Outskirts Overland Podcast
Welcome to the Outskirts Overland Podcast, your go-to source for all things overlanding! Hosted by a seasoned adventurer with over 15 years of experience, this podcast offers a genuine and down-to-earth exploration of the overlanding lifestyle. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting out, join us as we delve into the essentials of gear and equipment, share captivating stories from the road, and provide practical tips for your next adventure. Tune in for insightful interviews, expert advice, and a community of like-minded explorers who share a passion for discovering the world beyond the beaten path. Get ready to fuel your wanderlust and embark on unforgettable journeys with the Outskirts Overland Podcast!
Outskirts Overland Podcast
Money Talks: Deciding Where to Spend
How do we decide where to spend our hard-earned money in an increasingly crowded marketplace of overland gear? This question sits at the heart of today's episode, as Charlie pulls back the curtain on his personal approach to making informed purchasing decisions.
Dive into the practical steps every consumer should take before clicking "buy now." From researching company backgrounds and missions to contacting customer service directly, Charlie shares strategies that go beyond simply comparing price points. Learn why browsing LinkedIn profiles of company employees, searching for honest reviews in Facebook groups, and understanding a brand's longevity in the industry can reveal more about product quality than any marketing campaign.
Through specific examples like his 20-year loyalty to Baja Designs lights and recent research into suspension components, Charlie demonstrates how deeper investigation leads to better purchasing decisions. He candidly discusses how companies like Dometic have been manufacturing camping equipment for decades, while others are simply rebranding imported products with minimal value added.
The conversation takes a thoughtful turn as Charlie reflects on his recent interview with Overland of America's founders, emphasizing how their genuine commitment to serving the community influenced his desire to support their business. This reveals perhaps the most important element of conscious consumerism – understanding the values of the companies receiving our money.
Whether you're shopping for auto parts, suspension upgrades, or planning which events to attend, this episode provides a framework for spending that aligns with your values while ensuring you get quality products. In an age where reviews can be manipulated and trends come and go, Charlie's approach reminds us that the most satisfying purchases come from supporting businesses that contribute positively to the overland community.
What values guide your purchasing decisions? Have you discovered companies that deserve more recognition for their quality and integrity? Share your experiences and continue this important conversation.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Outskirts. Overland, it's Friday, the 25th July, 25th it's August. I say this all the time. I'm like always ahead, I'm like, oh, it's the 19th, it's the next month, but anyways, friday, friday Been a week. Guys Like I know this is an Overland podcast or whatever, but it's still a podcast. Man, we lost Hulk kogan, malcolm jamal warner, ozzy osbourne and whole kogan within like three days.
Speaker 1:That is a that's a hard hit to pop culture. Right there, you got everybody grew up with, you got the guy. Like myself, millennials grew up with the Cosby show. You know, probably are younger or, excuse me, older brothers and sisters, maybe parents If you're my age Ozzy Osbourne and Hulk Hogan I very much remember Hulk Hogan, macho man, randy Savage Like that was a time.
Speaker 1:Ric Flair, like that was a time in wrestling and and wrestling wasn't like this weird. Well, it's not weird now. It wasn't a subculture, it was mainstream at the time. It's a weird. It's definitely been a week as far as that, like as far as all that's concerned. That's tough man, that's super tough. So you know, hopefully they're resting well, god, it just stinks, man. Not ideal, but anyways, today's podcast is how Do you Decide when to Spend your Money, and this was a podcast that I plan to have today. Um, well, yeah, I plan to have today, essentially after talking to overland of America, because I knew I was going to talk to those guys and I I I actually researched those guys before I uh, interviewed them for for overland of America, to learn a little bit about them and find out they're like. No matter what anybody might've thought, I guarantee, based on my podcast, you learn something new about those guys and that's not what you're going to get Like. So how do you? So? The way that segues in is how do you decide where to spend your money when you can't, when there aren't people like myself interviewing these people and going awesome, this product's cool, you know this. You know this product's awesome. This event's awesome. This is all great.
Speaker 1:What are you creator, you inventor, you CEO, you manager? What are you about? Like? What's your? Why are you here? You know, and, and as, as a consumer myself, that's where I always look. I'm always like what's this company about?
Speaker 1:So one thing that I do, that I on how I decide to just spend my money, or try to decide to spend my money, is, if any of you guys are older, like grown adults, and you haven't been at the same job forever. So you're going to go have a new interview, like you're going to interview with a new company. What's one thing that you should do and if you're younger and you're listening to this, this is something you should do when you go to interview. You should know about the company that you're interviewing with. You should know about the business that you're interviewing with.
