Item: Powakaddy Freeway
Rating: 2

Guest's review of Powakaddy Freeway

“Systemic FW7s EBS gearbox problems - STAY CLEAR”

★★☆☆☆

written by on 14/01/2020

I purchased a new top-of-the-range FW7s with EBS in December 2017. I was extremely pleased with its performance for about 3 months. It was quiet, powerful, had numerous plus features and appeared to operate flawlessly. However, in April 2018 it commenced to emit a loud squeaking noise, resulting in the gearbox being replaced (no lubricant applied/added during manufacture). I had another 12 months of faultless service until, in April 2019, it commenced to make loud "clacking" noises when ascending the slightest inclines. This was apparently caused by the gears jumping cogs, and resulted in the further replacement of the gearbox. The trolley performed without problem for a further 7 months when, in December 2019, it suffered precisely the same "cog-jumping" defect. The gearbox required replacement again, with the result that this trolley has now had a total of 4 gearboxes (including the original) in two years of operation on a relatively flat golf course. On the occasion of each repair/replacement I have been without the trolley for 2-3 weeks while the agent awaited the approval of the warranty claim and the provision of a gearbox. The only upside is that I still have 12 months remaining of the 3 year warranty period. When that warranty expires, I will be trading the Powakaddy in on some other - any other - brand.

Value For Money

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Andrewwhitby's Comment

Written on: 09/12/2020

I have exactly the same problem with my FW7s EBS model (about to replace the gearbox for a 4th time). When I stripped the gearbox down I found the problem to be a the main drive gear is made of plastic which is not robust enough for the EBS system resulting in the gear teeth being stripped away by the metal worm. This could be easily rectified by PowaKaddy by replacing the gearwheel with a more durable alternative (ideally metal). I have suggested this to them as it is a very poor design fault but to no avail. This is a shame as it ruins an otherwise good product. Hence I will NEVER buy another PowaKaddy as their statement that 'customer satisfaction is their number one priority' is obviously just marketing hyperbole.

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Johnny0499's Comment

Written on: 12/08/2022

If you replace the gearbox plastic/nylon main gear with metal any misuse/failure will break the motor. Motor is almost twice as costly to replace vs. gearbox. Ingenious thinking is always used when designing similar things. The most inexpensive/cheaper parts will break before more expensive ones.
I have repaired my fathers fw7 EBS just now for this similar gearbox issue and he drove the cart for over 4500km~600 x 18 holes before it gave up. Only complain I have for this cart is that they should have the main gear for gear box sold separately so you wouldt need to buy the whole gearbox.

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