Innholdsfortegnelse for Gear Guide 2020 i Overland Journal

With cellular phones progressing from calling device to personal computer, the humble watch has also morphed from timekeeping caterpillar to fully fledged, personalised smartwatch butterfly. Borrowing heavily from the much-lauded Garmin Fenix, the Instinct cannibalizes the best elements of its expensive cousin, ditching well over 50 percent of the price tag. That’s plenty of GPS smartwatch for the money. The Instinct wears your heart on its sleeve, literally—beaming light onto your wrist to take a heart rate measurement. Its rugged looks also pull no punches with regard to intended use: chunky Casio G-Shock styling parades the MIL-STD 810G standard for shock, thermal, and water resistance. The latter two being between -4°F and 140°F, and a depth of 100 meters, which should cover you for the deepest of river crossings. The…

The Jeep Gladiator has been the most highly anticipated launch into the overland market in decades, and for good reason. The new model incorporates the technical terrain attributes of the Wrangler and adds the payload and carrying capacity of a truck. This melding of the two ideas has resulted in an overwhelming sales success. From the perspective of over-landing, the Gladiator also addresses one of our primary concerns with the Wrangler—payload. A Wrangler has 1,050 pounds of payload, less than most passenger cars, but the Gladiator adds over 600 pounds to that number, which makes all the difference when an overlander needs to outfit a vehicle for remote travel. Even 10 years ago, few remote, long-distance travel vehicles were Jeeps. It is not that it couldn’t be done, as Dan…

This is our first Overland Truck of the Year test, and coming to a conclusion required significant validation and deliberation—picking the winners for both the Editor’s Choice and Value Award was a challenge. It was important to control as many biases as possible, and to also look at the attributes as a brand agnostic. While there is considerable objective evaluation in this test, it is balanced with the evaluators’ notes and independent third-party accolades. As overlanders, we require a reliable and capable vehicle with enough capacity to support travel to remote destinations. There are a few reasons why we harp on payload so much, but it comes down to liability and safety. It has somehow become avant-garde to modify and load a 4WD into obesity, but how can that vehicle…

Every vehicle has a story, some born from necessity, some from vanity, and some even from tragedy. For Walt Wagner, owner of Tactical Application Vehicles (TAV) in New Mexico, it was the loss of his cousin, Vincent, in 2013 that inspired this project. When Vincent passed away, Walt offered to purchase his much-loved 2009 Tacoma from his cousin’s wife. After obtaining the truck, TAV started the process of honoring Walt’s family in a unique way, by bringing their elite unit experience, credibility, and functionality to existence as a best-practice vehicle build. Vincent and Walt were first cousins and very close. According to Walt, “Vincent went into the US Army and wanted to be a Ranger, accomplishing that and then some at a very young age. By the time he got…

The Garmin InReach is a satellite device that can send and receive text messages, display GPS for navigation, check the weather, track your position, and send SOS calls in the event of an emergency. It functions on the Iridium satellite network for reliable coverage anywhere in the world and was designed with outdoor enthusiasts in mind, featuring a water and shockproof body and an impressive battery life. It cannot browse the web, make calls, or help you work remotely in any way, but for an affordable monthly plan, it ensures you are never left stranded without help. I bought my first InReach before heading to Australia last year, and it has since become the single most important tool I carry on any trip. It’s a doctor, mechanic, meteorologist, and a…

This 4G LTE hotspot is marketed directly at travelers. Instead of using a specific cellular provider, Sky-roam uses virtual SIM technology to deliver local data internationally without changing your SIM card. This gives you connectivity in over 130 countries without a contract and for a reasonable price. It can be paired with unlimited data, and internet access can be purchased as needed. I ordered my Solis as any customer would online, and received it just two days later along with an email containing my subscription code. There were clear instructions on the box, and as an added bonus, the device was wrapped in step-by-step stickers. The activation requires the device to be in range of cell service, but the pairing process was straightforward. Skyroam’s design team kept things simple. It…

As an instructor for various overlanding skills, I am often asked what the secret is for encouraging an unenthusiastic partner to appreciate the outdoors and how to make the overland experience enjoyable for them. People wonder if the solution may rely somewhat on buying certain products and amenities to increase comfort while on the road. The answer is no; there is no magic secret. Your partner may never love camping, for example, or even like it, and that is okay because you love that person for many other reasons. Together you can come up with alternative solutions. If your partner has at least some interest in overlanding, then I have some tips to help their first exposures to the lifestyle be good ones. These concepts will help you build a…

