RSI Smart Cap

It can be adjusted to sit back more and it does have a lip back there te deflect the water

 

so you're saying it can be adjusted to match up with the edge of the tailgate without compromising the cab end?

 

Any pictures yet on a long bed?

 

Yes, I'm going to do this over the weekend as I saw another guy moved his back about an inch and it looks a lot better

 

Last I heard the long models weren't quite here yet

 

Fair enough, I don't know why no one would have done this especially for the promotional pictures, but I'll be open to it and looking forward to seeing the pics. Though the sides seem to have the same issue. The thing just looks small.

 

Mine is scheduled to be delivered on Friday and I’m hopefully installing it Saturday.

 

Here’s a picture of how my RLD sits on my truck. The canopy extends to and matches the end and corner of the bed. There is also a lip that extents along both sides and the rear to prevent water from even hitting the bed railing. I don’t see this on the Smart Cap. Maybe it isn’t smart enough? LOL

 

yeah, that's exactly what I'm referencing. That's how the RSI should be.

 

Cant wait to see it!

 

I don't think anyone can really argue that its not a bit small. You can move it back to cover the tail gate more effectively, as I showed in the RSI photo heavy thread, but you'll leave some front rail exposed. The good news is wherever you have it mounted, the gasket will be able to seal. So then there's just the aesthetic thing-(if you really need a watertight bed your main headache is not gonna be this cap). Talking to the reps here in US, the prototype was 62" and the cap released to the public is 63.2". Mines definitely 63"+ but I feel it could be almost an full inch longer. It'll be curious to see how the long beds fit.
For my uses and region it's more than watertight enough, it's super well made, easy on and off, works great in dusty environs, and even being a touch short is still better looking than almost anything else on the road. But do I feel like RSI could have done a better job fitting one of the most popular midsized truck in America? uh... yes.

 

I hope they revise the design (doubtful) to be a tad bit longer (maybe even wider). I agree, it looks odd to have so much of the rail exposed. However, I think the RSI succeeds where the RLD fails in the angles of the back and sides. The fact that the RLD is vertical in back, looks very odd. More commercial cap and less "Joe Public".

 

But isn’t the reason to have a bed and a canopy is to haul stuff? Being short and angled in your losing valuable space when these short beds are short enough as it is. Your loosing at least a few more inches with the way the Smart Cap is designed.

 

+1 to this. Looks are important to me, but function wins over looks on my truck. I don't care that the angles don't match up perfectly given that it gives my many more square feet and length on top.

 

But on that RLD those couple of extra inches where the cap is vertical at the back just sit over the tailgate. It’s not really usable load space.

 

Absolutely... but where do you draw the line? Form should always follow function, but that doesn't mean you completely disregard form. Otherwise, skip RLD and get a contractor cap, like below...



At the end of the day, your product needs to be functional AND look good, especially when you're marketing to the Tacoma crowd, as most of us aren't using our trucks for their capacity... it's for looks. If you want to haul a ton of crap, get a full size. I personally like the RSI more than the RLD, but I don't think either of them are perfect. Like most products, there's a trade off, and you just need to get what suits your needs.

 

Disagree. I've had a prior truck canopy loaded to the top with bags and other random stuff, also long pieces of wood, PVC, pipe can be pushed up there at an angle to fit longer pieces.

 

But when the the insides of the rear of the Smart Cap sits inside of the back of the bed, yes, your loosing space.

Also, show me one other canopy made that sits short of the back of the bed like the Smart Cap does. Leer, A.R.E., and all other canopies I’ve seen extend to the end of the bed. Smart Cap is the only one I’ve seen that does this and it just looks odd to me. I’m pretty certain the side panels aren’t specific to the TACOMA and are used on at least one other model. How else can you explain why they made it so short? Maybe someone can contact RSI to see what their reasoning was for this design. I would be interested to know why.

 

I mean, at the moment I don’t have plans to do any overlanding or outfit this pickup with a RTT or anything. I bought this truck because I live in the city and have a narrow driveway (so a full size truck is a pain in the butt), I have a wife, two kids, and a dog I have to haul around (so I needed something with four doors and enough room for road trips and camping), and I need a pickup bed for work. I do stained glass window restoration so the bed is going to haul tools and a small rack to secure glass upright. I think there’s room for both sorts of needs and what appeals to me may not appeal to you, and vise versa, etc.

 

And here’s another example of a canopy that fully extends to the rear of the bed and also fully covers the side rails. Does RSI know something that no other canopy manufacturer knows about by making theirs shorter than all others? Is there a benefit to the design other than maybe a cost savings measure? I can’t figure out one reason why I would want a canopy that doesn’t meet the end of my bed.