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What you get
3x Boxes – The largest with the frame, handlebars, legs, wheels and bags, the second with the hub motor / main wheel, the third with batteries and charger etc. Main box had some damage when delivered but all items were reasonably packed and padded. A few micro scratches but nothing to get too worried about.
First Impressions
Certainly larger and heavier than my well used and abused Porterlite – the upstand on the front looks lower than other barrows but the whole thing is generally well made. Don’t like the plastic cam locks on the front extension but cannot see me extending the barrow at the front anyway. There's also a weird loose bar that can be moved (but not removed) and I assume fills the gap on full extension – not sure its needed and just adds weight. Neoprene covered handles also look like they might not go the distance, however the rest of the metalwork is fine and the weatherproof box and clamp that house the electrics looks well made. The power button and throttle look a bit plastic – think this may need some protection whilst in transit and it states on the instruction that it needs weather protection if left outside. . .
First time assembly
Note – the instructions are in the locked battery box. Only discovered this once I’d assembled the main barrow.
The good. Everything fairly straight forward – adjustable rear supports / wheels lock open and closed with a pin lock and this is easy to do. Another pin type lock is used for adjusting the leg length, again very easy to operate. The mud feet have decent movement, they also ‘click’ into place when fully upright against the frame when the barrow is collapsed.
Batteries are easy to charge albeit a little confusing initially in terms of contradiction between the Nash instructions and the charger instructions. Basically when the light goes green the batteries are full. Installing into the battery compartment works well, everything fits neatly and the connectors are easy to push together with the arrows aligned etc, the top shutting securely with a neat clamping mechanism.
The barrow bags are heavy duty material and work well / are easy to fit – they drop in and locate on a ridge in the frame to stop them falling through and are accessible from both the top and sides with full double zips which makes fishing ‘off’ the barrow potentially easier. Don’t think I’ll be using the panniers either side of the wheel as this is just more unnecessary weight / faff to assemble.
The not so good. The arms are one piece with a spreader bar but have a screw / pressure type fitting. This needs to be fully unscrewed (it cannot fall out) when putting the arm section in but its a bit of a fiddle to ‘locate’ the screw in the hole on the arms prior to tightening. This is the same for attaching the hub motor wheel itself, although the tolerances on this are VERY tight compared to the handles and at first I thought I’d have to send the barrow back as the female spigots on the frame looked slightly out of kilter. Aligning the male spigots on a heavier than usual hub motor wheel was tricky and again aligning the screws prior to tightening was a faff. On this basis (and not ideal for storage in the car) I may leave the wheel on semi-permanently or most likely just wait for the metal finish to scrape off a bit to make this easier over time.
The battery connectors are TIGHT, both when linking each battery together and attaching to the control box. This is fine on assembly but harder to remove – I had to carefully use a pair of pliers to release them and the more hamfisted may break these. Again over time these should loosen up so not a big issue (unless you break them of course)
The main hub wheel is wide and pneumatic – may need to apply slime to minimise punctures etc – don’t fancy having to change a tyre / replace the inner tube on this barrow. The rear wheels seem to be solid / puncture proof and also need fitting to their independent rear arms with a wrench.
Initial test
After charging the batteries, reassembling the whole barrow from scratch was easy and took about 2-3mins. With the dog sitting on the barrow, I pressed the on button and the power lights came on and I took her for a stroll up and down the garden, testing the variable speed control which worked very well. Full power with no weight on the barrow requires a run, rather than a walk. With a touch of the thumb you can switch off the power and push by hand / as per a normal barrow – no reverse power but seeing that reversing movements are usually minor I don’t see this as an issue.
To be continued -
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