If you asked me to name the best bike brand, it would be impossible. Dozens of brands make top-shelf bikes that are an absolute pleasure to ride and full of creative technologies. However, naming the best bike rack brand is easy: 1UP. Several other brands make totally competent racks, but none are as unique, well made, thoroughly designed, or beautiful as what 1UP constantly pumps out.

Case in point is 1UP’s new Super Duty bike rack. I’ve been testing it for the past several months on the back of my 2024 Toyota Tundra and there is not one thing I can find wrong with the design.

1UP racks have long had a cult-like following because they’re the best rack out there for safely transporting your expensive bike. Their design uses two arms that secure your wheels by reaching over them and putting downward pressure on your tires to keep the bike locked in place on a metal tray. By locking on the tires, the arms never touch your frame and therefore won’t rub the paint or damage the bike, while still keeping it completely planted and safe.

This design also has the added benefit of a super clean aesthetic. The two arms sit nicely on the wheels, creating a symmetrical design, and everything is made from polished or simple black aluminum. When folded up and not in use, all the 1UP bike racks tuck against the back of your car more cleanly and efficiently than any other rack out there, almost blending into the car or the tailgate.

Testing the 1UP Super Duty

The version I tested is an upgrade over the standard 1UP rack in several important ways. The biggest talking point is that each tray can now hold up to 100 pounds (compared to 50 pounds per tray on their standard rack), and each tray and lock-down arm is wider so you can now safely carry the heaviest e-bikes or even a wide-tired electric dirt bike like those made by Super 73.

The electric dirt bike capability is a big deal because lots of overlanders are buying these adventure bikes as add-ons for their rigs. They’ll find a remote camping spot, set up their truck with all its accessories, and then jump on their Super 73 to explore, or even run back into town for groceries. Without something like the 1UP rack, overlanders have had to stuff their adventure bikes into vans and truck beds, or build custom racks.

Additionally, the Super Duty is compatible with what 1UP calls a wheel chock, a v-shaped device that slots into the tray and holds the front wheel of your bike as a third point of contact. I loved this because during my testing I carried expensive carbon bikes up a series of gnarly, off-grid roads that had my truck bouncing around to the point where my family threatened to get out and walk. The normal arms kept my bikes in place, but the wheel chock was a nice piece of insurance. I like knowing that no matter how much time I spend bouncing on a dirt road, it’s almost impossible for my bike to fall off.

Another smaller but important update is the one-handed arm adjustment feature. Other 1UP racks require two hands to open the arms on the tray, but the Super Duty allows you to open the arms one handed so you can keep your other hand on your bike.

Like all 1UP bike racks, the Super Duty was effortless to install. It slid into my two-inch hitch, I decided how far I wanted it to sit from my tailgate, and I tightened it down with a couple of twists of the included wrench. Over several thousand miles of driving, including several hundred miles of dirt roads, the hitch is still as secure as when I installed it and there isn’t a milliliter of wobble. I’ve tested many other bike racks from big-name brands, and all of them have eventually come loose, so it’s an absolute pleasure to not ever have to worry about the 1UP.

As you might guess, the Super Duty is not cheap. My double trays cost a hearty $900, and the single comes in at $600. But the saying “buy once, cry once” is as true as it comes here because this will be the last bike rack you’ll need for years, if not decades, and will only become obsolete if bikes change in some crazy way. Knowing how good the Super Duty is at protecting your bike also takes the pain away as you drive around confident that your $4,000—or $14,000—whip is totally locked down and safe.

The post 1UP’s Super Duty Bike Rack Is a Marvel of EngineeringÌę appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Next time you drive anywhere—to work, school, your local ski area—check the tires on the vehicles around you and more than likely you’ll see a set of BFGoodrich KO2 all-terrains (ATs) rolling by. Long loved for their performance and looks, the KO2 is the most ubiquitous all-terrain tire on the market, and for good reason.

Made to perform well in all conditions the KO2 has helped thousands of drivers plow through snow, mud, and sand on the way to their next adventures. Here at șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű we’ve hammered home many times that a quality tire is the most important upgrade you can make for off-road performance, and we’ve always rated the KO2 as a good investment.

After 10 years of KO2 popularity, BFG , which moves the tire forward in several ways. I’ve been testing the tires for months on my 2024 Tundra in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and also had the chance to drive them during an off-road adventure in Alaska. I’ve been impressed with the performance over thousands of miles of pavement and every off-road condition imaginable. Whether tearing up muddy roads, crawling up high-clearance 4×4 routes, trying to park my car in deep snow banks, or cruising freeways at 75 mph, the KO3 has always felt like a good choice.

To learn how the BFG engineers took an already top-performing tire like the KO2 and made it even better, I sat down with two people who were instrumental in the design and launch of the BFGoodrich KO3—Brandon Sturgis, BFG’s global product manager, and Jon Jewell, one of the company’s product design and industrialization engineers. Sturgis and Jewell started the conversation by listing all the spots where they wanted to see improvement: wear, road noise, and performance on gravel, snow, mud, and wet spots.

Improved Durability

Better wear was a key focus for two reasons. First, the BFGoodrich KO3s are expensive so buyers want their investment to last. Second, KO3 buyers use the tires hard and don’t want them to fail because of uneven or fast wear. BFG made the KO3 15 percent more durable than the KO2 by using a new rubber compound and packing the lugs closer together to create a denser contact patch where they meet the road. The rubber compound is formulated for supposed to be better at absorbing the contact from the road, which creates less wear, and the denser contact patch reduces the stress on the individual lugs.

The KO3 comes with the same 50,000-mile warranty as the KO2, but thanks to the more durable build, the KO3 is rated for today’s increasingly powerful trucks and SUVs that put extra wear on tires—like my Tundra.

With the explosion of overlanding in the U.S. and across the world, BFG saw that the KO2s were spending increased time on rough dirt roads. For the KO3s they wanted to cut down on what’s called “chip and tear,” where parts of the lugs get sliced by the gravel and eventually tear away, reducing the tire’s effectiveness and longevity. BFG’s new KO3 rubber compound allows for increased elastic deformation in the lugs so that they can conform to gravel in the road instead of getting shredded. The lug pattern is also designed so that no one individual lug takes a particular beating—all the grouped lugs on each section of the tire work together to absorb the impact.

Sidewall durability is important on an all-terrain tire because sidewall punctures are pretty much impossible to repair. To ensure drivers don’t get stranded with the KO3, BFG built an extra-burly sidewall into the tire that uses technology from their Baja T/A KR line of tires that are used on high-powered, off-road race vehicles.

More Versatile Performance

Those of us who love to ski, or just enjoy exploring in winter, will be happy to hear that the KO3 improves snow traction thanks to a new sipe design. Sipes are the slits in the lugs that open as the tire makes contact with the ground, allowing the lug to bite into the snow. The sipes on the KO3 go the full depth of the lug, creating a large bite. Inside the sipe there’s an egg carton-like structure that keeps the two sides of the lug from deforming when it hits the road, enabling a better bite and more even wear that allows the lugs to last longer.

“We wanted to make sure we created a tire that performed just as well in the Texas summer as it does in the Canadian winter,” Jewell said.

BFG makes a tire called the KM3 that’s designed specifically to excel in mud, but the multiple-use KO3 does amazingly well—something I saw as we powered through puddles in Alaska. That’s thanks to a more aggressive lug pattern on the side of the tire and mud-phobic bars between the lugs that help release the suction that builds up when mud gets pushed in between the lugs so that it can fall out and the lugs can go back to biting into new mud down the road.

