Trionic 12 in Rollator

This is a review of the Trionic 12 inch outdoor rollator. Specs and additional information may be found here: https://www.trionic.us/en/walker-the-...

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional or someone affiliated with a medical device company. The following is not a recommendation but a review of the device based on 3 months of personal use. Readers should consult their healthcare provider before deciding to purchase or use this rollator. I received no compensation for this review.

My baseline: 54 yo female, 5'6" 130 lbs, primary diagnosis of spastic cerebral palsy, right side dominant. My disease is progressive, despite the medicalized parsing of the term. I am not able to walk unassisted, and my ability to stand unassisted is limited to about a minute or two at best. Prior history of using both canes and a popular light-weight rollator. Before purchasing the Trionic rollator I primarily used my former rollator indoors with success. Outdoor use of my old rollator was significantly less successful, hence the new purchase. Primary motivation for the purchase was an attempt to reduce/eliminate the "runaway" commonly experienced by users of light-weight rollators.

All Trionic models have pneumatic tires, with the exception of their smallest model, the 9 inch model, which has solid wheels. This is a review of their next-smallest 12 in model, which does have pneumatic tires. This model is primarily for outdoor use. It will likely fit through a standard US front door, but does not fit, or fit well through interior doors. The turning radius is significantly wider than that of a more typical rollator.

The Scoop: This was a very good purchase given my particular circumstances. Unless it is purchased for a user with outside family support for transport, the user should have a fair amount of upper body strength and some balance. At 23 lbs total it is significantly heavier than other commercially available rollators. I expected that the extra weight could be a problem, but it turned out to be an asset. It is extremely well-built, sturdy, and well-balanced. The unit comes fully assembled. It has disc brakes and a frame designed to walk in*, not behind. The brakes are sensitive but not touchy. The handles come in two sizes and are adjustable--not just in height but in several planes of adjustment. The handles are *very comfortable. The tires come at 30 psi, but I reduced that to 20 psi to allow for better traction.
In my experience it has much better traction than my old model, especially as I got used to using it. It does not eliminate runaway for me, but it goes a long way to reduce it. The disc brakes are great, though not quite as sensitive as I expected. The hand brakes are well-designed, and I am told the model can be designed to be right- or left-handed braking only. When the model is parked I can lean on it heavily and it will not move, unlike my old unit which was too light to really take my body weight if I needed to lean hard. The seat is comfortable if you are not too big, and the basket is large enough for one bag of groceries. The unit folds/unfolds easily for me, side to side. It will stand up folded on its own very easily AND it will roll when folded pretty easily, even when I lean on it significantly. I cannot lift and move 23 lbs outright, but I am able to lift one end of the unit and roll/flip it onto the rear floor of my Nissan Sentra. If I had an SUV and needed to lift it outright I would not have been able to use this model without outside assistance.
This thing is phenomenal on curbs, up and down. See the video for how I manage this safely. It's great on grass and on uneven surfaces in general. I can lean on it with confidence when in transition from one surface to another, even with only 3 wheels on the ground. At 20 psi with the 12 inch wheels the ride is smooth with none of the typical jerkiness of cheaper rollators. I feel safe transitioning to/from the seat. With the brakes locked this thing stays put. Since I live in the Arizona desert I have not had much experience with it in the rain, but I can say it handled the dry and wet sand on the beach in Galveston with no issues. I even navigated a few small dunes with relative ease. I haven't had the chance to use it yet in my hometown of Philadelphia, but I am betting it will be phenomenal on the subway.

This rollator will likely work well for a specific segment of the population that needs hardware to ambulate. I use the Trionic rollator outside, and I have kept my old, skinnier rollator to use inside. The Trionic works very well for me, and I don't regret the expense. As my brother said, "It's less expensive than a good bike". It's also cheaper than a new hip.

Hope this information is helpful to potential users.