Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Overland Market Update: Starlink Mini, Recovery Gear Innovation, and New Toyota Builds

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Overland Market Update: Starlink Mini, Recovery Gear Innovation, and New Toyota Builds · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Hey, Brian, what's going. Thanks thanks for being on the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: podcast today. It's like pretty rare for us to be
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: in the office together because you've been mister sailor.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: I've been out and about quite a bit.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: We're going to do that on the podcast here soon.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Northwest Passage with Brian mcvickers. That is an incredible accomplishment
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and I can't wait to hear all the stories from that.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: It's a pretty exciting story, especially when you go back
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: to the planning involved. And yeah, the execution was pretty phenomenal.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: And you've been wanting to do this five years, six
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: years since you did your greenland thing.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: That was twenty seventeen, okay, so yeah, and that was
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: the first time see big ice.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I can't wait to hear all of the stories.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: It's just good to be back in the office. I
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: finished the big trip, You finished the Northwest Passage. I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: just finished my first book and we'll talk some more
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: about that in the future as well. We big big
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: milestones all the way around, I think big milestones for
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the industry. The industry continues to grow and flourish, and
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: we're seeing more and more not only OEMs, tire manufacturers,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: companies that normally try to reach a very broad audience
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: are now specifically targeting overlanding because they can see the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: benefit of interacting not only with brands ours, but also
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: with the community.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's a topic of today's podcast, is a
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: look at the overland market, new products that have come out,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: and some of the companies that are making movements within
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the space. And I think what we've seen from a
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: high level, more business oriented aspect is you've seen a
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: lot of companies that are required.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Sure, over twenty twenty two, twenty twenty.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Three, a lot of consolidation, a lot of retraction. I
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: want to take a moment for a special announcement of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: our newest video series on the Expedition Portal YouTube channel
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that features exploring the Smoky Mountains and the East Coast.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: This multi part series is presented by Handcook Tires and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: is hosted by renowned explorer and photographer Sinway Xavier. This
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: series will start at the end of September and run
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: through all of October, featuring a trail Scout episode, a
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Jeep Gladiator feature, vehicle trip planning and preparation, and some
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: installments showing the local artisans and places to visit around
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the Smoky Mountains. We appreciate Handcook's ongoing support of the
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: overland community and this podcast.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: So I think early in late twenty twenty three early
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, we saw almost a softening in this.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: The after of the pandemic effect and everything.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: That's part of the reason for the retraction. Yes, sure,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: you've got a lot of investment that comes in that's
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: expecting one result. Yes, And I don't know if that
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: result was based off of the pandemic spike, it might
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: have been a little bit unrealistic. Sure, and as that
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: result was not achieved, they started to retract, bring everything
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: down to a zero base, and then try to rebuild
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: from there. So we saw a lot of that at
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the beginning of the year. And the benefit that we're
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: seeing now is a lot of those companies have restructured,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: they've got new people in place, they've got new strategies
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: in place, and they're going into twenty twenty five with
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: a bit of fresh eyes, a little bit more of
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: a positive attitude. I look forward to what the next
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: probably six months has to come.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would think if you were just to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: draw a line of growth and you excluded the pandemic,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: were still in the same arc of growth that we
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: would have been if the pandemic hadn't happened. There's just
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: this little correction here in the last year or so.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I saw a really interesting graph yesterday that kind of
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: showed it was for accessorized vehicle acquisition. Okay, so this
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: is foral drives, fororal drive vehicles that people have invested
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: in with rooftop tents and camp kitchens and all the equipment. Right.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: It also included big expedition trucks something like like an
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Earth Roamer. Sure, and that it included vans, right, so
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: built out vans and you see this nice big curve,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: and so those numbers are still going up. So the
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: people are still acquiring fooral drives, vans, and big expedition trucks.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: But it was interesting to see the big spikes, and
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: the big spikes were from the pandemic. And then I'm
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: gonna let you try to guess, because I think you
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: figure it out. But what's a significant thing that's developed
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: towards the end of twenty twenty two that allowed people
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to get outside more starlink.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: It's the ability to communicate.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So on this graph there was a spike for the pandemic,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: and then there was a spike for when Starlink had
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: its full launch at the end of two too, so
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: people realized, hey, we can get out. We don't have
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: to stay in one place as much as we normally do.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: But it was interesting to see how Starlink stimulated growth
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: in the outdoor market.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: And think about how you and I work. It is
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: such a boon the fact that you were able to
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: work on the sailboat. Oh yeah, isn't it. The fact
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: that I was able to accross Africa, be able to
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: have broadband internet and I used the full size Starlink
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: that it was converted by Unique Componentry. But we'll kick
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: into the first product here. So Starlink has launched the
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Starlink Mini. For those that are on the video here
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: you can see it. And this unit actually has a
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: cradle that's integrated in it on the back. Those are magnets,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: So this cradle is engineered and produced by Unique Componentry.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: It's just an awesome little company, really passionate husband and
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: wife team that are just crushing it. But what's really
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: important about the Starlink Mini is that it operates from
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: twelve to forty eight volts, so it doesn't need one
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty volts in order to operate like normally starlink.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: You plug it into a wall side. You can on
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: this there is a wall socket adapter. In this particular case,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I just have a twelve oll plug plug directly into it,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: so I'm not having any parasitic loss.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: You plug it into a cigare cigarette.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Lighter, plug it into cigarette letters.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I think I sent you the video of somebody who
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: took a Milwaukee M eighteen cordless drill was awesome and
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: created a little cradle for it, and supposedly that M
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: eighteen battery from Milwaukee will run the starlink MANI for
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: eight hours.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I will leave it so now.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: It's completely portable. You can throw it in a backpack.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah. True. I thought it was really neat to see
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: in a little lithium battery that's so lightweight. And then
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: you can see on the unique componentry little cradle here.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I've got these magnetic feet. They've also got stick on
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: steel pads, Ferris pads. It sticks to those. But then
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: you can also run it off of USBC. So I
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: also have another cable here which I just got so
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that's why I'm going to be converting over it to this.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: But you can run any of that high output usbc's,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you can run the starlink on. So it needs to
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: be like that sixty to one hundred watt range of power,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and the cable needs to be rated to that as well.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: But once you get into that range, then you end
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: up being able to provide the wattage that the unit
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: needs to run. But it's just literally a USBC, so
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the right little connector weather proof connector on it.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: So Starlink Mini is about half the size yeah, previous,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I think. So how long do you think it took
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: them to develop the Starlink Mini, so they launched the
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: bigger one and then how long until.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Within two years? And what's going to come next is
