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Overland Expo West 2018

Packing All of the Things into the Internet’s Attention Span

Overland Expo West can’t be contained in a single article.  Well, okay, yes, we could make a ten part article with hundreds of awesome photos, but it would be so heavy for your browser that it would take forever and a day to load on all but the fastest of internet connections, and you’d likely get tendonitis in your thumb from scrolling through it on mobile.  So just know that from the thousands of shots we took over the course of Overland Expo, we’ve knocked it down to this more reasonable collection – and it’s still going to take a second to load.

While you’re waiting, use that time to mark your calendar for next year, because if you haven’t been to Overland Expo West, you need to make it happen in 2019.  There is nothing else like it this side of Overland Expo East.  Nowhere else will you find a bigger gathering of vendors, instructors, and this wildly diverse community of interest.  If you need to get gear or outfit your rig, this is the place to see and buy the things you need, or learn what your options are before spending your money.  If you want to learn X skill or how to do this “Overlanding” thing, there are classes taught on everything from the best bugs to eat in Africa to how to fly to Australia and buy a rare vehicle you can’t buy here in the states.  And, if you want to meet like-minded people who run the spectrum from repeat round the world-ers to just getting started; Overland Expo is where you need to go.

Now, stretch out your scrolling fingers and get ready for a pic-splosion.  Sorry not sorry if you’re on a slow connection.

Getting to Overland Expo West

We’ve been attending Expo since Amado in 2009, and this year our American Adventurist staff traveled to West from all points on the map.  We had a guy fly in, other guys came in from the West, and I lead a group of folks in on dirt from the North.  We got to enjoy trails, starry skies and some epic views.

By Thursday afternoon, our team was in Flagstaff, AZ and hard at work getting our booth setup. No, we don’t stay in some hotel in town, we actually camp and live on site during all our events.

For 2018, Overland Expo West had a record number of vendors in attendance selling all manner of adventure travel related gear.  Event attendees had literally miles of aisles to walk to see it all.

Vehicle OEMs, like Jeep and Ram Trucks were on hand to show of their latest and greatest platforms.

KTM and BMW were also at Overland Expo, offering folks who brought their riding gear and motorcycles licenses the opportunity to try out their latest offerings.

Mosko Moto had their new Reckless 10 luggage system and Pico tank bag on display.  I’ve been really enjoying all of their gear that I’ve been using, so if you’re in the market for moto bags, take a look at what what Mosko Moto has to offer.

Always on the lookout for interesting bikes, we spied the new Royal Enfield Himalayan as it made an appearance on Sunday…

Each year, more and more traditional Outdoor Industry brands are crossing over into the Overlanding market and making an appearance at the show.  Nemo Equipment was one of the first companies to cross over and they were on hand again with a handful of their awesome Stargazer chairs. These were constantly occupied by weary visitors seeking a minute of rest.

Colorado-Based Voormi was also at Overland Expo with their 100% USA-made merino wool clothing.  Voormi is a small company, but they’re bringing some great new features to market and setting the bar on what an awesome merino garment can be.

Big Rigs – From awesome American made Acela trucks, to Hallmark Campers, and the even bigger Earthroamer if you like to run your rigs in size XXL. There were an number of new and interesting platforms and complete turnkey solutions on display for the affluent consumer.

#VANLIFE.  Vans were everywhere, in all levels of build from mild to wild.  One thing is for sure, if you’re a new van owner, there are about five-kabillion awesome builds out there to provide inspiration.

The Tire Give-A-Way

American Adventurist has a great relationship with Falken Tire, which means that we’re fortunate enough to be able to give away sets of tires at our Rendezvous events and at Overland Expo.  On Friday evening, we drew a pretty good crowd as we gave away five 35″ Falken A/T3Ws!

Learn Things – Overland Expo has a jam-packed schedule of classes – some of the best instuctors from all over the world come to share their experience and knowledge with attendees on a variety of subjects. Notable instructors from the International 4WD Trainers’ Association and 7P International are present every year and keep things interesting.

