Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / March Overland News: Innovative Camping Gear & Exciting Vehicle Updates

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March Overland News: Innovative Camping Gear & Exciting Vehicle Updates · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and I'm joined today by Brian mcvicars.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: So we're going to go into our March overland news.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: These are the things that we have tested, reviewed or
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: insights that we have on the overland industry for the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: month of February and March. This really focuses a lot
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on the new Lexus LX seven hundred h which is
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: one of the most impressive and notable new overland vehicles
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to come onto the market in a very long time.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We talk a little bit about some of the campers
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: that are coming out, like the new four World Campers
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: camp Out, We talk about the new Scout pop up Olympia,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and we talk about some other campers that we're seeing
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: come into the market. And then we talk in some
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: detail about some new products, some stuff from Senna, some
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: kind of open mic bluetooth communicators. You talk about the
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: new Slinky stove and they've got a pizza oven attachment
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: for that. So we talk about some of the great
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: new products on the market, some of the things that
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: are working great, some of the things that we think
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: could be improved a little bit, and some of the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: state of the industry, including events. Please enjoy my March
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Overland News conversation with Brian mcvickers and a special thanks
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: to Tredder for their support of this week's podcast. One
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of the age old problems of vehicle dependent adventure travel
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: is something that you probably don't think of very often,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and that's insurance. If you've put a lot of money
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: into your truck, chances are that those modifications aren't covered
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: by your current carrier. But now there's Tredder. They fill
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: in the gap between what your car insurance company thinks
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: your truck is worth and what it is actually worth
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to you. You don't have to switch your carrier, and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: you can use regular insurers that provide the stock stuff
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: while Tredder ensures the cool gear. Head to tredder dot
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: com and check out their easy five minute quote process
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to see if Tredder is the solution for you. Again,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that's tredder dot com t r e d Er dot com.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you again for the support. Trader Brian, thanks for
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: being back on man for another Overland News.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: But I think this is my first one of the year.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: It probably is it probably I think you did one
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: towards the end of twenty twenty four. But it just
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: seems the new products and the new ideas and the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: new events are just coming faster than ever they are.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the event category is continuing to grow. And the
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: neat part about the event category growing is it's growing
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: outside of what you consider the traditional overland space. Yeah,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Overland Expo they added an event this year, so now
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: they've got the regular four that they've had before, and
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: now they've got Southern California coming up in March.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: But overlanding as a category or representative activity had a
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: really strong showing at CS shot Show. King of the
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Hammers has a huge overland camp area.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah. LA Auto Show, like the guys from Ovar did
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a nice job with a little outdoor kind of overland
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: section they did.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: I like how they did it. They did an overnight,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: an indoor overnight camp out for the media.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Yes. I was there, Yeah, I was there.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: That's pretty neat.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: It was like the LA influencer crowd was enlightening.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're all adopting overlanding.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Yes, and then it was very enlightening.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: The Chicago Auto Show also had an overland category or
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: section of the show.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Sure, and then the.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: New York Auto Show will have one coming up. I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: believe that shows in April.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's exciting, and that's a big show. It's an
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: important show.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: It is a really big show. It's at the Javit
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Center there in New York City.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: How cool is that?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Pretty neat.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, place to end up on your journey.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: And then you said the more expo's coming up.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: The more expo is coming up. That is in that's
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: actually in April. It's April twenty fifth and twenty six. Yeah,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: and then you get into the summer season after that.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: But we've got I think I tallied them up. If
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: you consider overland specific van RV. I mean there's well
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: over one hundred shows this year that are incorporating overlanding.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: There's a big RV show in Denver coming up that
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: has an overland component to as well.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's exciting. I think it's just going
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to improve volume. Anytime you can start to increase some
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: scale of in any industry, then prices are going to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: come down, options are going to increase. I think it's
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: just a good thing for the consumer. I think it
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: challenges companies that have been around for a long time
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: to innovate and to also find ways to remain effective
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and remain part of the consumer's decision set.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: But it's broadening their audience as well.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: It really is.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: I've always when I talked to companies that make refrigerator
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: freezers and awnings like get into the tailgating crowd, into
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: the get into the soccer LEAGUESO and the soccer league parents.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And so true they need cold drinks.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the mom at the end of the game with
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: the orange slices right out of the dometic or something
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: that'd be great.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I use my fridge like leaving sprouts all the time.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: It works. It works for everything. So I think the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: events are great. Yeah, the events are cool.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: It's also starting to, thankfully, I think it's starting to
