Best Wheelbarrows For Gardening And Yard Work

Wheelbarrows used to be simple things…a wonky single wheel and a rusty steel frame. At least that’s how I remember them. Now things change and the humble wheelbarrow hasn’t been left behind. Now you can get polymer barrows, two-wheel barrows, and garden carts in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

So how do you pick the best wheelbarrow from that bunch?

I’m looking to answer that in this article. I’ll explain what each format of wheelbarrow has to offer and in what situation they are intended to be used. We will find you the ideal product that will meet your needs, whether it’s for general garden maintenance or a more rugged barrow for that mini landscaping project you have in mind.

Table Of Contents

The Best Wheel Barrows

If you’re in a hurry and don’t wish to read through each of the product specifications, then take look at my ‘best in class’ list below that shows you the best wheelbarrows with a single wheel, two wheels, and even four wheels. Albeit, the four-wheeler is technically a garden cart but hey…I’m just trying to help out around here.

Best Single Wheel Barrow

Ace Steel Residential Wheelbarrow 6 ft³

Perfect for backyard use. Light enough to work with, yet strong enough to cope with any landscape or garden project.

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Best 2-Wheel Wheelbarrow

Gorilla Carts Twin Wheelbarrow Poly Yard Cart

Well-made, compact, low-profile wheelbarrow with great balance. The folding handle allows this cart easy to store

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Best Garden Cart

Gorilla Carts Poly Dump Cart 1200 lb Capacity

Super-strong cart ideally suited to moving big loads. Perfectly balanced wheel base and easy to steer.

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Garden Cart vs. Wheelbarrow

The terms “wheelbarrow” and “garden cart” are sometimes used interchangeably, but they refer to different things. Wheelbarrows have one or two wheels, sloped sides, and are meant to be pushed. Garden carts, on the other hand, have two or four wheels, a flat bottom, and vertical sides, and may be pushed or pulled.

Wheelbarrows generally handle rugged terrain better than garden carts, but a cart is often more practical for hauling large, heavy materials. Some can even be pulled behind a tractor or ATV, like the 1,200-pound dump cart from Gorilla Carts.

Single vs. Two-Wheel Wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrows may have one or two wheels, while garden carts have two or more. More wheels are not necessarily better, however. Here’s what you should know about each barrow type before you buy.

Single-Wheel Wheelbarrow

Single-wheel barrows are the original choice and are still the most common. They sit like a tripod at rest, on the single wheel and two pegs, lifting and pivoting on the wheel when in motion. They require more strength to keep steady than a two-wheel barrow, are prone to tipping, and require a wide radius to maneuver, but they’re inexpensive and easy to find.

Two-Wheel Wheelbarrow

A 2-wheel wheelbarrow has two front wheels that make the entire barrow or cart more stable and less prone to tipping. They are often wider than single-wheel barrows, but they have a zero-turn radius, as they can rotate in place, which makes them easier to maneuver.

Four-Wheel Garden Cart

A four-wheel garden cart can often hold more weight than a cart or barrow with one or two wheels, but they’re often more difficult to maneuver, like a shopping cart. On the other hand, some have unique dumping mechanisms that make them easier to unload than their one- and two-wheeled counterparts.

Choosing the Best Wheelbarrow

Modern wheelbarrows and garden carts have a wide range of features to choose from, each of which is good in some situations but not so good in others. The best wheelbarrow for you has features that make your life easier. Here’s what you should know about wheelbarrow features.

Frame Construction

A wheelbarrow frame is usually metal, which may be bare or coated with paint or other finishing material. It may be welded to the basin, or it may be attached with bolts.

Galvanized Steel vs. Coated

Whether galvanized or coated, steel frames are the standard for most wheelbarrows and carts. A galvanized steel frame is continuously exposed to the elements, so it will rust sooner than a coated steel frame, but you can avoid this by storing your wheelbarrow in a garage or shed.

