Hasta La Ideas

This Lawn Chariot object I’m about to show you is a fascinating, and very American, piece of design (for better and worse). Before I get to it, I want to back up in time to show you some related objects.

Way back in 2017, these WeatherPods caught our notice. They were marketed to parents watching their childrens’ sporting events in inclement weather.

When COVID hit three years later, the company expanded their lineup to include wearable models.

While the pandemic’s over, the company still makes Wearable Upper Body Pop-Up Pods, with the target market shown in the photos below.

A newcomer has entered the space. Startup Chariot Outdoor offers this Lawn Chariot. Billed as a “mobile relaxation suite,” it’s a collapsible rolling cart that turns into two seats with storage beneath, and a Conestoga-style canopy.

I say the product is very American for two reasons. First, we Americans seem obsessed with comfort, and spending as much time off of our feet as possible. Secondly, we’re not particularly interested in long-lived products. I haven’t touched this product in person to assess the quality, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’ll hand down to your grandchildren.

That said, I can appreciate that whoever designed it did a fair bit of thinking. The canopy can be adjusted, using an elegantly simple mechanism, to keep the sun out of your eyes.

The handle has a stop so it doesn’t fall to the ground. That seems like a small detail, but I’ve got a pull-cart that lacks this feature and it’s hugely annoying.

The front wheels pivot in unison, making the cart easy to maneuver.

I’d be more impressed by this object if the build quality was visibly better, but that would cost money; that’s another American curse, I think, which is a resistance (or lack of ability, to be fair) to pay more for quality.

In any case, the Lawn Chariot has been successfully Kickstarted, with 18 days left to pledge at press time. Buy-in starts at $279. The pitch video starts with the overwrought “There’s got to be a better way!” series of fails, but once you get past that, you can see how the product actually works: