Snapper XD 82V MAX Cordless Electric Self-Propelled Utility Cart with 3.7-Cubic-Foot Cargo Bed, Battery and Charger Not Included

My wife and I are older and neither of us are particularly fond of using a wheel barrow. With somewhere in the vicinity of 10 yards of gravel and dirt to move and more planned, it was obvious that the wheel barrow had to go. We explored several options from equipment rental to paying someone to move the dirt and gravel for us. Considering the current projects and additional projects (planned and unplanned), purchase of a self propelled cart was the logical choice. Our first experience with the cart was something like 5 tons of gravel. To say that I wore out before the battery would be an understatement. The cart made the job of moving the gravel easy (except for shoveling and dumping), We overloaded the cart with more weight than recommended, took it over rough ground and up grades with no problems and no complaints. We moved heavy wall stones (65lbs+) and moved the 4-6 at a time. Far overloaded but the cart preformed flawlessly. We do not intend on overloading to that extent in the future but it is nice to know that it can handle an extended workload with no problems. Much more sturdy that advertised.We purchased a second battery as an addition to the original battery and charger and it was intended to augment use by reducing charging downtime while working. The results were totally unexpected. We had no experience with high voltage and current batteries so we didn't really know what to expect. I'm not sure that it would be correct to call it an epiphany but it's close. These batteries just run...and run and run. By the time they are discharged, so are we! My wife and I certainly didn't expect that the batteries or the cart that they powered would last longer on one charge that we can. We had considered getting the higher current battery for longer life but opted for an additional 2.0 Ah battery. As it turns out, we didn't need the additional battery at all. 30 minutes or less to charge and it holds a charge until the job is done even if that is 2 or 3 days. The only down side that I can see is that you don't get to take a break while recharging the battery!

First off the box came all taped up and parts literally falling out when I cut through the tape. Also some scrapes on the inside of the tub so this wasn't as new as I'd hoped for spending $500. But all the parts were there and the tub is going to get scraped up anyway so I'm not going to worry about it. Still loses a star on that. Really was a crappy job taping the box back up.So I've only used this for about an hour hauling sand from near the creek in my back yard to fill in some holes around the yard from old tree stumps that rotted away. I have a very sloped yard. If I was hauling stuff on a level yard I wouldn't need the power cart. I don't know how much the sand weighs, but I filled the tub and the sand was damp so pretty heavy loads. I don't know the slope but I'm sure more than the recommended, 20 degrees at least. It did a good job, one spot was a steep and the wheels started spinning but at least they kept turning. Very happy with the power and I hauled half a dozen very heavy loads 50 yards up the hill. The tub is a pretty good size, big enough for me to load up with some logs to haul to the woodpile.The second lost star is my biggest issue with the design of the single wheel. With a heavy load that wheel is too narrow and it definitely will leave a trail if the ground is at all soft and impossible in sand. I don't know why they couldn't have used a wider wheel or better yet a matching tire. I'm going to take a look to see if this is something I can modify as it really is a poor choice for the wheel. Greenworks and Landworks have the same issue though at least the Landworks cart has the rear wheel out from under the load. Landworks has a cage not a tub though and the liner for hauling dirt doesn't look appealing.Out of the available options I'd still go with the Snapper but $700 is a big investment when you add the battery. While I'm happy I have it and it makes hauling stuff up my hill possible, it could be better.Edit - so I've had more opportunities to use the cart and haven't changed the rating. I wanted to expand on the slope issue. With the wheel drive in the front, when going up a slope you lose traction. I find I have to reverse the cart up a hill so the power wheels have the added weight. It's just a bit awkward and if the power wheels were in the back, then going up a hill in forward would be easier. Going down a hill is easy anyway so having the power wheels in front is just another bad engineering design. This might still be the best option, but it could be so much better. I have not had any issues with starting and running though so for me the reliability of it is good.I also switched out the crappy rear wheel for a 10 inch pneumatic tire that is about 3 inches wide and it makes a huge improvement. 10" is a bit bigger than the 8" that it comes with but I like that it raises the back end a bit as that helps keep traction going up hill. The 4 bolt assembly seems a pretty standard spacing and I was able to buy a wheel off the shelf and bolted it on in just a few minutes.Edit to review, bumped to 5 star from 3. I had an issue with a missing screw and they sent me a whole set. I had another issue where I sliced the inflation nozzle off going up a hill and they sent me a whole new wheel assembly. Customer service is outstanding and that counts a lot. Also, I've come to really really love having this. Had it about a year and a half and I use it just about every weekend for something, even if its giving my grandkids a ride which I'm sure they don't recommend but it's a lot easier than pulling them in a wagon. They're getting big! Really though, this has been very reliable for me, no battery issues, no charger issues, no mechanical issues and I load this up with heavy logs and rocks that are hauled on pretty challenging slopes. Sure the design could be improved but I can't imagine not having this for the yard work I do.Edit July 2022, just saying I still love this thing and now have some other Snapper 84V tools. Best thing I did was to replace the wheel. I can attest that this thing will last and can handle heavy loads up slopes and the tub is very durable. Handles rocks, bricks, logs, and grandkids with no issues in 3.5 years.

Overall I am pleased with this and if I get my issue fixed I might raise my rating. The cart moves a bit slow but it has a surprising amount of grunt. It moved 40 loads of mulch and wet dirt today and I only charged it once and it charged very fast (it was half full when I charged it and it charged fully in 20minutes. I took it through about 3 inch deep mud and aside from having to pick up the back end to get the 3rd wheel through the muck it plowed right through it with a full load. The only issue I had was the piston that raises the bucket seized after just 3 dumps and subsequently won’t raise more that 3 inches. I will mail Snapper on Monday. I’ll update the review once I have a chance to talk to customer service. Update 06.04.18: Lowering my rating to 1 star as I am very dissatisfied with the proposed resolution. The issue is clearly that the gas piston that raises the barrow seized up but the manufacturer wants me to either put it into a car and drive it to a repair shop (not likely as it’s heavy and obviously very bulky) or pay to have it picked up which is about $75 - $90:depending on the shop I call. Once it’s at the shop they will evaluate whether it’s a manufacturer error or a user error. Given that the piston is probably about $20 I will spend $90 to get my $30 issue fixed. It’s a shame because it does have grunt but given it malfunctioned on the first use and I did not get what I would consider a reasonable response from customer service I have to revise to give it a poor rating.