ENGEL | PLATINUM MT45F THE CLASSIC OVERLANDER’S FRIDGE/FREEZER GETS A THOROUGH UPDATING. PROS Legendary reliability Improved display and temperature setting Adjustable low-voltage disconnect Very low startup amperage works with factory outlets CONS Less insulation than some competitors No side opening option The first 12-volt fridge I ever owned was an Engel, and it was well used when I got it, having run for nearly a decade in my neighbor’s garage. Even under the abuse I gave it for another decade, it never stopped working, and went on to continue service with our CBDO, Brian McVickers (it still works). The key to the product is the Sawafuji swing motor, which has a low startup voltage and can operate safely at more extreme angles. Engel’s Platinum model features a few key updates,…

White caps, like the peaks on my great-grandmother’s meringue, fill the road ahead. The waters are high and raging at a usually benign stream crossing deep in the Ozarks. It is late April and a wet and stormy spring in Arkansas. We had another downpour last night, the rain is still falling, and we’re in a bit of a pickle. Clearly, we did not choose an easy time to traverse the Ozarks. We’ve already deviated three times from our original route because of high water, beginning at the Woolum Ford on the Buffalo National River, a common crossing point for vehicles, yet far too deep to attempt this morning. Any course of travel through this green expanse of knobs, hollows, and usually clear flowing streams is okay with me, as…

Descending the steep switchback into the canyon below, we heard the sudden and distinct noise of metal clanging against metal. I prayed it was nothing serious, but instinctively knew it was. Taking stock of the rear shock mounts, we discovered one had cracked to a dangerous degree, the other snapped in half. We were 55 hard miles from the nearest point of civilization with one of the most remote and barren stretches of our route before us. For the first time, we realized our trip could be in jeopardy. The year of research, countless hours of planning, and efforts coordinating with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and local authorities to recreate this 660-mile route would be for naught if we couldn’t repair this problem. Repair it, and then finish…

The Drive 4-GX and Reach are cell phone boosters designed to extend the usable range of cell service—perfect for everything from working on the road to downloading those offline maps you forgot to grab. They are not a form of emergency communication with guaranteed service, rather a way to make phone calls and access the web when farther from civilization. I’ve used a combination of the 4GX and Reach devices for over a year now while living and working from the road, and have tested them coast to coast. Each device works by using an external antenna to receive a wireless signal, boosting it up to 32 times through a smaller internal antenna and control box mounted inside your vehicle. This combination will extend cellular signal range, improve call quality,…

This device is made for the over-lander that spends extended periods outside of cellular coverage, where the ability to send and receive emails, access limited browser capability, and make phone calls is critical. The Go is a full global satellite solution for voice, text, data, and SOS service. There are many scenarios during overland travel where cell coverage simply does not exist (despite the gain of the antenna), or communications require more than 160 character messages. During my crossing of Greenland in 2018, we required that type of service: sending and receiving emails, making phone calls, or uploading images to the office back home. To achieve this goal, we brought along an Iridium Go, and each vehicle also had an InReach for backup SOS and car-to-car communication. The performance of…

Dear Meriwether, Here are a few things I’d like for you to do while you’re out West: Explore the Missouri River, map it, take a look at its southern tributaries, find a Northwest Passage, establish friendly relations with the natives, study the soil, the animals, the geology, the climate, the plant life. Oh, and find the source of the Mississippi River, and while you’re at it, figure out how those pesky Canadian traders are getting from the Mississippi to the Missouri. If you make it to the Pacific Coast and encounter a sailing vessel, send a couple of your trusty men back with a copy of your notes. And, one more thing, look into the fur trade out there. Write home when you can. Warm regards, Tom Jefferson. Under the…

The Gazelle T4 Hub tent is a direct descendent of the Eskimo ice fishing shelter as well as the Barronett hunting blinds, both made by Ardisam. They have been producing seasonal outdoor products since 1960 and have upped their game with the Gazelle line of camping tents and shade awnings. The Gazelle T4 is easily the fastest deployed ground tent I have used, clocking an easy 90-second setup. Once you select your spot, simply drive four stakes into the corners, pull the four hubs, then step inside and raise the cathedral-sized roof via the center vault. Once the tent is standing, you can add four more side stakes for additional stability in high winds. Should you choose to use the rainfly, affix it by lowering the ceiling and pushing in…

Various common jacking systems can work for changing tires off highway. Hi-Lifts are manual, demand solid jack points on the vehicle (steel frame-mounted rock sliders and bumpers), can be very hazardous in unfamiliar hands, and if you do use it to swap a tire, you’ll also need a jack stand. Bottle jacks are simple and have small ground and vehicle contact patches. Afield, they can leak hydraulic fluid and often require supplemental stability and/or lift (e.g., plastic RV levelers, pieces of lumber) or excavation to insert due to their height. Scissor jacks slide in low, provide load distribution, and are mechanically efficient. They’re more stable than bottles and much safer than a Hi-Lift. Agile Offroad now offers a military-issue scissor jack, coupled to their frame and axle adaptor. The jack,…