Speaker 1:So when I go to buy something or I go to look into something, that's what I do. I start to search them, I want to learn about them, I want to see you know how long they've been in this space. Are they just a pop-up? You know? Are they just a pop-up with rebranded Chinese stuff? And you know if, if the brand that isn't just pop-up, rebranded Chinese stuff is six times as much, I do start to consider the idea of maybe, you know, maybe I. I have every you know intention to be better than that, but I flat can't afford to be better than that. So I'll cover that as well.
Speaker 1:Like you can't always go, you know, from a $4,000 rooftop tent when you would get a way finder on Amazon for 900 bucks, you know, like there is. There is that piece, but you would never know. You know, depending on where your moral compass lands or how you feel about things to you that might matter more than it does to me. Sometimes, you know like I want to make sure that I've got all high quality, made, manufactured products myself. But I also know I'm not a millionaire Heck, even if I was a millionaire, it might not be enough for some of the stuff I wish I could get. But I also realize those people are doing ethical business and it costs a lot of money. So that ended up in this conundrum of you know, how do I, how do I decide, you know? So one thing that I do, um, and I'm going to talk about others, um, not naming others, but there are. You know, I'm not alone in the world, so I'm going to talk about others as well.
Speaker 1:But, like, one thing that I always do is I look up. You know, I look up the company and I look at reviews. Reviews are convoluted right now because bots can give reviews, so essentially, ai can be giving reviews. Somebody can pay an AI, essentially, or could send somebody free product for a review. Well, that's always going to be positive. So I try to always look at reviews that aren't attached to the company. So like if you go on a Facebook group and say you're looking at a um man, I just don't want to call any products out, cause I don't want you guys to go look at it and maybe not see what I want you to see of it, let's say you want, let's just I'll make a product up. Okay, so say you want, you know Super Mario Brothers, rooftop 10.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go to SuperMarioBrothersCampingcom and look at reviews. I'm not going to go to Google and look at reviews. I'm going to join a couple Facebook groups, I'm going to go up to the search bar and I'm going to search Super Mario Brothers, rooftop 10. Because then I'm getting real people's feedback. That's not on the internet, I know it's real. It's attached to a human being with a profile picture that took the time to not only be on Facebook but took time to be in the group, took time to post about this product. So that's how I like to look through it.
Speaker 1:I do like to look at the company. I do click on company. So I would go, I would go to super super Mario brothers campingcom and I would click about us. I would click our history, I would click our mission. If those things are applicable, if they have them up there, it does speak to me. If those, if those you know, hyperlinks are on the bottom of the page, if I, you know, and if I'm getting close to buying something and there's a contact us, it is not outside of my norm to call contact us and see if it's a third party call center, to see if it's a real shop, to see if it's, you know, real people.
Speaker 1:I have been in this space long enough and have worked with companies that have been around a long time. If they've kept their customer service people for a long time, I get to know them. One company I could think of off the top of my head is Baja Designs. I have ran Baja Designs lights on my vehicles for a very, very, very long time. Baja Designs lights have been out a very, very, very long time. I am in Missouri. I am in two hours, not even two hours from Diode Dynamics headquarters. Okay, a hundred percent transparent with you guys. I don't dislike Diode Dynamics for any reason. I haven't been aware of diode dynamics for probably 10 years. I've been, I've had, I've had Baja Designs lights for 20,. Okay, the Baja Designs lights on my truck right now I think are eight years old, my amber ones. I've repainted them, I bought new lenses and gaskets, like.
Speaker 1:But when you call Baja Designs and you talk to the people at Baja Designs, okay, you're gonna call and you're gonna get a girl that's in the office that'll go. You know I don't know, but let me go ask you know, ex-human back in, you know back on the CNC or whatever, like I use Baja Design still. And not that you're not going to get that experience with diodynamics. I don't know, because I never left Baja designs and I'm loyal to them because that's the treatment I've gotten for 20 freaking years. And I was in California previously. So I met people you know running Baja designs on their Baja trucks and buggies and desert race cars and such things. So that's how I even found out about them long before before smart, before the iPhone.
Speaker 1:Okay, like great company, you're always going to reach one of the girls at the front. They're going to direct you where they need to direct you. Heck, I get more personal experience from Baja designs than I do a local car dealership. Okay, and there's companies like that, big ones that you don't know are big, okay, there's companies that you think are, you know, large, largely like Chinese resold products, that aren't Okay. So, like I do often do that, I do, I, you know, contact us, whether it's an email or a phone number, I will email them and I'll send them a message. You know, I'm on LinkedIn too, guys. Another thing, another way to do this is is I'm not saying get on LinkedIn. I'm not like some LinkedIn superhero, okay, but I am on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1:I'll search companies and I'll see employees Like who are they employing? Where did they used to work? What's going on with that? Like, and you can kind of get a feel, for is max profit is always max profits, always part of the business, but it's serving the community part of the business, and if so, that's where I want to spend my money.