To ensure the KO3s stay planted on wet pavement, the lug pattern was designed to push water out of the way when the rubber meets the road. The new rubber compound, along with the sipes, also help create grip so that you can cruise down the freeway safely, rain or shine.

Reduced Road Noise

Since most drivers spend the majority of their time on pavement and don’t want to listen to a constant hum, BFG engineers created a pattern where not all the lugs hit at the same time, designed lugs that give off variable pitches, which creates a less ferocious noise, and tuned some lugs to cancel each other’s noise out. In my testing, I found the tires are louder than a regular street tire, but not by much.

All of this engineering takes time, of course, and Sturgis said BFG first started developing the KO3 back in 2015. The KO03 also builds on the 10-year run of the KO2, and the 15 year run of the original KO before that.

BFG tested the KO3 for years before launching. The ultimate test comes when they sling their tires on buggies and trucks running the Score Baja 500 and the Baja 1000—two of the world’s most famous off-road races. They’ve had a lot of success: Over the years BFG-equipped vehicles have won 35 Baja 500s and 343 Baja 1000s. The KO3s were used on the Baja Challenge 1000-winning buggies that won the 2022 San Felipe 250 and the 2023 Baja 1000. 2021, 2022, and 2023 Baja 1000 races.

I didn’t get to ask Jewell and Sturgis about when BFG plans to launch the KO4, or whatever iteration of the all-terrain tire they have up their sleeves next. They both, however, hinted that, as product people, they’re always watching how the current product is performing, then weighing that with the development of vehicles and how people want to adventure.

“I can tell you that ideation never stops, and at BFG we think there is no reason to not apply what we’ve learned as soon as we can,” Jewell said.

The post The Most Popular All-Terrain Tire Just Got Better appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

Despite being the of vehicles in the U.S., crossovers like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CRV get , especially in the off road and overland communities. They’re regarded as a poor compromise between a sedan and an SUV that tend to do nothing particularly well, and are often ridiculed for without actually possessing that capability.

Here’s the thing, though: crossovers are popular for good reason. They meet the needs of most people incredibly well, are fuel efficient and comfortable, and with modern all-wheel-drive systems and traction control, I’d argue they’re able to get most of us pretty much anywhere we actually want to go.

My wife and I own a 2021 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which happens to be the in the U.S. and is one of the best-selling vehicles in the country year after year. It has been a phenomenal car for us, but we wanted to make it perform a bit better off-road, so we made some modifications.

How “Off-Road” Are You Really Getting?

Before I dive into what we did to our RAV4, let’s take a second to talk about what “off-road” and “off-road capability” really mean. For some folks, off-road capability might mean their vehicle needs to come equipped with large tires, front and rear locking differentials, a winch, and the ability to safely navigate a .

If that’s what you need out of a vehicle, then yeah, a crossover isn’t for you.

The thing about those types of trails is that you have to seek them out—there are not many of them, and most folks are not running trails in Moab very often. To most people, “off-road” really just means driving off pavement, usually to get to a trailhead or campsite—and for that, a crossover is more than enough, especially with a few simple modifications.

What Not to Do

There’s been a trend of people similarly to how one might modify a four-wheel-drive truck or SUV like a 4Runner: adding big, knobby tires, lift kits, rock sliders, heavy duty front bumpers, winches, and more.

Bolting all that stuff to your car might make it look cool, but it also affects the ride and your fuel economy. Here’s what I did to modify my crossover to make it more capable without ruining the way it drives.

Tires

The number one thing I recommend to anyone looking to give their crossover more capability is upgrading the tires. The first thing we did to our RAV4 when we bought it was swap the stock tires with a set of ÌęThey’re an all-terrain tire specifically designed for lighter duty vehicles like crossovers. So, unlike fitting a traditional all-terrain tire designed for a truck or heavier SUV, these won’t ruin a crossover’s fuel economy or create an unnecessarily harsh ride.

What they will do is give your rig a lot more traction on dirt roads and slippery surfaces, like mud and snow, than the highway tires that are stock on crossovers, thanks to a more aggressive tread pattern. They’re also severe-snow rated, and while not as good as a true winter tire, we’ve found them to work very well in the snow. We just put another set on the RAV4 after over 50,000 trouble-free miles on the first set. We’ve taken the RAV4 on many adventures along dirt roads and haven’t had a flat yet.

If you want to use your crossover to get to a remote trailhead or gain some confidence in slippery terrain, I highly recommend investing in aftermarket all-terrain tires specifically designed for crossovers.

Recovery Points and Gear

Next, we added a receiver hitch. We don’t plan to do any towing with the RAV4, but we do want to be able to use a hitch-mounted bike rack and, more importantly, add a proper recovery point in case we get stuck.

You might think that requires a trip to the dealership, but if you’re even mildly handy, you can easily add an aftermarket hitch yourself withÌęa socket set. I went with a because it’s one of the lowest profile hitches on the market for crossovers, but still uses a 2-inch receiver (it also costs hundreds less than the ).

Most trucks and SUVs use a 2-inch receiver, so in our case, the bike rack and cargo rack we use on our Tundra fits the RAV4 without issue or adapters. Torklift is also a brand I’ve used in the past for things like truck camper tie-downs, hitches for travel trailers, and more, and I’ve always been impressed with the quality of their products.

The Ecohitch doesn’t require drilling, and, it took me about an hour to mount it. As for the actual recovery point, we carry a ($47) and a ($75) in our car. The shackle receiver slots into the RAV4’s hitch and provides a secure attachment point for the recovery rope.

We also got another, dedicated set of ($180) for the RAV4. Rather than mounting a set of the larger MaxTrax to the roof of the car like we do on the truck, we opted for the Minis and a carry bag. They’re a better size for the RAV4, and the carry bag lets us toss them in the back if we know we might be in a situation where we’ll need them, like a camping trip or heading up to the ski area for the day.

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One of our only complaints about the RAV4 has been the ride on rougher dirt roads. Ours is a Hybrid XLE model, so presumably Toyota meant for this thing to spend the majority of its time on pavement, and they specced the shocks accordingly. It rides nicely on the highway, but it’s uncomfortably stiff on dirt roads, and any sort of pothole or larger dip feels likeÌęyou’re riding a pogo stick. Some online research revealed this as a common complaint, and I noticed Toyota specs different shocks on its Woodlands and TRD Off Road RAV4 models.

When I looked for a suitable upgrade, everything I came across was part of a and specifically designed to give the vehicle more clearance. I wasn’t interested in lifting the RAV4 since there are a lot of vehicle with independent suspension and limited suspension travel. We’ve also found the RAV4 to have ample clearance for what we do.

That’s when I found . I came across the brand while researching suspension options for our new camper van (more on that in an upcoming article), and realized they make . Koni is based in Holland, and while they’re somewhat of a new name in the U.S. overland market, they made a name for themselves in the heavy truck off-road racing world long ago.

Their line of Special Active shocks features what Koni calls “FSD” or Frequency Selective Damping. In a nutshell, the shocks use low damping forces when the vehicle is traveling in a high frequency environment, like on long stretches of smooth road, but use high damping forces when traveling in a low frequency area like a road with a lot of bumps or sharp corners. It’s a simple design that doesn’t require any adjustment on the part of the driver, but works wonders to smooth out the ride on rougher roads.

