FAQ: When will I get my Drifter? How long are people waiting?

Sure am! I did manage to get a loaner from the good people at VO, chatted with them for a few hours (primarily Jay and Phil) when I picked it up. They’re great people and doing their best to make things happen!

And in case you were wondering Baja is the bomb.

 

Who is the truck on the right with 50 led pods on the front?

 

My buddy Josh from @darkdefense_official (Instagram)

 

It’s a lot I know…

doing some Baja photo/video shoots for the business and for use in future advertising for Dark Defense.

 

14 Dark Defense DDS4 lights on top each drawing a real 45W each utilizing 4 CREE X-Lamp XML2 leds in each pod. Total raw lumens per light is about 4500lm.
The whole bar draws 630W (52A) and 4500lm*14 = 63,000lm

it requires a hefty harness but the output is crazy and almost NO hood glare! I previously had the Dark Defense DDL7 6X array (I can post photos later). The DDL7’s are a larger looking light, but overall slightly better output I think. The DDS4 array however is my hands down favorite so far!

 

So sick I gotta check it out, I want to mount LED’s the same way.

 

This looks rad! Are they wired up to a single button on a switch panel?

And no hate, I am doing the same

 

How are the 15 mins phone calls being set up? I’m not seeing them on the website and tried to call with no luck.

 

Picked up my camper a day early today! Made more progress than I had anticipated on the way down and Phil was super accommodating with fitting me in today. Will grab some more pictures when I’m not trying to scarf down a sandwich at a windy rest stop.

 

Congratulations!! Enjoy!!

 

Goddamn your truck is slick.

 

That black on black looks great! Congratulations!

 

Congratulations! After a long wait and now a new beginning.

Anything going on with the next batch?

 

Not that I know of. As we’ve talked about here before they’re ordering parts in much larger quantities so they can be more efficient about builds. We’re #201 and talked to Phil a couple weeks ago, we told him we would not be making our final payment until our camper goes into production given the amount of time they’ve been sitting on almost $5K of our money already. He was super understanding and said they’d send an email when they start ours so we can make that payment, so I’m waiting on that and of course I’ll let everyone know. He was totally awesome and helpful on the call, as always.

Something interesting of note is apparently the manufacturer where they get all their aluminum paneling is the same that provides for Tesla, so I can understand why they’ve had supply issues since they can’t exactly stand up financially and get booted to the back of the line. Phil does seem really optimistic about getting back on track given the ordering they’re doing and the increased workshop space. The number of campers going out the past couple months has been promising so let’s hope for more of that!!!

 

First night in the Drifter was a success! Rolled into camp at around 11 and was set up and ready for bed in like 30 seconds. Absolute game changer.

It was awesome to finally see the shop and meet the VO crew, they’re super nice and very thorough with the installation and explaining all of the options etc. they do have a lot of windows, hatches, etc stocked on the shelves but it sounds like aluminum still continues to be the main bottleneck. It sounds like going forward they will likely be going with specific sizes for windows so that way Phil is able to order panels either with or without cut outs for windows as right now they have ~5 different options for side panels between the different size windows etc. which makes it difficult to order in large batches.

Phil and the crew were super accommodating with my schedule. I was ahead of schedule and had reached out the morning before arriving in Benicia asking if it was possible to do an installation the next day. They were able to fit me in and get me back on the road a day early on super short notice.

 

Would also like to know, thanks!

 

Hey Guys,

New to the forum here. I ordered a Drifter in July 2021. I have not been able to get a hold of anyone at vagabond on an updated completion time. I know on their website the lead times were 12 months but that does not seem to be the case. I do not have an "order number" but my invoice number is #1437. From the posts above they are only in the 200s and people are waiting 2 to 3 years. Is it a reality that I am not getting my drifter for another 5+ years??

 

It looks like you're new here. Go to page 1 and read the first post. It explains the numbers. No, you aren't going to be waiting for 1,200 more units to be produced before you.

 

So stoked for you! The black on black is awesome, and that window is slick!

Cheers to getting it and the wait being ova!!!

 

I want that Merlin panel!