Overland Expo West 2025 in Flagstaff, Az?
- Thread starter Sid Post
- Start date
STREGA
Explorer
Like AB said at least a hour early 2 would be better.
I took the shuttle bus last 2 times I went it was fairly quick and pretty stress free.
STREGA
Explorer
Bueller……WHERE IS THE EXPO PICTURES THREAD?
This one is the biggest of all of their outdoor events and EP didn’t even do a story with pictures?
Pacific Northwest yetti
Expedition Medic
X2WHERE IS THE EXPO PICTURES THREAD?
This one is the biggest of all of their outdoor events and EP didn’t even do a story with pictures?
I wonder if it has something to do with the owner and event management company that now runs Overland Expo. It certainly changed from a small social gathering to a more corporate type of event. I'm not sure how connected Expedition Portal/Overland Journal are to Overland Expo anymore.
FWIW, I went to OE PNW this past weekend and thought this was the first year that the event seemed lackluster. Way fewer vendors, less entertainment and less interaction IMO. Vendors that were staples have dropped out. I didn't see XO, Equipt or others that have always gone to OE. I'm not sure that I saw Scott Brady or an Overland Journal booth either. Granted I know XO is probably preparing for their own event next week so they are probably busy. I've been going to OE since 2016 or so and went to the inaugural OE PNW event and thought it was great. This year I was actually hoping to check out some trailers and e-bikes but there literally zero e-bike vendors. There wasn't even an motorcycle section. Did they get rid of the moto section? A few years ago that was a huge part of the expo and they had their own area.
It was kind of disappointing IMO and I won't be going to next years OE PNW. Perhaps I'll check out The Big Thing next year or maybe OE Flagstaff is the only one worth checking out anymore.
FWIW, I went to OE PNW this past weekend and thought this was the first year that the event seemed lackluster. Way fewer vendors, less entertainment and less interaction IMO. Vendors that were staples have dropped out. I didn't see XO, Equipt or others that have always gone to OE. I'm not sure that I saw Scott Brady or an Overland Journal booth either. Granted I know XO is probably preparing for their own event next week so they are probably busy. I've been going to OE since 2016 or so and went to the inaugural OE PNW event and thought it was great. This year I was actually hoping to check out some trailers and e-bikes but there literally zero e-bike vendors. There wasn't even an motorcycle section. Did they get rid of the moto section? A few years ago that was a huge part of the expo and they had their own area.
It was kind of disappointing IMO and I won't be going to next years OE PNW. Perhaps I'll check out The Big Thing next year or maybe OE Flagstaff is the only one worth checking out anymore.
I had a great time at Flagstaff and met a lot of vendors there. Great selection of the stuff too.
The venue was a bit scattered and it made finding specific vendors hard using the map and aisle numbers.
Camping wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected, but it was pretty far from the venue. Lots of nice campers to spend the evening with too.
BritKLR
Kapitis Indagatoris
It's simply the math. They have spread it to thin, across to many venues in an attempt rake in as much $$$ as possible.
Flagstaff had objectively fewer attendees and vendors. Once you start losing the big names, big trucks and the "bread and butter" Vendors you're on a slippery slop to killing the event.
I've seen this at other "too big to fail" off-road events over the years and once they lost the crowds and the core vendors they couldn't get them back.
In my opinion, the success of these events are based on a symbiotic relationship between the Event, Vendors and Attendees. Once you start overlooking or prioritizing one above the other you're on your way to failure. Anyone in the industry knows how these events are carried on the backs of the attending vendors (Booth fees/costs over $10,000 multiplied by 4-5 events for a booth makes for a very difficult business model but the prices continue to go up with diminishing returns makes smaller, regional, cost effective events more interesting) so, now your starting to see why more and more "regular attending" vendors are no longer attending....
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GR8ADV
Explorer
I went as well. It was my first. To some of your points.
The Touratech event in WA that same weekend wiped out any moto vendor presence at Overland in Oregon. I was a moto guy there to look at a new rig. The other moto people there were in two camps. Oblivious to the Tourtech event, or just passing thru and said, why not.
Good fun and games at a Toyota one night, with a Storyteller party til 10 in the parking area. Excellent food/drink and live music at Subaru the next night. I was not there for Coachella.
Can’t compare vendors from the previous events but everything I wanted (and 200 more) except a couple rear rack companies.
Based on chatting with folks it seems to be stabilizing with the maturity of both the customers and vendors. Much more like a boat show.
No Portal presence or articles is odd I agree.
Ymmv
First time for me in a decade and see no need to go back for awhile. It's massive with many, many duplicate products and the prices for gear and vehicles IMHO is getting out of hand. The featured truck build with camper costs north of $200k.
And if anyone who organizes this is reading this now, for the love of God, Flagstaff is not the place to have this in May. It rained and sleeted and was windy most of the show. 70 miles south and it was 85, sunny and wonderful.
And if anyone who organizes this is reading this now, for the love of God, Flagstaff is not the place to have this in May. It rained and sleeted and was windy most of the show. 70 miles south and it was 85, sunny and wonderful.
Sounds like a different experience than mine. Yes, it was windy, a little rainy, and a tad cold in the mornings and evenings.
In terms of pricing, if you want a $500,000 or $1,000,000 overlanding rig, that show can hook you up. On the flip side, there were a lot of vendors there that sold unique products you won't see in person outside of a show like this.
You don't have to buy a $100,000 or $40,000 expo trailer to overland either.
If a $300 ammo can "fire pit" is your thing, have fun. Myself, I was there for other things. Specifically a Prinsu rack and some sort of bed rack. The socializing in the camping area made the wind, light rain, cold weather seem not so bad in my case.
Any yes, one of my camp mates had an Ineos and an Airstream trailer, another had a mid-size AT4 pickup with a 23Zero SWAG, while others had RTT, while I was in a Taxa Tiger Moth.
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As mentioned above, show floor layout was bad with poor aisle markings and maps to find things that were worthless. Show organization was bad. Camping was a long ways away from the show as well.
I get inflation, and general high costs in an area like Flagstaff, but the show was over priced IMHO for people camping at the show. YMMV.
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