These shocks have made a massive difference in how the car handles on rougher dirt roads. Washboard is significantly more comfortable, as are larger bumps and potholes on pavement. On-road driving feels about the same, with perhaps less body roll than before—our RAV4 hasn’t turned into a desert racing machine, but getting to the trailhead is now a lot more pleasant.

Less Is MoreÌę

The list of modifications we made isn’t long, and it might not seem like much of an adventure rig “build,” but that’s the point. As the old saying goes—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. A crossover like our RAV4 is already great at doing a lot of things, like daily driving duties, light dirt road touring, road trips, and more.

The only other modification I’m considering is adding a front skid plate from for more protection from rocks and other obstacles you’re likely to encounter off-road. I think adding skid plates is a much better idea than adding a lift for more clearance, and LP șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű is a great source for things like skid plates, bumper guards, wheels, and tires for crossovers.

The improved ride, along with better tires and a dedicated recovery point in the form of a hitch, have significantly improved the capability of our little RAV4. It’s not—and never will be—a Jeep Wrangler or a Toyota Tacoma, but for 90 percent of the driving we do, it works just fine.

The post 3 Easy Fixes to Make Your Crossover Vehicle More Off-Road Capable appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

A very cold and wet camping experience a few weeks ago reminded me of the importance of a good heater in your rig. Upon arriving at camp, I discovered that one of my water jugs had leaked about two gallons of water onto the truck bed’s . Shortly after that, it started raining, which turned to snow a few hours later. The precipitation didn’t let up for two days. It was the first winter storm of the season, and the humidity and cold temperatures made it impossible to dry out the moisture in the BedRug, not to mention all my wet clothing and gear. Like an idiot, I’d left my portable diesel heater at home, thinking it wouldn’t be cold enough over the weekend to need it. I was seriously mistaken.

In my view, the whole point of a built-out adventure rig of any kind—be it a van, travel trailer, or truck camper—is to keep you more comfortable than a simple ground tent would. A huge part of that is providing a warm and dry space to be during inclement weather, which is where heat comes into play.

Sure, a good sleeping bag is really all you need to stay warm and survive cold nights, but we aren’t talking about survival here. We’re talking about thriving, and extending your camping season well past what you’d likely suffer through in a tent. I’ve been testing various budget-friendly heaters in my truck camper over the last year in an attempt to find a safe, reliable solution that’ll keep me warm all winter long.

There are a few main types of heaters: electric, propane, and diesel or gasoline. (You can read more about the pros and cons of each one below, if you’re interested.) To determine the best options, I tried four of the most popular models on the market. The electric heater—a small Honeywell-brand space heater called the Heat Bud—isn’t reviewed here because it simply didn’t heat my camper effectively. It also pulled too many watts from my to make the meager heat worth it. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend a small electric heater for your van or truck camper. The propane and diesel heaters I tested, however, are certainly worth considering. Here’s how the rest of the test shook out.

The ResultsÌę

• Best Value: ($65)
• Best Propane: ($360)
• Best Diesel: ($116)
• Types of Heaters
• A Note on Safety
• Takeaways

Mr. Heater Little Buddy

Ìę

People have been using Mr. Heater’s Little Buddy (and its more common, bigger brother, the ) portable heater to heat tents, campers and more for decades. They run on one-pound propane cylinders, are simple to use, and put out a good amount of heat for their size. The Little Buddy puts out 3800 BTUs. (For comparison’s sake, the electric heater I tested—the —puts out just 853 BTUs.) It can run for 5.6 hours on a one-pound propane cylinder and heats up to 95 square feet. The larger Buddy puts out up to 9000 BTUs—more than twice as much heat—and will heat up to 225 square feet. The Buddy chews through fuel, though: it will burn for just 2.4 hours on a one-pound cylinder of propane when running on high.

While Mr. Heater says these are safe for indoor use, I personally have never felt comfortable running them overnight. Such propane heaters don’t have any way to vent exhaust, so all the byproducts of combustion, including carbon monoxide (CO), fill up the space they’re heating. That means you have to open windows to ensure your rig is properly ventilated—not ideal if it’s frigid outside and you’re trying to keep heat in. These heaters have built-in Oxygen Depletion Sensors, so in theory they’re supposed to shut off if there’s not enough oxygen in the space. They also have an exposed flame, so you have to be careful to make sure there are no flammable materials nearby (although they do have built-in tip-over protection that shuts down the heater if it tips over).

In my experience, the Little Buddy did not put out enough heat to warm the camper sufficiently in temperatures below 40 degrees, and was better suited to keeping me warm while I was sitting around before hopping into bed. The Buddy’s 9000-BTU output was a better match for the Tune M1’s size, but the safety concerns and the 2.4-hour runtime meant I only ever used it while putting clothes on in the morning or just before bed. To me, that’s not sufficient, especially if you’ll spend hours inside your camper, either riding out bad weather or just killing time before bed. Winter nights are long, after all. I also found that these heaters do, in fact, add a lot of moisture to the air; I wound up with condensation on the walls of the camper after using both.

CAMCO Olympian Wave-3 Catalytic Safety Heater

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The Wave-3 sounded like a nice compromise between the Heat Bud and Buddy heater: it ran on propane, but could allegedly be run safely for long periods of time. While this heater is not a forced-air furnace with an exhaust vent, it’s supposed to be much safer to use indoors than say, a Buddy (although it does still require ventilation in the space). That’s thanks to a chemical coating on the heating element that supposedly retains harmful gasses. It’s particularly interesting because it can be hard-mounted in a camper or used as a portable heater with the .

It puts out up to 3000 BTUs, is rated to heat up to 130 square feet, has a safety shut-off valve, doesn’t require electricity since there’s no fan, and uses very little propane. I loved that it was totally silent, and I was also able to hook it up to a rather than rely on the disposable one-pound bottles. Doing that, I was able to run the heater on high for around 30 hours before running out of fuel.

I still never felt totally comfortable leaving it running overnight while I slept since the exhaust isn’t vented to the outside, but I have run it for six hours while riding out a storm in the camper. I found that it can create condensation on the walls of the camper, but it was less noticeable than with the Buddy.

The biggest downside to the Wave-3 is that because it is a radiant heater rather than a forced-air furnace with a fan, it warms the surfaces (or people) it’s pointed at rather than heating the air itself. While that might sound great, I found that in practice it doesn’t always work—you can feel the warmth from the heater when sitting next to it or getting dressed, but climb up into bed away from where the heater is pointed and it’ll be quite chilly. If you just want to use a heater to take the edge off while hanging out inside your camper, the Wave-3 (or larger , depending on how big your rig is) is a great choice, and hard to beat from a price, efficiency, and size perspective. If, however, you want to heat the entire space in your rig and be able to hang out inside without a jacket on, keep reading.

Vevor 12V 5KW Integrated Diesel Heater

Diesel heaters have become tremendously popular for winter camping over the last five years or so. Brands like Webasto and Espar have been popular in van builds for some time, and I first used a to heat a teardrop trailer I owned several years ago. I had great luck with that heater, and it was a little too powerful—it could cook us out of the tiny teardrop.

Chinese-made versions of Espar- and Planar-style heaters available on Amazon used to be riddled with problems, and people complained about them breaking all the time. However, they’ve gotten significantly better over the last few years and you can find them for much cheaper than the name brands. I decided to try a Vevor 5KW model, which seems to be the most well-regarded one of the bunch.