Altitude Rack Systems has come up with a really impressive way to mount your roof top tent on your truck.  With the push of a button, you can raise or lower your tent to either keep the tent tucked behind your cab, or up and out of the way if you need to carry something larger in your truck bed.  The guys at ARS even made the entire thing out of stainless steel, so this system has next level rust resistance.

Go Fast Campers had their awesome setups on a number of rigs at Overland Expo.  One of our staff will be getting a GFC soon, so stay tuned for in depth coverage.

If you’re not familiar with Maltec, take a close look here.  These rigs are built in Europe and the attention to detail is next level.  Diesel 200 ‘cruiser?  Yes. Please.

Equipt Expedition Outfitters had the new Eazi-Awn Dart fiberglass hard-shell roof tent at Overland Expo, and it looks great.  Not only does Equipt offer great products, but they make the learning process on how things work quite easy with their great displays, like the example dual battery systems they had on hand that were built with National Luna components.  And because Equipt knows what is important when you’re relaxing in camp, they’ve created a rather clever bar kit for one of their Alu-Boxes.

Black Series Campers was creating quite a buzz at the show with their “US made to Australian-spec” tent and travel trailers.  After over a decade on the market in Australia, we can finally get our hands on these units here in the states.

The guys at AT Overland had their new Summit wedge-style camper on display.  Wedge style campers seem to be becoming quite popular, and AT completely nailed it with their new design. Insulated walls, Euro spec insulated windows, and top-shelf fit and finish define the Summit.

Warn had their clean looking Semi-Hidden 5th gen. 4Runner / 3rd gen Tacoma bumper on display.  This looks to be a solid option for anyone wanting to add protection and a solid winch mounting point to their Toyota.

You may have seen this 4Runner jumping it’s way through a race course in Texas recently.  What some folks may call going full send, Pelfreybilt Offroad calls product testing.  Pelfreybilt makes some great products for Toyotas, and they also use them. Hard.

Sunday Breakfast

Bacon. Eggs. Boerewors. If you’re scratching your head wondering what on earth boerewors is, it’s a South African sausage that guys from Tembo Tusk love to serve during Sunday breakfast.  It’s darn good and goes quite well with bacon and eggs, which the American Adventurist staff brought to Sunday’s all-out skottle cooking session where we went through 28-dozen eggs and 20 pounds of bacon.

Garmin had their new inReach mini for sale at Overland Expo.  This was the first time we’d seen it, and it’s a great weight and space saving addition to Garmin’s inReach line of satellite communicators.

Gone Overlanding Equipment has developed a fire ring that fits around your vehicle’s 29″ – 37.5″  spare tire.  No rocks, no problem – with a spare tire fire ring you can have a contained campfire just about anywhere.

Flatpit had a very well thought out packable firepit on display.  The attention to detail here is impressive.  Individual pouches for each part in the carrying bag and parts that serve multiple roles are just two examples of the utility of this product.

The Poop-a-loop.  The answer to having your bog roll rolling away from you while you’re answering nature’s calling.

ARB USA had a few new products on display, including a new soft shackle, TRED Pros in an ARB specific colorway (we prefer MAXTRAX) and their new ARB Jack which we’d like to do a detailed test and review on when they become available.

Step 22 Gear had a number of great products on display.  All of their gear is American made using top shelf components, and I have to tip my hat to Adam at Step 22 for putting some much needed truth on their product labels.  If you’ve ever noticed how the ratings that really matter on recovery equipment are missing from the products made by some manufactures, you can trust Step 22 Gear to tell you what a given product can really handle. They test ALL of their recovery gear to destruction with an independent test facility.  Buy your recovery gear from a reputable company like Step 22 that independently tests and rates their gear with generous safety factors.

Other Awesome Rigs

One of my favorite things to do at Overland Expo is to talk to people – especially the folks who are holding the keys to some of the awesome, one of a kind rigs that show up at this event.  These rigs are as unique as their owners, and most of them have seen some hard miles.  Take for instance this awesome diesel Toyota Alpha-Cab camper that I first ran into on the Tuesday before Overland Expo at Jacob Lake, AZ.  The couple who owns this rig shipped it over to the US from Europe, started in New York, and is on their way to Deadhorse, Alaska by way of Arizona.  Once they run out of road to drive North on, they’ll point it South and start making their way to South America and Ushuaia.  Cheers to these folks for making adventure happen.

