Dirtbox Overland

[m-l_johnny]

I'm going to put hands on one next Saturday at a Rigs & Coffee / Open House at MLO in Eastern PA. I'll see what's what for myself then.

My wife and I are planning to attend that event as well. We have a Snap Treehouse on a Gladiator, if you wanted to check it out.

 

[Thergood]

My wife and I are planning to attend that event as well. We have a Snap Treehouse on a Gladiator, if you wanted to check it out.

That’d be great, thanks! I’ll keep an eye out.

 

[sn_85]

Just as a point of clarification - I know everyone is throwing around "exactly the same" here, but they're not exactly the same. If you look at the OVS Magpak the doors look like Super Pacific doors with Dirtbox-style handles and L track. It has straight sides like the Super Pacific. Inside it has the same electric race/cutouts as the Super Pacific. The wedge hinges are also similar to Super Pacific. The tent appears exactly the same as the Dirtbox. OVS is clearly copying from a few different designs to produce theirs. Are they produced in the same factory or just stealing design? Who knows, could be both.

Even though they've since made a bunch of changes, it certainly looks like Dirtbox started with the BF Campers design. BF Campers claimed "Designed and Assembled" in Canada. Maybe Dirtbox bought the design from them, maybe Dirtbox was producing the parts for them in their overseas facilities and they just took over after BF went out of business. Maybe they bought BF Campers. Again, who knows. It's all speculation. "Exactly the same" is hyperbole.

Dirtbox certainly has the largest installer/dealer network out of any of these companies that I've seen, so I'm sure the quality and longevity will speak for itself soon enough, good or bad. I'm going to put hands on one next Saturday at a Rigs & Coffee / Open House at MLO in Eastern PA. I'll see what's what for myself then.

The same thing happens with roof top tents. How many of those aluminum extrusion wedge style roof top tents are there? Each "company" will change a few things here and there. Hinges, struts, canvas, crossbars etc etc. All they do is tell the factory in China what specs and options they want. No they won't be "exactly" the same as each company has different requests but they come off the same assembly line in China. Meaning same material source, tooling, build process, and similar QC. There's nothing wrong with a Chinese made RTT but we all know the true players are still Eezi-Awn, Alu-Cab, James Baroud, Autohome, iKamper, among others.

There's nothing wrong with a Chinese made camper either, I'm sure the Dirtbox is totally fine and not gonna fall apart on you. It's the price that is the issue. The thing probably costs $2500 + freight. They're charging $10k base for it. Add in some options and their billet hinges and handles whatnot and it's $12-$15k for a Chinese made camper. The markup on it is insane since Dirtbox spent little to nothing on R&D costs other than deciding where to put some L-track. If I'm spending that much on a camper it's going to be one made in the US, ZA or AUS. Countries and companies with skin in the game and not some Alibaba camper.

 

[Dirtbox Overland]

Anybody running the Dirtbox overland camper and have any feedback? They seem to be really good quality and a good price point they include most options in their price. I’m thinking of switching from GFC to one maybe. I like that bed can raise up out of the way and has a two piece bed so you can leave the rear smaller part open to let some heat up from running a heater from down below.

Made in China, it’s the same one OVS and several other overland shops are selling as their own now, all manufactured in china and then relabeled here for whoever wants to sell it.

We do own a factory in China but we are not white labeled and we design all of our extrusions and products in house. We hold design patents and OVS has been issued a cease and desist…

 

[Dirtbox Overland]

Hey everyone! We are here to answer any questions. To start, we do have a factory in China but our designs are ours and we engineer them in house and outsource the extrusion manufacturing.

There is a TON of white labeling that happens in our industry but we are not part of it. OVS has purchased materials from our manufacture and has been insured a cease and desist. And the employee who leaked the information has been let go.

We are proudly located in Denver CO and are stoked to offer a quality durable product to all of you!

-Eric / Dirtbox Overland

 

[Dirtbox Overland]

GoFast's camper looks to be entirely manufactured in-house in Montana (if one were to believe all their videos showing off their CNC lines) at a similar price as this OVS/Dirtbox camper?

My Alu-Cab is made in South Africa for what it's worth. Nothing wrong with outsourcing necessarily (to me anyway), if design and quality is high. (Or if it's cheap as ******** with matching expectations, lol.) And I haven't seen one of these in person, at all. But what I see (very very little detail or real specifications, very cursory product pages, riveted joints) concerns me. And when the price is in the neighborhood of known-quality items (GFC) I'd say there's cause for skepticism

Skepticism is a good thing. Hopefully someone can get a good look at one of these in person. Hopefully detailed hands-on reviews come out. Hopefully the vendors for this camper update with real specs, details about constructions, tons of photos inside and out, hell just list the size of the bed...

OVS says release in May 2024, so maybe I'm just overreacting to lack of info about a product that's not really for sale yet

Hey there! All of our joints are extruded aluminum and welded. No rivets hold the camper together.

OVS is not the same as us and they have gained access to our tent material and legal actions have been issued.

We are not while labeled and we own all of our designs.

We have been delivering Canopy Camper to customers and have about 40 more ready to ship out soon! We also have been attending lots of shows so people can see them in person.

 

[Dirtbox Overland]

Ok,the elephant in the room I guess ? What isn't made somewhere else today ? Business has been being done that way since the 80's. You get the prototype to your quality satisfaction and have it mass produced. Bicycles, motorcycles and automobile manufacturers have been doing that for decades.

And, truth be told, I haven't seen or heard of any failures yet, and I have never, ever seen any RTT hinges that are even in the same category as their optional $2400 billet cnc machined hinge/grab handle package.

I probably wouldn't be able to afford one that actually is made here anyway.

Thanks! Our hinges and handles are made right here in Colorado on our 5 axes DMG mill 😎

 

[Dirtbox Overland]

Wow, didn’t know that and I expected more. They priced their stuff nearly the same as American and Aussie made products which is a joke. They’ve done really well with their marketing and have a lot of shops selling their junk. It makes sense why they have such good lead times and why everything they sell is bolted and extruded aluminum. Much easier to flat pack ship in containers from China and then have some monkey here in the state bolt it all together.

We do not flat pack. All of our designs are ours and OVS paid for leaked information from our manufacturer. Legal action had been taken.

Our campers are extruded aluminum, filled welded together! No rivets or bolts holding anything.

 

[Dirtbox Overland]

Made in China, it’s the same one OVS and several other overland shops are selling as their own now, all manufactured in china and then relabeled here for whoever wants to sell it.

100% wrong… OVS has been issued a cease and desist for stealing our designs. We do not white label. Our engineer and owner owns all of our extrusion designs.

 

[llamalander]

R-22.... that's 4" thick foam walls on this camper?