Until a few years ago, there were only two suitable choices for a midsize overland pickup: the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma. That dearth of options resulted in limited innovation and notable apathy among both the OEMs and after-market. However, that all changed when Chevrolet, Ford, and finally, Jeep all released trucks into the market. As vehicle-based travelers, this is an exciting time with choices that include everything from diesel motors to solid axles to front and rear differential locks. Overland Journal’s first project vehicle was a 2004 Toyota Tacoma, the revolutionary first-generation model that included a factory rear locking differential and the desirable TRD package. They sold in incredible volume and redefined the industry by besting all of the domestic offerings. In 2009, Toyota sold 111,000 units in North…

Ford was founded in 1903 and is the second-largest domestic automaker behind GM. As a company, they have led truck sales for decades, and have invested heavily in recent years across their entire truck line, from the wildly successful Rap-tor to the Ranger we tested here. Part of that investment is a shift toward high output: high fuel economy engines paired with up to 10-speed transmissions. In the case of the Ranger, the 2.3-liter 4-cylinder engine produces an astonishing 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, more than 14 times the output of Henry Ford’s first Model TT pickup. From the moment I started driving the Ranger, it was clear that it is unlike any other midsized truck on the market. The ride on the road is extremely composed, and…

The Tacoma has been the benchmark of compact overland trucks since its introduction, and the model represents 62 percent of all trucks reported in our reader surveys. Overland Journal has owned a Gen 1 and Gen 3, and we have driven Tacomas from the Arctic Ocean to the Darién Gap in Panama. The history of the Toyota compact truck in North America goes back to the launch of the Stout, which gave way to the HiLux. In 2005, the Tacoma began production in the United States. The changes made to the frame and spring rates resulted in better ride quality, but a lower payload (the payload for US-spec, compact Toyota pickups was as high as 2,655 pounds). Despite these changes in capacity, Toyota’s famous reliability remained, and the Tacoma has…

We live in an age of constant connectivity. Emails, phone calls, social media, TV, and the internet inundate nearly every moment of our lives. With so much emphasis on modern technology, it’s little wonder we often look to nature for an escape—opportunities to ditch the devices and disconnect. Despite the downsides, technology has also made exploring our world easier and safer than ever before. We can follow GPS tracks down secluded and confusing trails without the worry of getting lost; send real-time location updates to family and friends; instantly call for help via satellite; and for an ever-growing percentage of the workforce, complete our jobs without ever stepping foot in an office. Ironically, the technology we are trying to escape is making it easier than ever to spend more time…

Hotspots are essentially mobile WiFi stations powered off of cellular networks like ATT, Sprint, and Verizon. About the size of a deck of cards, they pull cellular data via an internal antenna much like a phone. The difference is that they then project it back out as wireless internet for your computers, tablets, and other devices. Hotspots require a monthly fee but offer travelers significant advantages over using the hotspots built into their phones—the largest of which is the ability to mix and match carriers to fill coverage gaps. Mobile hotspots are a bit of a pain, though. Each carrier’s plans are different, promotional rates can vary widely from the actual price you’ll pay, and “unlimited plans” are rarely so thanks to gimmicks like data throttling. Despite the annoying bureaucracy…

I explored the African continent for three years and spent an immense amount of time pondering the significant differences between “our” world and the Africa I came to know. There are a host of obvious differences: in Africa, roads, electricity, and running water can be very spotty; military personnel armed to the teeth are an everyday sight; and the weather is reliably very hot and often humid—except when torrential downpours last months and rainfall is measured in feet rather than inches. These are the things that become apparent in one’s first days and weeks on the continent. But there is something more. Something that took months to feel and notice, and only after I looked past the physical differences. Africans seem to know something about life we have forgotten, and…

Northwestern Zambia is covered in soggy floodplains and even soggier drainage wetlands, sandwiched between endless acres of strangling forest. Deep below the surface, however, are rich deposits of copper ore which have long been attracting teams of exploration geologists to this inhospitable land. They are sent in for months on end, armed with canned food, geological maps, and sample bags to fill with soil. The bags are then sent back to labs to test whether their geologists’ noses are indeed sniffing out the copper or not. But even with highly trained professionals and the latest technology, finding copper is no easy task when a thick blanket of younger sandy regolith covers most of the bedrock in which the ore lies. Projects are often abandoned to go off and search in…