Speaker 1:Okay, like, you can search YouTube too, but pretty typically I go to our mission, contact us about us LinkedIn and Facebook group, search the product that I'm looking at, and then I go from there because, naturally, guys, everybody in the world that's looking at a YouTube review I'm not knocking the YouTube guys. I look at YouTube reviews too. It's where I get an idea of a product that might fit my needs to, where I can research it further. So a lot of times YouTube brings me to the product which is extremely important for these brands and it's also important to the business of YouTube. Okay, that's, that's a fact period.
Speaker 1:But I do do some secondary research because I am also aware that sometimes and it's not all the time, you know, there's not every YouTuber is getting free product. If that was the case, all of us would be YouTubers. So let's just let's just put that out there, cause that's the thing I saw on a, on a group yesterday, is like, oh, youtube's going downhill, but like not everybody on YouTube is getting free stuff, like some people are just in it for the love of the game, you know, like they're just making videos and doing their best. Not everybody's making money, not everybody's getting free stuff, and people that are getting free stuff it's because the companies believe in those channels, and the communities and following those channels have cultivated to where they feel like it's a no brainer for them to send them free stuff to do reviews, like there's still a whole lot of work in the front that got them to get into that point. Now I don't rely on those, as I don't think of those as my most reliable, you know reviews of things because, again, they're business partnerships.
Speaker 1:It's marketing. That's the way it works. But that's no different than any commercial, than any other piece of media. That is is that is showing up on your feed, that is showing up in your email newsletters, like it's literally no difference. So I don't know why, all of a sudden, we're also so against YouTubers for marketing products for companies.
Speaker 1:You know I, I don't. I don't like it any more or less than I like all the ads in my Instagram and all the ads in my Facebook in the newsletter ads that I, you know I signed up for for 10% off or whatever. But I don't know why we look at it so much more personally and we're like you person on YouTube specifically. You know you're a terrible person. You know I. That's. That's just not fair. Do I like YouTubers and all the free product they get and how they're evaluating product they didn't pay for and spending it with, like this you know, personal touch or whatnot? No, I don't personally like it.
Speaker 1:But I also am headed to work right now to work a job you know like and and do I think everything going on there is on the up and up and aligns with everything that I wish I could do if I had infinite money. No, that's not how it works. So like also just a little bit of understanding. Like that's their, their job. You're headed to your job right now and you're going to camp for fun. They're not camping necessarily and doing youtube videos necessarily for s's and g's guys. Like they're not just doing it for fun, like it's their job. So put a different pair of glasses on when you watch that. They're working, they're at work. You might as well be watching qvc, where they're working to sell you something like that is what're working. They're at work. You might as well be watching QVC, where they're working to sell you something Like that is what it is.
Speaker 1:So take it at that face value. Like take it at that and you won't be so negative about it. But still, that being the case, like that's how I decide to spend my money is I look at the companies. If they have a mission, I look at it. I like when they have their employees, like a picture of their employees and shows me they're invested in the people that are there, they're putting pictures of those people up. They don't show their employees, do I think they have high turnover? I don't, but I also don't think there is invested in their people. And, as somebody that works for a company, I want to work, I want to do business with a company that values the people they've hired, that are hiring high quality people to, you know, follow through their mission in product, you know. So that stuff matters to me. That's how I decide what to buy Now.
Speaker 1:Now there's other things. Guys like, how do you decide where to buy? You know mechanical parts, how do you decide where to do this or that or the next thing? You know I'm a DIY guy, like I do a lot of DIY. How do I pick where to buy? You know wood. How do I pick where to buy this, that, the next thing, whatever? Well, guys, I mean at that point, I'm not a carpenter, so does this place have better wood than that place? Is it cheaper? You know price matters. So I'm talking like, how do I choose between AutoZone, o'reilly's, advanced, napa, home Depot, lowe's Menards? Like, how do I choose between those things? Okay, so I'll talk on that.
Speaker 1:So I am a for those of you guys that don't know, I am uh, I don't even know if I want to out this to the world. But anyways, I'm a veteran, that I'm a. I'm a veteran with disability, so I get VA disability income Okay. So I get VA disability income, okay. So, and that's from things that happened while I was in service, et cetera, et cetera. So the reason I bring that up is I go to Home Depot. Why? Because Home Depot gives a 10% discount to veterans across the board. Um, and it's very easy to verify through, like your government login, which teachers and you know teachers and paramedics and firefighters and policemen they all have these. For those of you that don't know like ID me is is a thing that government people can use, that you could, they could vet you and then it identifies you, et cetera. So I go to home Depot, so if I can get it at home Depot, that's where I get it.
