Customer Reviews

Tipke Fold-It Utility Cart 1300

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This will be our third Foldit. (Amazon's got by far the best price at this moment--) It's a workhorse and still the best thing going that I know of BUT be aware:

1. The tires are flimsy. Get good tubes (if the tires come without them) and get a plastic strip thorn-proofer from a bike shop. It will help. Might as well get a can of flat tire spray, too, if you're going to pull it over anything rough or thorny (like berry prunings).

2. The design has a serious weak point: the rolled sides of the cart (where the handles slide in) will split at the handle-locking rivets if you habitually carry much weight (say 50 lb or so) over rough ground. This is very hard to fix and the split widens until there's a big tear and the handles fall out --permanently. That's what finally did in carts one and two. This time I'm going to try to reinforce the area around the rivets immediately, before they have a chance to start a split. Fold-it seems to outlast expensive wood carts by years despite this flaw.

3. Plan to pull the cart. Pushing as you would a wheelbarrow is hopeless. (A Fold-it is not necessarily a wheelbarrow substitute.) It's handier and better balanced by far than any deep plastic or wood cart I've tried, but it's not good at moving manure or heavy loads into the garden --the tires are narrow and sink into worked soil, and it's not made for turning in place or flipping upside down as you would a wheelbarrow. You can push it down a row empty and pull it out with a light load of weeds or produce, though.

4. You get to balance the load yourself. This is good. Some carts get heavier and pull harder as you load them. Balance the load in a Fold-it so there's weight behind the wheels and you can pull it with one finger, on hard ground.

5. The bed is a convenient height, great for taking to the orchard to bring back with heavy baskets of fruit, to the clothesline with heavy baskets of clothes, from car to kitchen door with mega-loads of groceries. Easy to load because the bed is flat and rectangular, and you don't have to lift heavy dog food bags (for instance) over the sides. You can slide them out the back with the gate off.

6. If you use the Fold-it for hauling hay, compost or weeds, expect to spend some time cleaning the fold lines if you ever need to fold it. Plan ahead if you're taking it to a horse show!

I've had my Foldit cart for approximatly 10 years. I use it for all of my gardening and hauling my garbege cans out to the street. It is perfect for hauling rocks, leaves, just about anything. I recommend this product to any one who gardens or uses an old fashioned wheelbarrel for anything aroung the house. The best part is it folds to practically nothing when not in use for easy storage.

Hard to be passionate one way or the other about this thing.

For an item that runs more than 150 samoleans, in the long run, it appears to pull up short. But in a pinch, when it's 99 in the shade, and the wife is nagging about multi-hour sofa surfing, and the Philles are down three to two in the bottom of the ninth with Jim Thome on deck, and you've got an SUV full of funkulating dog food, 1% milk, and steaks sitting outside your detached garage, this little cart is a godsend.

Forget that it's somewhat flimsy, and that my kid's tricycle has better wheels, and that it's made of a grade of aluminum more likely found in a Shasta can meant for overseas distribution, it sometimes sets a tone like that of "the little engine that could".

I've had it for a little over a year now and find that it's good at...
1) Porting groceries
2) Carrying annuals from the back of a car to the garden
3) Carting cases of beer from a garage fridge to an indoor fridge
4) Going over paved areas

It's not so good at...
1) Hauling dirt or bricks or stone, especially across unimproved surfaces (wheels are just to thin, and it can get seriously bogged down in wet grass or dirt)
2) Pushing anything (in the "push-configuration", it is simply too unstable)
3) Collapsing into a store-able format (breaking it down is a real hassle)-- kinda funny given that's half the Tipke's sales pitch

If Tipke spent another couple of hours on the design, and could figure a way to drive-out 20or 30 dollars in cost, I'd give it a solid five stars. Until then, I'd recommend looking for other options.

I bought this cart for working around the yard/garden, and I am very pleased. It collapses and expands very easily. It is rated to hold up to 350lbs (the most I've ever put in it was 6 8x8x16 cinder blocks and a 50lb bag of manure -- I complained about that far more than it did). The wheels roll very easily even when it is loaded - yet it is stable enough to stay still unless you are on a significant slope.

Most importantly, because it has two wheels and two legs, it doesn't tip over like wheelbarrows are prone to do. I do wish that they had used a thicker gauge of aluminum, though. I've managed to ding up the back gate by being a little too enthusiastic with my shoveling. I also wish I had spent the extra money to buy the optional front gate when I first bought it. I'll be adding that soon.

This folding cart has saved me lots of trips whether carting leaves, crushed rock, bricks, or garden model trains. I bought it mostly to cart large Guage 1 trains to train displays inside malls. It handles easily, folds to a smaller size than any other cart or wheelbarrow, and does not rot, rust, or mold. My only complaint is the aluminum tube the handle slides into has one crack forming after ten years of hard use constructing my deck and moving over 22 tons of rock, brick, and dirt. It costs less than bulky non folding carts made with plywood sides and rough formed pipe!