The Vevor is an integrated heater, meaning the fuel tank, heater, and all the components are housed together in a box. It came mostly assembled, and all I had to do was crimp two wires to , connect an exhaust and an air intake hose to the unit, fill it with diesel, and turn it on.

The beauty of this being a portable unit is that you don’t have to do a complicated installation inside your rig—just plug it into your 12v power source, set it outside the camper, run the hose in and you’ve got heat. That’s particularly nice because you don’t have to worry about exhaust leaking inside the camper, or the noise of the fuel pump or fan.

I first used this heater on a late-season Barbary Sheep hunt last January. Temps were in the teens overnight, and a buddy and I stayed warm in the Tune despite having to jerry-rig an entry port for the heat hose to enter and not having the camper’s insulation pack (basically an insulated cover that helps seal in heat)Ìęinstalled at that time. From that first use, I’ve been sold. I’ve found that when running on high, it’ll easily keep the Tune 40 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature. On a recent night that dropped into the 30’s here in Santa Fe, I let the heater run all night on high and it kept the inside above 80 degrees. None of the other heaters I tested could come close to maintaining those temperatures.

The Vevor packs enough punch for the coldest nights I’ve camped in. It’s also incredibly efficient. It uses about a gallon of fuel per night, and only pulls 40 amps once it’s running, so my Goal Zero Yeti 1500x can power it for about 40 hours. That leaves plenty of battery left to run other things in the camper like lights, the fridge, and a vent fan.

The biggest downside to a diesel heater is the fact that, unless you drive a diesel rig, you need to carry an additional fuel source with you. I don’t mind, and the dry heat this thing puts out is worth the extra hassle there—I haven’t experienced any condensation inside the camper when using this heater. One thing you have to watch out for is the cap on the fuel tank—it’s vented, so if you fill the tank and then the heater is rocking around in the back of your truck, some fuel will spill out. I typically fix the issue by putting a piece of tape over the hole or a latex glove under the cap until it’s time to run.

I haven’t had any issues with the Vevor heater over the six months I’ve been using it. Some folks claim Vevors need to be cleaned more frequently than the more expensive units, and that some of the parts like small gaskets and fuel lines aren’t particularly durable. At $116, though, you could buy 12 of these units for the price of , so I’ll take my chances.

Types of Heaters

First, a quick primer on heaters. The types most commonly found in campers and RVs run off one of three fuel sources: propane, diesel or gasoline, and electricity.

Propane

Propane furnaces have been a mainstay in the RV industry for years. Recently, however, propane-fueled heat has gotten a bad reputation for producing a lot of condensation, but that’s only true of non-vented propane heaters (more on that below). Most quality propane furnaces installed in travel trailers or vans have an exhaust pipe that vents all the byproducts of combustion—including moisture (and carbon monoxide)—away from the living space. All that to say, a quality, vented propane furnace like a Propex or Truma does not produce “wet heat,” and is a great solution for anyone who already uses propane for other camping needs, like cooking. I’ve also found that they work well at high elevations, which can’t always be said for diesel heaters.

Diesel

Diesel heaters have become incredibly popular in recent years due to their size, low cost, ease of use, and in some cases, portability. They’re known for being incredibly efficient, and for producing a ton of “dry heat.” Gasoline-powered versions of these heaters also exist, which mean you can tap into your vehicle’s fuel tank whether you drive a vehicle with a gas or diesel-powered engine. If you don’t drive a diesel-powered vehicle, choosing a diesel heater means you’ll need an auxiliary fuel tank and will be forced to carry around an additional fuel with you. Some diesel heaters also struggle at high altitudes.

Electric

Electric heaters, like space heaters you’d use in your home or office, or heating modes found on many RV AC units, are common. I’ve found these only work for taking the chill off of a cold morning, and don’t provide enough heat to stay comfortable in really cold conditions. Unsurprisingly, they also require a lot of electricity to run, which means you have to be connected to shore power, run a generator, or have a massive, expensive battery bank in your rig.

A Note on Safety

First, it should be noted that each of these solutions could work for your rig depending on how well insulated it is. I’ve been testing these in my Tune M1, which has very little insulation, but if you’ve got a composite camper with a crazy high R-Value, you could likely get away with a less powerful heater.

It should also be noted that anytime you’re using a heater of any kind in a camper, you should have a working carbon monoxide (CO) detector—and a propane detector if you’re using a propane heater—as well as a fire extinguisher. Both these detectors will alert you if gas levels get too high inside your rig, and could save your life if something goes wrong. You can’t be too careful with this stuff.

Anytime I’m winter camping, I also always bring a zero-degree sleeping bag as a backup in case the heater fails.

Takeaways

If you plan to use your rig to chase snow this winter, have a late-season hunt coming up, or just want to extend your camping season, you’re going to want a good heater. If you’ve got a power source and don’t mind bringing along some diesel fuel with you, I highly recommend the . If you want something totally silent that doesn’t require power and are ok with the additional ventilation requirements, the is a big step up over a Buddy-style ceramic heater and, in my view, worth the extra money.

The post The 3 Best Propane and Diesel Heaters for Your Rig appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

On October 24, Scout Motors unveiled near-production versions of its electric Traveler SUV and Terra pickup truck. The Volkswagen subsidiary plans to begin producing the vehicles in South Carolina in 2027. With prices for the body-on-frame trucks starting as low as $50,000 (with tax incentives), and featuring an optional range-extending gasoline generator, the revived brand is addressing major barriers that have stood in the way of American buyers’ desires for EV trucks.

The deeper you dive into the spec sheets, the more appealing these trucks get. Features like body-on-frame construction, a solid rear axle, mechanical locking differentials in both the front and rear, and optional 35-inch tires will boost off-road capability and durability. An optional front bench seat and a full-length retracting roof will recreate a sense of classic truck nostalgia without sacrificing practicality for daily driving.

Everything drivers have come to love about other electric trucks will be present in Scout’s new vehicles, too. With 1,000 pound-feet of torque, zero to 60 miles per hour times will happen in as few as 3.5 seconds. They’ll sport futuristic lighting elements reminiscent of old neon signs, and a minimalist interior is dominated by a large touch-screen infotainment system.

What Is Scout Motors?

International Harvester, an American brand better known for its tractors, began making the original Scout in 1961. Intended to rival post-war Jeeps by pairing equivalent capability with extra refinement, the International Scout became an icon due to its smooth, compound body surfaces. International Harvester sunsetted passenger vehicle production in 1980 after the American auto industry suffered numerous setbacks and increasing competition from foreign automakers across the seventies.

Volkswagen purchased rights to the Scout brand in 2020 and established Scout Motors in 2022 with the goal of developing electric trucks specifically designed for American drivers. While still owned by VW, Scout operates as an independent company and has its own U.S.-based executive staff.

The Traveler and Terra were designed in Novi, Michigan, by Scout’s own R&D team, and will be produced at the brand’s new $2 billion factory in Blythewood, South Carolina. Scout says that factory will employ up to 4,000 American workers.

Scout plans to sell its vehicles directly to consumers and has plans to open a nationwide network of dedicated showroom and service locations to support that endeavor. The company says the sales process should be should be streamlined, promising “full price transparency,” and that, “transactions will be completed in minutes.”

