I’m a golf push cart devotee.
Have been for quite awhile.
To me, if you’re a walking golfer, I don’t know why you wouldn’t use a push cart. The experience is superior to carrying your bag in just about every full-round scenario and situation, at least in my opinion.
But you know what’s always been a bit of a hangup? One of those few exceptions to my “pushing-is-better-than-carrying” rule?
It’s that push carts are a bit of a pain when you’re off the golf course.
Size and space is the challenge. These things typically take up a lot of room. Transporting them to and from the course and storing them when you’re not playing are, well, a bit of a problem.
In fact, the most common situations when I’ll choose to carry my bag instead of push are when I’ve got too much stuff in my car and I can’t easily fit my push cart for my trip to the course, or when I’ve had to shoehorn the bulky cart into some corner of my garage and I’m too lazy to unearth it before my round.
See what I mean? It’s the size of push carts that’s the biggest issue.
So, at the risk of spoiling the suspense of this review, let me just tell you that I have never come across a push cart that’s as space-saving while still functional as the Blade Trio by Big Max.
How small is it?
What’s sacrificed or left out to make it so compact?
Is the build quality legit?
And how well does it operate on the golf course?
I’ve got those answers and more for you in this Big Max Blade Trio review. So sit back, and say hello to my little friend.
First Impressions of the Big Max Blade Trio: Small, but Mighty
There’s one unmistakable feature that makes Big Max carts distinctive and immediately recognizable: It’s that they fold down to nearly flat.
Most push carts fold down to some degree, some becoming more compact than others. But almost every push cart on the market collapses into a still-bulky cube or block. Almost always, even when folded, a push cart remains a bit unwieldy. They’re usually just as awkward or even more so than a golf bag. If I’m taking a road trip with other luggage, I often don’t have the luxury of bringing a push cart along because my golf bag is already taking up too much space.
Then there’s the Blade Trio.
Big Max has designed a proprietary Autofold collapsing system that is just super slick. With the pull of two-quick release levers, the cart practically folds and unfolds itself, snapping into place so that everything is perfectly secured. It collapses inwards so that, when folded, it becomes a flat rectangular shape that’s only 8 inches wide.
You can store the cart laying flat or standing vertically. There’s even a handle to make lifting and carrying very convenient.
The first thing I did when I unboxed the Blade Trio was fold it and unfold it like five times consecutively just because it was so impressive and weirdly satisfying. It’s like some kind of magic trick, and the whole process takes like three seconds.
Big Max has long been a popular push cart (or trolley) brand in Europe but didn’t start distributing and making noise stateside until five or six years ago. The Blade Trio is the evolution of the Big Max flat-fold system, which they’ve continued to refine and improve.
Folded, the Blade Trio is 27.9 x 23.2 x 8.2 inches. It weighs 14.77 pounds.
What’s crazy is that the Blade Trio isn’t even Big Max’s most compact push cart. Their Blade IP folds down flat to less than 5 inches in width. But it’s not as nice of a cart as the Blade Trio. I said at the beginning that this was the smallest-while-still-functional push cart I’ve come across. While the Blade IP is smaller, the Blade Trio has more features and is a higher-quality cart that I would consider as more functional for regular use.
When folded, dealing with the Blade Trio is so much simpler than with other carts. I use the Sun Mountain Speed Cart for a lot of my rounds. But compared to the Big Max Blade Trio, the Sun Mountain is like a tank. The Blade Trio is so much smaller when folded. Lifting it, carrying it, packing it, storing it — it’s so, so much easier than with the Sun Mountain or many other brands and models I’ve tried.
Sometimes, when I get home from the golf course I’ll put my clubs and push cart in the corner of one of the main-floor rooms of our house. My wife isn’t always impressed with this storage decision. That’s because most of the push carts I parade through the house are like some kind of albatross that are unavoidable to the eye.
But with the Blade Trio, I tidily tucked the cart into a corner of the room, up against the wall, and my wife hasn’t said a word for a few days running. I’m not saying this room is the full-time home for this push cart, but I am saying that the Blade Trio is a lot less conspicuous than other carts.
The same goes for the to-and-from-the-course transport. This flat-fold system is brilliant for positioning the cart in any number of packing configurations. Because it’s so much smaller and because it snaps into place so that it’s one flat unit that also includes a handle, it’s just a lot more flexible when it comes to fitting into the back of my car.
Big Max Blade Trio Review: How Does it Perform on the Course?
This is a very light push cart. Noticeably light, in fact, especially when pushing it up hills and comparing that feeling to what I’m accustomed to with heavier push carts. I didn’t fully realize how much I’d appreciate how much lighter the Blade Trio is compared to other carts I’ve used until I walked 18 on a fairly hilly course. That’s when it became clear to me that a light, smooth roll makes a massive energy-output difference over time.
But don’t mistake “light” for “cheap.” The Blade Trio has a powder-coated aluminum frame that’s plenty strong. I stood on the push cart just to see if I could note any stress in the frame. Nothing. It’s rock solid and fully capable of supporting even a large cart bag. Also, it comes with a five-year warranty, so you’re covered in the event of any breakdowns.