Which electric hand cart to choose ?

[Chas]

I'm looking for advice about which electric hand cart to buy. I'm talking about a powered hand cart here, not something you rent at the club and sit upon. I've looked at the Sun Mountain SpeedE cart but haven't actually seen one in action and wonder if it's robust enough for the job. You can pay up to $2000 for an electric cart, which is a lot more than I'm willing to come across with. The SpeedE cart sells for considerably less than that.

In case you're wondering, I took up golf a few years ago after a bout with cancer that involved some intensive chemotherapy, which did a number on the nerves in my feet (peripheral neuropathy is the technical term). I can't run around any more, or even tolerate much pressure on my feet for any length of time, so I gave up tennis and switched to golf. I can still walk 18 holes, surely need the exercise and so avoid rental carts when possible, but my feet would be much better off if I didn't have to pull or push a cart the whole way and just walked behind.

I've only seen a powered handcart maybe three or four times on the course in the four years I've been playing golf here in San Diego and am not expecting a big response to my question. Any advice would be appreciated, even if it's the opinion of someone you know about their powered cart.

[iacas]

I'm looking for advice about which electric hand cart to buy.

I'm reviewing two of them right now: the Sun Mountain SpeedE Cart and the Bag Boy Navigator.

I've looked at the Sun Mountain SpeedE cart but haven't actually seen one in action and wonder if it's robust enough for the job. You can pay up to $2000 for an electric cart, which is a lot more than I'm willing to come across with. The SpeedE cart sells for considerably less than that.

It does - around $699 (save 10% via golfgods.com too, I suppose). It's quite compact, works really well, has a lot of features (towards the handle area, primarily). My main beefs with it are:

1) no audio confirmation when you push a button (suppose you're walking behind the cart, and you push the "30 yard" button and veer off to go help your buddy look for his ball. You look back and see your cart still running, and you start to wonder... "did I really push the button or is it just going to keep going?") 2) no remote (you won't find that for $700) 3) the tracking adjustment is too particular. One day it'll be going a little left. the next day a little right. It's tough to get it perfect. Battery life is great, it easily conquers hills (sometimes you have to lift up on the handle to give the front wheel some traction), it carries bags of all sizes, including stand bags, and more. I like it quite a bit. If you're able to afford the Navigator (~ $1k), it's got a remote and automatic "navigating" features that straighten the cart out when it's pushed offline by a hill. But I broke mine on the first hole and just got the replacement, so I haven't run it through a full test. And yeah, it broke after toppling over, so take that for what it's worth...

I've only seen a powered handcart maybe three or four times on the course in the four years I've been playing golf here in San Diego and am not expecting a big response to my question. Any advice would be appreciated, even if it's the opinion of someone you know about their powered cart.

They're all over the place at the private clubs.

[hometeamdawg]

2) no remote (you won't find that for $700)

A couple of guys in my group have The Caddy-Bug. It comes with remote, shipped for around $600. No plastic gears, it actually has hub motors! It has a couple of irritations, but pretty good for the money. They've both had theirs for over a year. The distributor is out of stock until December.

http://caddybug-usa.com/ I made the mistake of buying a different brand, a REALLY inexpensive electric caddy, with remote. The nylon gear boxes might have survived a smooth, flat course, but it was no match for my home course. Maybe you can review The Caddy-Bug?