While Scout Motors operates independently from VW, the backing of the world’s second-largest automaker remains a significant asset. Production targets are said to be as high as 200,000 vehicles per year.

Scout Nails the Truck Stuff

Building the Traveler and Terra using a body-on-frame design should result in higher payload and towing capacities, increase durability, and foster repairability in comparison to the unibody construction more typical in the EV space. It may also open up easier paths to modification, something Scout is teasing by stating that “robust suspension options” will be available.

The ability to easily increase suspension height, fit larger tires, adjust spring rates, and improve damping capabilities will let buyers modify their Scout to their heart’s content. This will enable the vehicles to be adapted to different use cases and allow owners plenty of opportunity to personalize their vehicles.

The Scout Terra features a squared-off cab and horizontal bed rails that will make it easy to develop compatible bed caps and campers. Accessory makers will rejoice.

The choice to employ a solid rear axle will help there, too. Using oneÌęmeans the rear wheels will remain parallel, no matter what height the rear suspension sits at. Since loads change mostly in the vehicle’s cargo area, this also facilitates strong payload and towing capacities, will make lifting the vehicle easy, and enhances articulation over off-road obstacles.

And, of course, there’s the motor configuration and locking axle differentials. The Scout SUV and pickup will feature two instead of three or four motors. Moving the motors out of the wheels and reducing their number will reduce complication and parts counts (the more parts on a vehicle, the more stuff that can fail), and simplify how the Scouts handle off-road traction. The Scouts will be able to lock their mechanical diffs just like a gas-powered 4×4.

Given that these vehicles are still at least three years away, Scout is quoting specs as ranges or targets rather than definitive numbers. Payload figures are said to be “nearly 2,000 pounds” on both vehicles, while towing capacities are “over 7,000 pounds” for the Traveler and “more than 10,000 pounds” for the Terra. Those numbers are excellent when compared to similar-sized popular SUVs and pickups on the market.

It appears as if 33-inch tires may be standard, with 35-inch items available as an option. The Traveler SUV can carry a full-size 35-inch spare on its external carrier. The Terra pickup will normally carry a 33-inch spare under its bed, but needs to move a fifth 35-inch inside the bed. Expect hitch-mounted spare tire carriers like those made by to be a popular accessory.

Scout Combines Retro and Futuristic Styling

While the Terra and Traveler will carry all the amenities one might expect in a luxury EV, many customers will be relieved to find Scout is still taking an analog approach to its interiors. Scout says the vehicle will “largely be controlled through a tactile experience.”

“From mechanical door handles, to grab bars, to switches and dials, Scout vehicles will provide a real hands-on user experience,” the company states.

And while individual bucket seats will remain standard, a front bench will be optional on both the Traveler and Terra. This will increase total seating capacity from five to six, and allow a couple (or throuple) to nuzzle up to each other in the cab.

Roof options strike a similar balance between practicality and enjoyment. A normal fixed roof is standard, but both a full-length sunroof and retracting fabric “Cabana Top” will be available as options. Because both operate within the same solid structure of the normal roof gutters, neither will impair the fitment of roof racks, rooftop tents, or other popular accessories. Cabana Top should be able to function without squeaks, rattles, leaks, or wind noise, again because it’s mounted within the permanent roof’s structure.

Electric Power, with Optional Gas Range

Scout says that basic versions of the Traveler and Terra will be normal battery-only electric vehicles. Range on those is said to be “up to 350 miles,” which may indicate the presence of different battery pack sizes available at different price points.

The Scouts will use the North American Charging Standard, an 800-volt architecture, and are capable of charging up to 350 kilowatts. They’ll be able to use the Tesla Supercharger network in addition to others.

And while the pure-battery versions of the Scouts will work well for most normal driving duties, those of us who live and travel in and through remote areas—or spend a lot of time driving off-road—willÌębe thrilled by the presence of a gasoline-powered range-extending generator. Scout is mum on details of that engine’s capacity, power output, location, and configuration, but does say that the generator will only operate to charge the battery, not drive the wheels.

Stellantis provided many more details of its own unique Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) system when it announced its new Ramcharger electric pickup truck last year. And while some mechanical details may differ, the system’s benefits should remain largely identical.

Modern electric vehicles are fast, smooth, responsive, and quiet to drive. The downside of electric vehicles is our charging infrastructure. Even large cities struggle to offer enough charging capacity for growing fleets of EVs. Venture into a rural area and chargers may not be available at all. This can limit an EV’s ability to serve all vehicle roles within a household and make long-distance travel away from major interstates impractical.

Adding a gasoline-powered generator to an electric vehicle delivers the best of both worlds. You still get all the superlatives of electric motivation, but gain the ability to charge your batteries as you drive. And you can add more range at both gas stations and EV chargers. Until those chargers become as widespread and commonplace as gas stations, EREVs represent a practical solution that should ease EV adoption. Their only downsides are that they do cost more money, add some weight, take up space, and increase parts counts.

On the subject of pricing, Scout says the Traveler SUV should start at “under $60,000,” but that they anticipate available tax incentives can bring the cost as low as $50,000. The Terra pickup will start $1,500 higher. There’s no word on how high options (like that range extender) could take prices. The company began to take $100 deposits on Thursday night.

With a familiar-but-futuristic design, welcome doses of functional nostalgia, what should be class-leading off-road capability, potential for modification, and the ability to extend range to anywhere you can find a gas station, as well as the financial backing of Volkswagen, Scout is launching with a winning formula. Heck, these things are compelling enough that I’m about to click over to their websiteÌęand hand over a hundred bucks for the privilege of being able to purchase one three years from now. The idea of cruising dirt roads here in Montana in near silence, with my arm around my wife or one of our dogs, is the exact experience this outdoors enthusiast can get excited about.

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If you’re reading this, you likely already drive a truck, or you’re in the market for a heavy-duty vehicle to support your adventures. Chances are also good that you’re familiar with terms like “payload” and “gross vehicle weight rating,” and maybe even refer to the latter as “” in casual conversation. Well, I’d like to introduce you to a term you may not be as familiar with: “payload police.”

Payload police is something of an internet phenomenon. The concept seems to have stemmed from a place of genuine concern for the safety of folks overloading their rigs—and for other drivers sharing the road with those vehicles. But, as with most things on the internet, it’s morphed into a strange subculture of shaming others for not building an adventure rig “correctly.”

These days, if someone posts an Instagram photo of a heavily modified pickup—or even just a simple truck with a camper in the back—some of the first comments will most assuredly be “How far over GVWR are you?” or “What’s it weigh?” Spend a little time , and you’ll no doubt start thinking your truck is too small for the job. Spend a lot of time on these threads, and you’ll probably become convinced you need a three-quarter-ton truck no matter what you plan on using it for. It doesn’t stop there, either. Hop in a three-quarter-ton forum, and you’ll find everyone thinks they need a one-ton.

The dirty truth is that all truck owners think they need a bigger truck. (I know there’s a joke here to be made about bigger not always being better, but I’ll resist the urge.) And while some folks would actually benefit from a one-ton vehicle, not everyone needs to go so far. So, what’s the answer? How big of a truck do you actually need?

Step One: Get Off the Internet

If you’re worried about overloading your rig, you have two options. If you don’t yet have the rig, do a lot of research before you buy and purchase the right truck for the job. And if you already have a truck, modify the one you have accordingly, and resign yourself to the fact that your rig might end up weighing a little more than the GVWR listed on the sticker. Most of all, quit spending so much time in the forums and on Instagram screaming about payload, and go use your truck.