Speaker 1:Wood screws things of that that nature because I get 10% off as a veteran. One reason I don't go to Lowe's at all anymore is because Lowe's used to have a veteran discount and they don't anymore. So they actually got rid of it and as a veteran, I don't think I deserve a discount. But they took it away and I'm like man that kind of says we really don't effing care. So I'm like, yeah, I don't. So I don't screw with Lowe's Menards.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, if it makes sense, menards is kind of like Ace Hardware for me, where, like, do I go to Ace Hardware when I need like a weird screw or something? A lot of times, yes, do I go go to ace hardware like as my go-to place? No, but if you're somebody that needs some type of special wing nut or screw or or some type of like fine threaded standard like they probably have it. Um, you can get a lot of fine threaded metric and stuff. But like you're I mean, quite frankly, those of you guys that do a lot of diy know like ace hardware. Westlakes has a lot of like, has a large selection of like nuts, bolts, screws, fasteners, just like bulk stuff in drawers where you can go find it. So I go there a lot if I can't get it elsewhere. But so I go to Home Depot because I think that I like that they have the veteran discount and I can use it. I'm a veteran, that applies specifically to me. You know there's places that have the veteran discount, teacher discount, you know public service worker discount. You know, like, if that applies to you, that's a way to kind of guide your business. If you're one of those people, um, and I think that's fair, like I think that's fair now menards offers 11 rebate on everything if you mail it in. Like maybe, if you're somebody that's dedicated to mailing in rebates, menards is one percent better, you know, if you have it.
Speaker 1:Now, when it comes to o'reilly's in auto zone, this has actually changed for me in the last probably I don't know within the last 10 years. So O'Reilly's used to carry Moog, which is pretty good suspension components, pretty good steering components. They carried Moog stuff. It was great. They carried rebuilt A1 cardone like reman stuff and it was pretty good. Well, recently, in the last I don't know five years, 10 years or so, they they now have import direct, which I don't know who makes that or what that is at O'Reilly's Um and I just have not been as, and I just have not been as I haven't had as much confidence in the parts from O'Reilly's lately they used to have Beck, Arnie, you know, electronic components and stuff. So I'm like man, I just and they don't now.
Speaker 1:So this is where I land with O'Reilly's versus AutoZone. I used to when I was a kid, okay, so when I was a kid, you know, 10 to 10 to 18 years old, autozone was like your gimmicky sticker, cheap light store, you know, like BS accessories, license plate, frames and stuff and everyone went to O'Reilly's. But O'Reilly's had high quality parts and electronic components and now that's just not the way it has and I feel like it's flipped. Where you know, autozone has Duralast stuff and I don't do. I think Duralast stuff is like. I'm a Toyota guy, so do I think it's as good as Toyota OEM? No, I do not, and I think Toyota specifically overbuilds a lot of things. But I would rather have Dura last than import direct. And I can't get Moog anymore, I can't get, you know, any of these other things. So I tend to go to AutoZone pretty much exclusively, unless it's I need body shop stuff. So they mix painted O'Reilly's and et cetera. So I mean that's where I can go to get that stuff. So that is where I go to get that stuff.
Speaker 1:O'reilly's, like I said, I detailed cars. O'reilly's has superior products like superior products. I'm not saying they have a product that's superior. Superior products is a brand. Superior Products is a brand. Superior Products is a brand of detailing stuff, bolt detailing stuff. You can get it at O'Reilly's. You can get it off their website too, but you can get it at O'Reilly's a lot of times at least next day, if not in stock. So I go to O'Reilly's for those things, so I don't have to buy, you know, just name brand bottled stuff elsewhere.
Speaker 1:But parts I typically do go to auto zone. Electrical components. They carry way more bus men, bus bars and electrical stuff than o'reilly's ever thought about for anybody making like adding on accessories or anything, and it's high quality stuff. You know different connectors add a few stuff like that. You're to find way more of it at AutoZone now. So I go to AutoZone Like there's no. There is literally no like this one, because I'm, you know my daddy said I go to AutoZone because at least at this current time, autozone is the place with the higher quality parts as well as the, the. You know the, the. It's the place with the higher quality parts and the better selection.
Speaker 1:At this point I don't know why that just flipped a 180 because o'reilly's used to like be by far and large way better. So I don't understand. I don't, but that's how I choose, that. I mean that's that simply is. I got parts from o'reilly's tie rods or something at some point was like yeah, no, this is not. This doesn't even seem good. You know, warranties have changed from lifetime warranty on stuff to like two-year warranty and I don't know that you can get Wagner breaks it at a Wagner breaks it What'd you call it at O'Reilly's anymore. Like just stuff has changed. Like a lot of the brands that led me to go to O'Reilly's aren't there anymore so I have moved on. They don't have those brands at AutoZone but AutoZone has remained consistent to their house brand of Duralas and it carries lifetime warranties and it carries, you know, decent looking quality reman stuff. So that's how I pick that.
Speaker 1:So if you don't know anything about what I'm talking about, maybe I'm the reason that you'll go someplace. Now. Napa's always kind of been Napa. Napa's always going to have some more unique stuff. Harder to find stuff. If you've got tractors or older cars, napa's going to be your place to go usually and have it in stock. Napa's gonna, has been and will be around forever, always because of that.