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: demystify overlanding for a lot of companies and consumers. We've
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: always seen people have a hard time defining it or
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: understanding what it is, and now it's becoming much more
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: common and much more of a household term. So it
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: really helps with the adoption.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and especially with how the outdoor industry has recognized
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the benefit of it. I think that's really positive because
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: outdoor enthusiasts do use world drives all the time to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: access the back country for skiing, for hiking, for fly fishing,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: whatever they're doing. They actually a lot of times access
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that stuff with foil drives, and they wouldn't mind camping
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: out overnight before they go start the hike, or when
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: they get back from the hike at the end of
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the day they have a hot shower or whatever.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Overlanding is now supporting more than more than world travel. Yeah,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: supporting your everyday kind.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Of adventivity, outdoor adventure. Yeah, and no, it's interesting to
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: see it all develop and I just think it's going
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to be good for the consumer. I think it still
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: benefits the around the world traveler. Now they have more options.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: They can get things serviced more easily, they can get
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: replacement parts globally more easily. There's more options from the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: manufacturers of vehicles that are suitable for overlanding.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, they're starting to make them straight from the manufacturer.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: They're incorporating all these modifications that we used to do
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: after the fact.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: And that's a good segue into talking about the new
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Lexus LX seven hundred hybrid. Lexus has really they've taken
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I think the lead from Toyota in a lot of
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: ways around the overland model. And that's because I think
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Lexus has a little bit more margin to work with.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: They can, like on the GX, for example, they can
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: include bigger motors, more premium components, more off road hardware
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: because it's just a more expensive vehicle, so there's more
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: opportunity to have that in there, have more margin to
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: work with. And you've seen the GX and spent time
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: without and I just recently, yeah, and I just recently
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: went on the lex launch, which the Lex has been
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: available in the US since the mid nineties when it
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: was an eighty series that was rebadged with a Lexus
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: badge on it. And that was actually nineteen ninety seven.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Was the last time that Toyota brought a triple diflocked
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: vehicle to the United States? Was nineteen ninety seven?
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Did they incorporate that?
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: It's I didn't know. Like a lot of times, I
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: will not read the press release before I first see
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the car, because I want to allow myself to have
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: a first impression, to be delighted or surprised or annoyed
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: or whatever may come up from seeing a vehicle for
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the first time and hearing it from the engineers and it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: This engineer is yeah, and this is like the first
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: triple diplocked vehicle we've had from Toyota in the United
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: States in thirty years. And I literally wanted to yell hazah,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: like I just like, off your chair. Yeah. I wasn't
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: even sitting in a chair and I almost fell out
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of it. Yeah. It was shocking to me to listen
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: to them go down the list of specifications and capabilities
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of this vehicle. It is. It is truly exceptional, without question.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: It is a pinnacle overland vehicle. I have spent a
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: lot of time in a three hundred series land Cruiser,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: So those that are listening are going to be like,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: it's not a land Cruiser. I'd like to discuss that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: with you in detail. Whoever feels that, because the in
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: person that's not the case, you.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Get a lot. You get that a lot from people
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: who haven't seen the vvehicle yet. Yeah, whatever the vehicle
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: might be, it's.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I get it. The existence the front grill is polarizing.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: We still have it has a better it does, but
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: it has a better approach angle on the overtrail. They've
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: addressed a lot of that, but it still has this
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: very aggressive front grill. But you look at it and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: you realize very quickly that it would be easy to
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: remove the front bumper, install an ARB or whatever you
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: want to put on the front end of it, and
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: then it's going to really look like a three hundred
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: series land cruiser, because it is a three hundred series
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: land cruiser. In fact, we know things are land cruisers
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: by their designation. So in the case of a current
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: year Toytal land cruiser, a big body, proper J series
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: land cruiser, it is a J three hundred. This Lexus
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: LX is a J three to zero five. It's made
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: in the same plant in Japan as a land cruiser.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: It has the same chassis, it has the same axles,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: it has most of the same components, except that this
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: is a Lexus. So because it's a Lexus, it has
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: a more powerful drive train and it has a more
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: luxurious interior. And this is where it does start to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: differentiate from a land cruiser is in two ways. It's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: that front grille, and it's the styling of the back
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: end of the car is more uniquely Lexus and a
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: little less functional, a little less utilitarian. And then the
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: other thing is that it doesn't have quite the payload
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that like a bare bones three hundred series land cruiser
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: would have. Someplace Salts in the world says Lego has
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: less payload. Yeah, even though it's super comfortable, and it
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: is a little smaller, like the rake of the roar
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: window and some other things are unique to the Lexus
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that makes it look a little more stylish, or in
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: some people's mind maybe makes it look a little more stylish,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: And it's a little less boxy than a three hundred
