Golf Carry Bag Reviews: Sun Mountain Zero-G
GENERAL RATING
SCORE: 94
GRADE A
The Sun Mountain Zero-G takes top honors in our bag test due to its excellent overall performance and clever belt-strap innovation. Sun Mountain has been playing around with ways to distribute the weight of the bag to the user’s hips and legs, rather than the shoulders and lower back, and with Zero-G, they’ve finally gotten it right. Comfortable, easy to use, what’s not to like? Oh yes, the high price. It might not be worth it for a snappy 15 year old, but our middle-aged backs were more than willing to shell out the extra money. The additional amount you pay to Sun Mountain is much less than what you would have to pay to your massage therapist and chiropractor…
Retail Price: $229.99
CLUBS STORAGE
SCORE: 91
GRADE A-
The Sun Mountain Zero-G has a 6-way top that divides the club area into 6 sectors, but only two dividers run the length of the bag, so there are essentially 3 main club storage areas. The 6-way top divides each of those areas into two. We didn’t have much of an issue with the limited number of full-length splitters, though from time to time, your clubs do get tangled up (particularly if your grips are sticky).
LEGACY
SCORE: 95
GRADE A
We’ll just repeat what we said about the Sun Mountain Superlight 3.5’s legs, as the Zero-G seems to have the same ones. Great legacy! These are quality Stacey Keibler or Elle Macpherson sets we’re talking about in Sun Mountain bags. The wide rubber feet (the Stacey/Elle analogies are over) provide excellent stability, and the legs open easily when setting the bag down. There’s an element of independent suspension in the legs, in that both don’t automatically spring the same amount, which is helpful when dealing with uneven seating. A Velcro strap can be used to lock the legs if the user is traveling or using a cart.
STRAPS
SCORE: 94
GRADE A
Like most of its competitors, the Sun Mountain Zero-G has 4 adjustment points for the straps. The padding on the straps is excellent.
The hallmark feature of the Zero-G, of course, is the hipbelt, which we’ll include as a “strap” for the purposes of our review. Sun Mountain’s previous effort to redistribute weight was their terrible “HUG” technology, which involved lowering a bulky, foam-covered metal brace around the hips.
But with the Zero-G, they’ve figured it out. The new hip belt takes the weight of the clubs and bag off your fragile back and shoulders and places it on the large muscles of your hips and legs. Users will notice the difference over the course of a round (particularly in mountainous terrain).
Using Zero-G’s hipbelt is a doddle: like any other bag, you start by slinging it over your shoulders with the pack straps, then simply clip the padded strap around your hips with the Velcro over where it would be. the belt buckle. When you get to your ball, you separate the velcro and attach the bag as you normally would. Occasionally buckling and unbuckling the Velcro belt is more trouble than it’s worth (like when taking a 40-yard approach shot); in those cases, users can simply leave the belt unbuckled.
If you carry a trolley or travel and don’t want to deal with the belt strap, you can easily remove the belt from the bag and then use the “standard” backpack configuration.
POCKETS/STORAGE
SCORE: 89
GRADE: B+
The Sun Mountain Zero-G features 7 pockets in total.
- 1 large clothing pocket runs along the right side of the bag, with 1 medium-sized pocket and 1 small velor-lined waterproof valuables pocket (so your iPhone won’t get bumped when it rains!) both a along the outside of the garment pocket.
- 1 medium and 1 small pocket rest on the spine of the bag.
- 1 medium sized ball pocket is on the left side of the bag, with 1 additional drink pouch along the outside of this pocket. One note: the belt strap interferes with access to these two pockets when the bag is on the ground; they are not impossible to reach, but the user has to fold the belt strap out of the way. When the bag is on the user’s shoulders and the belt strap is fastened, unimpeded access to these pockets (and in particular to the beverage bag) is restored.
- There is an additional pencil holder along the spine of the bag, so if it wanted to, Sun Mountain could probably claim 8 pockets.
The Sun Mountain Zero-G includes traditional straps on the right side of the bag to hold an umbrella and a ring to attach a towel.
It’s a very standard design for pockets, but one that works well.
RAIN HOOD
SCORE: 83
GRADE B-
The Sun Mountain Zero-G has the same convoluted rain hood as the other Sun Mountain and Titleist products. Securing the hood involves the difficult process of threading two Velcro straps through the anchors at the front of the bag (instead of around the legs, which we first assumed), then snapping two buttons around the straps. and finally pass one final velcro strap around the handle. As mentioned in those other reviews, we think Sun Mountain went a bit overboard with security levels – the lengthy setup process seems counterintuitive to the immediate goal of covering clubs as soon as possible.
BRING IMPRESSIONS
SCORE: 96
GRADE A
We liked using the Sun Mountain Zero-G!
- Weight. The bag weighed in at 5.6 pounds based on testing (including rain cover and belt strap), about the median of the competitors in our test.
- Balance. The bag is balanced evenly across the shoulders.
- Stuffed. There are two nice bean-shaped pads that sit firmly on the lower back of the user.
- Handles/Straps. As mentioned in other reviews, a great feature of the Sun Mountain bags is the handle built into the edge of the bag. The user simply grasps this handle with their right hand to place the bag securely on the ground (and activate the legs) and slide the strap off the right shoulder in one simple motion. This became such a natural move for us that we searched in vain for the same handle when trying other bags.
STYLE
SCORE: 86
GRADE B
86/b
Style
About average in terms of the appearance of the bag itself, the Sun Mountain Zero-G packs in a bit for style because, to be honest, the belt looks a bit silly when unbuckled. The Sun Mountain Zero-G comes in six different color combinations:
- Red, with black and white accents (similar to the Louisville Cardinals)
- Yellow, with black and white accents (Iowa Hawkeyes)
- Purple, with yellow, black, and white trim (some high schools MUST have this combination)
- Blue, with red, white and black accents (Louisiana Tech)
- Orange, with yellow, black, and white trim (we’re pretty sure NO school uses these colors)
- Black, with just a hint of red trim and white trim (Cincinnati Bearcats)
INNOVATION
SCORE: 95
GRADE A
We just can’t say enough good things about the belt strap. In our opinion, it fundamentally changes the carrying experience, just like Izzo’s backpack strap development did some 15 years ago. We look forward to seeing more innovations in this design from other bag manufacturers. The Zero-G also scores points for the integrated handle on top of the bag.
COST VALUE
SCORE: 90
GRADE A-
The Sun Mountain Zero-G offers solid features and quality performance, and the Belt Strap took it over the top and made it our favorite. Yes, it’s the second most expensive bag in our test, coming in at a hefty $229.99, but “value” doesn’t necessarily mean just low price. What our reviewers look for is whether the product offers utility for the price, and our reviewers (and their shorts) felt the investment in the Sun Mountain Zero-G was well worth it.