[BBQMan]

I’ve had both first an electric car and later a gas cart. I liked the silence of the electric and the hill climbing capability of the gas cart. After looking at the situation and how and where I wanted to drive my cart, I settled on an LSV (street legal cart). By law these are electric.

The new batteries available on the LSVs eliminate, to all intents and purposes, the problems of range and hill climbing. I maintain speeds equal to or faster than the gas carts going up hill and 5mph faster on the downhill and level ground. Like Colleen, I live in the far north part of the Villages, so range is important to me. I have still not determined the maximum range of the Tomberlin, but find the advertised range of 30 miles very realistic. I looked at both Par Car and Tomberlin and settled on Tomberlin. I did not consider GEM. The LSV allows me to cross 441, Rolling Hills Road, the traffic circle outside of Chathan, and even cross over to Home Depot. They allow you to ride on roads with posted speed limits of 35mph or less. I watch people do this, but have no desire to be, on Buena Vista or El Camino Real with cars and trucks going 45mph or faster. Some people do it, but I do not have a death wish.

The downside to these is the need to remember recharge at the end of the day and to check water levels in the batteries. The new auto-fill system has taken all the work out of checking water levels and filling the batteries to the right levels. For me this is a better choice than either the standard gas or electric cart.