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: series would be. But I've spent a lot of time
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: in the three hundred series, both in the diesel and
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: the gas variants, in the Middle East, in Africa and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: other countries around the world. And I've also spent time
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: now in the LX, in both the lex six hundred
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: and the LX seven hundred, and they're indistinguishable by any
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: practical measure. They're indistinguishable. And in the case of the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: seven hundred, it's even better. So this car has automatically
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: adjustable height suspension. You can change the height of the
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: suspension a total range of five inches. It's not this
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: is why this is where it gets so good. The
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: seven hundred. It's one of the few vehicles in the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: segment that does not use airbags. Okay, it uses hydraulically
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: adjustable spring perches. So if you look when this thing
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: is all flexed out and you look up underneath, there
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: there's coil springs.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, which is great.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like Belton suspenders mechanicals like simple. There's nothing
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: to leak. But then the perch that the spring sets
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: up against in the chassis has a hydraulic adjustment to it.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: So when you say go down, the spring perch retreats
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: up into.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: The chassis for five inchrange with.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: A five inch range, and then if you go into
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: low range, you can go into H two, which is
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: four inches higher than its standard right height, so you
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: can drop an inch or you can go up four
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: inches for a total of five inches of range. In
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: high range, you can go into H one. Now, the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: cool thing about this is if you throw a trailer
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: on the back of it, the heighth adjustment sensors note
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that it's being squatted in the rear and the load level,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: so you can load the thing up and it is
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: a land cruiser. So even though the payload says eleven
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and ninety pounds, which there's some issues with that even
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: just from basic math perspective, but you know it can
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: It's because the perch is moving, it's not going to
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: affect the feeling of the suspension.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: And that's very observant on your part because that's exactly correct.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: The problem with airbags is you remember in your land road, Yeah,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: they get really hard, they get really stiff because it
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: has to use air pressure to change spring rate. So
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: they're increasing the spring rate to raise the vehicle up
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: or to load level, Whereas this only changes the position
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: of the top perch of the spring, so it doesn't
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: change the spring rate. It does have some effect on
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: things like in the front, like it changes some of
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: the castor and the camera of the vehicle, and you
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: have to make some adjustments for that around alignment. But
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the nice thing is that you could change out the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: rear spring to a heavier rated coil for whatever load
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you're running and then it'll still work that way. And
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: if the whole system goes to hell and stops working,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: it's probably gonna just it's probably just going to stop
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: wherever it's at in the rain.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Whereas when your air bags explode.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: You remember, yeah, remember what we built there was like
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: two by fours and chunks of ironwood.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: And stratchet strapped random wood chunk.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: And then you drove it all the way back to Phoenix. Yeah,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: that's right exactly. And again rear differential lock, center different lock,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: front differential lock. They were so mindful of durability and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: reliability that even though it's a hybrid system, if the
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: entire hybrid system was to fail, they built in redundancy.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: So normally a hybrid drive train, the motor generator is
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: also the alternator, and it's also the starter. In this case,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: it does all of those things. But they also installed
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: a regular alternator as backup and a regular starter as backup,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: so you can get out of wherever you're at, not
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: in limp mode, but in as a regular turbocharged six
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: cylinder engine. It's incredible. It's truly an incredible vehicle, and
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: the fact that you can get it as a five
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: passenger is amazing. The thing that's hard to wrap your
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: head around is the price. But I tried really hard
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: to get that in context.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I haven't read.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: One hundred and fourteen grand one.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Hundred and fourteen from the dealership.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I know, and it's but if you think about it.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: It's triple diff locked, it's got the you don't need
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: a change with ben Dagon, you don't need to change
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the suspension. It's half the price of a G wagon. Yeah,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: but if you look at what a alexis an eighty
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: series and a special thanks to Adrenaline Industries for their
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: support of this week's podcast. Adrenaline is making some of
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: the most exceptional expedition campers on the market, and they
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: are made right here in the USA. Jud and his
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: team of skilled craftsmen are building overland trucks based on
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: heavy duty American truck platforms, integrating comfortable composite living modules
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: with high clearance fullard drive. These trucks feature forty three
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: inch tires, robust bumpers winches, and a conversion to single
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: rear wheels. For their expedition trucks, they're building on extreme
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: duty industrial four whel drives like the BAE with four
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: or six wheel drive, reserve payload capacity, and third world serviceability.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: All of this compatibility comes with one on one customer
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: support and in the field training. Others take you far,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Adrenaline Industries will take you further. Thanks again, Adrenaline Industries
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: for making this podcast. Possible that was badged as a
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Lexus in nineteen ninety seven. If you look at what
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: that thing costs new, which was in the mid fifties,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: and you apply just do an inflation calculator, you're just