Wrapping it All Up

There’s a lot of awesome at Overland Expo – more than a single person can see during the show, no matter how hard they try or how many miles they walk.  With so many different people from all over the world, Overland Expo is so many different things on so many levels, but that’s exactly what makes it such a cool event.  The staff at American Adventurist had a great show, and we want to say thank you to our partners for their support and our Members who make our Community what it is. You will find no greater group of people to spend a weekend with.  We’ll see you at Overland Expo East in North Carolina this November!

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A Bullfrog in your Basecamp

As a longtime audiophile, I’ve always appreciated the high end sound of Kicker. Founded in 1973 by Steve Irby in his garage in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Kicker pioneered the first full frequency-range speaker box designed specifically for cars and trucks. Their iconic “truck box” speaker paved the way for the mobile audio genre as we know it. Now, they’re making wireless speakers for outsiders like us. The latest in this lineup is the Bullfrog Series.

Recently, I was contacted to perform an independent, unbiased review of their new Bluetooth wireless speaker.

Yes, you read that right. And now you’re thinking, “how the hell can anyone provide an unbiased review on free gear?” To this I say, that’s a GREAT question and one I’ve given much thought to lately. This community was founded on telling it like it is and that continues here with Adventurist Life Magazine. We’re keen on breaking the current paradigm of advertorial pablum, especially in the Overland segement. So if something sucks, rest assured that we will say so.

Advised up front of my intent to be brutally honest, I was amazed when Kicker still wanted us to review it.

So let’s do this – I bring you the Kicker Bullfrog BF400 Bluetooth Music System. The 400 is the largest of their lineup, which comes in three sizes and two colors.

First Impressions:

I’ve been listening to this thing in the garage and around camp for going on two months now. The first thing I noticed on grabbing the box was that it’s heavier than it looks (Kicker lists it at 8.6 pounds). So unless your last name is Sasquatch, scratch this from your backpacking gear list in favor of a gallon of water at a mere 8.3 pounds. This little guy is a serious basecamp speaker that can serve double duty as a kettle bell so it’s best transported by sherpas or combustion engine. But anyone who knows anything about speakers knows that a hefty magnet is a good indicator of sound potential, so after the initial charging we took it for a spin. It did not disappoint.

The Frogskin

Looking at the exterior of the Bullfrog, the handle is sturdy and the case has a nice rubberized coating that covers the controls, with rubber feet for soft landings. It’s clearly amphibious by design and has an IP66 rating so it’s equally protected against dust, dirt, sand, and water. What the heck is IP66 and why should you care? Because to pass IP66 testing, the device must be able to withstand water projected from 0.50-inch nozzle, multi-directional, high-pressure jets for a minimum of three minutes, at a distance of three yards, with a water volume of 26.4 gallons per minute and a pressure of 100 kPa. That’s why.

So in camp or in the driveway, it’s not going to suffer any degradation if left outside in the driving rain and wind. IP66 is a great thing!

Powering it up, the controls on the Bullfrog are simply laid out, a feature that we sincerely appreciate. A simple power button, volume up/down, play/pause/track and Bluetooth Pairing/Source buttons are all right there in plain sight. LED’s tell you what your battery level is, while a single small LED lets you know what the source is.

Honestly, I was slightly amused to see an FM radio receiver built into this unit. Surely this adds utility but I can’t remember the last time I actually listened to a radio station, since the advent of apps like Spotify and Pandora, my music listening habits are purely digital. I’m sure some folks may find the FM radio feature useful for tailgating and listening to the game or maybe the weather or news.

Speaking of digital music, Bluetooth pairing to my smartphone was near instantaneous and lets you stream audio from 100 feet away. This is a nice feature in the garage or in camp as you can control everything from your phone if you want. Testing this out, I was able to roam anywhere within our large campsite without losing connection so the advertised range of 100 feet worked for me +/- about 10 feet. Accessories include an external FM antenna and a wall charger with travel adapters for the US, AustralAsia, and Europe.

