Van life runs on power. Whether you are running a 12V fridge overnight, charging a laptop in a remote canyon, or keeping a Starlink Mini online for remote work, the right portable power station decides whether your build feels like a home or a hassle. Our team spent the past three months running eight of … Read more
Overlanding changed how our team eats on the road. After running more than a dozen compressor fridges across three summers of desert and mountain trips, I can tell you this: the best 12 volt refrigerators for overlanding aren’t luxury items – they’re the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade you can bolt into a vehicle. A 12-volt … Read more
Last winter, I buried my F-150 to the frame in a snow drift just past the trailhead. No cell service, no winch anchor, and a tow truck was two hours away. I dug out the two recovery boards I had strapped to the bed, wedged them under the tires, and drove out in under three … Read more
Picking the best snorkel kits for off road trucks used to mean ordering one Australian-made ARB Safari unit and calling it a day. After spending six weeks fitting, dust-testing, and water-fording eight different kits across a Toyota Tacoma, a 4Runner, two Jeep Wranglers, and a Cherokee XJ, our team learned that the right snorkel depends … Read more
If you have ever crawled a Jeep over a granite shelf, dragged a 4Runner through a rocky desert wash, or simply driven a Tacoma down a rutted forest road, you already know the moment of truth is always underneath. A single misplaced rock can crack an oil pan, dent a transfer case, or puncture a … Read more
I spent the last 90 days mounting, driving, and (unfortunately) cleaning bug splatter off 10 different dash cams across my pickup, my brother’s box truck, and a friend’s Peterbilt. Heat hit 138 degrees Fahrenheit inside one cab in July, a Walmart lot cost me a side mirror, and one card died after three weeks of … Read more
Are e-bikes good for overlanding? Yes — once you’ve set up a basecamp, a fat-tire electric bike is the fastest way to scout trails, hit a remote lake, run to town, or haul firewood without breaking down your rig. The right e-bike handles 5-20-mile loops from camp, runs quieter than a dirt bike, and adds … Read more
I spent the last 90 days living out of a Ram Promaster 159 testing folding electric bikes so you don’t have to guess. After hauling eight different folders up and down the cargo door, charging them from solar panels, and rolling them over washboard fire roads, I can tell you which ones actually fit van … Read more
Yes, you can put a bike rack on a Jeep Wrangler, and a hitch-mounted rack is the most popular solution for JK, JL, JLU, and 4XE owners who want to haul 1-6 bikes without scraping the spare tire or losing swing-gate access. We spent three weekends testing eight of the strongest hitch bike racks on … Read more
Hauling a bike on an SUV has one problem the brochures never mention: the roof is high. I learned that the first weekend I tried lifting a 17-pound gravel bike over the roof of a friend’s Forester. By the third attempt, I was standing on the door trim with one knee on the seat. That … Read more