When confronted with needing a wheelchair there are only a few types to choose from. You will also be limited (perhaps) by your budget. Basically you are looking at a manual (hand powered) wheelchair, a motorized wheelchair, or a mobility scooter as your choices.
So how do you go about choosing the proper style for you? There are several factors involved.
Your physical condition:
That may sound funny since obviously you need a mobility device of some kind. The fact is a young strong person with lots of upper body strength and good motor skills up top can handle a totally manual wheelchair which is lighter and less expensive.
Someone who is more disabled may need one that is only controlled with a joystick and therefore you will need a motorized wheelchair. Mobility scooters can handle additional merchandise well such as for shopping and depending on your physical abilities may work well for you.
House layout:
If your house is tiny and cramped you will find it very difficult to get around with a mobility scooter. They are simply too big. Even some of the standard motorized styles are larger and may have problems, so you need to take measurements to see how they will work for you.
Cost:
Obviously cost is always an issue. Your insurance may cover some or all of the costs. Perhaps Medicare or the veterans association will take care of it. You need to investigate this. Certainly the manual wheelchairs are less expensive. Scooters and motorized ones come in a wide variety of price ranges but will almost always cost more than a manual wheelchair.
Buying a used wheelchair can be a huge money savings. Often new padding can cover the seat and you are in business. I would discourage buying a well worn cheap wheelchair because frankly you can buy new lost cost manual wheelchairs for $100. You don’t want to compromise comfort too much because many hours are spent sitting in the chair.
Other points and exceptions:
You may find that you need more than one wheelchair. You may use a manual one around the house and then have a mobility scooter or motorized wheelchair that you keep in a van with a chair lift. This is what you might use for trips to the store or just general traveling.
You might also find that you want a sport or specialty wheelchair for activities such as playing basketball, racing or some other performance event. Some of those can actually cost more than some of the lower cost electric motorized wheelchairs.
This point is obvious but I see people miss it sometimes. There is a big difference between a manual wheelchair and a transport chair. The transport chair has 4 small wheels. It is meant for someone to push you around and self power is not really possible.
There are exceptions but in general this is true. The self powered wheelchair requires the big wheels and having the additional ring for your hands is nicer on your hands. It DOES make the wheelchair wider so watch out for that again when looking at your surroundings.
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