The Bullfrog’s Guts and Brains

Opening the rubber side panel reveals the only exterior access port on the Bullfrog, everything else is sealed up tight. This panel reveals the “hard reset” port, external antenna and aux in jacks as well as the 15V DC charging jack. The 3350 mAh lithium ion battery attained a full charge in about 2 hours and “off the grid” battery life on this unit is rated at a whopping 20 hours. A USB 5V charging port enables this unit to act as a big battery pack for your other devices, and also allows you to connect your device for playback sans Bluetooth.

While we did not listen for 20 consecutive hours, it went two weeks on a single charge and played whenever and for however long we wanted without issue. Most people interested in buying a wireless speaker like this want something that’s going to be good for a few days off grid and the Bullfrog is more than capable of this. I looked at other speakers in this genre on Amazon and the Bullfrog 400 seems to be the largest in it’s peer group, no doubt due to it’s battery and speaker size.

Inside the Bullfrog are two 3″ full range drivers and two 3×4″ passive bass radiators (one on each side) which provide 360° sound. This is an ideal arrangement for a “set it and forget it” type jukebox that can be utilized just about anywhere with minimal consideration for placement or speaker orientation.

For even more control, Kicker has an App for iOS and Android called Kicker Connect which gives you a five-band equalizer, FM tuner with presets, volume control, On/Off, and battery status all on your smartphone. If a friend has a Bullfrog, the App also allows you to pair two Bullfrog units together wirelessly via the DoubleKICK Connect feature. I didn’t get to try that feature yet but it’s a very cool idea. The equalizer settings are nice, my favorite is the Outdoors setting as it adjusts the bass level so that it sounds big even when it’s outside on a table or in a tree.

Speaking of cool ideas and apps, it would be the bees knees if Kicker updated their App to allow a smartphone to be used as a microphone. This would enable the Bullfrog, or a pair of them, to be used in the field at outdoor events as a wireless PA system. It could also benefit from the addition of speakerphone functionality. These small tweaks to the App would add serious utility to an already cool product. Kicker, are you listening? I hope so, because that feature would be a game changer at outdoor events!

The single most important question when you choose audio equipment? Sound quality.

To test the sound quality, I wanted some songs that would really illustrate distinct highs, mids and lows. Using Spotify with the highest quality streaming (approximately 320kbit/s), I chose three songs to see what it could do: Nobody’s Fault But Mine by Led Zeppelin, Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Family Table by the Zac Brown Band. It did an outstanding job of replicating the different layers, vocals, timbre and instruments that each band is known for.

In my opinion the sound quality (and bass response in particular) is pretty damn good considering it’s size, putting it on par with similar high end offerings from Bose and JBL – it sounds nice and clear even when cranked way up and has that kick that you’d expect from Kicker. For this I give it 5 out of 5 stars for sound quality.

The Bottom Line? 

The Kicker Bullfrog is a pretty amazing speaker and I can recommend it without reservation.

What I don’t like is the price. MSRP on this amphibian is $399. Four. Hundred. Frogskins. My honest opinion is that Kicker priced this about $100 too high as it competes directly with the Bose Soundlink Revolve priced at $299. It’s size and weight limits portability, and try as I might I just can’t love their App. Yes, the Kicker Connect App does the basics, but as I stated earlier there’s a ton of untapped potential to make the Bullfrog even more useful.

What do I like? The SOUND. It’s one bad mamma jamma with deep bass, clear mids and highs, and plenty of power for days of carefree listening. And I like the fact that it’s storm proof with an IP66 rating so you can take it anywhere with no worries. That said, this speaker isn’t for everyone but if you value great sounding music when off grid, it’s the biggest baddest Bluetooth streaming Bullfrog in the pond. And guaranteed to put a Bustle in your Hedgerow.

Full Disclosure: As noted in the article, Kicker provided this speaker for an independent review at no cost to myself or American Adventurist. This review and others like it are intended to provide you, our readers, with no holds barred updates on a variety of new gear as it becomes available.