Viking Off-Road Recovery Hitch photos

[bobDog]

Man If i was rich and had a walnut coffee table I'd buy one of those to hold my National G down and then my friends could ask what it was. I would smile and reply....'I got it off a space shuttle at NASA' :coffeedrink:

 

[Momrocks]

Well, I never thought I would spend so much time reading about receiver shackles but I have.

I have come to some conclusions too...they're my conclusions.
The Viking is pretty, at least when new. It's damn expensive. Thor is a cool guy. The cost to produce the Viking probably justifies the high price tag. The performance advantages are negligible and largely theoretical. Offerings by Warn and Superwinch are proven. The Warn and Superwinch pieces represent value by comparison. General consensus is that product improvement in this segment market was not really necessary.

I have some assumptions too...
You will probably see more of the Vikings at SEMA then on your local trail. This product will have strong appeal to Gear Wh@res. (I use that term at the risk of offending real Wh@res) The Viking will perform well in vehicle recovery.

Bottom line for me is that an Overland Journal with 18ct gold leaf lettering on the cover has the same articles inside. Is it better? I guess you could make a case...but for two or three times the price...not so much. When I put out my hard earned cash, bling takes a backseat to other value factors.


.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Was just talking about this with the gents over at Teraflex, they joked that they Warn unit is overpriced... they sell their forged unit for $25.99 retail. I guess its all perspective

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

Even the Warn is a bit expensive paying for the Warn name but this is just chi-chi. That's fine, people like pretty things (even though most of it is hidden inside the hitch) and willing to pay for it but there is no advantage to the Viking.

cruiseroutfitter, you are right on.

I absolutely agree with and defend "high end" products. I believe in the superior attributes to them. This argument is not applicable here.

I guess this thread bothers me because the argument of premium products is used for what is clearly a purely chi-chi item. The argument itself tries to lend credibility to the purchase.

No performance or functional upgrade, nor ease of use or durability.

The CNC is even superflous. CNC makes itself worthy because of the precision milling of the material otherwise unobtainable or even more expensive to reproduce. None of that precision is needed or used for this item.

Yeah, there are a lot of chi-chi machined items like valve stems or CNC'd salt and pepper shakers. That is fine and cool, it's fun to have.

Billet and CNC are good marketing catch words but only valuable when they add value if you know what I mean.

For example, I can make the argument that Icon CNC'd uca's are cool and worth it.
For a stick with a couple holes in it? No, not so much.

 

[bobDog]

Was just talking about this with the gents over at Teraflex, they joked that they Warn unit is overpriced... they sell their forged unit for $25.99 retail. I guess its all perspective

Hey would you give the link to that...I need one.:sombrero:

 

[saburai]

That would work for me...

Hey would you give the link to that...I need one.:sombrero:

I'll second that!
I'm not much for bling and I think Warn relies a bit heavily on the name...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Hey would you give the link to that...I need one.:sombrero:

http://www.teraflexplus.com/

 

[saburai]

thanks but...

http://www.teraflexplus.com/

I spent some time looking around - even searched. I couldn't find it...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I spent some time looking around - even searched. I couldn't find it...

http://www.teraflexplus.com/contact-us

They are a Viking dealer too!

 

[saburai]

http://www.teraflexplus.com/contact-us

Roger. Will do. Thanks

 

[teotwaki]

..............SNIP........ This product will have strong appeal to Gear Wh@res. (I use that term at the risk of offending real Wh@res) .........SNIP.....

HA! Laughed SO hard!!

 

[Antichrist]

That said I don't think either would ever fail, but I guarantee the Viking will look much worse in two years.

Exactly what I was thinking. I don't care how good the nickel plating is, if it's abraded, and in this application it will be, it will start to rust. Galvanizing is self healing to a large degree, and I have no doubts a well galvanized shackle mount will look a lot closer to new after a few years than this one.
Also, the shackle rating itself isn't anything exceptional. Alloy shackles aren't hard to come by.

 

[Scott Brady]

Andre,

I will be sure to report back after a few years with that bracket mounted to the Discovery. In the hitch itself, with the Van Beast shackle attached, it really does not look very "blingy" I will take some pictures.

This was a good discussion.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Sounds good Scott, I look forward to hearing and seeing more about it. Also, for the record I'm not against billet at all (4x4labs histeer arms for Toyotas, hand made out of billet, are the best on the market hands down and are by-far my favorite) but I've also seen it both get compressed as well as break down cosmetically, for example it always feels aweful painting the 4x4labs components because they're so pretty but breakdown so quickly (traditional mild steel not stainless). And also I'm all for supporting the little guy as well on certain things and as budget allows.

thanks,
Andre

 

[luk4mud]

Interesting discussion. I don't understand most of the metal talk. I do know Thor is a great guy, very honest, sells and makes high quality stuff. I've bought stuff from him and will continue to do so as needs arise and as long as his stuff is competively priced. But I don't need one of these, which leads me to my main point.

The curious thing about the discussion is that most folks participating (me included) probably already own a recovery hitch and don't plan to buy a second one. I have never seen a recovery hitch break, so most folks only make this purchase once.

So we're discussing a new product that most of us don't intend to buy anyway, which means that the comment about more of these appearing at SEMA than in our garages or on our rigs is probably accurate.

But the discussion is still entertaining and has been kept on a largely respectful level. Scott, the big thing that attracted me to this forum is the elevated level of respect that posters tend to show one another. I can appreciate that you may not agree with the those who have concluded that this thing is just too darn expensive, but please don't suggest that those who have reached that conclusion are not "critical thinkers." There's alot of good minds here and folks who work real hard for their money.