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One of the dilemmas you’ll face when physically getting to a festival is how you’ll get your stuff from the car/coach to your campsite. If you’ve never been to a festival before, it can be quite a trek, especially at larger festivals – you could be walking miles! Most experienced festival-goers will have planned for this: pack as light as possible and if you absolutely must – buy yourself a folding festival trolley for your sins.
But wait! Not all folding festival trolleys are equal, as the graveyard of cheap trolleys found in the car parking fields of any major festival will tell you. These cheap luggage bags with tiny plastic wheels ain’t gonna make it through 6 inches of mud after a week of rain and 10,000 others walking through it alongside you.
This guide is for you to decide which is the best folding festival trolley for you.
Tips for Buying a Folding Festival Trolley
Think about it, farmers and gardeners use wheelbarrows for a reason. Fisherman use fishing trolleys for convenience (fishing trolleys are actually one of the best options for a festival!)
You’ll need something sturdy enough to carry your booze, tent, and camping gear for a fairly long distance.
So, when choosing a folding festival trolley, there are certain things you should consider:
Size of wheels
The bigger the wheels, the easier of a task you’ll have to pull it through any mud. Anything with small wheels will get instantly clogged up with mud if the ground is soggy. You’ll be dragging it along until the wheels simply fall off.
Fishing trolleys and sack trucks have wheels large enough to handle most festival mud.
Type of wheels
For rough terrain and muddy fields, you’ll want pneumatic rubber tyres as opposed to plastic rolling wheels.
Avoid those small wheelie cases at all costs as these are only suitable for use on pavements and roads and won’t do much good on a farm!
Maximum weight
How much weight can your festival trolley hold? This is important to know as it will break if it’s overloaded.
You may want to just put your tent, beer, and bedding on the trolley and then carry a backpack with your clothes, etc, spreading the weight evenly.
Handle height
If you have to bend or lean down to pull/push your festival trolley, then you’ll make your back ache worse than it already will!
Make sure you can extend the handle to a comfortable height whilst the trolley is laden as sometimes the fully-extended handle becomes flimsy with heavy loads.
Pro Tip: Use bungee cords to hold everything in place!
Pulling comfort
Test your festival trolley before you use it! Load it full of what you intend to bring and try it around your garden.
Remember, you could be pulling it for many miles up and down hills!
Best Folding Festival Trolleys – Summer 2020
Product name | Picture | Maximum Load (kg) | Pros | Cons | Price |
| Shakespeare Seatbox Trolley |   | Not specified | Large pneumatic tyres Foam-padded handle | The tyres smell but this goes away | Click to check |
| Fridani BTB Trolley XXL Handcart |   | 100kg | Double seamed fabric Large load capacity Telescopic pull-bar | Wheels are plastic Struggles when near maximum capacity | Click to check |
| Michigan Heavy Duty Folding Compact Fishing Trolley |   | Not specified | Large pneumatic tyres | The handle is loose when fully extended | Click to check |
| ENKEEO Utility Pull Wagon |   | 68kg on firm ground 50kg on wet ground | Two handles for pushing and pulling Detachable canopy | Small wheels don’t do well in the mud | Click to check |
| Carptrix Folding Seatbox Trolley |   | 70kg | Large pneumatic tyres Folds completely flat | The handle is loose when fully extended | Click to check |
| NTG Dynamic Trolley |   | 70kg | Two handles for easier pushing/pulling Extra-wide design | Too large to keep inside a tent | Click to check |
1. Shakespeare Seatbox Trolley
This is a highly popular choice for festival-goers, mostly due to its large tyres and small price tag. It has a padded handle for extra comfort when pulling this thing. In regard to its maximum load capacity, this is unconfirmed but I can confirm that it holds at least 8 crates of cider.
These large pneumatic wheels do very well on rough terrain and they fare pretty well in the mud too.
2. Fridani BTB Trolley XXL Handcart
This four-wheeler is great! It even has a detachable canopy to keep your possessions dry. Many people use these to store their small children inside for transportation within the festival – saving those tired little legs.
The wheels are a little smaller that you would hope for – but it does the job!
You can even cart your kids around in this!
3. Michigan Heavy Duty Folding Compact Fishing Trolley
This is another very popular choice for music festivals. It folds really small so it’s easy to fit in an already packed car. The only negative is that the handle itself can feel a bit flimsy if the trolley is fully-loaded and the handle is at its maximum length.
The extendable handle and pneumatic tyres make this very popular with festivalgoers
4. ENKEEO Utility Pull Wagon
This folds up really small and wheels can swivel making it easier to pull around. This is another good choice for bringing small children to a festival!
Think about how much beer this could hold!
5. Carptrix Folding Seatbox Trolley
This budget trolley is great if you have a smaller load to carry; for example if you have everything in a backpack and just need a trolley for booze and extra bits. The large pneumatic wheels make it perfect for rough terrain and mud.
Those tyres are huge. Come at me, mud!
6. NTG Dynamic Trolley
Another great choice for music festivals, this is wider than most folding festival trolleys as it has extra storage space as you can see in the photo. The dual handle system is especially handy if you want to push the trolley rather than pull it. You can’t go wrong with this one!
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I came across this page which was a nice article. I do believe that our sack trucks fitted with beach wheels would be a great choice to get over wet / muddy fields.
feedback from a couple of our customers last year was great!
Link: https://www.rosscastors.co.uk/wheels/balloon-wheels/wheeleez-beach-cart.html
Regards
Tim