“A Stylish Budget-Friendly Upright Walker With Armrests… And A Few Issues”
Price: (Click here to check price on Amazon.)
Pros: All-terrain. Stylish design. Quite sturdy.
Cons: A bit heavy.
Best For: You want an all-terrain upright walker that can be used everywhere.
Related: Best Upright Walkers 2023
Overview
Features
- Weight Capacity: 300 pounds
- Approximate User Height: 5’4″ – 6’2″
- Handle Height Adjustment: 39″ – 48″
- Overall Width: 27″
- Overall Length: 30″
- Width Between Handles: 21″
- Storage Dimensions: 18″W x 10″H x 8″D
- Seat Height: 25.5″
- Seat Dimensions: 21″W x 8.7″D
- Wheel Size: 10″ Front, 8″ Rear
- Product Weight: 19.2 pounds
- Folded Dimensions: 39″H x 12″W x 30″L
Our Analysis
OasisSpace entered the mobility aid market a number of years ago and quickly became one of the more popular manufacturers online thanks to a number of highly-rated and budget-friendly walkers, rollators, knee scooters, bed rails, and more. They are a manufacturer that sells products directly to consumers through Amazon and has their own website. The products have more novel designs and more choices. There is a relatively complete return and after-sales service, so there is no need to worry about problems after purchase.
Design & Style
First impressions of the OasisSpace walker are good. The red color of the frame is a real head turner that everyone seems to like, and combined with the large shiny silver wheels and safety reflectors this machine has some real visual pop.
Unfortunately some design choices lead to a less than ideal user experience. For example, the exposed brake cables stick out quite a fair bit and had a tendency to get caught on anything in their way… door handles, chair arms, small children. We were lucky and did not get caught bad enough to case a fall, but this does present a real safety risk for elderly people.
The unit is equipped with cheap but functional components including a large storage bag, seat, and backrest.
On The Road
Performance when you’re out and about on the road or cruising indoors at home is one of the key performance indicators we look at when reviewing upright walkers. After all, increasing your ability and enjoyment of walking is the primary purpose of getting one. The OasisSpace upright is a bit of a mixed bag with some pros and cons that tend to cancel each other out.
Indoors, given a large open space, the unit performs really well. The large wheels roll smoothly over surfaces such as carpets, tiles, and polished concrete. And the huge 10-inch front wheels make light work of small transitions and bumps. However this is quite a large piece of equipment, and navigating smaller rooms and narrow hallways can be a challenge.
Outdoors the OasisSpace performs quite well as long as you stick to relatively flat and smooth surfaces. Large open areas like bitumen carparks, polished concrete shopping malls, and hard wood floors are all handled with ease. Likewise, outdoor areas such as short grass, hard dirt, and cobbled streets are all dealt with quite well. However if the terrain gets much more rugged than this then the OasisSpace can start to get stuck and want to tip over, especially when you combine turning, hills, and bumps in the road.
Overall the OasisSpace upright feels quite sturdy and will give you more confidence when walking alone, just be aware of it’s limitations and don’t push it to far and it will serve you well.
maneuverability
With a relatively large wheelbase — the OasisSpace measures 27 inches wide and 30 inches long — this unit can be a bit tricky to handle in small indoor spaces. While it rolls easily and turns well thanks to the 360 degree swivel front wheels, the sheer size of it makes it better suited to larger more open areas.
This model folds up using our preferred “side-to-side” method, which in theory makes it simple to compress down to fit through narrower spaces, but unfortunately with the OasisSpace you need to remove the storage bag before folding it so this is not a practical option in most situations.
Weight & Folded Size
Weighing in at just over 19 pounds the OasisSpace upright is about average for this category of . For reference, the lightweight UPWalker Lite weighs in at just 15.5 pounds, while the super sturdy original UPWalker tips the scales at 23 pounds.
Folding the unit is as simple as pulling up on the handle located on the seat. It folds sideways and compresses down to about 12 inches wide. And best of all the unit stays standing while folded, which means you can tuck it away neatly when not in use and then have it ready in an instant when you need it. But as noted above, the storage bag must be removed to fold the unit which significantly reduces the practicality of this feature.
Unfortunately the OasisSpace is still quite large when in this default folded mode, certainly too large to comfortably fit in most cars. You can partly dismantle the unit for travel, but this is a fiddly and time-consuming process, not something you would want to do on a regular basis.
Seat
A disappointing feature of this is the . It’s quite shallow, too high off the ground, and rather awkwardly positioned between the arms of the . And it’s uncomfortable enough that you’ll only want to use it when there are no other seats available. We also found the back rest sat too low and rather than providing support and safety it felt like if you lean back you’ll spill over backwards off the . There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the UPWalker Lite is miles ahead in the safety, comfort, and features of their .
Wheels
With huge 10 inch wheels on the front of the , and big 8 inch wheels on the back, the OasisSpace is more than equipped to handle anything the average elderly person is going to throw at it. The snazzy silver wheels are fitted with polyurethane rubber tires that provide adequate grip on most surfaces, though we’d really like to see them offer a grippier option because it is possible to make the lose traction.
Brakes
The brakes on your are obviously one of the most important safety features and not somewhere you should cut corners. This is fitted with standard double locking brakes which operate by pulling the levers towards you to slow the down, and pushing the levers away to lock the park brakes.
However, compared to the UPWalker these brakes require more hand strength to apply, are less effective, and unless you have them dialed in just right there tends to be some “slippage” even when the brakes are locked. And unlike the UPWalker which has internal brake cables, the external cables of the OasisSpace have a bad habit of getting caught on anything that gets in their way.
Storage
The comes standard with a large attached to the front of the . It’s big enough to carry all your personal items as well as anything you’d need for a day’s adventure. However there are two rather annoying problems we found. First, you can’t access the bag from your normal standing position using the like you can on the UPWalker. Instead, you have to walk around to the front of the and crouch right down to open it. Second, the bag needs to be removed in order to fold the . In my mind this significantly reduces the usefulness of both of these features.
Build Quality
Overall the OasisSpace unit we bought for testing was a solid piece of equipment with a sturdy aluminum frame that felt completely at home with our 250 pounds test pilot putting it through it’s paces. However the rest of the components such as the brakes, , and do feel quite cheap and I’m not sure how long they’ll last with consistent daily use over many months. And like many of the cheaper walkers coming out of China, there are reports of inconsistencies in manufacturing so I suspect quality control standards are not as high as they could be.
What We Liked
- Good value for money
- Stylish looks
- Large 10-inch wheels up front
- Feels sturdy as long as you assemble it correctly
- Easy to maneuver as long as you have enough space
What Could Be Improved
- Not good for travel because it doesn’t fold very small
- Hand brake cables have a tendency to get caught on everything
- Storage bag must be taken off to fold the walker
- Seat is small and not very comfortable
- Seat is too high for short people
- Difficult to assemble
Conclusion
While there are plenty of good things to say about the , it’s hard to give a strong recommendation for it because there are just as many (if not more) things we wish they would improve. Overall it’s a sturdy budget-friendly that works well in large spaces, just be aware of it’s weaknesses before purchasing. You might also consider the Elenker which has a very similar design and scored higher in our tests.
Click button to check the current price on Amazon.
About The Author