Speaker 1:You know, if you've got a 1940-something Ford 8N tractor and you need X, y or Z, you know NAPA probably not only has it, they can look it up. It's not hard for them to find. You go to freaking AutoZone or O'Reilly's asking about some old tractor stuff where they got to get out an actual parts book and search. Good freaking luck, I'll see you guys next freaking thursday like there's? No, they don't have. Napa typically has parts guys like legit partsmen that work there or they've trained them to be o'reilly's an auto zone. If that computer don't tell them good freaking luck, okay, you better just go in knowing what you need already, part number and all, so they could cross-reference it.
Speaker 1:So that's how I choose where to spend my money and the reason that I say this, that that this makes sense right after talking overland of america. Hopefully those of you listening right now listened to that. I got robbie and chris to talk about themselves and their mission and why they're doing it and what they're about. And when you listen to that, what other expo do you guys know of that has such a strong? We've got one of us, chris, that's doing this expo to create you know, to create flexibility for himself to go out and do this full time to serve the community.
Speaker 1:Further, there's not a lot of guys that are doing shows and promoting shows that are doing it for any other reason than bank account. Okay, like, and again, business is business. Guys, I'm never hating on anybody for making their money. I'm never. I never like you make your money, you do your thing. If you make it popular enough, people are going to come, no matter why you're doing it. Totally cool with that. Like, totally cool. It's just not. It just doesn't always make me feel good about where my money went, where my money's flowing, how. It's just not. It just doesn't always make me feel good about where my money went, where my money's flowing, how it's happening.
Speaker 1:You know I don't always like it, but you know, once in a while, in the midst of all the the shows and promoters and profit and different things, something like overland of america comes into the space out of left field guys like out of freaking left field. This is a brand new thing. It's a brand new thing. It's well organized, it's got a lot going on and it seems like it's thought out for families, thought out for people of different type, like bringing people together. Okay, so when I see something like that, I go.
Speaker 1:There's a reason, because that came out last year. Overlanding was at its peak, like four years ago, so Overlanding is already on the down slope this event comes out, it seems way more inclusive for a lot of things. So me just Charlie goes you know what is going on here, like they're not capitalizing on, like a market in its peak, like some others have. You know they didn't go from Overlanding to side by sides and power sports, or or or from rvs to overlanding to boats. You know, like you just see them moving with the markets that are popular, different expos, different businesses, and you guys, this happens like again, business is business and that happens when I see something pop up like Overland of America with so much unique stuff, it makes me think there's a reason. There's a reason.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to try and get them, not only partner with them as a content creator myself, because you guys have gut feeling, because I, you know you guys have gut feeling If you've been in business and you've been researching business, if you work in business, now you understand like there's a motive almost always, and to find out that, like, really those guys are just they're really grounded in their faith they want to create, you know, some freedom for for Chris, you know, specifically by way of Robbie and Chris's partnership to get you know and Robbie's involved with, with Chris and Patrick Patrick's kind of like behind the scenes trying to get, trying to get to a place, to where they can take this thing and make it the vessel to create another. That's also a great thing. I like when that's this type of stuff I find out and that leads me to spend my money there. You know, and that's why I say I bring it up after talking to Overland of America and I didn't. I saved this till I talked to them because after researching those guys, I knew, okay, guys like like I'm just going to talk to you guys about it Like Robbie's a show promoter that does all kinds of different shows.
Speaker 1:He covered that in in my podcast with him. Chris is a guy that does vehicle customization and not overland vehicles, specifically like your normal vehicle customization, custom stereos and this isn't him telling me it. You guys look it up. You can look up Chris Carroll in California customs. Like, look at their portfolio. Like you, not hard, welcome to Google. It's not hard.
Speaker 1:So you go, why are these guys doing this? Then I just apply my own layer. Why do I do it? Why am I into it? It's where I find my peace. It's how I do it. I'm like these guys. There's something here. It's where I find my peace, it's how I do. I'm like these guys. There's something here. You know I'm not a private investigator or anything, but I'm just like man. There's something that's not. This doesn't add up how it might look like it's adding up, okay.
Speaker 1:So I was beyond thrilled to get them on and be like all right, guys, let's talk about you. Just give me a little like what's going on. And that makes me way happier that I'm flowing money through that place. My hard-earned money is going to somebody. That's whole point is to take that hard-earned money and apply it to something else within the community, not just to make their money in this space and move on to the next big thing and leave us somewhere else. You know, trying to actually create more freedom for themselves, to be more involved in the community in a better way. That's a good, that. That'll make you feel good about what you're doing.
