New White Cane: the Urban Xplorer from Awarewolf Gear

I recently picked up the Urban Xplorer white cane from the RNIB shop. I am becoming increasingly unsatisfied with Ambutech canes. In general, I think they are a solid choice of cane. However, a redesign means the joints are a lot shorter than they used to be, so I find that a joint will start to fold when I am walking. As you can imagine, a section of my cane flopping around half-way across the street is not what I need!

So, it seemed like a good time to try out a new type of cane. The Urban Xplorer is made by Awarewolf Gear, the same team who brought us the very sturdy but heavy All-Terrain cane.

Similarly to the All-Terrain cane, you can modify the height of the Urban Xplorer. This means you purchase a cane that can be adapted to a range of lengths. There’s a clip just below the handle that you snap open, and this allows you to extend or shorten the cane as needed. It comes in sizes small to extra large, and each size of cane will cover a range of lengths. The longest length it goes up to is 62 inches, so if you are a tall person who likes a long cane, you may not be satisfied.

They have also developed a new kind of cane tip. It is very similar to a marshmallow tip, however the end of it is domed, like a roller ball. So in theory I will see the benefits of both of these tips in one. I have been using a giant roller ball to account for all the cracks in the pavement around here. Using a metal glide tip has become almost impossible due to the condition of the paths and roads, and so I went for the chunkiest tip possible. Even though this new tip is quite a bit smaller, I thought it was worth giving it a try.

I’ve walked to and from work a couple of times since getting the cane, so I feel like I’ve used it enough to give it a decent review.

Firstly, the build of the cane feels really solid. It’s made of very durable aluminium, and you can definitely feel that. The benefit of this of course is that I don’t feel like there is any risk of it snapping. The downside is that it is really, really rigid. Not in the sense that it doesn’t fold, but if you hit a lamppost at the wrong angle, you are going to feel the shock through your wrist and up your arm. There is something to be said for having a cane with a little bit of give in it, just to take the impact out of your joints.

It is also quite heavy. I’ve come from using an Ambutech graphite cane, which weighs approximately 317g, to the Urban Xplorer, which weighs in at 368g. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, and I’m adapting to it, but I did notice it. I think this is because it also has much less give and so I am getting a lot more feedback in my hand, which may or may not be a good thing.

The joints are definitely an upgrade on the Ambutech canes. I know that the new conical joints were supposed to stop the canes getting stuck which prevented you from folding them, but I feel like they fold way too easily and that is a problem when I am using it. The joints on the Urban Xplorer are still really easy to fold and unfold, but I don’t feel like there’s a risk of my cane folding in on itself while I am using it.

Equally, I quite like the foam grip on the handle. The rubber grip on my Ambutech cane is fine until it gets wet when it rains, and then it feels awful on my skin. So I expect this will be a more pleasant experience.

One potential benefit of the Urban Xplorer is that you can change the length of the cane. This is useful if, for example, you are experimenting with different cane lengths to see what works best for you. Theoretically, this should be something that adds value to the cane.

My biggest frustration is that although the extending mechanism is beautifully simple, I have found that on occasion it loosens and then opens of its own accord. This means my cane length changes whether I want it to or not. For obvious reasons, this is not ideal. Even when I tighten the screw that holds the clip shut, I am not convinced it is completely reliable. The clip is also made of a rather cheap feeling plastic, and given that the rest of the cane feels like it has been made very well, this is really disappointing. My fear is that the clip will snap, rendering my cane effectively useless as I will not be able to fix it at a particular length.

The redesigned tip is quite nice. I’m not sure it’s actually better than a marshmallow or standard roller ball. Perhaps I am not a particularly discerning cane user. I haven’t noticed it make a huge difference to how I travel, but equally it hasn’t been a hinderance. The Urban Xplorer takes standard hook style tips, so I can switch out to an Ambutech tip if I wish. Equally, you could use this dome tip with an Ambutech cane if you had one.

There are clear benefits to this cane. It feels strong, and the joints are longer and more secure than on my previous cane. But the quality of the lengthening mechanism is a point of concern, and the extreme rigidity of the aluminium may not be good for the joint in your wrist long-term.

All in all I think it is fine. Coming in at £80 excluding VAT it isn’t cheap, and I’m not sure that it’s better value than a £50 Ambutech cane. They both have their benefits and drawbacks. There is always the option of switching to a Svárovský cane, but I’ve heard that these have quality control issues, so will they be any better or just introduce a new set of positives and negatives? I love the beautifully light NFB canes, but they simply do not cope in the UK or in Europe more widely. Our pavements are a lot more cluttered and narrow, with far more obstacles to get your cane stuck under. I managed to snap several of them within a year in the UK, when I’d used a single cane for a year in Colorado with no issues at all. Not to mention the metal glide tips doing the opposite of gliding along our bumpy pavements!

So the perfect cane still eludes me. The more I try different canes, the more I am learning what I do and do not want. If anyone fancies the challenge of designing a new, perfect white cane, I am all ears.