Electric Golf trolley

stebed

Well after a recent back injury I have decided I am going to invest in an electric golf trolley. I have short listed 2 models the PowaKaddy Freeway 2 and the Motocaddy S3 Digital. Both are very similar prices and spec. I have read a review that says that the Powacaddy speed control isn't great as the difference between 4 and 5 is too much, 4 too slow and 5 too fast, and I have also read that the S3 is too slow full stop, the review I read said it need to be used at full speed most of the time.

I know these are both pretty new trollies to the market but wondered if anyone was using them yet?

Thanks

mike12

Hi,
Have a gokart myself and would recommend it simple nice and solid trolly and a good after sales service.
Mike

Pauliee

mike12 wrote: »

Hi,
Have a gokart myself and would recommend it simple nice and solid trolly and a good after sales service.
Mike

+1. Price wise very good as well.

george67

There's only one trolley for me a Golf Glider , mine is over 10 years old a few repairs along the way but nothing serious (I give it a rough enough time aswell):)

karlyk1

+1 with Golf Glider. Great after sales service too (out in Churchtown if you're in Dublin). Only thing that went 'wrong' for me was the plastic handle snapped when I was on the 3rd hold on the Montgomery course in Carton, leading to a rather uncomfortable and unusual round of golf! Have had mine for about 5 years with no other issues.

alxmorgan

+1 for GoKart.
Only had it a few months but so far so good - no complaints and after sales service is superb.

beiarboy

Definitely a GoKart! Works brilliantly. Adjustable speed. Looks fantastic. Great Price. Now available in Ireland only via www.gokart.ie. Got one last year and love it.

Zak Flaps

beiarboy wrote: »

Definitely a GoKart! Works brilliantly. Adjustable speed. Looks fantastic. Great Price. Now available in Ireland only via www.gokart.ie. Got one last year and love it.

€285 on that site including p+p...looks nice and reviews seem positive...may have to get one myself!!! Damn you OP!!!!!!!

snowy666

Seems all my posts are about this trolley - promise I'm no shill:)

This is what I replied to someone who sent me a PM about the gokart:

It's pretty slick in general. Good points:

Looks great
Does exactly what you need it to
Easy to put up/take down
Transit bag is great addition
Good to set the speed and just walk along next to it.

Not necessarily bad points but things I'd change:
Speed selectionwheel could be grippier (little too easy to move into quicker speed)
Would be good to have a "stop in x metres feature"

Obviously I'm nit-picking here, because the Kart is modelled as being very easy and simple to use without having too much added rubbish.

I owned a Stewart remote controlled trolley before and much prefer the simplicity and ease of use with the Go-Kart.

I'm VERY happy with it and the company couldn't be better to deal with, fantastic customer support.

In addition to the above, I've used it probably 100 times now - sicko I know - and could not be happier with it. Absolutely one of my best Golf purchases.

A New earth

Any advice out there on batteries , my Glider ones only last just over a year and at c. €110 each makes it expensive (do play a good bit - say couple of hours 2 nights a week and game at weekend April to Oct and 15 hole game once a week rest of year)

Have tried leaving plugged in all the time with 1 battery & with the current one, taking off charger (after fully charging) until the night before game but doesn't seem to make much difference & it's starting to get weak at end of round now.

Any other experiences/views. Sorry to use your thread but you might find interesting. (very happy with Glider which I have for years by the way)

george67

basically the batteries are cyclic meaning they are rated for so many charges so it doesn't matter if you do nine or eighteen it reduces the life of the battery .Maybe if you don't charge between 2 nine hole games it would only count as one

curly from cork

just curious snowy what is a shill ?

Irishvillian

A shill is person who is paid to help another person or organization to sell ... The shill pretends to have no association with the seller/group

A New earth

george67 wrote: »

basically the batteries are cyclic meaning they are rated for so many charges so it doesn't matter if you do nine or eighteen it reduces the life of the battery .Maybe if you don't charge between 2 nine hole games it would only count as one

Thanks george67, never thought of that. I'll try it with the next battery. In fact maybe I'll use the current one that is just about making 18 holes, for the short practice games & buy a new one to use only for full rounds once a week.

stebed

Well Thank you for the replies, although nobody answered my question I went for the Powakaddy freeway 2 in white, 36 hole battery. I have ordered it in the UK as I am over there at Easter so saved some money as well, just hope it is as good as the reviews claim.