At this point you might be gasping in your chair: Go over the GVWR?! Egads—won’t something terrible happen if I do that? For some context, I called up , who’s been a fixture in the overland industry for years and now runs one of the best overland and off-road shops in the country, Basil’s Garage. In addition to working on rigs of all shapes and sizes, Lynch has also owned his fair share—ranging from an F250 with a home-built flatbed camper, to a first-gen Tundra built for high-speed desert romps. In fact, a of his is what inspired this piece.

 

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“Yes the Tacoma is technically overweight even with very minimal stuff in the back of it,” Lynch says, “but you also see them loaded up all day, every day, and very rarely do people have problems with them.”

Lynch and his team take a nuanced approach to building rigs. They start by considering a truck’s GVWR and payload capacity, and they try to make sure their customers are using the right vehicle at the beginning of a build. Lynch often sees customers purchase the wrong truck—either a vehicle that’s way too overpowered for their intended use, or one that just doesn’t have the payload capacity to handle build they want. If you’re building out a rig, Lynch says, consider consulting with your shop or vehicle outfitter before purchasing a truck. That way, a professional can help guide you in the purchase.

But, at the end of the day, Basil’s Garage will help build just about anything.

“We build a lot of campers on the backs of larger, three-quarter-ton and one-ton trucks and everyone’s like ‘Ah, it’s still over payload.’ But then you also see a contractor’s truck that’s twice as much over payload and has 150,000 miles on it going down the street just fine,” Lynch says. “There are a lot of overweight vehicles out there, and you don’t see them snapped in half on the side of the highway.”

Step Two: Think Carefully Before You Modify

Legality is a funny thing. While you can’t legally increase a truck’s payload in the U.S., you can do it in other places around the world. Take Australia, for example, a country known for having lots of cool rigs, and also a lot more regulations on 4x4s and off-road vehicles than we do over here. For instance, in Australia, you’re typically not allowed to lift a vehicle more than about two inches and your tires can’t stick out past the wheel wells. You can also get ticketed for driving a vehicle that weighs more than its gross vehicle mass (GVM) rating. And yet, unlike Americans, Australians are allowed to increase their vehicle’s GVM. Down Under, you can purchase a kit that consists largely of new suspension components like springs and shocks. Some upgrades also call for new tires with a higher load rating.

Companies like ARB and (which also make suspension kits for U.S. vehicles) invest in serious engineering and get their kits certified with Australia’s Federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport. So, once you add a kit to your rig, you can legally get your vehicle re-registered with a higher GVM.

In Australia, a GVM Upgrade kit can legally double the payload capacity of a 200-series Land Cruiser from 1,422 pounds to 2,888 pounds. Each kit is vehicle-specific, and not all provide gains at that magnitude, but many are still significant.

 

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The bad news is that there is no legal way to increase the payload capacity of your vehicle in the U.S. However, the physics don’t change just because we live across an ocean.

“Legally, if you’re overweight in the U.S., there’s no way around that,” Lynch says. “But, there are lots of amazing products out there that you can combine together to make a truck safely carry a decent chunk of weight over what it’s legally supposed to carry.”

So, if you plan to add a lot of weight to your rig by bolting on accessories or carrying a camper in the bed, make sure to budget for any potential modifications. Updating your suspension setup, regearing the axles to run larger tires, and getting a brake upgrade can easily cost more than $10,000. Then, of course, there’s the matter of legality. Be sure to weigh the costs of those modifications against the hassle of trading in your current truck for something bigger.

Step Three: Consider a WorkaroundÌę

If you make the appropriate modifications to your rig and you’re still worried about it weighing more than the magic number printed on the door jamb, here may be some workarounds available. In some states, you can . Another option is to remove weight from the vehicle. Doing so will reduce your curb weight, technically giving you more payload. My friend Richard Giordano, an experienced overlander who travels full time out of his truck camper, recently with his Toyota Tundra. He removed the rear seats and opted for a lightweight aluminum bumper and aluminum skid plates rather than heavy steel versions.

“A lot of the time, simpler is better. Keeping lift heights low and tire sizes small is a really good way to keep [your vehicle] drivable even with the extra weight of a rig,” Lynch says.

I’d also encourage you to use one last tool: common sense. Does your truck’s rear suspension look perky, or is it sagging under all the weight in the bed? Does it feel easy to tow your travel trailer, or do you feel like you’re taking your life in your hands every time you hitch up? Consider what you’re hauling, and how often. Don’t put a 3,000-pound camper in the back of a Tacoma and expect your truck to handle well. By the same token, don’t buy an F350 and expect it to handle like a Tacoma. And, no matter what you do, don’t fall victim to the constant, unsolicited shaming of the payload police. This is your rig. You get to choose how you haul with it.

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If you’ve read or watched any of my other work for șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű, you know I’m a huge fan of pickups for adventure rigs. They’re capable, comfortable, and supremely versatile.

You can leave a truck bed open and empty for hauling dirty stuff regularly, or build out the back with an entire custom camping setup. I’ve done both of those things, and my current truck, a 2018 Toyota Tundra, has served as a revolving door of various bed setups since I bought it in 2022. I’ve tried a tonneau cover, a , a Leitner bed rack, a Frontrunner bed rack, and a traditional fiberglass camper shell. I’ve also hauled two different full-sized truck campers, and had a lightweight shell-style camper on the back with various storage solutions inside.

I ran Decked Drawers for years in the Tundra and my two previous trucks, and loved them. I’ve written about the older model several times, but to recap, they’re a great way to organize all the crap in the bed of your truck, and keep your gear out of the elements if you have an open bed. They’re bombproof, have an incredibly high payload rating, and you can purchase a variety of accessories like boxes, bags and dividers that help make organization even easier. So, if they’re so great, why did I pull them out of my Tundra last year? I got a Tune M1 camper on the truck and needed more room—I was too tall to stand up straight inside the camper when the drawers were installed. That’s part of the reasoning, but frankly I also wanted to test out some different options and see if another system might suit my adventure rig needs better.

No. 3: Keep it Simple

Dometic GO Hard Storage 50L

The first system I tried wasn’t really a system—I went back to using storage bins. Drawers are handy and a very cool thing to have in the back of your truck, but there are some downsides: they’re heavy, they take up a ton of space, and, as the old saying goes, if they’re there, you’ll find a way to fill them. I often found myself leaving things in the drawers that didn’t need to be there all the time (think camping gear, an excessive amount of tools, extraneous recovery gear, etc.) just because I had the space. All that stuff adds up, and you can easily find yourself with an additional 200-plus pounds worth of crap living in your rig, which affects gas mileage, wear and tear on the truck, and more.

The funniest part is that I found myself constantly taking things out of the drawers and putting them away in (wait for it) bins in my garage. I have a lot of gear-intensive hobbies, like mountain biking, hunting, skiing, and fly fishing, and after a while I got tired of constantly moving gear from one bin to another in the back of the truck. So, I thought, why not just move the same bin to the truck and then to the shelf when I’m done? Because I (and the overland industry) had convinced myself that drawers were a necessity, that’s why.

