You may not have heard of Golfstream, but they have been making electric trolleys for over 10 years and their parent company specialises in creating electronic parts for trolleys and many other products.
Therefore they are well positioned to see the pros and cons of certain designs and they have combined all this knowledge into their own Vision of what a golf trolley should be.
Made from aircraft grade T6 aluminium in a nice matt black finish the Golfstream Vision frame not only looks stylish, but is also one of the quickest folding trolleys on the market.
The handle is secured when folded by a magnet on the underside to the base at the rear of the trolley, so all you have to do to put the trolley up is place the wheels on the floor, lift up the handle and it will click in place.
To fold flat, all you have to do is push the clip with the Golfstream logo on in the middle of the frame to release the catch.
Then the Vison folds back down and you can pick it up by the frame right away as the magnet will have already taken hold to keep it closed.
This makes the Vision flatter than most other trolleys when folded so that will be useful for putting in the car and for storing. It's also one of the few trolleys that won't stand up vertically by itself when folded, so you will need something to lean it against if that is how you like to store your trolley.
The handle is a nice shape and very smooth to hold and whilst I like the style of the 'wing tips' on each end, I think I would prefer them to be the same plastic material as the rest of the handle.
They are rubber which makes them flexible, but also a little annoying as they bend away from the handle when you place your hand on them, so if they are supposed to have a role in helping you turn the trolley then that effectiveness is reduced.
The centrally located dial is easy to reach and controls the speed of the trolley. If you go into the settings you can switch it to turn clockwise instead of anti-clockwise if you are left handed, which is a clever touch.
In the settings you can also change the Vision logo to text of your choice of up to 14 characters and this will show when there is no battery attached, so everyone will know that this trolley is yours.
The Caddy White screen is particularly good in all lights as it is an e-reader type of display and I like the style of the housing which is more robust than it looks.
The speed goes up in 0.5 increments to 9.5, which may sound good, but when you think about it is probably about as useful as Spinal Tap's sound level going up to 11 on their amps.
The Vision does turn it up on the features though with a clock and an automatic distance function that you set in the usual way by pushing and holding for 3 seconds and then selecting 10, 20 or 30 yards for the trolley to go before it stops.
If you walk beside the trolley as it is doing this you will see the distance left count down to zero, which is good for seeing that the distance function is set and that you have not let the Vision to go off on its own by mistake.
Golfstream know the trolley accessories that are on offer from other brands and their frame has a dock that uses the industry standard attachment for two extras like an umbrella holder .
What makes the Golfstream different to most other electric trolleys is that the top bag holder is on the vertical part of the frame coming from the wheels, rather than being on the folding crossbar.
This creates more room on the frame, enough that you can get a tour bag on facing forwards, as well as making it a little more stable. The two bag holders are generously shaped and come with elastic bungee cords to secure your bag in place.
The detachable low profile 'slick' wheels sound like they should be on some gangster car, but are made from PU and Golftream claim they last 5 times longer than EVA and provide good grip as they almost have a sticky feel.
For an extra £20 you can pimp your golf bag ride by going for a pack with different colour trims for the wheels and all the orange bits you see here on the trolley chassis.
The Golfstream Vision is one of the few trolleys you can buy direct without a battery and therefore the battery tray is large enough to accommodate most sizes of batteries and uses the fairly standard two pin connector to provide the power to the motor.
This saves you about £150, but otherwise the Vision comes with the Golfstream CaddyCell LiFePO4 lithium battery as standard. It is the same width as the tray so that holds it snug, plus you have the strap and clips to hold it in place too. The connector cord has to be connected at both ends which adds to the set up time, although you could probably leave the wider end on the battery all the time.
The cover has a handle on it which makes transporting the light battery very easy, plus there is also a panel that reveals a USB port if you want to charge your GPS or phone on the course, but you will need a long enough cable.
When I plugged it in, the battery meter pretty quickly went to 2 bars out of 3 on the Vision display, but fret not as this seems to be normal and I made it round 18 holes fine, even if there was a little bit of battery light bingo as I played the last few on one bar of power.
If you are replacing an existing trolley and already have a battery with the right connectors that still has life in it, then at £299 the Vision is excellent value for money, as it is well thought out and with nice touches like the Caddy White screen, personalised name, left/right controller and the automatic distance function.
With the cost of the lithium it competes at a different level and maybe doesn't have quite the same robust feel or as many advanced features as better known brands, but it does feel a little lighter to lift and does all the basics well.
The folding mechanism is genius and you will be tempted to put it up and down just for fun. Given that folding up and down and putting it in the car is one of the things you will do most with a golf trolley, then I would recommend casting your eyes over the Vision.