My 31st birthday is arriving fast. I want to get myself something, but I don’t know what would be best for me, and that’s the reason for this post. As for me: I am a wheelchair bound male, and I would prefer something that I can use without my hands, so probably something that mounts would be a good call, but there’s a problem with that. I’m a very loved uncle, and I get a lot of last minute notice visits from my nieces and nephews pretty often, so if it is mountable, it’d have to be one I can install and uninstall pretty quick.
I hope I got my concerns across to where they’re understood, but given everything, what should I get?
Most of the commonly used devices have handsfree setups. However, most people use these devices with desk mount setups which might be an issue if you can’t adjust the height of your chair or desk. For any mounting solutions that have arms you can probably adjust the height but then it might be a bit more fiddly when it comes to setup/tear down.
The most commonly used device is the og Handy. The official handsfree setup has a clamp, arm and cup setup so it would probably be better. However the cup is usually regarded as inferior because it tends to break since its plastic. People have sturdier setups and you can probably search for them on the website. You do have to be plugged in since its not battery powered. In my experience since its wired and it requires a clamp and whole shebang for handsfree its not the best in terms of tear down speed, but its not the worst.
The Handy 2 is also coming out soon but you won’t get one till late summer at this point and its a new release so it comes with the risk that new devices have. And currently we just see the device and not their handsfree solution, so people are probably going to be sourcing their own based off of the specs.
Funsr1 has an extra axis on top of the up/down. You can purchase it with their handsfree setup. From what I understand its also not battery powered. It is less of a commercial product and more of a hobbyist product so its a lot less refined than other devices.
The Keon is my most commonly used device when I just want to get in and out w/o much fuss. It has a handsfree setup but I have no idea how well/poorly received it is. For my use case I just put a towel folded up on the edge of a table and prop it against that and slide myself in against it. The ring of the device gives you something to prop up against w/o hindering the stroke function. The device is battery powered so you can just charge it and then bring it out w/o needing to set up wires to your computer(you will need bluetooth to connect to it). There is a risk of it running out of power mid use, though thats only a problem if you use it for that long or don’t charge it. The only major downside with the device is that it isn’t as fast/accurate as TheHandy so you’ll have to rely on simplified scripts.
I probably can’t recommend the SR6 or OSR2 line of devices since those have way more setup than what you’re looking for since you need to plug in a power source and a usb cable for data, on top of the desk mounts or monitor arms that people use.
edit: There’s also the possibility for mounting things to your chair since it would probably be sturdy enough but thats something you’d have to explore on your own.
The upcoming Handy 2 would seem like the most convenient option.
For mounting, they’re going to release a new more stable option later on. Here’s a prototype photo they shared during the AMA yesterday:
Right now, you could get their standard desk mount (note that you don’t need the handsfree cup with the Handy 2): https://www.thehandy.com/store/handsfree-desk-mount-eu-uk/
Or any standard microphone or monitor mount with quarter inch screw attachment.
Honestly, if you’re fine with waiting a few months, Handy2 is probably your best bet. If you want something to tide you over for now, I listed out the options. Most of the community already has their devices, so Handy2 would just be an update to their collection, as opposed to being a first device.
Feel free to use the search terms with Google or any store you like.
Also, you could get two arms with a single clamp if the clamp has at least two threads (the official handsfree desk mount does, so you could get that and another arm from anywhere). This way you’ll get more stability by attaching one arm to each mounting thread on the Handy 2.
To remove the setup quickly, you simply unscrew the clamp and store the device with the mounting still attached.
To clarify, if you want the Handy 2 you’d pledge to the Kickstarter campaign right now (or as soon as is comfortable for you) to get it as cheap as possible. They’ll ship later this year.