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: the same You're about the same price.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Because there were eighty eight thousand something like that.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, when a eighty series was When an eighty
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: series Lexus was new in ninety seven, they were in
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: the high fifties. So if you just extrapolate that out
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: over what's nearly thirty years now, you end up with
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: something that costs about one hundred grand.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: That whole calculation is amazing in its own right.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Now, it's terrifying. It's terrifying. But if you think about it,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: like everything, the land cruisers have always been expensive, yeah,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and every new land cruise that comes out, everybody's, oh
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: my gosh, I could never afford one be the third
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: owner of this thing.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's where it's going to come in because the
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: number of people and not to generalize, but the number
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: of people who are going to go buy this thing
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: for one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars probably don't understand
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: the idea of a triple locked vehicle and may not
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: ever use the suspension capabilities.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I want to be that guy though. That's okay, Yeah,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I know, I'm perfect. I was. I told one of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the Lexus people like, this might be the most expensive
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: press launch I've ever been on in my life.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: But it's five years from now. If you buy used one,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: it'll be perfect.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, and it's it is awesome. It's such an awesome car.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: The payload's a little low. The math doesn't quite work
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: out with the towing capacity. It has an eight thousand
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: pound towing capacity and an eleven hundred pound payload. An
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: eight thousand pound trailer should have a tongue weight for
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: safety in depending on if it's double axle or single axle,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: that tongue weight go up to twelve hundred pounds. The
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: tongue weight alone of an eight thousand pound trailer could
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: exceed the payload rating of the car. So that's something
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: that the manufacturers need to continue to work on. These
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: towing numbers keep getting better and the payloads keep getting
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: less and less, so it's something that they're going to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: need to be mindful of. The only other downside that's
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: notable on the vehicle seventeen point nine gallon fuel tank,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: which is it's not great. It puts it in the
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: low three hundred.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: And fifteen miles A.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: No, it actually does pretty good because it's a hybrid
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: son around town, it gets about twenty miles of the gallon,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: so you're in the low three hundred mile range. But
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the LX six hundred has a twenty one point something
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: gallon tank. Why not just put that tank in there?
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Then it could be that hydraulic systems got No, you're
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: you're right. I'm sure that the Lexus engineers are some
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: of the brightest in the world. They genuinely are. And
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I've spent time with these guys and they're totally They
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: love land cruisers and they love building great vehicles, and
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: they felt like their handcuffs were finally taken off them
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: with this thing. So it was a total surprise for me.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: It was a total delight to see what is as
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: close to a three hundred series land cruisers we're going
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: to see in America. And it's great. It's triple dick
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: deflock thirty three inch tires on eighteen inch wheels, and
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: they're proper all terrains. Just they're just sweet. It's just
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: super cool.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: The engineers are fun to talk to. I when I
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: went to the g X five fifty launch, I nodded
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: a lot.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Because it was just, yeah, they're so great. Let's pivot
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: back to one of the and that was important. We
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: wanted to dedicate some time to that Lexus because it's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: such a significant new vehicle. You want to talk about
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: the four Whel camper, the camp out, Yeah, you just
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: spent time in that. I did, So that's right. Four
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Whel Campers, which is a brand that I've always loved.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Some of my earliest memories camping was in my dad's
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: four Whel camper Keystone, which is this really long version, yeah,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: white and blue truck. So my earliest memory as a
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: kid was in a four whele camper. And it turns
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: out I didn't know this, but for Wal Campers is
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the same vintage as me. So it was born in
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. So okay, yeah, it's yeah. There's a
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: lot of reasons to love the Brandy product. Yeah, I know,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm a legacy product now, so yeah,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I don't remind myself that of too often. I've still
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: got lots of things to do on the list time.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: But so I think fo Wal Campers has done a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: really good job of recognizing some of the customer needs
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: in the space. They've really with this particular camp out.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: One of the things that they did was they really
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: looked at making this product modular, so it comes in
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: at a very affordable I shouldn't say that everything's expensive anymore,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: but it comes in at a really great price point
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: when compared to the competition. So to say that a
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: twenty five thousand dollars camper is super affordable, that that
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: isn't always the case for everybody. But if you're looking
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: for a camper, twenty five grand is actually very competitive and.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Bi modular, you're saying it's customizable, that's right. And so
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: we've seen shell campers come outto the market before where
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you bring your own products into it. You bring your
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: own fridge from your jeep or whatever it is, and
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: you bring your own jug of water, and you bring
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: your own portable stove. Is that what you're doing with
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: this one? Or yes, say provide modular componentry both Okay.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: So I think they've done a really clever job. The
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: one that I tested was a six foot bed full
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: sized truck model comes in and around like mid fourteen