In making my transition, I tested several different storage containers in an attempt to find the perfect bin: it needed to be durable but lightweight, large enough to fit all sorts of bulky gear, and reasonably priced. I tested options from , , , , and more, but my favorite is the . It’s a simple, dust-proof and waterproof aluminum storage bin with built-in handles and tie down points, and durable, easy to use rubber latches. You can lock them shut, they’re stackable, and they’re durable enough to use as a step or seat around camp.

The best part is they only weigh about nine pounds on their own, and cost $150, which is a bargain compared to some of the marketed toward more “hardcore” overlanders. I’ve found the Dometic GO 50-liter bin to be extremely durable, and just the right size to pack whatever I need. It’ll easily hold a camp stove like a , plus enough cookware and cups for four people, or a tent and a couple sleeping bags.

No. 2: The Splurge

TruckVault Base Camp 3 Storage System

Though I’d found my perfect bin, I kept wanting to try a stacked drawer setup that would let me have some built-in storage while retaining bed space and standing height in the camper. So, I decided to try another, built-in storage system I’d been eyeing for a long time: system. TruckVault is known for its bombproof, custom drawer setups for trucks and SUVs, and for its security-oriented storage solutions for military and first responders. If you’re concerned about gear getting stolen, TruckVault is who you want to talk to.

Recently, the brand introduced its line, marketed toward overlanders and outdoor enthusiasts. I went with the Base Camp 3 because it has stacked drawers on one side, and a removable sleeping platform in the middle that allows me to simply slide it out of the way to fully stand up and walk around in the camper without hitting my head. Like the rest of TruckVault’s products, the drawers are also lockable, which is great for securing expensive gear. With my truck’s tailgate locked and the drawers locked inside, I never worry about things getting stolen from the back.

Each system is built specifically for your exact truck, and once you select the drawers and options you want, the resulting system is shipped pre-built. That meant installation was incredibly simple. You just have to drill a few holes in the bed and install rivnuts, and then bolt the drawers down. Everything fits like a glove, and the fit and finish, as well as function of the drawers, is second to none. Overall, the installation was far easier and less time-consuming than installing a , which I’ve done three times now. The TruckVault drawers are also easy to remove with two people, since it just involves removing a few bolts.

What’s cool about TruckVault is that in addition to the base models they offer, you can customize everything. In my case, I opted to put the stacked drawer on the passenger side of the truck bed, and rather than one long sliding drawer on top, I had them divide it between a shorter drawer and two “cubbies” that I could access from inside the camper. That has worked great for me because it allows me to easily grab gear from the drawers while I’m outside of the truck, but I can also keep things I need quick access to at night in the cubbies. That means that, unlike with the Decked system, I don’t have to get out of the truck and open the drawers to grab my headlamp or earplugs in the middle of the night.

Since my camper has a bed above the cab, I don’t often use the lower sleeping platform as a bed. But I do love the fact that I can use it for guests if I need to, or store things like my bow case underneath it, away from prying eyes. It would be an incredible camping solution under a regular camper shell, and I’ve found that the platform—in combination with the cubbies underneath—to be a much more effective use of space than drawers alone. While I’m a huge fan of the setup, there are downsides: my system came in at 343 pounds, and it ran me $4,660 shipped.

That’s a lot of weight and money, but what you get is a very high quality, bombproof storage setup that’s easy to install and can be customized to your exact needs. If you’ve got the dough and the payload capacity, there’s no better setup than the Base Camp line.

No 1: The Goldilocks Setup

BamBeds Lengthwise Bed PlatformÌę

In my quest to find the perfect storage solution, I also tested a truck bed platform system from a new company called . BamBeds systems are sort of the antithesis to the TruckVault setup I tested, and are great for very different reasons. The company makes wooden platforms for the back of pickups that allow folks to sleep on top and store gear underneath. It’s a simple concept that DIY truck campers have been doing for decades now, but BamBeds is the perfect solution for anyone with a truck who doesn’t have the time, tools, or skills to build a platform themselves. A runs just $500, and consists of three birch panels custom-made to slide into the truck bed above the wheel well and rest on the stock ledge. The brand makes a host of accessories like , and it caters to the DIY crowd by offering a for other additions, like foldable mattresses or bins that are just the right size to fit the system.

The works a bit differently due to the nature of the bed, and it consists of three modular sections of plywood that run lengthwise, plus support legs underneath. You can remove the center panels for more standing room if you need it. The platform itself supports up to 1,500 pounds, and everything installs quickly without any tools, thanks to the ingenious rotating locks they designed for the legs.

The whole thing also only weighs about 100 pounds, so it’s a heck of a lot lighter than a dedicated drawer setup and far easier to remove. I’m a big fan of the sleep platform as a no-nonsense storage solution, and I actually think it’s a better option than dedicated drawers for most people.

The only downside to the system I’ve been testing is that, since it requires support legs, anything you put underneath the platform has to fit between the legs. That gives you less flexibility than having the unencumbered width of your truck bed like you would with a Tacoma-sized BamBed. Overall, though, I think BamBeds are a simple, lightweight and affordable storage solution for anyone with a truck, and you’d be hard pressed to DIY something as high quality without some serious woodworking skills.

The Bottom Line

So, what did I end up running long term? I have yet to answer that question. The is damn near perfect for my needs, but it does add a lot of weight to the truck and suffers from the “if you have the space, you’ll find a way to fill it,” issue that all drawer systems seem to enable. The is a simple, versatile platform, and if I drove a Tacoma or a newer Tundra, I would definitely run it because the design allows for more unencumbered storage. For most users, this is likely the way to go. Long term, though, I may end up running just the one driver-side drawer from the Base Camp 3 and leaving the other out, or perhaps building a custom galley or storage cabinet out of 80/20 aluminum. For now, though, it’ll be some combination of the above—and, of course, a few for good measure.

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Awnings can be a great addition to an adventure rig. They can effectively double your covered living space and provide a nice shelter from the sun or rain—but they don’t come without their downsides. After testing many different awnings throughout the years, I’ve come to conclude that a permanently affixed awning is just more trouble than it’s worth

I’ve owned several different rigs that had awnings bolted to their roof racks—including a teardrop trailer that had both a and a legless 360-degree awning mounted to it at different times—plus multiple truck campers and travel trailers with awnings. Every single one of them had issues. They were heavy and added considerable wind resistance to the rig. Legs snapped in high winds. And set-up and break-down were never easy. Most took a long time to pitch, and most were a pain to pack back into their infuriatingly small cases. Permanently affixed awnings are also very expensive, often —or more.

Once, I foolishly left my campsite with my trailer’s fancy, seemingly bombproof permanent awning deployed, and a huge storm cropped up while I was away. There wasn’t anything on the radar when I left, but I came back to a taco’d awning and a scratched-up trailer. Hell, I bought a used Airstream a few years ago that was missing its awning completely and had some scratches on one side. When I brought it to a shop for some other work, the shop owner immediately recognized the scratches as “awning damage,” meaning the awning had likely been left deployed and ripped off by wind, and told me that was one of the most common issues they see.

Needless to say, I’d pretty much given up on mounting an awning on my rig and generally thought they were more trouble than they’re worth. Lately, though, I’ve seen several new, more modular products at trade shows that had me take a second look. (Plus, I do still recognize that it’s nice to sit outside in the shade sometimes.) Finally I decided to cave. Here are two of the best new “alternative awning” solutions I’ve tried.

