Looking for your recommendations......for a 72th birthday present for my dad!

[Agent Tikki]

Hey guys and gals,

I was wondering if you would be so kind as to recommend me a good motorized cart for my father.

He turns 72 today, and is still an avid golfer.  He's been schlepping his clubs himself up until now but his diabetes flares up every now and then and he's complaining that he gets really really tired at the end of 18 holes.

What I would like is your personal experience with your motorized golf carts.  Please be specific as to the Make and Models of you personal cart so I can look it up.

I'd like to know your opinions on:

The overall quality, fit and finish.

How durable, how easily the finish chips/fades.

How long the batteries really last.

If remotes are really worth it.

If you think that they are worth the money.

Your opinions on the over ease of use. (my dad's not to tech savvy ><)

I'd really like to know if you've had any issues and how the customer service reps handled your returns.

Thanks in advance!  :D

[RFetters]

Forget the motor, get him a nice 3 wheel push cart, and make sure it has a fold down seat.  Just having the seat will do more to save his energy than any other feature.

All the trolley carts push or pull real easy, so having the expense of the motor, and the bother of charging the battery and the other tech doesnt really justify the actual increase in price.  In addition, its heavier to load in and out of the car.

[mdl]

Intuitively I'd agree with RFetters.  Seems like the seat is more important than the motor, though I've played with a push cart before and those things can be kind of tough to push up slightly steep inclines.

That aside, I don't have any personal experience (as an in shape 30 year old!), but I played a round with an older guy recently, maybe mid-late 60s with a slight limp and a bit overweight, who had a Bag Boy electric push cart.  I asked him and he said the battery easily lasted 18 holes.  He said he'd feel comfortable taking it even for 27, and wouldn't be surprised if it made it 36 on a not too hilly course but he wouldn't be confident enough to try.  The thing looked like it handled like a dream, never looked to be in any risk of tumbling, and he steered it easily up around curves in the cart path between holes where it would have tumbled down big hills if he didn't have good control with the remote and it had pitched over to the wrong side of the path.

Is $2k, though he said he went and got it at the factory and paid something like $1200-$1300.  Don't know if he happened to know someone there or something to get that deal.

[Agent Tikki]

As much as like to agree with you guys and he's already walking it and has a manual push cart. Give him a break, he's just a tad overweight at 5'7" and 175#, but he's 72. Also (and I think this may be the main reason) one of his friends just got one, now he wants one too... Anyone know if the Bag Boy Navigator Elite is a good model? How about the Sun Mountain models?