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: hundred pound range, as it was equipped in the truck
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: that I was driving, which was a Tundra, so it
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: was right at the limits of the tundras payload. Okay.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: But what was cool about it is it comes with
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: two modules which are at the very back of the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: camper near the door, so on both sides of the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: door there's a storage locker. There's also the locker becomes
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: part of the structure for the propane tank locker that's
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: accessible from the outside, and then there's also another locker
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: on the other side where you would have some storage
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and all that other stuff.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Can you change the configuration a little bit, like I
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: want the stove on the right side or the left side.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: That part things that part, No, unless you decided to
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: do the whole thing diy, okay, And it's possible you
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: would get you would end up starting off with two modules,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: and then you could build the thing out as you
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: wanted from twenty five grand. Or you can get multiple
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: seating configurations if you wanted to emphasize seating comfort and space.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Or they have other modules like a fridge module, and
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: they also have another one that's a sink module, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: they use the Dometic those eleven liter cans, which are awesome,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and that little Dometic battery power just charges from USBC
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: a little water. It's awesome. Yeah, yeah, it just works great.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: And this one had a Truma Kombi unit, which is
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: a really they're great. They heat water. There's an outside shower.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: You could probably through DIY make an inside shower really
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: easily too. And then it also is the air heater
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: from the for the inside. It all runs on propane.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: The one thing and I'm sure they're going to work
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: on this because this was a fairly early model. But
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the heater vent for the Truma unit, it points directly
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: at the side of the fridge, so it doesn't like
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: at night when you're sleeping, is when it's the coldest
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: or in the early morning, and you want that vent
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: to be pointing towards the sleeping area, or at least
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: towards the area of the camper that you're going to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: be occupying when it's coldest. In this particular case, the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: heater points directly across the aisle at the fridge, so
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: because of that, you don't get as effective of heating
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: of the space, and you're heating up the thing that
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you're trying to cool.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: Right, which is going to tax your power system.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: That's right, So it causes the fridge to work a
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: lot harder.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's some sort of it.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: That's all it needs. That's all it needs. Yeah, that's
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: all it needs is just a louver or an elbow
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: or something like that. But the whole setup is really great.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I didn't find and that's me being nitpicky because we
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: have to be honest about what our experiences are with product.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: But I was overwhelmingly pleased with the whole setup. They're
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: made really robust. I look back on the significant expeditions
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: that have been done with four wheel campers like Gary
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and Monica Wescott drove around the world, including Siberia in
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the winter time with a four wheel camper, and this
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: particular unit had the Arctic pack on it, the cold
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: weather pack, so it has like this quilted extra layer
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: of insulation. So four whel campers they nailed it on
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: this thing. Like, it looks great, it looks really modern.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: It's got like a campy vibe to it in a
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: really positive way. The interior. I like the fact that
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: it's so minimalist. There's not a lot to go wrong.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: I think that they just I think they did a
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: great job and.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: You just cover you just detailed all this in an
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: article I did.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I did, and I used it for a couple of
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: days in like they called it the Pineapple Express. I
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: didn't know that existed until I was in the middle
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: of it. But apparently, no, it's a storm like a
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: route for storms. Yes, like in California, in because I
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was in the Bay Area. Yeah, apparently there is this
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: pipeline of rain that can they call it the Pineapple Express,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: that can come across the Pacific and just nuke this
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: whole region of experience. I was there, Yeah, I was there.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: No leaks though, no leaks.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: I had about three and a half minutes of no
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: rain that I threw the drone up and I got
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: some drone shots, and then of course it starts raining
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: almost immediately after the drone went up. So the drone survived.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I survived. But it was really neat. It was just
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a really cool camper And I'm really excited to see
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: forl Camper coming out with this model. I think it's
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: going to be really success.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: They've had to develop it.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're going to make it available in a
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: bunch of different sizes, and they're just they're going to
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: crush it with it. So yeah, for sure.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: So I think the other kind of on the vehicle side,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: the other vehicles and accessories or campers and vans that
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: we're seeing is we're seeing big pushes from Truckhouse and
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Ross Monster.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're both great.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: And then Global Expedition Vehicles is launching this new truck
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: called the Epic, which is just I can't remember what
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: the platform is, but it is the it's the big
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: round the World expedition.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Track house on the back of it, amazing popouts.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: And it's a it's pretty big and it's pretty luxurious. Yeah,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: so that's a new one coming out.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: So you got the two ends of the spectrum. You
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: have an ultimate in comfort on the GXV side, and
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: then you have Truckhouse that comes in at under thirteen