Speaker 1:So and I use them as an example and that just happened on my podcast literally two days I mean yesterday for you guys listening and and like once in a while you'll find companies like that. Once in a while you'll find companies like that, and I know of a few companies like that, guys, and I'm trying to so hard get them. I can't get every company that I believe in like that on my podcast. But, guys, don't think, don't think that I'm not trying. Don't think I'm not trying, because I can tell you right now that I for sure am trying 100%, because there's other companies that are doing innovative things that come from a really cool place and I think that they have every single intention of making this space better and they came to this space from other like technology manufacturing places.
Speaker 1:But then there's your, then there's your companies like I'll just throw it out there like domatic. Okay, like domatic is not new to domatic. It makes almost every single solitary electric component that's been in any camper or rv for the last ever okay, like for a burr, okay, forever. So when you're looking at domatic stuff fridges and stuff for overlanding that's just what Dometic's been doing forever. Like Dometic's not your and no shade on these companies, but Dometic's not Iceco. Like Dometic's not Set Power, dometic's not. You know, dometic makes AC units, vans, fridges, sinks, like for RVs, like this is what they did. So you're never going to go wrong being with somebody like Overlanding just fit into the RV camper space. So they just picked up, you know, just picked up, and we're like, okay, we're going to develop some stuff to help these folks out.
Speaker 1:Like Dometic's also a no brainer as far as like, if you're looking for a big name in like overlanding stuff that's been making faucets and conduction cooktop or induction cooktops and 12 volt AC and heat electric, you know Dometic's been doing it forever. Okay, guys, like forever, it's like Max Airfan, like that's not new to overlay. It has been out forever in all, like every camper since like 19 freaking 90, nothing new there. So like domedic's, one that you could look at and be like, if you really looked into it and you don't know a lot about product, you'll be like, oh, they're huge in in, you know their name and overlanding they're huge in. You know they're a name in overlanding but they're huge in camping period, like all types of camping and you know mobile travel across 30 years, maybe 40 years even.
Speaker 1:You know a lot of over-the-road trucks used to come with Dometic fridges, you know and have for a long time, if that's what you so choose to. So choose to decide to add as an option or a or you know big trucking company ads as an option. There's all kinds of fridges out now and I don't think that they're a bad call at all. I mean, I don't. I used to have a dometic and I don't anymore but you could at least sit on the fact that dometic's been doing it forever. If you were looking at the jerrycan with the faucet and like they've been doing that forever, did they come out with that? And that looks new to the overland world? Yeah, they've been making faucets and campers, guys, forever, probably as long as we've been alive. So that's what I always do. But see again, how would I know that if I didn't go Dometic USA? You see again, how would I know that if I didn't go domatic usa? You know, google, just domatic usa. And you, because domatic's everywhere australia, europe, whatever domatic usa look it up. What do we got? Oh, man, they make everything for rvs and everything else, like oh, they probably, you know, have invested some time and money into research and development because they're big, if that's how you feel about it.
Speaker 1:I have a freaking Booge RV fridge Period, very, very, very untested piece of equipment, but I got it at such a price point I was like I'm going to try and break it. Guys, I still haven't broke it. I hope you guys come look at my fridge. But you guys come to overland of America and look at my fridge. Dude, I've, I have tried to break this fridge. You know, like not. There's things that I you know. I haven't taken a saw to it that obviously would break it. But like I've tried, I've pressure washed that thing in the winter and let it freeze and still just worked. I don't even know, like I have no idea, still just worked. This is but.
Speaker 1:But here I am to be the voice of that brand, I guess, because it's the number one selling electronics brand, but they sell so many different things in his booge rv. They sell a lot of stuff. The name of the warehouse is like something. It's in texas. I forget what it is off top of my head, but I did research them and I was like you know what, for a quarter of the price of everything else, I'm gonna shoot it, I'm gonna try it. I took my you. That was a gamble, though. Guys, I played craps with my money there. I'm winning so far.
Speaker 1:But, just to be transparent, like that wasn't a well-thought calculated decision, and sometimes I do that but also realize again this isn't my job, but I do have a podcast and feel like I do have some type of duty to bring you guys some of that information. But most big purchases I have, I look at the history of the company, the mission of the company. How long have people you know go on LinkedIn? How long have people worked there? Does it even show who literally works there, how many you know? If you go on LinkedIn to search a company, it'll tell you how many employees a company has.
Speaker 1:If you look at a company that's making rooftop tents and has four employees, you can pretty much allude to the fact that they didn't make that rooftop tent. That is being manufactured in China completely and they're just letting you pick. They're just letting you choose the fabric, color and logo that they're putting on it and such, which is fine it. Just then you know what you're dealing with. And if you're going to look and if you're going to go, look at X brand that's getting their stuff fully manufactured in China and it's $1,200, then then my research turns into well, let's find the next, let's find the, the cheapest brand that's doing that. You know, like if I'm going to pay 1200 here, somebody is doing it for eight. Now just get that. It's the same thing, you know.
