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A Smarter Design for a Wheelbarrow: The Multifunctional Worx Aerocart

Articulating wheels and a host of hauling aids

By Rain Noe - December 17, 2018

in Object Culture

The design of wheelbarrows absolutely sucks. We have several lying around the farm, both metal and poly, and I consider them worthless.

They easily get stuck in ruts; the tires frequently go flat; they're unwieldy when loaded; they're terrible on uneven ground; they tend to fall over, both when in use and when standing still. We have chicken feed delivered in fifty pound bags, and I've found it's way faster and less frustrating to carry the bags on your shoulder than it is to try moving them in a wheelbarrow.

This one is steel and is starting to rust through on the bottom.

This one is poly and has cracked on the bottom.

It is also warped, and so unstable that it can literally be blown over by a breeze.

The remains of an abandoned wheelbarrow found in the woods on the edge of the property. I'm guessing this one sucked too.

For gathering firewood, I've taken to using a yard cart:

Bonus shot of our livestock guardian dog.

With four wheels a yard cart is way more stable than a wheelbarrow. But they're not very versatile. The other day I had to move this bunch of chicken cages across the property:

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I used the yard cart, but had to make one trip per cage as there was no good way to balance multiples on the yard cart. If I had a hand truck I could have lashed three of them together and reduced the amount of trips.

I started poking around to see if anyone had designed a better wheelbarrow or yard cart. The best thing I found is the Worx Aerocart:

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I'm pretty skeptical of anything branded "8-in-1;" the danger with designing versatility into a product is that can sacrifice being good at one thing in order to do a half-assed job at eight things. But the demonstration of the Aerocart makes it look pretty good to me:

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A steel wheelbarrow from the local home center runs about $50. Replacing our poly wheelbarrow, about $90. I'm seeing the Aerocart being sold online for about $140, which is more than I'd like to pay, but I am curious to see if it lives up to the hype.

I've also reached that point where I hate paying even small amounts of money for bad design--I don't want to reward companies that make what I consider crappy products--and prefer to save up to spend more money on good design. If any of you are curious to read an honest review of this thing, let me know and I'll probably pick one up.

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Comments

Mark Thomas

6 years ago

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As an ID person, you're actually being kind of irresponsible to so glibly trash talk the design of something that you are mis-using. Wheelbarrow design doesn't suck, in fact it's design perfection -- simple, reliable, easy-to-use, cheap, etc. Your problem is mis-application. Wheelbarrows are not for carrying cages, wood, etc. They are for soil, sand, gravel, etc.

For example, I had a crew move 200 tons of dirt from under my house to dump dump trucks, traversing a 30 foot long 12" wide plank path 8 feet in the air, one ~80 pound wheelbarrow load at a time. Thousands of trips, not a single spilled load that I recall. Wheelbarrows are used like this by zillions of people every day all over the world. That Hammacher Schlemmer-looking contraption is fine enough for carting chicken feed on a Gentleman's Farm, but wouldn't last an hour in a construction environment where wheelbarrows thrive.

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Brad Johnson

6 years ago

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I have the same yard cart as you. It's been a real back saver.

If you want to move multiple cages at once, just stack them and use tie downs.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lbs-capacity-1-12-in-x-10-ft-ratcheting-tie-down-62759.html

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Fazal Majid

6 years ago

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The superior wheelbarrow design already exists, it's the Chinese wheelbarrow, which evolved to deal with China's decaying road network, as explained in this fascinating article:
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html

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Tom Luczycki

6 years ago

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While the Aerocart has many thoughtful and well-designed features, there are reasons why the single-wheeled version has persisted. Traversing across even a gentle slope is nigh impossible with a two-wheeled cart or barrow as the load's center of gravity will be shifted far enough downslope that it will spill (The tippy-ness of a traditional wheelbarrow in this situation is disingenuously depicted at 1:26 in the video, where the users is incorrectly lifting the load with a bent back, causing it not to be raised high enough for the uphill leg to clear the ground.) The other reason to go with one-wheeled design is that it makes it easy to lay a path of planks over soft earth or even to bridge a gap. In my opinion, the traditional wheelbarrow is meant to be battered and abused until repairs are no longer viable. I may get an Aerocart for its useful features, but I doubt that I will ever be mixing concrete in it.

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Andy Block

6 years ago

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I have had one for two years. Is it 8-in-one? Meh. I have used it (with bungee cords) to move heavy plant pots, as a dolly, to distribute probably more than 50 yards of mulch, compost or cut sod, and tried to use it in a few other cases.
Like: While the tub is much smaller than a typical wheelbarrow, it is just the right size tub where a wheelbarrow's single wheel would leave nasty ruts, and it stores nicely in the dolly position.
Dislike: The dolly foot joint gets clogged with debris making it hard to flip out, and the arm that flips out for hauling boulders wiggles making an annoying sound - solved by leaving the bungee cord on it.
Conclusion: While it has a few other features that most might not ever use, it is a great small tub wheelbarrow that can be converted to a hand-truck, and works well enough in both cases for most uses. It is not likely a good replacement for a yard cart to haul wood or large tub wheelbarrow for large amounts of light stuff.

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