Zak Flaps

mike12 wrote: »

Hi,
Have a gokart myself and would recommend it simple nice and solid trolly and a good after sales service.
Mike

Pauliee wrote: »

+1. Price wise very good as well.

alxmorgan wrote: »

+1 for GoKart.
Only had it a few months but so far so good - no complaints and after sales service is superb.

beiarboy wrote: »

Definitely a GoKart! Works brilliantly. Adjustable speed. Looks fantastic. Great Price. Now available in Ireland only via www.gokart.ie. Got one last year and love it.

snowy666 wrote: »

Seems all my posts are about this trolley - promise I'm no shill:)

This is what I replied to someone who sent me a PM about the gokart:

It's pretty slick in general. Good points:

Looks great
Does exactly what you need it to
Easy to put up/take down
Transit bag is great addition
Good to set the speed and just walk along next to it.

Not necessarily bad points but things I'd change:
Speed selectionwheel could be grippier (little too easy to move into quicker speed)
Would be good to have a "stop in x metres feature"

Obviously I'm nit-picking here, because the Kart is modelled as being very easy and simple to use without having too much added rubbish.

I owned a Stewart remote controlled trolley before and much prefer the simplicity and ease of use with the Go-Kart.

I'm VERY happy with it and the company couldn't be better to deal with, fantastic customer support.

In addition to the above, I've used it probably 100 times now - sicko I know - and could not be happier with it. Absolutely one of my best Golf purchases.

Hi Guys. Just wondering if you find the motor on the Gokart a little loud??
I have heard they are louder than other electric caddies.

Irishvillian

Zak Flaps wrote: »

Hi Guys. Just wondering if you find the motor on the Gokart a little loud??
I have heard they are louder than other electric caddies.

I just took delivery of a GoKart this morning only had it running in the kitchen but does'ent sound loud at all' i think it was the earlier models that were loud,i am
going to be using it tomorrow so i will let you know then.

mike12

Hi,
Have never noticed it to be honest.
Mike

Irishvillian

Zak Flaps wrote: »

Hi Guys. Just wondering if you find the motor on the Gokart a little loud??
I have heard they are louder than other electric caddies.

Used the GoKart today,not loud at all,great little trolley really glad i bought it:)

Pauliee

Zak Flaps wrote: »

Hi Guys. Just wondering if you find the motor on the Gokart a little loud??
I have heard they are louder than other electric caddies.

While not loud I have noticed it is a bit louder than my playing partners trolley's

1916

stebed wrote: »

I have read a review that says that the Powacaddy speed control isn't great as the difference between 4 and 5 is too much, 4 too slow and 5 too fast,Thanks

Absolutely spot on, had my first use of the season for it today and that is exactly one of the biggest problems 4/5, also why did they do away with the speed knob?? Third problem, when you hit the 'start' button, nothing happens for 2 seconds or so, so you think you haven't hit it, so you touch it again and ... nothing happens as you've turned it off

I just wonder what the meeting were like in the development stage, this is definitely 2 steps back. Have to get used to it now, as it was bought as a present for me, but if anyone is interested let me know

stebed

Well I used mine for the first time on Thursday and it was OK but very slow! I was using it on 9 speed all the time. So after the reviews I had read I thought it was strange so contacted Powakaddy to be told it was correct to only get 4.3mph from it. Anyway took it for another nine on Friday and it tipped up and smashed the center latch! Took it to be repaired in Caddycare shankhill (who seem excellent) and left it with them to repair the catch, while I was there I tried one they had there and it was going well over 5mph so they said they will look at the speed also.

Spoke to Powakaddy today and they said I can have a new one as it is under 14 days old.

1916 what speed are you seeing from yours? And if you don't want to keep it go visit Caddycare I think they may do a part ex with you for a different model.

1916

To be honest there was so many digits on the screen I didn't know what speed it was doing, the setting was "5" most of the time, which was the best/most comfortable I could manage, but I nearly ended up pushing the thing even on that setting. "4" was too slow and "6" too fast, if I had it on "9" I'd be sprinting, so there must be something wrong with yours.

I've just e-mailed their place in the UK, to see if a 4.5 could be programmed in. With the speed knob at least you could 'fine tune' your speed. With the arrows its all very defined. You'd imagine with their research they'd have a fair idea of a comfortable walk speed, even catering for 9 different speeds (but why not 18, that would seem to cover most scenario's), I'm out again on Wed, so will check the 'speed' on 4 & 5 then

Must say you seemed to have got good customer service, which is good to see

1916

One other thing Stebed, my one 'seemed' to move to the right a good deal, tried turning the screw on the front wheel. but I don't really know what I should be doing. My screw has about 15 threads showing (which is about what it showed out of the box). Nothing seems to happen, so notsure if it sould be screwed the whole way in

stebed

1916,

I did find a review somewhere where someone said they had paid someone to modify the speed control to get a "4.5"

Speak to Caddycare I am sure they will offer some advice.

gerrymadden1

For what its worth I've been using the PowaKaddy with the speed control knob on the handle on average about twice a week for 4 years. (From reading your posts it appears this model has been replaced?)

