Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I live in south Florida, in a city that has the most gorgeous municipal beach. The better half works in New England, so most of the time, I am flying solo. I had all but given up going to the beach alone, only going when the hubs is here, because it was too difficult for me to shlep every bit of the gear, such as cooler, chaise, umbrella, beach bag, comforter for the sand, etc, from the parking lot down to the beach all by myself. It was just too heavy. But the last time I was at the beach, I saw several people pulling carts just like this one, and they seemed actually happy, smiling and not sweating profusely. Because of reviews here and on other sites, I chose the Tommy Bahama version. After using it for the first time today, I'm SO happy I did! I was able to fit everything, which included my cooler, 8' umbrella, beach bag (packed with pillow, towels, reading materials, hats, BeachBub, sand shovel) my queen size comforter which goes under everything on the sand, and my large folding lounger, and still had room for many more items, if I would have had others with me. It did require some energy to pull it through the fine, dry sand, but it was easily doable. No small thing, considering I'm a tiny, 60+ year old granny! The wide back wheels roll quite well when pulling your load to your daily square of beachfront real estate. The mesh bag appears to be securely anchored. The umbrella holder on the right side consists of a little fabric holder into which you place the tip, and there is a strap with Velcro to attach further down your umbrella so that it doesn't take up space in the main mesh compartment. The cooler fits easily on the front of the bottom "platform" which allows the mesh bag to hang freely behind it from the handle to the platform, so that it's open to fill top-to-bottom with all your beach accoutrements, even long things like my collapsible chaise, which takes up a lot of space, and is quite heavy. The mesh bag is flanked with a fabric panel, embroidered with the product name, that also doubles as an additional storage compartment with Velcro closures on top. It could easily fit magazines, a newspaper, a couple of water bottles, some beach toys, Frisbee, etc. I experienced no problems, no buckling, no wheel mishaps. It collapses quite easily, and once that happens, I had no problem whatsoever attaching the red locking mechanism. It stands quite nicely in a corner of the garage with the wheels up. And although I'm no Mrs. Goodwrench (the hubs is a mechanical engineer, so that's a skill I've never needed to develop) I was able to assemble it in under 15 minutes. The directions were concise, the abundant illustrations clear. This little labor-saving device has given me the beach back. And what could possibly be better than THAT?! Edited 7/8/15: After 10 uses, the umbrella holder fabric is ripping. It's thin and flimsy. When the hubs can remove the grommets that hold it in place, I will make a new one out of canvas. I am now using a 46-oz juice can, with the top removed, inside the current holder for added support until it can be replaced. The holder is only attached in one place, so there's a lot of stress on it. Additionally, having recently bought a huge 9' umbrella, I made an additional umbrella strap out of cotton web 18" in length (available from Joann) and Velcro sewn to the ends that helps share the load of this longer umbrella. It's not attached permanently; I just strap it around the side of the cart, higher than the installed strap. Once at the beach, I store it in the rear panel pocket so it doesn't get lost. With two straps, the umbrella is very secure. Also, I ditched the heavy chaise and bought a pair of folding ones from Target. We have put two on the chair holder and would have no trouble fitting two more. Why some seem to have trouble fitting more than two is beyond me. Edited 9/11/2015: MacGyver, my hubs, removed the shredded umbrella holder. I made a replacement out of double layer cotton duck canvas, which he attached with screws. He reinforced it, using a ring cut from a white plastic Clorox bottle, to hold its shape, so it's incredibly easy to slide in my Cool Cabana (another amazing invention for those who love the beach but don't want to become sunburned,) which has a larger, consistent diameter on the bottom than your standard beach umbrella, which tapers to a point. I've had this cart a little south of three months now, have used it almost every day, and it is still working like a champ. No complaints whatsoever about durability. One trick I've learned to keep the front wheels from warping is to make absolutely sure that they are in the proper position, as the literature illustrates, when you collapse them. Failure to do so can result in their conforming to whatever they come in contact with, usually the back wheel. This will cause a little hiccup when they roll. This happened exactly once, when I realized the cause. Since then, I have been meticulous about making sure they were in the proper collapsed position. The warping hasn't caused an outright failure, however, I contacted Rio Brands, and they promptly sent me a new one, gratis. I still haven't put it on. But you can learn from my mistake.