Welded vs. Bolted

A welded frame is permanently attached to the basin of your wheelbarrow, which means it arrives fully assembled and can’t be disassembled. A bolted frame wheelbarrow may arrive with some assembly required but can usually be disassembled or folded for easy storage.

Pan or Tray Material

Original wheelbarrows were made from bare steel and hardwood. Today’s wheelbarrows and garden carts come in more durable and stylish materials, such as painted metal and molded plastic.

Metal (Painted or Galvanized)

Galvanized metal trays are the classic choice for wheelbarrows because they’re tough enough for heavy-duty jobs and super inexpensive. But exposed metal is prone to rust, especially if left outside, so metal wheelbarrows should be stored in a shed or other covered area. Painted metal rusts less but tends to chip and peel, which will expose it eventually anyway.

Metal wheelbarrows, whether coated or not, are heavy but durable. They can hold more weight than plastic barrows and are less likely to break when loaded with rocky material. Sharp, heavy rocks can still dent and even puncture them, leaving them more exposed to premature rust.

Plastic

Plastic or “poly” wheelbarrows are lightweight and durable, making them great for residential garden use. They’re best suited for residential yard work that primarily involves moving bagged mulch, soil, garden tools, and plants. They can’t hold as much weight as a steel barrow, but they’re less likely to be dented and scratched by smaller rocks and gravel.

Size and Capacity

Wheelbarrows and garden carts come in a wide range of sizes, weight capacities, and shapes, but bigger isn’t always better. Here’s everything you need to know about barrow capacities.

Tray Capacity (Litres or Cubic Feet)

The tray capacity, measured in liters or cubic feet, describes the total volume the wheelbarrow can contain. In the United States, wheelbarrows and garden carts are most commonly measured by their capacity in cubic feet.

Wheelbarrows with a large tray capacity of seven cubic feet or more are great for brush clearing and other jobs where you’re moving bulky items. A wheelbarrow or cart with a barrow capacity of six cubic feet or less is perfect for basic residential jobs like weeding, mulching, and planting. However, tray capacity does not necessarily correspond to weight capacity, as you’ll soon see.

Max Weight Capacity

The maximum weight capacity of a wheelbarrow or garden cart tells you how much weight it can safely hold without collapsing or becoming dangerous to use. You can’t make assumptions about a barrow’s weight capacity just because a cart has a large volume capacity, though, so make sure you know the max weight of a barrow before you buy it.

For example, the Polar Utility Lawn Cart has a capacity of ten cubic feet but a max weight limit of only 400 pounds. That means you could load it full of ten cubic feet of brush, leaves, mulch, and maybe even dirt. But if you put ten cubic feet of gravel or rocks in it, it could collapse and cause injury.

On the other hand, the seven-cubic-foot dump cart from Gorilla Carts has a weight capacity of over 1,200 pounds. That means you can move more brush and leaves with the Polar cart but more rocks with the one from Gorilla Carts. Make sure the wheelbarrow you buy can handle the jobs you intend to throw at it.

Optimum Height and Length

The height of a wheelbarrow or garden cart can greatly impact how comfortable and easy it is to use. A low-profile garden cart, especially one with a high volume and/or weight capacity, is easier to load with material off the ground than a taller cart because you don’t have to lift it so high to get it over the sides.

On the other hand, shorter barrows and carts can be uncomfortable for taller people to move, as they have to bend over further to lift and push them. If you’re especially tall, look for a wheelbarrow with adjustable handles for more enjoyable use.

A long wheelbarrow gives you more vertical dumping leverage than a shorter one, but beware that garden carts with long noses, like the Polar Utility Lawn Cart, require you to lift the handles higher to the dump, which may be impractical for shorter people.

Handle Design

A wheelbarrow’s handles are a large part of what determines how comfortable and efficient a wheelbarrow is to use. Here’s what you should look for when deciding what kind of handle setup is right for you.