Had to replace the battery this year but, aside from the fact that it takes up a lot of space in the boot, it's a great machine.

Still miss the days when I used to throw my Ping Hoofer across my shoulders...

Maybe this summer....

couerdelion

There's a fair view reviews of the gokart on here and all seem positive. Saw a couple in the flesh on Sunday and they looked very nice too.

Does anyone who has one want to Pm me their 'breeding programme' details as I'll be ordering this week?

eamoz

A New earth wrote: »

Any advice out there on batteries , my Glider ones only last just over a year and at c. €110 each makes it expensive (do play a good bit - say couple of hours 2 nights a week and game at weekend April to Oct and 15 hole game once a week rest of year)

Have tried leaving plugged in all the time with 1 battery & with the current one, taking off charger (after fully charging) until the night before game but doesn't seem to make much difference & it's starting to get weak at end of round now.

Any other experiences/views. Sorry to use your thread but you might find interesting. (very happy with Glider which I have for years by the way)

your battery is programmed over time to run for 18 holes and each time the battery charges less so it will die maybe after 16 holes and then 14 holes. I am not an expert but I had the same problem.

1 Charge up your battery as normal.

2 Assemble your trolley as normal. Put your trolley up on blocks so the wheels are spinning freely which should enable you to run trolley battery down. may take 12 0r 14 hours to do this.

3 repeat steps 1 and 2 again.

4 this will regenerate your battery so you get max charge and max usage from it and it should not die. it works.

3.

A New earth

Thanks very much for replying to my post from nearly 3 years ago. I'll try that with my current battery which will not last long once the 18 hole games start again in Mar/Apr, even though it again is only about a year old.

Since my original post I found a supplier where I could get the batteries for c. €60 instead of the €110 I was paying 3 years ago (I don't know how much they are now full price). Unfortunately that supplier stopped doing them recently so I'm back where I was unless I can find another supplier with reasonable prices - anybody know of any in Dublin area?

Regarding your suggestion (which I will try) I have copied a post which suggests that there are a limited number of charges in a battery so would you be using up more of it's life by running up on blocks and recharging a few times?

"27-03-2010, 10:00 #11george67
Registered User


Thanks again

basically the batteries are cyclic meaning they
are rated for so many charges so it doesn't
matter if you do nine or eighteen it reduces
the life of the battery .Maybe if you don't
charge between 2 nine hole games it would
only count as one"

Peterdalkey

http://www.golfbatteryireland.com these guys are good, fast delivery and decent prices


Cheers

Peter

whizbang

The biggest killers of batteries are:

Discharging too low - ie. if you run your battery totally flat, you have taken months off its life.
Overtemperature - keep it out of the heat. also caused by bad chargers

So: keep your battery cool, get the biggest battery you can, and charge it asap after use.

eamoz

Hi there. I do think that batterys life is related to how many charges you do alright. I only charge my battery on the blocks and run it down maybe 3 times a year at most. One go at regenerating your lazy battery should get you the full round of golf for a few months if the battery is maybe only 2 or 3 yrs old. Another bit of advice is to charge your battery quite soon after you play, (taking the batterys cover off and checking the heat of the charger regularly at first as it can get hot ) most batterys except lithium need at least 12 hour charge. when charge is complete plug it out and leave battery (with its cover on now) at ambient room temperature on carpet etc. and not a cold floor or garage,as that drains the charge. If your battery is kinda new and its dying a death , check that there is no drag on your trolley wheels, particularly front wheel as this puts extra load on battery. Hope this helps.

looder

Peterdalkey wrote: »

http://www.golfbatteryireland.com these guys are good, fast delivery and decent prices


Cheers

Peter

I concur with Peter on these. They're good (I've never had an issue with them anyway) and delivery is pretty prompt from my experience with them.

eamoz

I have a mocad and it was pulling to the left. over time this imbalance was wearing down the front wheel on the LHS and it began to pull more to the left. to counteract this I adjusted the front wheel alignment so it pointed more towards the right. This compensated the pull to the left. How I did this with mocad electric trolley and how you do it with your trolley maybe different. I was able to slide the left bolt (holding the front wheel axel in place on LHS ) forward so the wheel pointed right if you can picture that maneuvre. I was also able to take the front wheel off the trolley and put it back on in reverse. It mean't the trolley pulled to the right a bit but with only a small adjustment pointing the wheel slightly to the left it balanced perfectly. I did this with all my accessories on the trolley, bag, seat umbrella etc so when I went out to golf the trolley ran more or less in straight line. Occasionally if your trolley bumps or tips off tree or kerb etc the alignment of your front wheel may get knocked out a bit. Has happened a few times with me. As well as this when you start up your trolley one wheel will generally start moving a fraction before the other so you will always get a slight pull left or right. Adjusting the front wheel just compensates for this also as well.



have fun.