Homestead

Suncast Lawn & Garden Cart

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Hauling around the home

The Suncast Yard Cart is rated 4.8 stars on Amazon. (And that’s the average of 124 reviews!) It is superior to a wheelbarrow for most of a homeowner’s purposes. It is easier to navigate (it’s pulled, not pushed), less tippy, less costly, lower-maintenance (no inflatable tire or rust-prone body), lighter (mostly plastic), less of a space hog, and less tiring (since none of the weight is borne by the shoulders).

I’ve used it for collecting lawn clippings and yard debris. (It can also be used to bring grocery bags into the house from the car.) I’ve been pleased by all the features I mentioned above, plus by my ability to unload it into my yard-waste “dumpster” by lifting it over the latter’s upper edge. (There is a recess at the bottom that one can grasp to lift it.) Try that with a wheelbarrow!

It has two minor flaws. It tends to tip backward on a slope when empty, and its handle is a bit short for taller people (over 5’11”). The floor of the cart should be changed so it slants upward to its front. (Not much capacity would be lost.) Then it wouldn’t tend to tip backwards when “at rest” on a slanted surface, even if its handle were higher because it had extra screw holes in it 2 or 3 inches below the current set, for use by tall people.

I used a similar cart of a different brand, Easy Go, for about a year. The Suncast Cart is superior in having larger wheels, a better handhold at the bottom, greater capacity (I put my old Easy Go completely inside my Suncast), squarer corners (making it easier to fit certain borderline-size rectangular objects securely inside), being cheaper ($28 vs. $38), and being more sturdily built. It has a metal (not plastic) handle and appears to have a thicker plastic body. (Its shipping weight—the only weight data available on Amazon—is 7 lbs. vs. 5 lbs. for the Easy Go.) Its bottom isn’t flat but domed, for strength.

-- Roger Knights 10/21/14

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