Tipping Bar

A traditional single-wheel barrow has handles that form a tight V-shape, starting wide at the back of the barrow and nearly connecting in front of the wheel. The tipping bar spans the gap between them, acting as a stabilizing foot when the barrow is tilted forward for dumping.

Without a tipping bar, you would have to turn a single-wheel barrow all the way on its side to empty it, which would be damaging to your back, or lift the handles all the way up, shaking the contents loose while trying not to let it roll over your foot or down the hill.

Personally, I would never pay money for a single-wheel wheelbarrow that didn’t have a tipping bar. In fact, you’d have to pay me to use it. The lack of a tipping bar is more than an inconvenience. It renders a single-wheel barrow useless at best and dangerous at worst.

Two-wheel barrows don’t generally have a tipping bar because they tilt on their axle while the front of the barrow makes contact with the ground, stabilizing it while dumping. Some two- and most four-wheel carts have a unique tipping mechanism, also sometimes called a tipping bar, that allows you to lift one end of the bed off the cart for leverage while dumping.

Double Handles

Traditional wheelbarrows, and most modern wheelbarrows, have two separate handles that you hold with your arms down and at your sides. They require a lot of exertion from your shoulders and the back of your arms to lift the wheelbarrow but relatively little work to keep it lifted.

Some wheelbarrows, and many garden carts, have a loop handle design, connecting the two separate handles with a horizontal bar, like a shopping cart. This can be more comfortable to use, particularly for people with more limited lifting strength, and it makes it possible to pull the yard cart or barrow.

You get a lot of side-to-side dumping leverage with double handles because you can push one side down while lifting the other side. You lose that leverage with the loop handle design, which works best on barrows and carts with two or more wheels that have a built-in pivot axis or dumping mechanism.

Plastic or Rubber Grips

If you’ve ever used an old, rusty wheelbarrow, you know how uncomfortable cracked and splintered wood handles can be. Modern wheelbarrows with hardwood handles are varnished to prevent splitting, but they can still cause blisters and pain in your hands.

Some barrows have molded plastic handles that are more ergonomic than traditional hardwood handles. These handles take some strain off your hands, but the hard plastic can still cause blistering, and they get hot in the sun.

Barrows with rubber grips are the most comfortable to use, but they’re surprisingly uncommon these days. Perhaps that’s because the rubber tends to break down before the wheelbarrow does, making the situation worse than it was, to begin with.

Wheelbarrow Wheels

There are two types of wheelbarrow wheels – solid and pneumatic. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages, depending on where and how you intend to use your wheelbarrow. Here’s what you should keep in mind when you’re trying to decide.

Pneumatic

Pneumatic wheels have an air-filled tube inside them that can be filled and emptied like a bicycle tire. The inner tube acts as a cushion, compressing to roll over rough terrain gently without jostling the load inside the bed of the barrow.

The downside of pneumatic wheels is that they’re prone to leaking and flattening, so they need to be refilled regularly. You can refill them with an ordinary bicycle hand pump, but it takes a long time and a lot of physical work. An air compressor makes refilling pneumatic tires much easier. They require regular maintenance and can be a pain without something to refill them.

Solid Puncture-Proof

Solid puncture-proof wheels, frequently called flat-free wheels, have no inner tube that can leak or go flat. They’re made from a solid material, usually rubber, that never needs to be refilled. They’re great for construction areas where stray nails and other debris can spell disaster for air-filled pneumatic tires.

But flat-free tires don’t flex and bounce the way pneumatic tires do, making them poorly suited for rough terrain and long distances. Flat-free tires tend to get stuck on debris like rocks, boards, sticks, and even divots in the ground. They perform much better on relatively even ground and poured or paved surfaces.

Best Wheelbarrow Reviews

I know it can be hard to know where to start when you’re looking for a new wheelbarrow, so I’ve tested over a dozen to bring you the eight best wheelbarrows on the market today. The list includes no-frills, budget-friendly options, heavy-duty towable carts, and everything in between, so no matter what kind of work you want to do with it, you’ll find what you’re looking for here.