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: thousand pounds if you get a regular cab chassis, and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: it can run it's so lightweight, it can run standard
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: off road tires. It doesn't have to run commercial off
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: road tires, so it can run those new truck BFG
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: forty's and it can take the load to them. And
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I drove that and it was great, Like it was
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: a really like they've done a truckhouse has done a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: really good job. We've talked about that a lot in
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the past. We don't need to dive into truckhouse much more,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: but like they've done a great job. Adrenaline Campers continues
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to step up and come out with new models. One
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: of the things that.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: I like a larger they do.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: They have a big model. They also make them on
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: unimogs and they make them on other like BAF other
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: large commercial platforms. But then they also have an AEV
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: cab chassis fifty five hundred with all the av goodies
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: on it and like a very robust reinforced corner like
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: a very heavy duty camper module on the back. So
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I think Adrenaline Adrenaline's doing a great job. And they've
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: been at it for a while and they have some
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: really good They have a great reputation for supporting their customers,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: so we want to see them continue to be successful.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: You get one of those, and you get one of
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: those little those Porsche Cayennes that they build up.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: That's right. They always build the coolest drusure, so cool
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: coolest cars like that that Audi like whatever that sports
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: car is that they like were taking in the dunes.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: That was insane. That was insane. Yeah, they're doing neat stuff.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: And then in the trailer category, you've got Patriot is
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: coming with more of a live in, right trailer. Patriots
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: always been really well known for their kind of live
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: around that's right. Their new one is more of a
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: live in. And then Breuder is making a big push again.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they have they have representation in the United States.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: They have EXP seven's available, EXP eight. We just launched
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: a bunch of reviews on those on our YouTube channel.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: They have the new EXP ten coming out. These are
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: really heavy duty, very well thought out trailers and and
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: one of the things that I like about Brewder these
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: guys are really humble in how they approach improvement, so
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: they're always open to new ideas. I gave them a
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: bunch of feedback probably seven years ago, and they took
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of it to heart, like and it's just like,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: in a very genuine way, they wanted their product to
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: be as best as it could be.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: The use the products.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, these guys, they really do and they're they're
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: both the brothers are really That's why it's called Bruder
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: is Brother in German, and they're two brothers that run
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: this thing. And these guys drive hard. They're like experienced
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: fast drivers, and yeah, it's gnarly, it's not. But like
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: one of the things that they've done recently that I
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: thought was so cool and I've never seen before is
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: they have air to water generators now, so you can
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: be in the middle of the Gobi Desert and producing
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: water in the trailer. Oh, as long as you have
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: enough solar, as long as you're producing enough power. Yeah,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: so you can produce ten to twenty liters a day
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: of water.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: That's going to vary based on humidity levels.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: That's the biggest variation. So if you're in like in
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Namibia on the Skeleton coast where it's a very dry
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: region and it's these are dunes and there's not any
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: vegetation or very little yeah, but there is a lot
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: of moisture, you can actually produce a ton of water
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: out of the air. And these are things that they're
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: pushing into that I think are really.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Cool, really neat Ree expeditions.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're doing really bespoke, next level trailer production, which
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: we've not seen anywhere else. In the market.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: And then ARB has their it's called the Earth the
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Earth Camper that's right, which is there, that's a pod. Yeah,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: and it's very European styling.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it looks nice and compact and the whole
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: back drops down and becomes the floor.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We saw it first. I think they had it
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: at SEMA two years ago.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: And now they're actually going to start bringing them into
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: the US.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: I think they'll do great with that. It's reasonably lightweight.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: It'll be good for like behind four runners and tacomas
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: and smaller vehicles with a little bit lower towing.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: The whole back wall opens up to a patio.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's really neat how they have it
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: all set up.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: That'll be a fun launch for their This is their
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: fiftieth anniversary year.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Arb. I mean I remember when I first got
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: into all this, like that was the Pinnacle brand. I
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: remember seeing a Wrangler when I was in the Air
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Force that was all done up with the whole ARB
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: catalog and I never wanted anything more in my life
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: than that jeep Wrangler, Like it had the bumper and
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: the snorkel and the lockers and the tall skinny tires.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I was like, it was what I wanted.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: It's one of the great things about that brand is
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: you can get into the brand and stick with it
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: from bumper to bumper.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: That's right, literally from bumper and a.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Lot of the styling carries over it dropt their product line.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: It all looks and fits together versus piling on in
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: several different brands into one vehicle.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: And for a lot of North Americans, the arb bowl
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: bar is still the best choice for animal strike protection.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: They are specifically designed to take an impact from what