Speaker 1:So I think of stuff that way and that's how I choose where to spend my money, um, and and how, the kind of the thought processes that I go through to do that. You know one thing. Another thing that that's a really big, that's a tough decision and it's it's everywhere, on every forum, is like, what tires did you go with? Tires is a big one. Okay, tires is another big one. Tires lift kits, like again, look at the companies, lift kits. I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 1:And because tuning of the shocks, like you'll see polar, you'll see and I'll get back to tire sharing in just a second, but you'll see polar opposite reviews on King shocks. Kings are like been around forever, rebuildable, everybody that races using them. But if you get King shocks from a second supplier and you don't get them tuned appropriately for, like, the weight of your truck and what you got going on, you're going to hate them. So, like shocks is a thing that has way more nuance and it's worth. That's another place where it's worth calling you know wherever you're getting them from shock surplus and making sure you get them tuned appropriately, like I'm currently looking at a new set of front struts for my truck and my truck has steel skids on the front, a big steel bumper, a winch, you know metal shackles on the front.
Speaker 1:It's heavy. So what do I do? I'm looking to get a Fox suspension based on a recommendation from somebody that I think very highly of. They were like I run Fox on all my stuff and and, and I think that would suit you appropriately. So I was like okay, my truck's super heavy in the front and I seem to be going through front struts. So what does he tell me? Go to Accutune Suspension and have them build a set of front struts, fox struts, for your truck. So then it's tuned appropriately. Do I even know what tuning shocks means?
Speaker 1:Guys, I am super DIY, I'm very mechanically inclined, very confident, but I don't tear shocks apart, okay, never have changed fluids, do work on dampening spring rates, like I'm not mixing and matching stuff. So what do I do? I call Accutune. I'm like hey, I've got a 200 and something pound bumper with a winch, all grade eight hardware, x, y, z. I want these shocks. Can you build those for my truck? Yeah, okay, cool, you know, know, and that's based off talking to somebody that I like that's that I trust a lot to tell me how to do that like, tell me what to do otherwise.
Speaker 1:I just went and bought fox 2.5, you know, essentially with the mid to heavy spring, and just went on with my life and dealt with it. But going through Accutune to have them build them or to have them buy whatever they think is the best base or use they have them most likely to use whatever they think is the best base model of Fox shock and then tune them for me, it costs me $0 more. They're $1,200 for front struts. The same front struts, whether Accutune tunes them or I get them from Fox or a wholesaler or shock surplus like and again they carry the same part number. They're just going to be done by Accutune to be to be better suited for my truck and what I do.
Speaker 1:But like that stuff that you wouldn't know if you didn't ask, and and I have shocks on the front of my truck now like and they've done really, really, really good. I just and they're not bad, I mean they're not, they're not like worn out yet I just know from experience and having my truck and how I use it that, like my front struts got like 40,000 miles pretty standardly. And this is my second set and the last. You know what I mean. So I'm like it's coming. So I want to be prepared and make sure that I'm getting ready for that, for that when it needs to happen. You know they'll start leaking soon, I think. I don't know that, but I think so you know. Then maybe they won't and I'll just be sitting on these $1,300 struts because I'm not putting them on just to put them on. These other ones are going before I put them on. Um, because I don't want it.
Speaker 1:I'm so sick of changing the front struts. Uh, because this is my second set of aftermarket front struts I guess it's my fourth set of aftermarket front struts because I went stock stock ones to spacer lift, to toy techs, to. I broke a toy tech to put another set of those on to. Then Rough Country sent me the ones that are on it. So I've had two sets of toy techs on it. Same thing, just bent broke one and now I have the Rough Countries on there that they sent to me broke one and now I have the rough countries on there that they sent to me and and honestly, the rough countries have been an upgrade from everything else.
Speaker 1:But I have changed. I have had the struts off my truck. I mean I've done it four times so this will be my fifth time doing struts on it. You know one was a faulty part, one was a spacer lift like right out the gate just to get it up off the ground so I could take it wheeling for you know whatever 70 bucks, but that's hard on everything. So then I did upper control arms and you know I'm just sick of being in there. I just be honest with you guys. So until these ones are done, I'm not putting new ones in, but I may have them on the shelf just because I foresee that coming. So, yeah, that's just that's how.
Speaker 1:So, guys, hopefully you guys get a feel for how I choose to spend my money, how I vet places. You know if, if I can you know if you've got a shop near you and you've got a local off road or overlandinging group and you want to know, like, how great a work they do, do not trust anybody who picked up their truck last week to give you a view of a place, of anything other than their customer service and communication. You got to find somebody that's had something for six months, a year plus, before you can, before you can feel confident, knowing that the work that was done was great, because everybody's work initially looks great and you're excited. So it looks great, it's great, everything's awesome. All you can really speak to at that point is they keep me informed, that they follow the timeline.
