preferred back or cushion.
Optimisation
The Ethos was designed to make optimisation easy - it is the only rigid frame that lets you independently adjust your wheelbase for increased stability and performance. Centre of gravity, front and rear seat heights, and even seat depth can be adjusted to cater to changing requirements or confidence.
All the Ki options familiar from their other chairs are available on the Ethos - including carbon sideguards, the popular Maxx Performance Spoke wheel, Spinergys, Natural Fit handrims and more.
Style
Two frames opens up a whole world of possibilities for painting the Ethos in the colours you want. There are a choice of 11 gloss, 9 matte, and 15 hydrographics to choose from, and the upper and lower frames can be coloured differently. You can then pick 1 of 8 colour anodizing packages plus select from a further 8 highlights! To top it all off, if you have an Axiom back, this can be painted to match one of the frame colours, and if you have Spinergys you can pick a spoke colour. In short, the Ethos is a stunning looking chair that you can personalise to your unique style.
Our Verdict
Awareness of the long-term damage done by vibrations is growing, which is why products that address this have become more prevalent recently. The best known way of reducing vibrations is through a titanium frame wheelchair, like TiLite's ZRA or TRA - however, this only helps up to a level, and does limit your choice of wheelchair. Frogs Legs castor fork suspension has the drawback of making your chair front-heavy. Rear wheel innovations like Loopwheels are popular, but don't address vibrations from the front castors and their standard wheels don't have the same level of lateral stability.
It's rare that a truly unique and innovative new product comes along, but the Ethos is definitely one. It really does provide outstanding vibration dampening, without compromises on your wheelchair's performance. The Ethos has to be tried out to feel the difference - and we would thoroughly recommend giving it a go.
