Powakaddy Touch and Sport

[full_throttle]

Powakaddy turned up at Beau Desert and offered the Golf Monthly group the oppotunity to take out and trial their latest inventions.


By my reckoning there must have been about 20 in the group that took up the offer,.

So come on Guys, what did you think?

Would be good to have your thoughts posted on here.

 

[HughJars]

Well I took up the option of the sport, but perhaps should have used the touch, which I'll get to.

Only being a carrier/occassional pull trolley user, but looking to go powered for next year, this was a most opportune demo day for me.

There's no doubt that you are much fresher during a round, especially after a course like Beau Desert which was quite up and downy all day. So on that count it looks like I will take the plunge.

I had one complaint, which sounds daft, but as I said to the Powakaddy guys when I came off, I seem to walk at between 4 & 5 on their speed control, if I had it at 5 I was being dragged along, if I had it at 4 I was stumbling behind as it was too slow. Needs a 4.5 Hence the reason for me the touch would be better.

 

[USER1999]

The powakaddy sport was a prototype, and they had two control systems being tested. Both similar to use, but technically different. I looked at a touch, but wasn't fussed which one I tried out. I do like the mud clearance on the touch though, which can be an issue with UK winter golf.

I took out one of the sports. It was quiet, powerful, fast (I like to walk fast, so I had it set between 5 and 8). The charge indicator at the end of the round still showed over 50%, so I am assuming it was a 36 hole battery (if not, pretty impressive). I liked it.

The difference between the current freeway and the sport is the operating system. PK have gone back to a dial based system for speed control, (although in 10 steps, 0 to 9, not infinitely variable). To me, the dial was a bit too easy to turn, and was a bit vibration effected (on bumpy ground the speed would change - maybe I need to play from the fairway more). I also found it too easy to turn off/on accidentally.
These were minor issues, and since it was a prototype, may yet be sorted before the launch. Overall I liked it. It was lighter to steer than my Hillbilly, and way quieter. One the other hand, the 15, 30 and 45 meter advance funstion was harder to access. Again, they are looking for feed back on this, and I wasn't the only one to comment on it.

Thanks to Powakaddy for letting us try them. It is nice to compare a different trolley to the one I normally use. I hope they got the feed back they wanted.

Biggest complaint? When it was hosing down, my umbrella holder was still attached to my trolley, in the boot of my car. Planning.

 

[HughJars]

PK have gone back to a dial based system for speed control, (although in 10 steps, 0 to 9, not infinitely variable). To me, the dial was a bit too easy to turn, and was a bit vibration effected (on bumpy ground the speed would change - maybe I need to play from the fairway more). I also found it too easy to turn off/on accidentally.

One the other hand, the 15, 30 and 45 meter advance funstion was harder to access.

Ah, good stuff Murph. I echo all of that, but literally never having used a power trolley before, don't know what is standard.

So biggest point for me then is having an infinitely variable speed control, and off/on being less sensitive. It seemed to need a good firm push, but this often meant I switched it on then off immediately.

 

[Robobum]

I took the Sport prototype out and was pretty impressed.

Going back to the dial rotary speed control was a step (back) in the right direction, to have the dial on both sides of the handle was handy and the more flared handle design made it easy to hold unlike the freeway II, driving speed was comfortable for me.

Minor snags for me were: I kept kicking the battery cable whilst walking, don't think it would have taken much to kick the connection off. The on/ off switch was a bit sensitive and kept turning on and off over any bumps. Same comment as Murph regarding the advance function, the button doesn't do anything else so a shorter "press" time would be good.

 

[USER1999]

Another nice thing about the sport was the bag retention. I have a Titleist RC08 cart bag, and this always rotates on my Hillbilly. On the PK, no problems at all, on seriously bumpy paths, and the straps weren't even done up that tight. Obviously PK bags are a better fit, as they are designed to lock onto the base to prevent rotation, but sometimes you want to use the bag you have when you buy a trolley, not buy a new one.