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: it's going to all be in your phone in one unit,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: that's right, So you're going to have smartphones that are
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: compatible with Starlink has launched a new or space X
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: has launched a new constellation that has better output for
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: handheld devices. The reason why the antennas were so big
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: in the beginning is that they needed to be able
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to have as the smallest amount of signal of the
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: noise ratio loss as possible through the gain that's available
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: in the size of the antenna. So as they've continue
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to refine that and improve their constellation, they are able
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: to go with smaller and smaller antennas. So now the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Starlink Mini, I just I stick it on the quartermaster
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: between the little Safari windows on the top and it
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: just runs right in there. That just runs while you're
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: going down the road, plugged into twelve old. It's like
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: you said, it literally has changed an industry because people
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: are now able to work remotely with broadband and it's
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: affordable one hundred and fifty bucks a month.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: And we see him. I mean, you know, to jump
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: ahead a little bit, we were in Nunavut, Canada, in
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: these little villages we're talking up around seventy three degrees. Yeah, sure,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: and every house had a starlink in an on the roof.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I believe it.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So it's really phenomenal.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and what an incredible thing for those community in
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: good ways and in bad but the most important like
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: their kids have access now to different types of education
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: right that they may not have had before. They have
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: access to communicating with loved ones and relatives that may
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: live in different areas at really high quality because those
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: communities are quite isolated. Now, of course, it also is
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: going to bring in social media.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: And not to be isolated sometimes.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we need to be more than what we are.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Because I was talking with someone today actually, and they
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: were asking about the process of writing the book. Which
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: is the hardest thing I've ever done. Is how Poll's
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: got nothing on writing a book. But it was this
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: interesting thing of them saying, I wish I had time
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to do something like that, And I said, I bet
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: you if you totaled up your Instagram scroll.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Time, yeah, you could write three books.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: You could write a book in a year. Yeah, it's
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: just something I think.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: It took you to write the book.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: It was been a seven month project, but I spent
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: about six to ten hours a week. But I just
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: had the manuscript line this week. It was an enormous
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: amount of time and I'm fairly exhausted by it. I
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: actually sent off the last piece of the manuscript this
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: morning at two thirty in the morning.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: So I'm going on the euphoria of being done. Sure,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: one hundred and three thousand words.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of that content came second nature to you.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Some of it did. But it's interesting. There's this process
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: about like when you write something for the web, it
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: is usually something that's more immediate, more timely, and if
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: you make a mistake, you can go back in and
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: fix it, whereas in a book, it's something that's meant
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: to be on the shelf for a long period of time.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: This type of book, which we'll share the details of later,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: but it is something that is meant to be a
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: little more evergreen, so you have to be really mindful
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: of not putting in something that could be changed. So
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I just found myself really having to do a lot
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: of research and a lot of thinking about concepts that
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: have distilled down twenty years of work. So it was
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: a very import process for me. I learned a lot
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: about myself and about Overlanding through the process of having
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: to think about it in terms of sharing it with
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a large audience.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: How do you communicate that's right else.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Which will only serve to benefit the podcast and the magazine.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: You're going to see content from that in the magazine
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: over the years to come. So a lot of learning
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that came from that. And it's with Simon and Schuster,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: which is an incredible partner to be associated with. That's
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the interesting thing about connecting with social media is that
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: it can take a lot of time and it can
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: take us away from actually doing the thing that we're
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: most interested in on Instagram, So if you're looking at
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and you're not going and doing it yourself. I heard
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a very cool quote, not all that long ago of
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: talking about the thing isn't doing the thing. Planning to
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: do the thing, isn't doing the thing. Buying all of
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the products to be able to do the thing isn't
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: doing the thing. Like you've got to eventually do the thing, but.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: You have to make an effort to disconnect. I just
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: recently went and did a little kayak flow down the
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Colorado River up near Leeds Ferry and it's a sixteen
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: mile make it two days with an overnight, right.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Awesome is that though? And you go to a back hall, okay.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Where you go to Lee's Ferry Boat dock, and you
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: get onto a basically it's a deck boat like a
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: pontoon boat, and they run you up river up against
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the current and then they drop you off all the
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: way at the top and then you float it back
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: down but along the way at the dam okay at
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Glenn Canyon Dam and I had done it a couple
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: of years ago and there was no cell signal, no service,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: anything like that. This year, on the way up to
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: the dam, the back hall boat driver said, hey, if
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: you guys need, we've got signal up here. Now there's
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: a couple of bars. You can get phone calls in
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: and out. You can get some data. As soon as
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: she told us that, I'd turn my phone off and
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I'll hit it deep in my bag.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: And so I barely took any pictures. I used other
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: people's phones to take pictures, and I was just like,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: just get it away from me.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: What a cool experience, though, So when you are you
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: in like a longer kayaker, single person kayak, two person,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: we did.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Everybody on the trip did single person kayaks, okay, a
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: couple of dry bags. We just did a single overnight
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: so that's awesome. Yeah. You take a little two person
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: tent and we went pretty light and fast and it
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: was great.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I've heard anyone who's ever done a Colorado River
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: trip like that has spoken so highly of the experience.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I think that there's got to be something about being
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: in such a significant in the water out in nature,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: but also in this canyon that's nothing else on the planet.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty narrow, and the walls, I don't know
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: what the height was, it had to be five to
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: seven hundred feet wow, up to the top of these
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: cliffs and they just go sheer up from the water.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And half the time you're in the shade, half the
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: time you're in the sun, and it changes throughout the day,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: and it changes every time you go around a corner.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: It was pretty special.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And it's only from where we're at. It's four and
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: a half hours to get there, so it's pretty convenient.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Well, there's a great example of turning off your phone
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and going and doing it. Yeah, that's good fun. It
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: was like to feature new companies here on the podcast.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: So we've got this Tommy block by Freedom Recovery Gear.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: It's a very unique product in the fact that it
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: has this composite reinforced cover over a sixty sixty one
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: aluminum block with some graphite anti friction sleeves in there.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: But there's a couple of things about the block that
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I think is really interesting. It shows you the angle
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: that you would be at with the rope if you
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: were doing a misdirected pull, and how much of a
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: force multiplier that would be. It shows it right on
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the block.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: So talk more about that. So the larger the angle.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: The less that's right, because the angle would be out
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and directly back to the vehicle. If you're going from
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the winch on the vehicle, through the block and back
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: to the vehicle again, then you're going to get that
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: two times two times minus any parasitic loss in the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: block itself.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: But if you go back, say forty five degrees versus
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Degrees, and it changes the amount of mechanical advantage. So
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting. It looks like a really
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: safe unit too. It uses a Dynama shackle here as well.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: The way that it houses the shackle through it and
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you can easily replace it it looks like as well.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: It comes with a couple extra ones. It's rated. It's
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: working load limit with a four point one factor is
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: at thirteen one hundred pounds and this thing only weighs
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: three pounds. To putting it in that context, it's probably
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: not the best pully block. If you had an earth roamer,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: this is going to be a pully block that's going
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: to be appropriate for a standard four wheel.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Drive, great for your cheap wrangler.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: That's right. We have to think about pully blocks from
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the perspective of pully blocks can double the pulling power
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: of a winch. So this block here where it's being
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: attached to the tree with the shackle, is actually seeing
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: twice the rated or twice twice the output of the winch.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: So if you have a nine thousand pound winch, you
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: have the theoretical maximum polling power of eighteen thousand pounds.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Normally you don't see those kinds of loads, and we're
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: going to do some testing with it using a strain
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: gauge because I think it'll be very interesting to see.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: You've got a lot more multipliers and external forces when
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: you get.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Up to it you do, so you just got to
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: be careful. If you have a twelve thousand pound winch
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: and you're doing really heavy winching or you have a
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: heavy vehicle, you could exceed that thirteen one hundred pound
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: working load limit, but there's a significant safety factor. There's
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a four time safety factor built into the block, so
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: it has a minimum breaking strength of fifty two five
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: hundred pounds. Even in those scenarios, the block is probably fine.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: But it's really good that they are listing the working
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: load limit and the minimum breaking strength of the block
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: right on the block itself. It's made in Canada. If
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you look at Freedom Recovery Gear, they just have some
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: really thoughtful product, really high quality products. Just the fact
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: that it's half the weight.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: The chafeguards are thoughtful.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: And even with the housing, when you really take a
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: look at it, and I've never looked at a snatch
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: block in the sense of it's so minimalistic. It looks
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: like the plastic housing you can see where you could
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: almost do without it.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Sure, So the plastic housing really serves as a guide.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: It does winchline does hold the shackle kind of in
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: position and out of the way of what would be
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the other lines.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. But when you look at that compared to say,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: we reseed to the full steelah, the full steel housing
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: with the snatch block on the inside, you realize how
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: much there's a lot of unnecessary weight.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: The side plate material is ultra high strength fiber reinforced composite.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: The sheave itself is made from sixty sixty one build
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: aluminum the axle is hard antidized sixty sixty one aluminum,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and then it does have this alumina bronze bushing with
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: graphite inserts to help do some of the friction. So yeah,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and it only weighs thirteen hundred and fifty grams, so
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: three pounds with the soft shackle.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: That says combination of old technology and.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: New Actually the soft shackle adds a little bit of weight,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: but yeah, it's just a it's a really neat product.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I love to see innovation like that. Recovery and recovery
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: tools and recovery rigging is such a fascinating subject and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: there's so much to learn. There's a lot of training
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: that's necessary. I just encourage people to get training anytime
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: you're doing vehicle based recovery. But I find it to
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: be a fascinating, very technical subject to learn about.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Especially in the vehicle space. When it comes to recovery equipment,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: there's not a whole lot of new innovation. Traditionally, we've
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: seen some great products in the off road space.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but if you look a little bit.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Closer, you realize, oh, that came from the marine industry.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Ye, a lot of it came from sailboats.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how or that came from the heavy equipment rigging industry, right,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: and so the off road space is always borrowed from
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: those existing product lines, that's right. Whereas you're now starting
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: to see, like even a few years ago when they
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: came out with the just the standalone sheave.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah sure, the aluminum yep, that friction chiefs like, wow.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Amazing innovations they've been doing in the marine industry for.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Last day sale bays have been running that for a
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: long time.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: So it's a great way to borrow technology.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's it's probably part of the
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: reason why the sailing is so appealing the overlanders is
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: that there is all of that crossover.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: A lot of similarities.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: One of the things that I wanted to chat about
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: today was the fact that I had the opportunity to
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: go spend some time with the new two fifty land Cruiser.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: So it's the two fifty series land Cruiser which would
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: be sold in the US under the land Cruiser name plate.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: It'll be sold in other markets as a product, but
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: it's all the same vehicle for the most part. There's
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: a couple of things that I'm really excited about with
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: it this more than any time in the past, is
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: truly a globe standardized vehicle. So they do have it
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: in diesel in other markets, but this new hybrid gas
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: drive train is being sold in a lot of other
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: markets as well. So if you were to buy this
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: new land Cruiser, if you did need service and support,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: that car is going to be sold in a lot
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: of other countries.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: World travel vehicle.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I think it's very appropriate. And it also is based
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: on this new FG platform that's being used in the
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: three hundred series land Cruiser, the Tundra, the Sequoia, even
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the Tacoma. So it's this family of vehicles chassis that
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: is very stiff, it is very strong, but it's also
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: very lightweight with how they assemble it, and I've watched
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: these chassis be assembled in the plant all by robotics.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Incredible quality and as you would expect from Toyota. It
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: uses this four cylinder hybrid powertrain, which some people might like,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: some people might not. But just the fact that you
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: can get a land Cruiser that's going to get load
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: to mid twenties fuel economy, that's anything, I guess. So
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: remember that eighty series that we had, I think got
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: negative fuel economy. It was like eleven miles the gallon
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: of eight you were driving it.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Because I've only seen the new land Cruise of two fifty.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I saw it when they first launched it. Went to
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: the launch event at at the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Greg Miller and the whole gang there, and the reaction
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: when they unveiled it was like any other new vehicle reveal.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: A bit mixed, sure, right, because you've got the kind
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: of the legacy brand or the legacy product that it's replacing,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: and you've got that audience of consumers who is just
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: dedicated to that the eighty series, one hundred series or
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: two hundred series, and then the two fifty to come
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: out with such a departure from the trajectory that the eighty,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: one hundred and two hundred, even the three hundred was
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: on this trajectory of like this bigger and more rounded design,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: and then you got the two fifty, which is now
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden more relatable to a fore Runner, yeah,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: than to a land Cruiser for sure.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: The fore Runner and the New land Cruiser two fifty
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: share many of the same components, including drive train. There's
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of similarities between the two. I think the
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: most important thing is usually the perspective of that is
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: someone that just doesn't have experience with the Proto and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the Proto land cruiser history. This product has existed in
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: a form just like this for decades.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we just don't get to see it.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So someone says, oh, that's not a land cruisers. They've
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: been called They've been calling Proto's land cruisers for a
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: very long time, all the way back to the LJ
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: seventy eight, which was a Proto land cruiser, and it
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: was built on a light duty drive train that used
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the drivetrain from the Hilux Surf, had a little diesel
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: engine and all that. We had one of those. It
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: was an awesome little vehicle. So it's really I think
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: it would be a mistake to say that this isn't
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: a great vehicle. It is not a replacement for the
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: three hundred, because they make the three hundred is available. Unfortunately,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the only version of the three hundred that we get
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: is the one from Lexus. Now, the Lexus is a
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: beautiful vehicle. The lex six hundred is a proper full
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: sized land cruiser with different sheet metal and certainly different trim.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: It's very luxury biased and it doesn't have all the
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: off road hardware of the three hundred. And I've driven
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the three hundred in Dubai, I've driven the three hundred
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: in South Africa and it is it's awesome. It would
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: probably be the car that I would own because there's
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: so many things about it that I love.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I feel like the at least in the United States
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: and what's available here, it's like the GX five fifty
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: would be our replacement of, say, the full bodied land Cruiser.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I think it is in a lot of people's mind.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Even though the five point fifty is the same chassis
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: as the new land Cruiser two fifty.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: You don't see that on the outsite.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: It does look the most appropriate.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as far as the larger body, yes, I think
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: some of them are even seven seats, So the larger,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: that larger vehicle is along that design element of what
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: we think of the land Cruiser in the United States. Yeah,
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: whereas the Prato bring the two point fifty and the
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: prodal line coming here is it's refreshing to have that
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: mid size sev right versus a full size suv if
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: you put them in those terms.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: And what's interesting is that the market. It's been so
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: interesting to watch the overland community adopt the Lexus gx
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: as as one of their favorites, and there's a lot
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of reasons for that. I think Lexus has done a
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: masterful job of that. Overtrail Plus is like an incredible
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: package from the factory. You end up with a V
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: six as opposed to a four cylinder, and because it's
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: a seven passenger, you end up with quite a bit
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: more payload. So my only real criticism of the land
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Cruiser two fifty is in some of the trims, the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: variants that we had on this drive, the payload was
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: less than one thousand pounds.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Gets pretty skinny, it really does.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: So if you want, if you're the kind of person
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: who likes to load your vehicle up with a bunch
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: of people. Let's say, as an example for people, a husband, wife,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: two kids, some of their luggage and gear, and then
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: they want to pull a small trailer, and that small
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: trailer has a three hundred and fifty pound tongue weight.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: A three hundred and fifty pound tongue weight now goes
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: against the paper. You're already way over and you haven't
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: even put really any accessories on the vehicle, so there's
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: not a lot of headroom. Now, we all know that
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: a two fifty land Cruiser, a Proto, and all of
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: those vehicles are properly built and there's a lot of
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: reserve capacity in those vehicles. But try to explain that
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to your insurance company when you're one thousand pounds overweight.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: You're like, well, but they're really strong there. It's a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: land cruiser and they don't care because.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: So I've never driven it. I've only sat in it
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: and seen it. So you're six to one broad shoulder,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: you're getting this car or you getting a land cruise
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: or two fifty, and it's not really big inside.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely feels like a rest of the world vehicle,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: which I have to admit that I like if there's
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: something familiar to me. I've spent a lot of time
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: in protos around the world, and the Proto is one
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: of my favorite vehicles. The reason why the Forerunner is
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: so awesome is because it is that compromise between so
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: many different things, including cost. But you can get a
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: land Cruiser nineteen fifty eight for like around fifty thousand bucks.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: But I've heard different stories.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: From people trying to get it from the dealer.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I've heard some crazy stories about dealership.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Eventually it'll come down. But the fact that you can
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: get like whereas a three hundred series land Cruiser the
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: way that you and I would want it is going
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: to be pushing one hundred thousand bucks, so it's almost
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: half the price, and it has a rear locking differential.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: It's just nice.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: And then you can get the front swaybar disconnect, which
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: is also really nice. There's a lot to love about
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the vehicle. I think that it's just a lot of
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: saber rattling to say this isn't a land cruiser. Of
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: course it is. Just look at it historically it's a
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: land cruiser.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: A lot of people have to inject drama in every launch.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter what it is exactly.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is the name plate. There's no there's nothing
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: new about the name plate.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: We've been there's two of them running around town here.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: And that looks great. They are. It's in fact, that's
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a great point, Brian. It is a very handsome vehicle,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and so is the g X five fifty. These are
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Toyota and Lexus are putting out. I think some of
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: the best looking new cars that they have in a
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: really long time. The tech is all really good. Overall,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I really liked the vehicle. I can see why they're
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: going to sell a lot of them. And here's the
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: other thing too, just to be fair to Toyota, So
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: when they were selling the land Cruiser, the last two
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: hundred series land Cruiser, the last year they sold a
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: little bit better, but the year before that they sold
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: around twenty eight hundred units. They're selling that in a
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: weekend with this, with this new two fifty, like, they're
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: going to sell forty thousand of these things this year.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: So I think it's important to remind ourselves that we
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: want Toyota to be successful and the only reason why
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: we don't get exactly the cars that we want is
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: because we don't buy them.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: So then what's the plan. What's the plan with the
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: fore Runner? Yeah, a lot of people feel like the
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: two fifties kind of replacing the fore Runner. But what
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: I've noticed with Toyota is they have a plan. They
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: always have a plan, a long term. So when they
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: pull the land Cruiser out of the United States market
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: like before the two hundred series, and everybody felt abandoned, YEP,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: this whole thing with the two fifty was.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Already in play for sure.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: No, they've got a plan that's going five to ten
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: years out from today.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the new fore Erunner. I was able to spend
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: some time with that as well, sitting it. I wasn't
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: able to drive it. The driving experience will likely be
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: very similar. The vehicle isn't as tall, doesn't have quite
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: as much interior space to the Lank Crew the two
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: fifty Lank Cruise.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, how does it compare to the current fore Runner?
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: A little bit bigger, a little bit bigger, and overall
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: the current Forerunner is one of the best cars ever
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: made for a lot of reasons. But it's interesting to
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: see this new for Runner because it'll have rear locking differential,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: it'll have swaybar disconnect, it's got all of the most
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: advanced crawl control and everything else like that on it.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: It has a larger wheel. It looks like it would
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: be more of like a recreational fourwhel driving solution for people,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: whereas the two point fifty is going to have more
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: interior space. It's going to be easier to configure for
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: carrying things on the inside like you would for overlanding.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: So I think that what you'll find is day to
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: day driving, recreational four wheel drivers will lean towards the Forerunner,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: whereas you'll see like travelers, a little bit older demographic
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: going with the land Cruiser. But there is a lot
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: of crossover between the two, and I do not mean
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: to dismiss that because they are very similar, including the
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: drive train, So the chassis the same, drive trains the same,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: the bodies are quite different.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: What about price, any.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Price, No pricing on for Runners, but that'll be really
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: interesting to see when it comes out because if the
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Forerunner is a if it's less money, which it does,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: have less content in some packages, that could be an
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: even greater reason.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: You imagine a thirty five thousand dollars.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that would be amazing. You can't even buy a
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: seven year old one for that right now because they're
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: that awesome.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: And my Gen three has got a little cult following.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Your Gen three is like one of it's literally one
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: of the greatest vehicles ever made. And my favorite meme
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: that I've seen in years was it was a picture
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: of and it was actually like looked exactly like your truck,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the silver and everything else like that and they said,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Toyota has recalled the Gen three four Runner because it's
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: time for you to buy a new car, like your
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: kid drives it. But the fact that it survived you
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: as well as it did, being the precision performance driver
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: that you are, push hard. Yeah, and then now you're kid,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: it's probably getting a bit of a break.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: It was funny. Apparently there's a gold one or a
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: brown one on the next street over from us, and
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: it's this old lady's got it for sale. She's probably
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: the original owner. Yeah, and it's for sale. And Max
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: came home and he's, Dad, there's a fore Runner for sale.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I'm like, where what is it? And we were driving
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: someplace else and he pointed it out to me and
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: I'm like, buddy, that's the exact car.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: That you've already had. And a special thanks to Real
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Truck for their support of this week's podcast, Find Your
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Freedom and Follow your Own Trail in the fresh air
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: of vast Uncharted Places, introducing the exclusive Real Truck lineup
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: of overlanding accessories designed to take adventurous explorers just like
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  Speaker 1: Go Tent, and Overland Awning. And here's to those inspired,
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  Speaker 1: self actual brave souls that are ready to unplug and
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: check in to pure wilderness bring your truck to life
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: at real truck dot com.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: And he goes, I know, but that one's a little
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: bit different. No, it's the exact same car.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: I believe it.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: It was pretty impressive.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: It's the Forerunner is the least expensive car that you
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: can own because if you look at depreciation. Now, of
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: course it does cost some money to buy one, but
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: if you calculate and depreciation, it is the cheapest car
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: you can own. It's less expensive to own than a
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Honda Fit. So no kidding, yeah, over time exactly, all right,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: So let's go through our list here. We also spent
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: some time with the Tacoma and I was not a
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: huge fan of the last round of Tacoma for a
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: couple reasons, Like they had an address some things that
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: needed to be addressed. The six speed automatic, the first
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: gear was just too tall, and the engine didn't make
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: enough power that Atkinson cycle V six, which is it
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: was fine, It was reliable, it just wasn't a great car,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: and it allowed for a lot of the other OEMs
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: to catch up to Toyota. But if you look at
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the current Tacoma, the one that just came out, it
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: has a nine speed automatic, it has a lower first gear,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: it has a more powerful engine, and it's available in
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the hybrid, which means you're getting all of that torque
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: from the motor generated I don't remember how it's configured,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: but you get all that torque from the electric.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Motor for the first gear.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the first gear is also lower, lower, and
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: it's turbocharged, so you're getting at like we were at
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: altitude in Colorado, and the thing prove great.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Overall.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: The refinement of the chassis is much better, The ride
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: quality is significantly better. It's now coil sprung in the rear,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: disc breaks in the rear, and they have some really
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: thoughtful overland specific changes that they've made to the vehicle.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: The payload is up by about twenty percent over the
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: previous generation, which that's a big deal because the Tacoma
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: needed to have a higher payload. You can get this
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: new trail Hunter package which has a wider track, a
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: thirty three inch diameter tire, rear locking differential, front swaybar,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: disconnect and twelve hundred and fifteen pounds of payload. And
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: there's a couple of things on the truck that you
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: could remove, like it's got this little bedrack in it.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: You could start to gain some additional payload reserve. But
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: it also comes with an ARB bumper from the factory
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: that is high clearance, gross vehicle weight rated recovery points
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: on both sides.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: So is it winch ready bumper.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: No, it's in the rear. It doesn't have a Winch provision.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: But unfortunately they don't have a front ARB. It's just
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: a rear ARB bumper. I don't like the fact that
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: they spect it with an eighteen inch wheel. You really
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: want to have a seventeen or sixteen inch wheel on
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: an overland vehicle. That's primarily for accessibility to tires and
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: you're traveling internationally, but it also makes a huge difference
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: in the amount of flotation. So I don't like the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: fact that it went to an eighteen inch wheel. It
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: should have been seventeens, but looks like seventeens will still fit.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I want to be excited about a Tacoma, yeah, or
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: the Tacoma.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: You're not feeling it.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: I've never felt a Tacoma. It's never done it for me.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: And I think part of the reason it's never done
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: it for me is that there's a lot of them.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: They're everywhere.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Yea, they are.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: The people who have them are so excited about them.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: They're very excited about the Tacoma.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: I've driven a lot of Tacomas.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, yeah, and.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: I've driven them a whole bunch, and I'm just okay, Yeah,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: it's never been, you know, really exciting. It's never been
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: a really exciting vehicle for me. Yeah, that's said. I
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: mean I also drive a four to or Wrangler and
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: those are everywhere. Yeah, and everybody's really excited about those.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: But I like that one a little bit more than
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: the Tacoma for a lot of reasons. But I don't
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: know what it is about the Tacoma shock absorbers.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that it doesn't work. It just you
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: can't put any you can't put a human being in
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: the back seat anymore. It just takes up too much space.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, because of the suspension seat.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the suspension seats. They are cool. They work, it's
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: not a gimmick. It just it takes up a lot
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: of space in the back seat, so it's going to
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: be very much the guy who wants to do the
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: go fast kind of program. But I think Tacoma is
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: The key to a Tacoma is it is just an honest,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: reliable pickup truck. And they also have good resale value
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: so people don't lose their shorts on them. So at
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: every touch point you think that a twenty five year
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: old has to a Tacoma, they're having a positive experience.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: The thing starts and runs every time, it is capable
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: off road, and then when they go to trade it
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: in because they want to get a land Cruiser or
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: something else, yeah, they've done well on it. So every
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: connection point that people have, and when Toyota is in general,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: they're having all of these touch points are having really
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: positive experiences. They are capable, they are reliable, they are durable,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and I think that's where people have these really positive
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: outcomes with toyotas. Something that's different about a Wrangler is
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: that there you could take the top off it. There
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: there's like the smiles per mile are a little bit
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: different in a jeep, and a jeep wrangler has significantly
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: more capability than a Tacoma.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: I will say every time I've driven a Tacoma, it's
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: done everything that I it just it'll do right. So
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: it wasn't a sily noteworthy. Yeah, and it was very reliable, sure,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: and it did what I wanted it to do. So
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I think twice about it.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: And I think for me, like our businesses started with
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: this two thousand and four white Tacoma build that we did.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Drove to the art a long time ago. Yeah, I
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: drove it up to tuck t Yuktuk before people were
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: really doing that. It drove all the way down to
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: Panama and the dairy and gap. I mean it like
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: the vehicle was grossly overloaded.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: Air fuel tank on. I did a Suzu trooper.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Did and that was the things that I did to
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the vehicle that was really beneficial. Everything else is probably
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: a little bit questionable my choices in modifications. That's a
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: great example of learning the hard way about stuff.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: It'd be interesting to see you rebuild that same vehicle today.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I've thought about it to do different. I've
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: really thought about to celebrate twenty years of our business,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: that we either do another Tacoma or we do a
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: gladiator or something like that same type of vehicle and
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: then how would I do it differently.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: I absolutely love the Tacoma and we've got this great idea.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, the new Tacoma Lan Cruse. Those are
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: really noteworthy things. They're really popular, and they're going to
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: just be super popular for our audience. Another really big
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: new announcement is the Scout Yoho pop up camper. And
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Scout. I have had the
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Scout keeni on a at at fifteen hundred, and I
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: just purchased a Yoho pop up. They just have come
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: into the market. So think of any of the other
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: pop ups that you see on the market, four wheel
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: camp or whatever. So this is going to be a
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: composite sided lifting roof, so you're going to gain a
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: lot of clearance under trees into parking garages or airports
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: or whatever else that you're going into. It's a much
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: lower The camp is also very light, so the one
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: the way that I've expect it, which is basically nothing
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: in it is going to be around nine hundred pounds,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: so very lightweight and it's surprisingly roomy inside. When I
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: first saw it, I'm like, this is going to be
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: the camper I'm going to want to have for a
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: really long time because I would like to go back
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: to a mid sized vehicle. I really like to drive
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: challenging terrain because it gets me away from everybody else.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Hard to do with a big slide it is.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: And I experienced that it was a challenge. There was
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: times it was taken everything that I had to get
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: that poor at four and then giant camper through that. Yeah, exactly,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: it was just a big rig going down the trail.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: So having the pop up is going to be great.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: It'll fit in a container. So now I'm trying to
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: decide what platform do I want to put it on?
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: So I'm looking at do I want to put it
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: on a Gladiator? Do I want to put it on
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: like an AT four x AEV canyon with the factory
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: thirty fives? Do I want to It's currently on an
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Inios Grenadier Quartermaster and it looks so good like we're
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: gonna put a picture here in the in.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: The lines surprised me. Yeah, the lot because there's so
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: much of because of the way the quartermaster bed is,
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of exposed kind of underside of the camp.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: So you see just in the way that we've got
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: it configured. Now, in my opinion, you see a lot
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: of the underside and you see a lot of these
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: hard angles. Yeah, whereas a lot of times you're used
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: to the pop up having this seamless transition onto the
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: pickup truck bed.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Very true, and the main reason for that is the
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: height of the cab on the Quartermaster is so tall,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: so the camper has to be built up, has to
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: be raised up in order to fit over the cab,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: and right now it is a very tight fit, even
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: at the height that it's at. But I'm very excited
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: about the camper. I bought it personally because I just
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: am super excited about it. That's a big deal for
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: you to throwing down my own writing, my own check
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: for that one, because it's it's what I want. It's
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: a company that I believe in. I think that their
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: products are great, and there's lots of great camper company
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: companies on the market, it's just this particular configuration doesn't exist.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: So it's exactly what I wanted. It's a six foot
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: camper that'll go into a five foot bed, mid size
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: pick up and it's going to be perfect.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: Well, we got a lot of campers in for testing
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: We have a lot of campers that we're looking forward
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: testing over the next year, and it's neat. When you've
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: got enough experience with all the different products on the market,
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: do you find the one that just fits you personally?
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, even.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: Though you're still like, we'll still review all the others
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: question take a look at them, but it's probably personally
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: relieving to be like, this is the one that I
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: really identify.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Because there are something like a four wheel camper is
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: an exceptional product, and they make incredible solutions for trade
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: beds and all of that, and the overland explorer vehicles. Yeah,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: they make composite hard sided slide ins, they just don't
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: make one in this particular configuration.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and it's I think it really comes down
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: to the vehicle and the application. Every vehicle and every
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: person is going to be different with it.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. It's personal. It's what you like your Wrangler
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: and other people like their Tacoma.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: I have a love hate relationship with my Wrangler.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Ha ha. What do you hate about it?
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: It's a great truck. I don't like the internal rollcage and.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: The right it does steal a lot of space.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: It's so much wasted space, so much wasted space. And
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: then there's also been like I've got a very short
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: list of little things that like, ever since getting it new,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: like things that just like things that on the vehicle
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: that should last forever.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: You've had differential problems, Yeah, differential and that limited slip
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: deal that it's God because I got this.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: I got the sport because I knew I was going
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: to change out all the things that you get with
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: the Rubicon except for the locker, and so with that one,
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: it's got little things with about it that just feel
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: like they should last forever and they're not.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, you know.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: So it's changing because our use case scenario with it
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: is changing. When I tried to shoehorn four into it,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: it was very challenging, And now if I'm putting two
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: or three people in it, it's okay, more sense.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: It's a great looking vehicle, though mine looks really good.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: It's got Brian McVicar's style.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't intend for it to be that way, just
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: fell into play.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: It looks good. I like it, but I'm also I
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: like the grey Man program. All right. So another thing
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about is and I'm going to
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: put it in the camper. Is this new eco flow
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: air conditioner and heaters.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: It's all in one unit.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: So it's the first time I've seen I'm sure that
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: they exist, but it's the first time that I've seen
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: an air a twelve old air conditioning system that is
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: also a So I'm going to install that in the
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Yoho pop up. And it makes sixty one hundred b
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: to use a heat and it makes fifty fifty one
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: hundred BTUs of AC.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: And how big is it in comparison to like a
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: front Runner wolf box or something.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: It's taller than that, so it's fairly tall. Where the
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: space actually gets used up is when you start putting
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: the vents and stuff, like all the tubing. Because it's
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: a true air conditioning system, you have to vent out
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: the heat or if you're using it as a heater,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: you have to run the tubing in.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: The two Jerry kNN side by side. I've never seen it.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I should. We should have it up on the table.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: It's like the size of a carry on piece of luggage.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, so if you had like a Pelican case
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: that you were using as a carry on. The maximum
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: size of a carry on of a Pelican case. It's
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: a little taller than that, a little wider than that,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: but not by much. It's not that big. And then
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: there's a battery pack that you can mount to the
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: bottom of it if you want, or you can just
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: wire into hardware, it into your auxiliary power system. So
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: that's going to be a really interesting solution. We're trying
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: something new. You have to have a lot of battery
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: capacity in order to heat a camper, but it'll be
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: interesting to see how it works. I wouldn't be using
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: the heater overnight. It would be like when you get
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: up in the morning and it's just cold in the camper,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: fire that thing up and take the edge off.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: They've got a refrigerator with a built in battery.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: They've got a.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Portable power systems, a bunch of those.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: They've got a really good one. I think they're portable
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: power systems also capable of jump starting a vehicle.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they've got a bunch of really great solutions. And
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: I'm just excited to try this out, Like it's pretty
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: cool concept and we'll see how it works, will report
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: back on if it was actually a good idea or not.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: So Yeah, we got that, and then we've also been
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: taking a look at the new Angle fridge slides that
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: came out. Angle fridges have been around for a very
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: long time. The very first fridge that I ever purchased
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: for travel was an Angle, and I remember that when
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: I bought it used and I asked the guy that
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: I bought it from, how long has he had it?
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: And he's, I don't remember. It's just been running in
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: my garage keeping his beer cold. And you actually ended
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: up with that fridge.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: I still have that fridge. That fridge is in my
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: garage keeping the beer cold.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: And so think about how long that thing has been running.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: It's been around for a long time. It's it's an
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: old one.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Because I had that had to have been twenty four
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: years ago or so that I bought that fridge. And
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: the guy, like I said, the guy that I got
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: it from, he didn't know how long he had it.
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet I could look at it. There's probably
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: a serial number on it or some way to find
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: out how old it is.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: But that's not an uncommon thing with angles. The way
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: that little swing motor.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: Works, it's rough around the edges.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sure that is the one that's the one
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: thing with an angle. It's a really good idea to
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: put it a carrying case, a case on it, because
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: the metal can get really beat up. Like most the
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: fridges now or plastics, they endure all that a little
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: bit better, or even the National Lunas with the way
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: that the way that the metal is dimpled.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a little heavier too. New ones are quite
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: a bit lighter.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: But the angle fridges are great. They make a thirty five,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: that's one of my favorite sizes. They're overall much smaller,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: they're much lighter, their startup ampriage is much lower. They're
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: probably comparable with a National Luna for efficiency. The National
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: Luna probably has a little bit of an edge on efficiency.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: But if you're trying to plug it into your factory
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: wiring harness in the back of a Forerunner or something,
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: the Angle will not require a wiring upgrade because the
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: startup ampriage is so low with that motor style.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've plugged fridges into the back of vehicles and
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: they just won't even turn on because there's not enough ambridge.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: Exactly do you get them to start up?
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: Exactly?
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: One of the things I like about that angle as
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: well and other companies might do this. But the difference
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: between the thirty five and the forty five, which is
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: when you're the consumer trying to decide which side do
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: I go with? Right, that seems to be a pretty
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: common size because the next jump up is like a sixty.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Sure.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: So the footprint of the thirty five and the forty
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: five is the same.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: It is the height, it's just the heights.
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did notice that, and we were looking at
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: the angles that it's same footprint, just a little bit taller.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah. They're just one of the best fridges ever made.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I sold you a I think the first thing I
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: sold you was a welder, Yeah, and then the second
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: thing I sold you was a fridge. You probably don't
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: have the welder anymore.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: But no, I got rid of the welder.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, awesome. Anything new coming up for you? What's
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: next for Brian mcvickers.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: On my side of things, we got Sema coming up. Yeah,
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: in two weeks, I'll be up in Missoula, Montana at
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: the Outdoor Media Summit. I'll be there for a three
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: day event. And they had some space on Wednesday they
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: wanted to do some nap time. They wanted to put
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: everybody to sleep, So they asked me to be a
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: guest speaker. I'll be talking about creating a community through
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: online forums nice, which is something that we've been doing
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: for the past twenty years with the Expedition Portal dot
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: com forum, and so we'll talk about how there's different
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: than social media today. And one of the big takeaways
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: is with social media is almost as transient engagement. Right.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: You can like, you can smile, you can high five,
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: you can make a little comment, and then it disappears
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: into the ether. Have you ever tried you see something
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: on Instagram or you see something on Facebook, it pops
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: up in the feet. Have you ever tried to go
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: back and find it.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's hard, nearly impossible.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: Whereas with you can have a little bit higher elevated
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: dialogue with other people and then it's all archived, it's
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: all searchable. You can go back and look for information,
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: do research, you can go back to the same conversation again.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: Have threads with over a million views and thousand of comments.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: They really be the forums, even though the compared to
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: a social media network, forums feel a little bit old school,
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: but in reality, there there's repository of information and.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: It's very community centric. It's it's everybody that has an
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: interest in overland travel. They all come to Expedition Portal
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: and they get to talk about that very specific subject,
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: whereas a platform like Facebook, someone's maybe looking at coffee
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: one minute and then they're looking at trucks the next.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: It's all of it, which they both have. Their place
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: is just recognizing that having these expert voices and this
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: repository of information is very beneficial to a community.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to that event, so I've been wanting
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: to go to that event for several years.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Cool.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: And then after that we're right into Sema. Yeah, I know,
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: and Seema is a month away, so we'll go into Sema,
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: and then we're already planning for twenty twenty five. In fact,
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: there's got a lot of different ideas for twenty twenty five,
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: and we'll try to figure out what direction, what ideas
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: we're going to we're going to implement. YEP, We're working
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: with a lot of really amazing companies coming into next year,
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: and so there's a lot to look forward to over
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: I'd say the next definitely over the next two months
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: as we're planning, and then jeez, fast forward, you get
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: into early January. I'm going to get back to see
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: Yes Show, the Consumer Electronics Show very early January. Then
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: there's a Shot Show, which was fun. Got to go
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: to the Shot show.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: You just like Range Day, Range Day on Monday.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And so then after that we're full force into
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: So it's crazy to think and that'll be the twentieth
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: anniversary of Expedition Portal. Pretty incredible how it's all coming together,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: you know. And I guess that all comes full circle
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: with the start of the conversation of time flies by,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: and let's just be really mindful of where we spend it.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: Keep track of where you're spending your time, because you
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: might still have that book in you.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: But I got it back to the kind of the
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: business and market you know that we started talking about,
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: in which we tend to at least dedicate one podcast
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: to the recorder.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: I also wanted to take a brief moment to thank
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: all of you for listening to the Overland Journal podcast.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: By listening to this podcast and subscribing to the Overland
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: Journal magazine, you're supporting our employee own and veteran owned business.
• 52:22
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• 52:25
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• 52:29
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• 52:32
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• 52:40
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• 52:43
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• 52:56
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• 53:02
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• 53:06
  Speaker 1: your support.
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: I was talking with a company earlier today and they
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: were what's the state of the market, state of the industry, Like,
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: where is everything going, Where are the consumer's going, where
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: the business is going? And I really think that we're Yeah,
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: you get the ups and downs and the slowdowns and
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: the speed ups, right, but I think when you're looking
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: at the category and the practice and the activity of overlanding,
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: I genuinely feel like we've got another twenty years in
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: a so least right for sure, we're still seeing OEMs
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: bringing vehicles to markets specifically targeted and manufactured and designed
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: around overlanding.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: And that's how you know, it's actually the start of
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: a general consumer interest in the space. So we've been
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: doing it for twenty years, so it feels like things
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: have been happening for a long time. But you're just
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: now getting overland specific models like the Grenadier coming out.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: It's just recent that those vehicles have been launched.
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: You were on TV the other day, I was your
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: CBS News Live on TV and they wanted to talk
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: about overlad they did. Yeah, little by little, the idea
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: gains traction and it does, so, Yeah, I'm feeling really
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: positive going in next year.
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The reality is that travel is rapidly growing as
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: a segment, and overlanding is travel. It's important to remember
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: that at the end of the day, the car exists
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: to transport us to some unique place. Overlanding is travel,
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: and that's an important distinction between that and off roading,
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: which is recreational motorsport. And then you have camping, which
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: is car camping everything together, So overlanding is really about travel.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: So as the industry may dabble with other interpretations of
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: what that may mean, we recognize that travel is the
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: most important part of it. The reason why I overland,
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: the reason why you overland, and the majority of people
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: in the marketplace is so they can go see something cool.
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: Another litmus test that I use very lightly is the events.
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: So if the event space is growing and people are
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: attending the events, that's usually a good sign of consumer
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: adoption of an idea.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: And I don't know, do we even know how many
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: overland events are now?
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: Fifty so this year there were over one hundred.
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, sure.
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: So twenty twenty three there were sixty eight. This year
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: there were over one hundred. I'm actually compiling the list
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty five events now and it's still growing.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: And so you've got these events, like we're all familiar
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: with the Overland expos.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: And they just announced their Los Angeles show.
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: They just announced a fifth show going into California around
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: the Los Angeles area. I don't know a whole lot
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: of details about it, but the fact that's a very
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: natural extension for them, sure to go into that area
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: of the country. But the latest one, the Overland of
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: the America's show that happened in Oklahoma. Yeah, huge success, awesome,
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: And that one was a little bit different from say
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: like the Overland Exposed. This one had they had swimming
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: pools and sit down restaurants and they had I think
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: they even had one of those, the Barbie Jeep Downhill.
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: It was very much like this Activity Patch event, and
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: they knocked it out of the park. It was a
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: great event, a first year event, so we're looking for
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: even better things for those guys next year. The more
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: Expo is doing really well. They're four or five years
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: into it and continuing to grow, and there's a few
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: others popping up around the country. And what we're seeing
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: is events, new events from new groups are filling in
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: the blanks. Right They're looking at the map and saying, hey,
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: we don't have an overland event within a five hour
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: drive of our city, and so they're creating regional events.
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: They're getting a lot of traction, they're getting a lot
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: of attendance.
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's exciting times. I look forward to seeing what
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five is going to bring. And we'll be
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: back in a month or so to have a roundup
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: of overland news.
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: Sounds great.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks Ron them, We thank you all for listening. We'll
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: talk to you next time.