Arriving to the job site in a 1-ton utility work truck loaded with all types of tools/equipment/materials is one thing, getting into a building/site with limited access is another. The solution, "fold-it" !! This light weight "mule" has become my best buddy. Prior to purchasing my "fold-it" i either made several trips to and from my work truck, arms loaded to the gills or used a bulky wheelbarrow to carry my tools/material. This is certainly a "tool" that has REALLY made me money (time saver). Although i thought it was pricey for a "cart", i have no regrets. The solution for me as for the gauge of the aluminum was a $35 investment. I went to a local metal materials shop and had 3 pieces of "aluminum diamond deck" cut to fit, 2 lower pieces (by the way, if it really matters to you like it did me, make sure that the fit is the same as the bottom deck of the cart, one side is slightly less then the other in width)the other piece was for the sliding back. I attached the diamond deck using a rivot gun.Maybe if your lucky, after TIPKE reads this, they may offer this idea as an accessory. The thought in my mind as i was "customizing" my "ride" was that regreting the day it would be "car jacked" :( Not only does she look good, but really re-inforced it without much added weight. Now if i could only find someone to cut me some custom aluminum wheels on a CNC machine i could start a "fold_it" cart club. :) All in all dont' hesitate, BUY ONE!! ops, one bad note, the rubber "boots" attached to the front legs fell off. If your not going to do the "diamond deck", at the very least use a dab' of silicon caulk to adhere the rubber boots to the legs. happy haulin'

This cart is one of the few items that I would not leave home! Sturdy construction, great balance, and folds into small spaces. We use this cart around the barns and at harness races. We haul all of our equipment on the cart, saving several trips to and from the trailer. We now make one trip in and one trip out! The cart handles the rest. East to move around small areas, light weight, folds into small places, holds large amount of weight. Great for any horse person, looking for a way to make life a little easier!

When I told my husband that I needed a compact, folding if possible cart or wheelbarrow, he said I was asking for the moon and was doubtful that he'd find one. Well sure enough he found this one and I was thrilled! I'm a professional gardener and when the cart arrived, the assembly was so simple that I was off and loading it up right away. All my tools fit, it was very light weight and it fit very compactly in the back of my Jeep Cherokee. The real test came when I loaded it up with mulch to see how it would work as a wheelbarrow. It was teriffic!! I could fit more in it than the wheelbarrow I was using, and it was easier to fill. Because it has 2 wheels instead of 1, it wouldn't tip over when filled to the brim! Unloading it was easy too, I just took the back off and dumped the mulch where I needed it. The channels for that back panel do get a bit plugged up with mulch after a hard day of work, but clean up easy enough. This cart is totally awesome....this is the best tool investment I made last year! Thanks for a wonderful product!!

A two-wheeled yard cart is one of the most useful tools to have around a large yard. The downside is that the typical yard cart is so big that unless you have a big shed or don't like to park your car in your garage, you had no place to store it. Plenty of people in my neighborhood just have their regular carts leaned up against the sides of their houses all year.

The Fold-It cart solves the storage problem, and for just a little bit money more than the standard pressure-treated wood cart, it just makes the most sense. I've used mine for everything from moving huge rocks to hauling mulch, leaves and soil. It rolls great under even heavy loads, and the removable rear gate makes dumping it all out easy.

The cart is made of sturdy aluminum and is strong but light. It has pneumatic tires and washes down easily. I don't have a hint of corrosion in two years of use. (Aluminum doesn't "rust" like steel does.) When you are done with your chores, it simply folds to about 40 inches long x 8 inches wide. (I just measured it in my garage in it's folded configuration.) When folded, the cart still stands on it's own, so it is really easy to find a narrow spot to store it. It weighs about 30 pounds. If you've got a larger 4-door or an SUV, it'd really be no problem to lay it flat in the trunk and take it with you for all sorts of tasks, as some of the other reviewers mention.

Overall I would recommend the Fold-It cart highly to anyone looking for a yard cart, even those of you who didn't think you would want a folding utility cart. A final helpful tip: Tipke (but not Amazon? maybe that will change?) sells a tractor accessory that allows you to hitch it to your tractor. So it can be a folding tractor dump cart as well!

This cart is just spectacular!! We used it to tote all our camping gear, hauling it over a mile on sandy paths with some small hills, then through the woods on narrow paths. The balance of the cart makes it a pleasure to use. It holds a lot of gear, and you can pile it as high as your bungie cords will let you, yet the ease of pushing or pulling remains. The cart folds up and goes easily into the trunk of a VW Jetta with lots of room to spare. We can envision many uses for this cart, and can't wait to try it for bike camping.