History: It's made of 1" round high-tensile steel tubing all around, 4" polyurethane casters, 8" polyurethane foam wheels, and takes up a space about the size of two school backpacks put end to end laying down (although you can also store it standing up). It only weighs in at 23 lbs, but you can throw up to 500lbs on top of it and wheel it with ease. It's bigger than the average hand-truck, but smaller than the average dolly, and it can do all the work of both and still fit snugly in the far back side of your closet at night.
Purchase: This was acquired for review through Music Gear Review. The price as of Spring 2011 is $299 + shipping through GruvGear's website.
Reference Site: http://www.gruvgear.com
Pros: Heavy duty all the way around. Practically unbreakable (or even unscratchable by most objects). And switching between storage mode, Hand-truck mode, dolly mode, and tiltback mode is really easy. The most you ever have to do is move a lever or loosen two hand-turnable knobs to move the main handle (and then re-tighten them of course). Not only is it a back-saver, but it's a trip-saver. What once took me three or four trips to unload now takes me (usually) one. Maybe two if I'm playing both bass AND keys that night.
Cons: I could pick on the fact that the main platform is a little short, but GruvGear already has an XL add-on frame that extends the storage area to a full 42" in length, which is PLENTY for just about everything short of a digital grand piano. I could also pick on the fact that I have to take the time to loosen screws and switch the handle to go from platform mode to handtruck/dolly mode, but that's like complaining that you have to open two jars before you can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I also could complain about the smoothness of the finish on the tubing and say that gear COULD potentially slide, but in my experience that is A) mostly untrue, and B) if you really DO have a problem with gear sliding, you can slow down when using the V-Cart, or get some griptape or a carpeted platform to add on to the V-Cart to make that nigh impossible. In short, I really find nothing wrong with this thing. Anything that could POTENTIALLY go wrong, GruvGear has already thought of a fix for it. Now THAT's what I call awesome engineering!
Quality: I'll put it simply. I could see roaches crawling around on this thing, which will likely be still fully-functional, post-apocalypse.
Summary: This is how all products should be made. Everywhere. Everytime. Predict everything that people could complain about and have a 'fix' ready for them if they do, but still make a product good enough that most people won't need your fixes. GruvGear continues to impress me, and I've already seen some previews of what's coming next. Keep an eye on them. They seem to know what they're doing.