 

[pokerjoke]

I myself on the other hand used the touch for my round.I am looking to get a power trolley in the future,however the touch will not be it.The trolley handle height adjuster only has two heights low and lower,ideal for a shorter person under 6ft or with very long arms or an orangatang.[fault 1]To start the trolley moving you have to push the handle down but when you move the handle back up it stops[fault 2]Because the handle was too low for me the trolley fell over three times so i then felt i couldnt let it go for the fear of it falling over again.[fault 3]is the balance because the weight is very slightly favoured to the front any extra weight attached to the back would topple the trolley over.Fault 4 5 and 6 was no attachment for my umbrella,drinks bottle or score card although these can be purchased at extra cost[why for 350 quid these should be standard]If this attachment was purchased and fixed this would add extra weight to the top end causing it to topple over.IMO it would also have less grip in the wet as the wheels are slick.On the plus side it was so easy to move i was very fresh at the end and could have easy gone around again and the speed adjuster once i had found the right place to leave the handle was fine.Another down side was you couldnt drag the trolley backwards so you had to turn it around.I know after this review i wont be getting my free one and i certainly woudnt buy one,however hopefully Powakaddy will view this and make some adjustments.I thank them for the use of the trolley on the day.Very nice guys and very supportive on the feedback.

 

[USER1999]

It is very rare to get all the goodies pre fitted on a trolley. Not sure about Stewart, (but they are flippin expensive to start with), but the other popular makes tend to charge for storage bags, umbrella holders, score card holders, gps holders, drinks holders, seats, etc. PK are not alone in this.

Oddly, some push trolleys (Clikgear) come with this stuff as standard, for a lot less money.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I used a Touch.
I've never used an electric trolley before so have nothing to compare it against.
I thought it was OK, on the flat is was good as you just pushed the handle down to the req'd speed and left it. On hillier ground and when going round corners I found that I pulled or pushed at the handle inadvertantly and kept changing speed without really wanting to.
It did well at getting through the rough stuff (it got plenty of practise).
When I was shown how to pack it away it looked very easy and compact which is a plus.
It was easy to work, even for a technophobe like me.

But after all of that I don't think I'll be getting one just yet. I prefer to carry.

 

[rickg]

I used the Sport... really liked it. Only real bugbear for me was the 15/30/45 function takes too long to access. The original freeway is much easier.

Very powerful and fair whizzed along...no problem up the hills. Talking to the rep, they are introducing a gearbox braking system version which allows you to set a couple of speeds which allow it to go down hill without needing to hold it....that would be a nice touch..(no pun intended).

Agree with Robobum about the battery cable. they said it was longer to cater for the higher 36 hole battery, but all it would take is a tie wrap to hold it out of the way.

Would have liked to have seen the attachments adapter and tried it out fully loaded with Brolley/scorecard/Skycaddie/botttle holder. Would need to see how it handled and whether it would become too top heavy.

Definitely a candidate to replace my ageing freeway.

 

[Ethan]

I recently had to replace a Powakaddy P5 lithium, which had struggled on for longer than most of them. I deal with several pro shops and a couple of them advised me to get a Motokaddy this time because of reliability issues. I got the Motokaddy S3 lithium and am happy with it so far.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I recently had to replace a Powakaddy P5 lithium, which had struggled on for longer than most of them. I deal with several pro shops and a couple of them advised me to get a Motokaddy this time because of reliability issues. I got the Motokaddy S3 lithium and am happy with it so far.

That was one of the things that put me off a PK when I was looking to get a trolly - the reliability. There had been issues with batteries dying on here and some less than satisfactory customer service to resolve them. However if they are evolving and updating their range then hopefully all these snags will have ironed out now. I do have to say they look pretty snazzy especially with the PK bags on them.

 

[viscount17]

I had a white Sport - there were two versions and I'm not sure of the difference.

Someone has to get the lemon in any bunch and that was me.
Before too long one of the screws came out of the handle and the other was loosening all the way round - being too clever they aren't (or didn't appear to be) standard screw heads so no way of tightening.
There are two ways of stopping this trolley; using the on/off button (and the markings on this were nearly gone before we were much more than halfway round), or using the speed controller. With my Powerbug, if I scroll back there is a positive stop - not with this, it will just keep turning even when you are at zero.
Mine also had a power/controller problem - I rarely used the on/off to stop it but several times found that it had switched itself off. It got to the point where I had to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get it to switch on.
I also found it a bit light on the front. Going up a bumpy path or up a steepish slope could get the front end lifting, to the point where it tipped over backwards once.

It may just be me and PK, on the only two other occasions I've used one both (rentals) were duff.