Best wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrows used to come with specification sheets. Most no longer do — the large traditional brands have folded their product pages into brand landing pages, and the model-level numbers went with them. So this page ranks what remains rankable: the two hauling tools that still publish a load rating, a bed volume, a tire type and a unit weight.

The short answer

What a 1,200 lb rating actually describes

Load ratings on carts sound like an invitation. They are usually a statement about the frame and axle, not about anything you will ever put in the bed.

Which means volume, not capacity, is the specification that decides how long the job takes. A cubic yard of mulch is 27 cu ft: 4.5 trips in the Gorilla, 9 in the Aerocart, and no number of pounds on the sticker changes that.

The two, on published figures

1. Gorilla Carts GOR6PS — best for bulk

Six cubic feet on four wheels, with a quick-release that dumps the bed instead of making you tip it. Thirteen-inch pneumatic tires roll over lawn, gravel and the lip at the edge of a drive; the handle converts from pull to tow, so a heavy load goes behind a mower rather than behind you.

Poly bed, powder-coated steel frame. The poly matters for the same reason it does on spreaders: nothing you haul in a garden cart is kind to bare steel, and mulch left in the bed over a wet week is the usual killer.

The costs: 54 lb empty, four wheels that need room to turn, and pneumatic tires that can go flat. Gorilla publishes no warranty term on the product page.

#ad Check the Gorilla Carts GOR6PS 6 cu ft Poly Dump Cart price on Amazon — how we're funded.

2. WORX WG050 Aerocart — best for one person

Two wheels placed under the load rather than ahead of it, a 300 lb rating in both wheelbarrow and dolly modes, and eight configurations that between them replace a hand truck, a bag holder and a cylinder carrier.

WORX states that a 200 lb load feels like 17 lb at the handles — a ratio of about 12 to 1. We have not measured it, and it is a claim rather than a test result. What is checkable is that the cart weighs 41 lb against a 300 lb rating, or 14% of its own capacity, and that flat-free polyurethane tires cannot deflate over a winter in the shed.

The limit is volume. About 3 cu ft is half a contractor barrow, so a cubic yard of mulch is nine trips. It also folds flat, which is the reason to choose it in a garage with no spare wall.

#ad Check the WORX WG050 Aerocart 8-in-1 Yard Cart price on Amazon — how we're funded.

Why the traditional barrows are not ranked here

We looked for them. The large traditional wheelbarrow brands have consolidated their web presence, and the model-level pages that used to carry tray gauge, handle material, tire size and load rating now redirect to brand landing pages. We rank on transcribed manufacturer specifications, so a product with no published specification sheet cannot appear on this page — not because it is a bad barrow, but because we would have to invent the numbers to compare it.

Who should skip both

• Anyone mixing concrete. A poly bed and a dump release are the wrong tools; concrete wants a steel tray you can hose out and scrape.
• Narrow, stepped gardens. Neither of these goes up steps, and the four-wheel cart needs turning room.
• Anyone moving one load a year. A tarp drags surprising amounts of leaf litter and costs almost nothing — see clippings and composting.

What we cannot tell you

We have not loaded either cart. WORX publishes no wheel size, no folded dimensions and no bed dimensions; Gorilla publishes no warranty term and no dumped-load capacity as a volume. Neither publishes a tray or bed thickness, which is the specification that decides whether a bed deforms under a point load. And no maker publishes how their rating was derived, so treat 1,200 lb and 300 lb as ratings rather than as measurements.