OVERALL RATING: 85. GRADE: B. The Bag Boy Automatic is a perfectly reasonable golf push cart to consider purchasing, but it didn’t strike a chord with our review staff in any way that makes it a “must buy.” The area in which it excels is the ease with which it can be unfolded (which is the reason, we presume, for the “automatic” moniker). This is nice, considering that the complexity of unfolding some carts can make your head explode.

On the flip side, the Bag Boy Automatic is a bit bulky when it’s folded up, and has a distinct shortage of storage space for all of the various accoutrement that golfers lug around with them.

It might be a good pick-up if quick unfolding is of utmost importance to you, or if you find it at a great price, but otherwise it doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the field.

SCORE
85
GRADE
B
Size/Weight
83
Ease of Set-Up
96
On Course Impressions
88
Storage/Accessories
76
Style
83
Value
86

Retail price: $199.95
Availability: Discontinued. Replaced by the Bag Boy Quad

Pros:

Cons:


83 / B-

SIZE/WEIGHT

At 17 lbs. (as tested), the Bag Boy Automatic falls into the middle among the push carts we tested (compare this to the lightest cart, the Tour Trek Tahoe, at 10.5 lbs., and the heaviest cart, the Sun Mountain Speed Cart V2, at 20 lbs.). It’s pretty bulky when it’s folded up, so you may need an engineering degree to figure out how to stow it in your trunk along with a couple of sets of clubs and all of the other junk that you keep back there. Our solution was to toss it in the back seat, although this leads to the danger of smearing mud, dirt and other grit and grime on your soft Corinthian leather seats… Side note – did you know the term “Corinthian leather” had no intrinsic meaning (or association with Corinth)? It was just something made up by the marketing folks at Chrysler – probably because it sounded so exotic when rolling off the tongue of Ricardo Montalban. Which reminds us – “Quien es mas macho – Ricardo Montalban o Fernando Lamas?” Montalban…o Lamas…Quien es mas macho?”


96 / A

EASE OF SET-UP

The Bag Boy Automatic is tops among the carts we tested in terms of how easy it is to set up. You simply pull on the handle – as you do so, the cart will unfold until it automatically locks into the fully deployed position. The only additional step is to secure your bag to the cart with the upper and lower velcro straps. Our only complaint is that the lower strap seems to be ridiculously long – when we cinched it snugly around a standard lightweight stand bag, the end of the strap was dragging on the ground. Still, kudos to the designers at Bag Boy for making the set-up process so simple!


88 / B+

ON COURSE IMPRESSIONS


76 / C

STORAGE/ACCESSORIES

The storage and accessories available on the Bag Boy include:

We found the Bag Boy Automatic to fall significantly short in this category, not only because of its lack of storage capacity, but also because it lacked simple luxuries such as holes to provide quick access to extra tees and a strap to store an unused umbrella.


83 / B-

STYLE

We had mixed feelings on the styling of the Bag Boy Automatic – the aluminum tubing looks rugged enough, but the 3-spoke wheels are reminiscent of those you would see on a jacked up Scion. On the plus side, the Bag Boy Automatic is available in some reasonably cool-looking color choices – black (with red trim), red (with black trim) and silver (with blue trim).


86 / B

VALUE

The Bag Boy Automatic’s retail price of $199.99 placed it in the middle of the pack among the units we tested. And while the Bag Boy is a nice enough cart, at that price, there isn’t enough “oomph” to it to provide any sort of extraordinary value for the money. But if you find it heavily discounted somewhere, it might be worth a look!


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