I am very fortunate to have the position of Equipment Tester for The Hackers Paradise. In my time as a tester I’ve had an opportunity to test out some really cool gadgets, new golf gear, the latest equipment and of course accessories. I enjoy doing all of the reviews that come my way, but this review had me particularly excited. I’ve been a push cart user now for about 7 years and in that time I’ve only used one cart. It works great, even after all these rounds, but since that cart came out there have been so many additions and design improvements to new carts each year. I was excited to see what great new ideas the folks at Clicgear have come up with since they got their start just a few short years ago.
Reviewing this push cart had me feeling a lot like a vehicle tester in many ways. I normally pay attention to a golf club’s sweet spot and MOI, but this time I was looking at wheelbase, turning ratio and storage compartments. Obviously this isn’t your typical golf accessory review, but then again the Clicgear 3.0 is far from your typical golf accessory.
A little bit from Clicgear
The Clicgear Cart is the original compact three wheel golf pushcart and winner of the 2007 Best New Product Award at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida. Clicgear offers a full sized three wheel golf pushcart that glides smoothly down the fairway and yet still folds up incredibly small. At only 13″ x 15″ and 24″ when folded, it won’t take over your car trunk or garage.
The Model 3.0 has had a major upgrade for 2010. Most of the changes came from suggestions from our customers who loved the cart but wanted to see a couple of things added or improved. So the Model 3.0 has ended up as an answer to all of those requests.
The handle console has been completely redesigned with almost double the storage room and even more room underneath with our new storage net. A new center mounted brake handle which is easier to use. The handle foam has been replaced with a much more durable material. A new push button lock design for the front wheel pivot is more robust and intuitive to use. We have also added three accessory tabs to the handle to easily install Clicgear accessories including the new standard cup holder that fits just about any bottle, cup or can we could find. At Clicgear, we didn’t invent the three wheel cart, we just made it compact and cool!
Testing
The nice thing about this review is that the testing began the second the package showed up at my door. I didn’t have to wait for a nice day or wait for daylight to go to the driving range; I was able to un-box the Clicgear 3.0 and immediately set it up and compare it to what I already had. Before I go into the setup I want to first point out just how compact this thing is, the box it came in looks like it’s barely big enough to hold one wheel, not to mention the entire cart. I was amazed to see just how compact the 3.0 is when folded all up. I’ll come back to this a little later, because I vividly remember thinking that I’d never get this cart back to that size again, more to come!
So I have it all out of the package and I’m ready to just start loosening locks and expanding it out, but just then I remembered something I read in one of the Clicgear 3.0 threads some of our readers have started on THP’s forum about really needing to look at the instructions before I just assumed I knew what I was doing. I’m glad I read that and as tough as it is to actually read the directions, we all hate to read directions, they really do help. You might want to even read them all the way through once, and then have them handy the first time you actually set up the Clicgear. What I ended up doing the first time was tried to make it way more difficult than it actually is. In fact, setup is a breeze and once you do it a time or two you can literally do it in about 2 steps.
The first thing that you realize after getting it all expanded out and ready for your golf bag is just how big the cart is. This is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I really liked the oversized aircraft grade aluminum tubing that was used to make the cart. It adds to the stability and sturdiness of the cart and not to mention, it looks pretty cool too. Once I was able to get to the golf course and attach my golf bag I was even happier with the build of the 3.0. Nothing is more irritating than having to worry about a flimsy cart while you’re trying to focus on your golf game. With this cart you simply attach your bag and forget about it the rest of your round.
Another thing I liked about the Clicgear is the storage. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the first generation push carts or not, but storage is not exactly readily available on those. Mind you, early on storage wasn’t a big draw for these carts because after all, you still have the pockets of your golf bag to use to keep your things safe while you play. That’s still the case, but with the Clicgear 3.0 you also have tons of room for your car keys, your cell phone, a couple golf balls and of course your GPS device. And that’s all fitting just inside the enclosed “glove box” there is also added storage in the form of netting beyond that for you to keep anything else that you might like to carry with you on the course. Obviously you can see that there is no shortage of a place to store all your on course accessories for a quick and easy way to access them during your round.
Rolling the Clicgear 3.0 is where I was expecting it to be a little bit behind the inflatable tires of my original push cart. I’ve compared other carts with these maintenance free airless tires and they haven’t rolled through the grass quite as freely as the narrower inflatable tube tired I’ve always used. While I think the Clicgear 3.0 is much closer to that free rolling feeling I still felt just a little more drag than I do with my own cart, but then again not having to worry about pumping the tires up or somehow popping a tube makes that little drawback worth it in my opinion.
Something else nice about the rolling of the 3.0 is the alignment, on my old cart if it starts to veer off in one direction or the other, the only way I could get this straightened out again was to kick the front tire in the opposite direction, sometimes this helped and sometimes I was just stuck with a crooked cart that day. The Clicgear 3.0 actually has a front wheel alignment adjustment system so that you can easily and accurately adjust that roll to get your cart rolling straight down the fairway for you consistently. The brake system seems to work easily and flawlessly as well, for testing I purposely stopped and attempted to park the cart on some rather severe slopes and only when I tried to push the limits did I have any problems at all. The brake system is attached to the front wheel and is easily applied and released with one hand right near the handle.
I’ve covered setup and actual on course use of the Clicgear 3.0 but at the beginning of the review I mentioned that I’d come back to the compact size of the cart and particularly how I didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to get the cart back to that original size in order to fit it back into the box it came in. Setup as I mentioned was quite simple, but taking the 3.0 down is even easier than that. Simply unlock it from its opened state, rotate that front tire flat with the ground and simply fold it toward you and it just seems to fold up all by itself, and yes right back to that original size for easy storage in the trunk of just about any car.
Overall
To me the most important features of a good push cart are stability and ease of setting the cart up and packing it away after the round. All three of those elements not only did their function adequately, but they did them well beyond my expectations. I could not get over just how simple it is to setup and get ready to golf while using this cart. Who wants to spend unnecessary time in the parking lot wrestling a cart when you could be warming up and getting ready to play golf? Functionality is great, but something else I liked about the Clicgear 3.0 was the looks. Assembly includes a powder coating to help resist scratches to the finish, which is a very vivid finish that is available in seven different colors. The 3.0 comes with a detachable cup holder, but there are also several other accessories available, things like umbrella holders, wheel covers, shoe brushes, GPS holder and much more. The Clicgear 3.0 will run you right around $200, so well within range of other carts on the market right now, considering what you get for your investment I definitely think the Clicgear 3.0 stands out as a great option for someone looking to invest in a new push cart. You can find this pushcart at great online retailers such as Blind9Golf. For more information on this car and other great Clicgear products be sure to check out their website www.clicgearUSA.com.