Moon MoonShade

First up, the . This product isn’t brand-new—in fact, I’ve been testing and using one for a couple years now. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a portable awning that sets up easily and attaches to pretty much any rig imaginable. The Original MoonShade provides seven-by-nine feet of coverage, and the upcoming MoonShade XL will provide twelve-by-nine feet, which works well for larger rigs like vans and is big enough to set up a serious outdoor kitchen underneath. The original MoonShade I’ve been using weighs about eight pounds once it’s all packed up, and can be quickly attached to a vehicle’s roof rack, the side of a van or camper, or literally anywhere else thanks to a whole host of , like the included suction cups, or optional magnets and more. It detaches and packs down just as easily.

The structure of the MoonShade consists of two cross poles, which clip into a pitched sheet of 420-denier ripstop polyester, similar to the way you might set up a tent fly. There’s also another support pole that can be used for “narrow base mounting,” meaning you can set it up against something narrow, like the trunk of a vehicle, plus two telescoping support legs. Setup is fast and intuitive, and you can basically have shade anywhere within a couple of minutes. I’ve found that it holds up well in the wind if it’s properly staked out, and the fabric sheds rain easily. As a tall person, I also love the domed shape of the MoonShade—it provides way more headroom underneath than a traditional awning, and the reflective fabric on the underside creates a nice ambiance if you string up a lantern at night.

The two best things about the MoonShade, though, are the price and the versatility. At $395, it costs significantly less than most permanently attached awnings, and since it’s not permanently affixed, it solves a lot of the problems I mentioned above, like excess weight on the rig. That also means you can easily move it from one rig to another, which is handy if you want to use it for a day at the beach but don’t need to take your overbuilt truck with you.

Dometic HUB 2 REDUX

If you want more versatility and an even simpler setup—and don’t mind paying a premium to get it—the might be your shelter. I saw the HUB 2 REDUX for the first time at Overland Expo West in 2023, and was immediately intrigued. It’s an inflatable shade structure that Dometic calls an “Outdoor Activity Shelter,” which is actually a pretty good descriptor. It’s a 7.5-by-7.5-foot, freestanding unit that’s similar in shape to one of those shade tents you might see at a kid’s soccer game or an outdoor trade show. The difference? There are no metal poles—the legs and roof section are made from inflatable tubes.

The Airpoles, as Dometic calls them, look and feel a lot like the baffles in a high-end packraft or inflatable kayak. The material is made from recycled plastic bottles, feels very durable, and is totally weatherproof. In truth, I was apprehensive the first time I took it out of the bag and set it up, assuming it would take a good amount of fiddling to get right. Surprisingly, it’s incredibly easy—you just stake out the bottom of the structure, and then hook up the included hand pump to one of the corners. Within about 30 seconds, you’ve got a very sturdy shade structure. Frankly, I was blown away by how fast and easy the whole process was.

I’ve had good luck setting up the HUB 2 REDUX near the tailgate of my truck and on the side, and using the truck itself as an anchor point. The cool thing about the HUB 2 REDUX is that you can add several different accessories, like to the sides, a , or even an annex for an SUV that turns the whole thing into a giant tent connected to your rig. You can also easily use the HUB 2 REDUX on its own, say at a soccer game or tailgate, and you’ll never have to worry about poles breaking in the wind, or damaging your rig. It packs down to the size of a backpack and weighs about 19 pounds—not bad for a structure this beefy. At $750, I’d call it a pretty good value, too.

So, if you’re in the market for an awning for your adventure rig, I’d recommend you take a hard look at either the MoonShade or the HUB 2 REDUX before you bolt an expensive, heavy, damage-prone awning to the side of your ride. It may not look as cool, but you’ll thank me later.

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The story of Jamie Holmes begins șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű’s three-part series with Ford, profiling unique, overworked individuals who report an unhealthy work-life balance. Starved for an unmatched outdoor experience, they’re prescribed with a trip to a Bronco Off-Roadeo. Holmes, a social worker and part-time server in need of outdoor recreation therapy, visits , where she gets her fill by tackling the rough terrain of Gunstock Mountain—first driving a Bronco and then riding a mountain bike with guidance from Bronco Ambassador .

is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The company’s Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for customers and deepen their loyalty.Ìę

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If you want to experience the real wild side of Sin City, venture into the Mojave Desert. Its mix of rugged peaks and desolate valleys invite endless exploration. And , the world’s largest motorcycle rental and tour company, can take you there. This master in everything motorcycle travel is teaming up with Yamaha to outfit an exclusive guided tour designed to showcase the best parts of Las Vegas—that is, the natural splendor of the stunning deserts that lie beyond the always-on city.

Happening October 27–29, this will provide both first-time and experienced riders with an unparalleled taste of freedom, along with the comforts of relaxing hotel nights on the edge of Death Valley National Park.

“We’ve crafted this EAGLERIDER EXCLUSIVE to deliver an adrenaline-pumping tour experience that reveals the untamed beauty surrounding Las Vegas,” says EAGLERIDER CEO Sebastian Schoepe.

Along the way, participants will encounter the Mojave’s wildlife, feel the openness of desert riding, bond with fellow adventurers, and learn new techniques from expert guides. A blend of excitement and beginner accessibility, this multiday experience invites riders on a unique opportunity to detour the Strip on Yamaha’s cutting-edge adventure (ADV) bikes and utility terrain vehicles (UTVs). If you’ve never ridden a Yamaha before, you’re in for a treat; its fleet of 2024 bikes and side-by-sides is designed for comfort, safety, and performance to offer unparalleled full-throttle fun.

“Riders will experience the perfect mix of on-road touring and off-road thrills,” Schoepe says, “while exploring the Mojave on Yamaha’s latest rally raid–style adventure bike, the . On day three, they’ll have the chance to cross the desert in state-of-the-art Yamaha UTVs, an unforgettable ride to check off the bucket list.”

This carefully curated itinerary is the ultimate complement to a Vegas getaway (or an excuse to start planning one). During the tour, riders will cover up to 500 miles of diverse terrain, including approximately 100 miles of exhilarating dirt trails. Here’s a teaser of what you can expect each day:

Day 1

• Venture into the heart of the Mojave Desert.
• Visit , a geothermal cave system, and the Area 51 Alien Center.
• Unwind at the Ranch at Death Valley.

Day 2

• Ride through the colorful hills of .
• Take in the extraordinary overlook of Badwater Basin from .
• End the day in the charming town of Pahrump, Nevada.

Day 3

• Cap off your Mojave expedition with an adrenaline-fueled UTV tour.
• Check out the historic .
• Visit to the renowned Seven Magic Mountains art installation.
• Take a keepsake photo at the iconic Las Vegas welcome sign.

If you want to join this grand on- and off-road tour, reserve your spot now. Space is limited to 15 participants, and it’s priced to fill. This exclusive guided tour starts from $1,676 and will leave you with memories and skills that last a lifetime. (Price is per person, with motorcycle rental and hotel stay included.)

There are other opportunities to experience the outdoorsy side of Vegas with EAGLERIDER. You can book an exciting off-road side-by-side experience into the wilds of the Mojave Desert year-round. This is the perfect way to fill your adventure void if you can’t make the three-day Yamaha tour or if you don’t have a motorcycle license yet.

is the world’s largest motorsport experience company, offering a diverse range of motorcycle and off-road adventure rentals and tours from over 200 locations across six continents. Since its founding in 1992, EAGLERIDER has provided exceptional, high-quality adventure experiences for enthusiasts worldwide.

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