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Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Credit:
Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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The True Temper wheelbarrow is useful any time you want to carry something heavy, bulky, or awkward through your yard. Read More
The Marathon Green Yard Rover is a great lightweight wheelbarrow for small-to-medium loads of mulch, soil, leaves, or gardening equipment. Read More
This lightweight loop-handled wheelbarrow will do a fine job of toting most garden materials. Read More
This sturdy rust-free tray is less likely to bend than the typical plastic-tray wheelbarrows. Read More
The Jackson Wheelbarrow is a solid, heavy-duty wheelbarrow that can take on big, heavy loads. Read More
A wheelbarrow is an outdoor yard tool that can help you efficiently move bulky items like mulch, plant flats, or cinder blocks around your property. A good wheelbarrow or garden cart can be an essential gardening tool.
The best wheelbarrow will hold everything you want to haul without wobbling or lurching and has sturdy tires that turn smoothly and can push through sand and gravel without getting stuck, even when fully loaded.
After testing the best wheelbarrows on the market over a New England spring, the True Temper Wheelbarrow (available at Home Depot) emerged as Best Overall for its pairing of a sturdy metal tray and comfortable handles with smooth rolling. It also has great control for wheeling heavy loads up and down slopes, making it an excellent traditional wheelbarrow.
For a lighter-weight wheelbarrow that’s easier to maneuver for smaller loads, the Marathon Green Yard Rover (available at Amazon) is our choice for Best Value. However, there are many great wheelbarrows in our guide that will meet your needs.
The True Temper wheelbarrow is the best we've tested.
The Marathon Green Yard Rover is our choice for best value.
The two-wheel design of the Goplus wheelbarrow provides some much needed stability.
Don't worry about rust with the best plastic wheelbarrow from Rubbermaid.
Can handle heavy loads
Pivots through tight spaces
Sturdy
Handles feel rough
Leg stabilizers hinder movement
Easy assembly
Coverts to a dolly
Includes helpful accessories
Heavy
Awkward to move
Can't carry much
Easily handles obstacles
Dump feature is handy
Sturdy
Difficult to maneuver on hills
Makes wide turns
Collapses for easy loading
Easy to store
Makes wide turns
Can't carry much without spilling
Lightweight
Easy to load
Folds for easy storage
Makes wide turns
Heavy
Hard to control on hills
Lightweight
Easy to assemble
Tires collapsed during testing
I’m Meg Muckenhoupt, a garden writer and reviewer. I’ve been digging up yards for more than 20 years, and along the way, I co-founded a community farm and earned a certificate in field botany.
I’ve grown everything from radishes to rosemary from seed, and although I’m working to put more native plants in my garden, I have a weakness for David Austin roses. My idea of a fun day is hauling compost around my yard and rearranging rocks.
We put our wheelbarrows through an obstacle course to test handling over different surfaces and with varying weights.
We tested 10 different heavyweight, lightweight, and collapsible wheelbarrows and garden carts. No electric wheelbarrows here—these were all manual.
First, the wheelbarrows and carts that arrived in parts were assembled following each manufacturer’s instructions. Air-filled (pneumatic) tires were checked for tire pressure and inflated per recommendations. Each model was then put through an obstacle course unloaded, loaded with mulch, and loaded with 16 bricks (weighing 80 pounds).
The obstacle course involved going uphill and downhill, over a slope covered with ground cover pachysandra and branches ranging from 1/4 to 3 inches in diameter, through a pile of sand, around a 1-foot curve, through gravel, and up and over an 8-inch step with an overhanging lip. After the obstacle course, the wheelbarrows were run over a bundle of thorny rose canes while loaded with bricks.
Wheelbarrows and carts with inflatable tires were then re-checked at the end of testing.
The right type of wheelbarrow for your yard depends on how you’ll be using it and where you’ll be storing it. The key factors include the number of wheels, what the tires are made of, the tray capacity and material, and the handles.
A wheelbarrow's wheel design and tire material can make one better than another for certain yard and gardening tasks.
Wheels can be single or in pairs. (We also tested four-wheeled versions with flat beds, typically called garden carts.) The trade-off is maneuverability vs. stability. A single-wheel wheelbarrow can pivot around tight curves, but it may feel unwieldy with heavy loads and can sink into soft soils.
Four-wheel carts are more stable but can’t navigate corners easily and are hard to dump. Two-wheel wheelbarrows are a compromise, offering better maneuverability than four-wheel carts and more stability than single-wheel wheelbarrows.
Tires can be air-filled (aka pneumatic), solid plastic, or “flat-free” solid rubber. Air-filled tires are the best for pulling heavy loads over uneven ground or stairs. The air acts as a cushion, reducing the effort you need to push the wheelbarrow forward and letting the wheelbarrow bounce over obstacles. Unfortunately, air-filled tires can get flat and usually require home inflation; be careful inflating them at gas-station air pumps, which can over-fill small tires too quickly.
Most “flat-free” tires are solid rubber that’s slightly soft. They offer most of the benefits of the air-filled tires without the maintenance headache. Solid plastic tires have no advantages. Since they can’t flatten or bounce over obstacles, you will feel every rock or branch in your path as you push them around--and it will take more effort to push than wheelbarrows with air-filled or flat-free tires.
Cubic feet is an important factor in wheelbarrows, but also make note of the height of the sides.
Tray capacity is tricky because wheelbarrow trays aren’t square. The angle at the “nose” end means the cubic feet of capacity isn’t square. If you’re hauling something cubical, like hay bales, you won’t be able to use all the space in the tray, and you’ll only be able to fit as many flats of seedlings from the garden store as fit in the flat bottom of the tray, not the full length of the tray with the nose.
If you’re concerned about fitting a particular type of item into your wheelbarrow, look at the size of the base of the wheelbarrow and the height of the sides, not how many cubic feet it holds.
It’s also important to consider the weight capacities of the wheelbarrow models which can range from 300 to 600 pounds.
Wheelbarrow trays are made out of painted steel or plastic. Steel wheelbarrow trays are heavier, although that really only matters if you’re going to be lifting your wheelbarrow into a vehicle or onto a wall hanger for storage.
Steel-constructed wheelbarrows will rust if left outside because the paint will scrape off easily with everyday use. However, trays with a steel frame are sturdy and shouldn't bend under heavy loads. Our sample included stamped steel trays suitable for home use. If you need a contractor-grade heavy-duty wheelbarrow, look for folded steel trays that are thicker, heavier, and more durable.
Plastic wheelbarrow trays are lighter-weight and rust-proof, but consumer reviews complain that they buckle and collapse under loads of dense, heavy materials like gravel.
A few collapsible wheelbarrows and garden carts have trays made of nylon or canvas. They are very lightweight but not at all sturdy. Choose these carts only if you are very short of storage space, or only plan to use your cart for lightweight loads.
Proper handles can help a heavy wheelbarrow from becoming unwieldy.
Wheelbarrows typically either have two handles made of metal or wood, or a loop handle made of metal. Two-handle models are easier for people of different heights to use. Loop handles on lighter-weight make it possible to store the barrow by hanging it up but can be more awkward for very short or tall users. Wood handles can also be rough, shedding splinters if made of unfinished wood.
Meg Muckenhoupt
Contributor
Meg Muckenhoupt is an environmental and travel writer. Her book Boston Gardens and Green Spaces (Union Park Press, 2010) is a Boston Globe Local Bestseller. Meg was awarded a certificate in Field Botany by the New England Wild Flower Society and earned degrees from Harvard and Brown University.
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