My physical therapist moved me off the rollator for short distances back in May and told me to get a cane. Before that I was getting around the house holding the edge of the counter and the door frames, which works right up until your hand lands on something that slides. I bought a Vive folding cane, set it to 35 inches, and it has been in my hand or in my car ever since. Six months now. Marge has her own set of aids and I have mine, and this one is mine.
Here is the part I did not expect. The cane itself stopped being interesting after about a week. What kept being useful was the folding. The Vive folds in two places and drops in a pocket, so it comes along on all the small trips that make up most of a week: the hardware store, the church parking lot, a booth at the diner after service, the two steps up from my garage into the kitchen. A one-piece cane has to be leaned somewhere and it has to be remembered. Ten reasons this one has earned that spot, in the order I noticed them.
The cane that comes along instead of waiting in the closet
Folds to about a foot, weighs 8 ounces, adjusts from 33 to 37 inches. Mine has ridden in the car door pocket since May.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →It rides in the car door pocket instead of leaning on the seat
Folded, mine measures about a foot long. The listing gives the folded dimensions as 12 inches, and that is close to what I checked with a tape in the garage. That length drops straight into the door pocket of our sedan and stays there. When I park at the hardware store I reach down, unfold it, press the joint until it seats, and I am walking. Nothing to remember, nothing rolling around under the passenger seat. On days I leave it in the car, having it along cost me nothing.
It goes under the pew on Sunday morning
Our church aisle is not built for a cane lying across it. I fold mine and slide it under the seat before the first hymn, and it is out of everybody's way until the benediction. A fixed cane would have to stand in the aisle or lie on the seat next to me. Small thing, but I am 74 and I have watched men older than me do the shuffle down that aisle after service, and I would rather not be the reason the line behind me stops.
A booth at the diner stops being a project
We go out after church with two other couples. Booth seating means a cane has to go somewhere, and a long one ends up sideways across the floor where a waitress will trip on it. The Vive folds down and fits beside my leg against the wall of the booth. Marge noticed before I did. She said it was the first time in months I was not holding up the table with one hand and figuring out where to park a cane with the other.
One-inch height steps let me fit it to a real person
The listing gives an adjustment range of 33 to 37 inches in one-inch increments. I am 5 foot 11 and mine sits at 35. My physical therapist showed me where it should land: standing straight, arm hanging relaxed, the top of the grip at the crease of my wrist. Thirty-five was the closest number to that, and the push-button collar got me there in a couple of minutes with no tools. If you are shorter than me or taller than me, that same range probably covers you.
The grip is shaped for a hand, not a broom handle
The handle is contoured to the shape of a hand, done in brass and rubber per the listing, though what I can actually report is what my palm says. After a Sunday morning of standing and walking and standing again, my right hand is not sore. That is the whole review of the grip. I have held plenty of handles that were shaped for nothing in particular, and this one I forget about, which is the highest thing I can say about a handle.
Once the joint is seated, on gravel or on the hardwood in the hall, it is a cane and not a hinge. That is the test I run every time I open it.
It locks solid when you lean on it
A folding cane is only worth carrying if it does not fold when you do not want it to. The Vive locks at the joint when it is opened up. I have tested that on gravel, on the hardwood in the hall, and on the two steps up from my garage into the kitchen. If the joint is not fully seated you will feel it before you trust it, so seat it, then check it with a thumb. That is a two-second habit, same as checking the brake tension on the rollator once a month.
Eight ounces is light enough that you forget you are carrying it
The listing puts the cane at 8 ounces. That is lighter than a full coffee mug. I carry it by the handle from the car to the church door and it does not pull on my shoulder the way a bag does. On a morning when my knee is stiff and I am moving slow, the last thing I want is one more thing to haul around. Eight ounces is not a burden, and that matters more than it sounds like it should.
An aluminum shaft and a rubber tip take yard knocks
The shaft is aluminum and the tip is rubber, and mine has been out in the yard with me while I checked the downspouts and walked the fence line after a storm. It has leaned against the workbench in the garage and it has been dropped once on the driveway. Aluminum does not care. The rubber tip still has tread on it. I look at the tip every couple of weeks when I check the rollator brakes, mostly out of the same habit of looking at things before they fail.
It splits the work with the rollator instead of replacing it
I want to be clear about this, because I have had the conversation at church. The cane did not take the rollator's job. The rollator is for the grocery store and the long walk from the parking lot on Sunday, and I still sit on the seat when the line is slow. The cane is for short distances: the hall, the yard, the kitchen, the pew to the door. Two tools, two jobs. Getting that straight is what made both of them useful instead of confusing.
The lifetime guarantee meant I stopped shopping and just bought one
The listing says the company is family owned and the cane carries a lifetime guarantee. I have not had to test that and I hope not to. What it bought me was the decision. I did not spend three evenings comparing forty canes. I read the listing, checked the range, bought one. Six months in, the tip is fine, the joint is fine, the grip is fine. If it stops being fine, I will find out whether a guarantee is worth what it says on the page.
What I'd Skip
Three things I would skip, and one I would not. I would skip buying a second cane to leave in the car, because the Vive moves with me and a spare is just another thing to keep track of. I would skip setting the height by eye and leaving it, because a cane that is an inch off has you leaning, and leaning is the whole problem you are trying to solve. And I would skip expecting a folding cane to do a rollator's job on a long outing, because it will not and you will be tired. What I would not skip is asking my physical therapist where the grip should land before I touched the collar. That is not a medical opinion, it is just what worked in my hallway.
Start with one cane and get the height right the first time
The Vive adjusts in one-inch steps from 33 to 37 inches. If your physical therapist has told you a cane is next, buy one, set it to your wrist crease, and keep it where you will actually reach for it.
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