The Sun Mountain Micro Cart’s nifty combination of a lightweight compact form and quick set-up made it the favorite of our testers. Sure, it doesn’t have an aggressive masculine design, but let’s be honest, you’re already using a push cart – it’s not like you’re screaming “men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men” with every step you take.
So while your buddy herniates a disc wedging his massive push cart out of the back seat of his car (smearing dirt, grass, and who knows what else all over the fancy leather seats) and then spends 20 minutes trying to remember how to unfold the thing, you can easily lift the Sun Mountain Micro Cart out of your trunk and be up and rolling in no time. Which gives you plenty of time to get acquainted with the attractive cart girl.
The Sun Mountain Micro Cart delivers easy set-up, nice performance on the course, and a reasonable price point – what’s not to like?
Retail price: $199
Availability: Discontinued. Replaced by the Sun Mountain MC3 Micro-Cart
Pros:
- One of the lightest carts we’ve tested
- Compact shape when it’s folded up
- Easy to unfold
Cons:
- Ho hum styling
- Not an overwhelming amount of storage space (although it’s generally adequate)
SIZE/WEIGHT
The Micro Cart lives up to its name – at 13.5 lbs. (as tested), it’s not only one of the lightest push carts we tested, but it also folds into a nice FLAT compact package. We can’t tell you enough how much of a difference it makes to have the cart fold up flat – fitting both a set of clubs and the cart into the trunk of a smaller car is impossible with some of the competitive products, but is generally not a problem with the Micro Cart. And if you happen to have a lady friend with you (or a buddy who is always bumming a ride) and need to fit both two sets of clubs AND two carts in the trunk of your car, pretty much your only chance is if both carts are Sun Mountain Micro Carts.
EASE OF SET-UP
Our reviewers loved how quickly they could unfold the Sun Mountain Micro Cart – in essentially four quick steps, it’s up and ready to go. An added bonus is that Sun Mountain has designed the cart so that you simply plop your bag on it. The built-in brackets and the angle at which the bag sits on the cart keeps it from falling off, so you don’t have to spend any time attaching straps or bungee cords to secure the bag. Which gives you more time to carefully hone your short game at the chipping green…ah, who are we kidding – you’re just going to head to the range with your driver and let the big dog eat!
ON COURSE IMPRESSIONS
- The wheelbase of the Micro Cart is a bit narrower than the other carts that we tested. That being said, we didn’t have any issues worrying about whether the Micro Cart would tip over on a hill – perhaps because there are four wheels instead of three. Another advantage of having four wheels is that if you play on a course with lots of geese or other water fowl, you can easily aim your cart to avoid the “presents” that birds leave behind – with a three wheeled cart, you’re left guessing as to whether the stuff you just dodged with the front wheel is going to be run over by one of the two back wheels.
- The brakes featured on the Sun Mountain Micro Cart were our favorite among the carts we tested – they easily engage and disengage through lightly flicking a lever.
- The width of the front axle is adjustable if your golf bag is particularly wide.
- Like most carts offered today, the tires are made of foam, so you never have to worry about getting a flat.
- The handle can be adjusted to one of two heights for the user’s comfort. Note that the handles on some competing carts are adjustable to a wide variety of heights (you loosen a knob, rotate the handle to where you want it, then tighten the knob), but the user must manually adjust the height to the optimal spot each time. Two different heights seemed sufficient to our reviewers, but extremely tall or short users might feel otherwise.
STORAGE/ACCESSORIES
The storage and accessories provided by the Sun Mountain Micro Cart include:
- a padded valuables tray (with a see-through lid) that was big enough to hold 2 golf balls, a GPS device, an iPhone, a set of keys, and a wallet (unless your name happens to be George Costanza)
- A very cool magnet attached to the lid of the valuables tray that is designed to hold your scorecard – this was a nifty way to keep the scorecard handy and accessible
- 3 holes for storing pencils
- 6 holes for storing tees
- 1 hole for storing an extra ball
- an umbrella mount that holds an umbrella upright to provide you with shelter when it’s raining
- a cup/bottle holder
STYLE
This is pretty much the only real failing of the Micro Cart. The Micro Cart, with its smaller wheels and shiny hubcaps, looks like a souped up Nissan Sentra compared to the Hummer-esque ClicGear 2.0. The Sun Mountain Micro Cart is available in silver, blue, red and black.
VALUE
The Sun Mountain is right in the sweet spot of golf cart pricing at $199. At this price it’s a value that is tough to beat.
Doesnt tube tires help with the bumps?
Ability to attach accessories like a seat or umbrella/umbrella holder?
Is it light weight for ease of use? Does it have bearings or what rolling elements to prevent drag or getting tired?
have one, clip on botton broke, clip on handle bars broke and now the brakes do not work, other than that it is great, will not buy Sun Mountain again
The cart has an an umbrella holder on the frame that easily attaches to the handlebar whenever needed. The wheels on the cart are the smoothest I’ve tested. The brake is great. It easily locks/unlocks. Great cart overall but Sun Mountain needs to work on the wheel’s styling a bit though.
The cup holder is great if you want the bottom half of your body to be refreshed by the contents of your can at the least little bump. Some good features like the brake, stability and the canvas bag. Hard to fold, but folds very compactly. Valuables tray is not very secure…everything will drop out upon folding if you are not careful. This cart is a lot harder to push than a three wheel cart.
I don’t understand how the Sun Mountain Micro Cart earns an overall score of 94 while the Caddy Tek Caddy Cruiser only earns an overall score of 91.
The Micro only scores higher than the Cruiser on the Size/Weight category. The Cruiser scores higher than the Micro in the Ease of Use, On Course Performance, Storage and Style categories. Overall the category scores for the Micro total 545 to the Caddy total of 548.
Reading the analysis, comparing the features, reviewing the scores all seem to state that the Cruiser is superior to the Micro.
Throw in the included front suspension and the mesh bag for the Cruiser, which are not standard on the Micro and I have even more difficulty understanding the conclusion of the comparison.
This is not even factoring the price advantage of the Cruiser over the Micro which cements clearly that the Cruiser is a far better value.
What am I missing?
Folds into a small package is the only good thing. My handle clamp has broken 4 times in the last two years.The cart always pulls to the right, no adjustment. The valuables tray needs a better clasp, dumps items at times. Has a lot of “drag”, a lot harder to push than the 3 wheeler. When it’s time for a replacement, I’m not sure it will be a Sun Mountain again.
Have one of these great at first but have broken the clip on the handle bar twice and now it sits in a cupboard
I have owned 1 for a couple of years and have had to repair it twice, the plastic parts break and now the brake is starting to go. The balance is not real stable unless you extend the front wheels. The metal strip that hold the magnet for your card fell off. And its hard to clean the wheels. These are all design flaws and can be fixed.