Northern Virginia Roll Call

Were you able to chat with anyone once you got closer?

 

Yeah, it was a bummer not being able to add my witty little comments lol. When we went down to the lake I turned on my 2 way walky but the VOX sensitivity I think was too high and sounded like a hot mic, so I had to turn that off and go back to the Baofeng. I was impressed with the range on the Baofeng. A little bit of static for the longer range stuff but definitely an improvement over the walky.

 

Do y'all have any personal recommendations re: armor? I'm looking at skids and sliders as my big summer project, but the abundance of choice has created a bit of a Netflix situation for me lol.

 

Not even when I turned around at the top of the mountain and followed y'all back down. I didn't try to talk, but I didn't hear anyone else chatting on it when we had to stop on the trail for those jeeps. Maybe I need to look into the instructions a bit deeper than I did. I know I had it on ch15/code 13 tho

 

That is odd. Damn radios being more complicated than they need to be. Next time we'll try just skipping the privacy channel and see if that helps people have fewer issues.

 

Mobtown makes great products. And they are fairly local to save on shipping costs

 

Mobtown for sure

 

Mobtown skids and sliders.

 

Mobtown and SOS both provide the greatest coverage (for the main three skids) so I would look at either of those. They are both semi-local too. The only other one I would recommend is BAMF but they're 1/4" thicc as opposed to the standard 3/16" (comparing steel to steel) which is overkill for the majority of people.

The rest of the skids I've seen from other manufacturers either lack good coverage or just aren't as strong due to lack of reinforcements. That's my two cents on the matter.

 

RCI skids and Mobtown sliders

 

Mobtown seems like it's in the lead. I saw some sort of FB controversy from them a couple of weeks ago, any insight into that?

I do like the fact that you can do an oil change with the skid on, which seems to not be the case for BAMF?

Lastly: I assume they come powder coated, but their website doesn't actually say. That a fair assumption?

 

I did RCI for most of mine.

 

Any reason for RCI skids as opposed to Mobtown? Is mixing brands anathema or encouraged?

 

I think only RCI comes powdercoated. All others are bare

 

most brands wont work together. I got on a group buy from RCI, and I wasnt a fan on how the mobtown skids go together. For the gas tank skid, I have Trail Toys.

 

I know BAMF gives the option. I'm not opposed to painting or anything, powder coating just seems like a convenience lol.

 

If you look at the mobtown facebook page they posted a response/update to that.

Correct. BAMF's angle towards product is pure beef and overkill and caters to the hardest of offroaders. The oil filter change cut out makes that portion inherently weaker than if it was solid, which is why the omit that. That's not to say the oil filter door is a weak spot, just weaker than solid. This is a mobtown skid. Dude drove into a large rock going 20ish mph. Protected the truck.

They come raw

 

Most companies give the option to powdercoat, but I think RCI comes automatically. At least mine were, and I know I didnt pay extra for it.

It is a convenience, but if you are going to use your skids, then touching them up after powdercoating is difficult. Id recommend powdercoating bumpers, and getting skids and sliders bare.

 

Awesome. I assume rust oleum would be all that's needed for painting the bare steel.

I know it's kinda silly, but I think the only thing holding me back from Mobtown is the lettering lol.

 

Looking at the attached Baofeng comparison chart, any recommendation as to which handheld to get? The GMRS-V1 is the only one with GMRS but it's only 5W; is it better to get one of the 8W models given the likelihood I'll never program the repeater stations on the GMRS unit?