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: they would call a big red, which is a large angaroo.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: They can weigh two three hundred pounds and it's meant
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: to be able to take a smack from one of those. Yeah,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I got some other stuff. Let's talk about Slinky Stove
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: real quickly. So there's a show and tell time it is.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, Slinky Stove is a new it's a new
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: fire pit that's come onto the market. I'm going to
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: reach down and get They have three different sizes.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: What time do you show? I show for twelve four
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: to twelve. Oh okay, my clock is wrong, so we're good.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: One time at four thirty yeah.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Firty, okay, So we'll do the Lightning Round on Show
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: and Tell. Sure, okay, thank you. Yeah, so we'll do watch.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: So we'll do some show and Tell as at part
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: of this segment. And so we're going to talk about
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Slinky Stove, the new fire pit that's come onto the market.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: It's a collapsible, portable, stowable fire pit. They have three
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: different sizes, the seven inch, the seventeen inch, and the
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: twenty three or twenty five inch. So the seven inch
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: is like this perfect example size fortop desktop fires makes
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: moores after dinner. So it comes with a little lids
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: so on the magics. In different sizes, it becomes a
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: little table. It becomes a little table with a solid
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: top on it. You take the top off, there's a
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: little cooking grate, cooking griddle, and then in the lowest
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: mode it's your traditional fire ring. And then it has
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: a second mode, which would be great for cooking. So
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: it's get a bunch of coals on the bottom and
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: then raise it up a little bit and you put
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: the grate over the top and you can cook. And
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: then if you lift it up all the way, so
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: it's got three levels to it, now you've got a
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: full on fire pit. So you can put a bunch
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: of wood in there and have a nice contained.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: If you're trying to manage some of the sparks and
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: if you're trying to manage some wind, that's a pretty
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: good mode for it.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: And it's smokeless in the sense that it has it
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: has air ducts all around it, so it has a
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: nice hot burn which helps reduce the smoke. Sure, so
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: they've got three different sizes and then they've got a
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: fire pit coming out. I'm sorry, whatuld you call it?
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Pizza oven?
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Pizza oven?
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pizza oven. This one's actually got the pizza oven
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: on the top of it. So we've been playing around
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: with east things. I used one in Anza Barrego, and
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I like one of the things I liked about at
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: most was how compact it stores. So it ratchets down
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: and it actually slides up under one of the lockers
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: in the scout camper that I use, so I was
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: impressed with how compact it got.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: I used one quite a bit. I've been using the
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: big twenty five inch at home on a patio nice
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: and then I've been which is great there because in
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: the summertime or in a time when you're not going
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: to be using it. You can collapse it down into
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: a small little package and throw it on a shelf
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: and the gay Yeah sure, And then I used the
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: seventeen inch in the jeep so it stowed right in
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: the back of the jeep wrangler, didn't take up too
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: much space, and then it was really easy to use it.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Camp and fires are top of mind for people. There
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: are going to be fire restrictions in place, depending on
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: where you're at in the country that require the fire
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: to be above ground. And it's also a way for
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: us to minimize our impact even in areas that are
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: not fire sensitive because we're not making fire rings and
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: we're also leaving no trace, which means we're able to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: pack out the ash the next morning.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: And this has little legs. It raises it up three
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: or four inches off the ground. That's right, and it's
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: very simple to use and it felt really safe to
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: use as well.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're super cool. What a neat product. Really clever.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: They're selling on Amazon specifically, like right now, it's just
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: on Amazon, So it's Slinky stove on Amazon, gotcha, And
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: that's where people can find it. And then the other
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: product that I used this past weekend We just got
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: it a little bit ago.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: But was this DeVos lights.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: This is crazy.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: It is sore so bright.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: So it comes with it, It's rechargeable, it comes with
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: a tripod. It goes up to ten feet in the air.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: It has red light, amber light, white light. It has
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: light on all four sides, and then using the app,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: you can dim it, select the lighting color, and then
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: select which side gets lit up.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Hi, Scott here, I just wanted to take a minute
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about expedition portal dot com.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Expedition Portal dot com is our website and it's also
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: our community forum. We are celebrating twenty years of expedition
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: portal dot com this year in twenty twenty five, and
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: there are nearly three hundred thousand members on the community
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: forum that talk about incredibly diverse topics all around the world,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: unique vehicles, things like land cruisers and land rovers, and
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: what to do at the border with Ethiopia and Africa,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: all the way to some of the favorite campsites and
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: adventure stories from the community. We also have the homepage,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: which is filled.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: With nearly six thousand articles that are all available to
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: you for free right there on expedition portal dot com.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: We have two to five articles per day that go
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: up on the website that written by our very experienced staff,
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: which includes global travelers like Bram Bell and Ashley George.
