The Best Hand Trucks of 2023

The Cosco Shifter has wide appeal thanks to its combination of user-friendly features, high capacity, and versatility. It is hugely popular, and it is the hand truck that will suit most people, most of the time.

The Cosco Shifter can be used upright or as a four-wheel dolly. A clever lever mechanism in the center provides one-handed conversion between the two. It is straightforward to use, but the instructions could be better, and care needs to be taken not to trap fingers.

Although the mechanism is plastic, it has proven to be robust and durable. The remainder of the chassis is steel, giving a load capacity of 300 pounds. That's impressive for a hand cart that weighs just 15 pounds.

The Cosco Shifter folds completely flat for compact storage, and it will fit easily into most car trunks. The handle has a plastic cover for a little added comfort. Our only concern is the small rear wheels, which look a little fragile. However, we found no reports of breakages, and they would be easy to replace.

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Get the Cosco Shifter hand truck at Amazon, Wayfair , or Walmart .