Speaker 1:How was delivery of the vehicle? How was pickup of the vehicle, things like that? Did that all go well? Until you go abuse whatever they did to your vehicle or to see if it leaks or breaks or causes any secondary issues. I mean you can't. If they just had it done, they can't speak to that. I mean let's just be real here, guys. You can't. It's like. It's like if you tie a knot in something that's holding the. It's like if you tie a rope to something that's hanging you know, hanging over a ledge Like when you first do it it's not going to be like, oh, that's going to hold forever, like it's been holding for 35 seconds. Go back in a year and see if it's still there and then you know if you tied a good knot and used a good rope. That's just an analogy. Like you can't say that they did great work.
Speaker 1:If you took it from the shop, from delivery to your house, you could say that they were communicative. You know work assumingly looks good, xyz stuff feels right, but you know an untorked bolt will express itself as a loose bolt in a month. You know, most of the time, unless you off road a lot, then then it'll be a week. But nobody's going to give you a good review on a place where they, you know, all of a sudden they're, they're hub bolts are coming loose or whatever. Or you're seeing leaks and things weren't gasketed right and different, like just make sure you're you're, you're using your brain. Okay, guys, and I don't say that because I think everybody's ignorant, I say that because I see people time after time after time after time, and I see this a lot.
Speaker 1:Some type of shop or whatever becomes popular for who knows why, and there's a huge bulk of vehicles over the course of six months that go one after the next, after the next, after the next, after the next, after the next months that go one after the next, after the next, after the next, after the next, after the next, and then six months later there's 10 bad reviews and it's like well, I don't feel bad for none of y'all, because all you did was talk about how great this place was before any of their work was tested Like, for whatever reason. The shop becomes huge overnight. Everybody goes in troves because it's the cool thing to do and nobody even knows what they're going to end up with down the road. So you've got all the good reviews from the same 30 people that are bad reviews a year later. I see that so much. I've seen it over the course of my time in cars. My whole time in cars I used to race.
Speaker 1:People tune ecus. Oh, this tuner is the best thing since ever. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Seven, eight months, a year later, everybody's got freaking rod knock. They've got you know. They've got all kinds of knock issues. They've bent valves, you know whatever. And it's like well, 95 of y'all went to this tuner. Who's been doing it? For we, none of us know, and it's evidently 13 minutes. All he's doing to create power is adding timing through the freaking roof and it's making power on the dyno for three pulls.
Speaker 1:You go to the track, you go down the track six times and now your crap's blown up. Well, you played a stupid game and you won a stupid prize. It's the same thing in racing. It's exactly the same thing in racing. For whatever reason you get these places that just explode with popularity and I don't understand it and there's nothing to vet why that happened. But any of your experienced people keep using their tried and true folks and that's who's winning races. Kind of the same thing with off-roading.
Speaker 1:I see stuff pop up. They're installing lift kits and X, y and Z doing this, welding stuff, whatever. Because they have a welder and they're motivated, you know whatever. But that doesn't make them a certified welder, that doesn't make them experienced in it. That just means they can do it. Well, guys, I can do it. Well guys, I can do it. I wouldn't tell you that anything I weld is going to be like heck. I'm a certified welder at that. But just being certified itself doesn't also mean I'm fantastic. Could I get a job welding for a living? Abso-freaking-lutely not. Am I certified? Did I go to classes? Yeah, I did, but like that's like anything else, you got to do it a lot and get better and learn under people who have been doing it a lot.
Speaker 1:It's hard to find good businesses, but I would just make sure you guys are doing the intelligent things. Some of this might be like okay, charlie, yeah, that's what I've been doing my whole life. But guarantee you at least half the people listen to this, don't even know where to look or how to look or what they want to do, and they're ending up with stuff and they can't afford to have it done twice. So they got it done once. It's not what they wanted and they can't afford to have it done again. And now they're just unhappy, and that's how we maybe even lose people in the community and the space, and a lot of people aren't confrontational, so they're not going to leave a bad review. They and a lot of people aren't confrontational, so they're not going to leave a bad review. They're not going to tell you anything bad. So you got to do your own research, guys.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, that's the podcast I had and wanted to have today, and I will catch you guys next week and we'll go from there. Hopefully this is something that is of use to you all. It makes you think of something new, in a way, to research, where you're spending your hard-earned money in a time when it's hard to have money, and hopefully this helps some of you guys from having nightmares that I know others have had. So I'll catch you guys later. Have a great weekend, enjoy it. Stay cool, stay dry. Lots of severe weather, flooding and heat. So be careful, guys. You know, as most Marines would say, you know, drink your water, change your socks, be smart, Go ahead and do those things and you'll be all right. I'll catch you guys later. Have a good one.