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: I have many articles on there and many contributors like
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: Dan Grek and others from around the world. So please
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: take a minute and check out expedition portal dot com.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: It's a great way to support the podcast and to connect.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: With the city. There was a couple things that you
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: showed me that were accessories that I thought were interesting.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: The one that was the most interesting was using this
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: as a mast for your Starlink Mini. Yeah, I'm going
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: to do some testing with that. And then you even
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: showed that you could plug the mini Starlink Mini into
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: the unit to use its battery.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Right, So it's got a starlink mount or Starlink Mini mount,
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: and then it uses a USPC cord and it plugs
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: directly into the light, so you use the light's battery
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: to power the starlink. And then you can take that
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: starlink mount off and you can put a solar panel
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: on top. Charged the solar panel that mounts to the top,
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: and then it has a motion sensor that also mounts
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: to it. So we used it over during a twenty
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: four hour mountain bike race and we had different a
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: lot of our team members were coming in and out
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: of the campsite at all hours of the day. Yeah,
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: and so we had it set up with the solar
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: panel and the motion sensor and it charged a full
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: battery during the day and then at night when people
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: were coming and going, as soon as they set within
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: range of the motion sensor, the light turned on and
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: we had it set at amber one side fifty percent
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: and didn't nypelind you it was perfect.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: That's cool. Yeah, and they looked just the tripod stand
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: alone as pretty robust.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: They make a smaller one too that maybe goes up
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: three feet.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: I have that one a table tops scout. Yeah, it
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: works really good, super bright, impressively bright.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And the place I first saw those was at
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Equipped so Equipped Expedition outfitters. They sell these, and that's
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: the first place I saw them is one of the
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: Equipped Blaze at a show.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Paul's doing a really good job of that bringing
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: in these cool products where you've got a couple of
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: radios over there.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we've got this is a Sina talkie.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: Seen as a great brand.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Smaller than a hockey puck and charges with USBC, and
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: it has an armband and a bicycle mount and I
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: think two or three other maybe a lanyard just go
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: around your neck. But it's essentially a two way radio
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: with an open mic, so we could both have them
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: and you don't have to press any buttons. You just
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: talk and you could hear. You don't really it's not
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: too sensitive of talking over one another, and so it
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: could be really handy.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Doing put around your kid.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I used them skiing the other day and we
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: had a couple of people skiing and everybody warm around
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: their arms and you could talk while you're going down
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: the ski slope. Same when you're crazy on the mountain bike.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: We had them on the handlebars and another and then
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: recovery operations, So if you're in a vehicle and you're
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: doing a recovery or you've got somebody out maybe managing
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: the rigging or maybe spotting the vehicle through an obstacle,
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: and you can have this on and there's no your
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: hands free.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: And you're not yelling, and.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: There's no push to talk button, so that it's really
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: convenient for that.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: That's cool.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: So that's the scene of talkie and then this other.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: One Rocky Talkie going on.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: This is the new Rocky talkie.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: That's the five WAT.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: It's the bigger version. They came out this last year,
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: so it's got an extended range, extended battery.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: And I used those across Africa and they were great.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: It was for that exact example of spotting. One person's
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: going to go into the village, they're in the marketplace
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: and you're not have a way to get a hold
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: of you really quickly.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: They've got great encryption. I've used these quite a bit
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: that not the five watt but the smaller version. I've
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: used them quite a bit and I've never had that
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: cross channel chatter interest from other corps. So it's really
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: good ription. And the battery is swappable, so it's USBC,
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: but you can take the cover off and swap out
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: the battery at least on the other unit. Yeah, you
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: can do that on this one too.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: And the USBC is actually the thing that's clutch on
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: that because a lot of those radios, even the higher
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: power ones, are not USBC chargeable, and I think that's
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: one of the key features of the rocky hockey.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: And they're really simple. They're not they're no nonsense.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Ye.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: The folks who developed these they're mountaineers.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah sure.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: They spend a lot of time backcountry skiing, rock climbing.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: They're up in the mountains and they need stuff that's reliable.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah sure, And so that's where this was developed from.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: And it's got a port for doing a handheld at
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: nice or an extension.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Mic, especially if you're on a bike, motorcycle or something
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: like that, that'd be cool. So I think that's I
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: think those are the those are the The last thing
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: I've got here is this is a book that came
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: out from a friend of mine, from Oliver. It is
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: the Adventure Writing in the American West. It's a beautiful
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: tabletop photography book. And I just it's always good to
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: support creatives and artists that pour themselves into something like that.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: That's a huge investment for someone to self publish a
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: beautiful photography book like that. Yeah really, And it's gorgeous.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: His photography is great. So if you have a love
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: for adventure, motorcycles and the American West, it's a really
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: neat book. So suggest you check that out. And then
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: we could keep cruising, but we're going to run out
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: of time today. We're going to get back to doing
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: these on a regular basis now that you and I
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: are both in the country and impress it a little more.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: Offers so much to cover that we get new products
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: in every week, so we'll start bringing more of those.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I love this show and tel format.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it works great, It really does. If you watch
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: it on YouTube you can see quite a bit more.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Otherwise we'll put the product details in the show notes.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Sounds good. Thanks again, Thanks Brian, appreciate your time. Yeah, absolutely,
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: and we thank you all for listening, and we'll talk
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: to you next time.