Tonneau cover for my needs?

After weeks of shopping around, researching, and reading threads, I STILL cannot seem to find a well-suited tonneau cover for my truck. here is what I do know/am looking for.

-2019 Toyota Tacoma off road (short bed)
-prefer retractable, though have considered roll-ups (absolutely do not want a single piece nor anything with vinyl) ...I like the idea of being able to take the cover on and off easily incase I need to carry larger items
-have an OEM Toyota bed extender (the kinked one that flips over on a swivel onto the tailgate) that I wish to be able to use in addition to my tonneau cover
-minimal bed space taken (for reasons unknown it is not typical for retractable type covers to provide the measurement details on the size of the canister)
-I would prefer not to have to drill, though if this is the only thing standing in the way, I would.

*all this being said I have taken into consideration the following covers heavily:
-paragon
-retraxONE MX
-Truck Cover USA American roll cover

At a loss here fella's...any recommendations OR if someone knows of POC's to experts who can help narrow down the options I have would be TONS OF HELP. THANKS!

 

I have the paragon cover and I absolutely love it! I really think it is the best out there for the money. They don't use retailers (middle men) and sell direct from manufacturer so you are getting the best quality at the best price.

 

So, I spent the better part of 3 weeks getting ready to purchase a paragon cover....then I stumbled upon 2 issues that were made aware to me. Maybe you can tell me how true this is or isn't.
1. the cover rattles a bit when driving (freeway or not)
2. the space made available to you when opening and closing is reduced by a good 1.5 feet at minimum because of the way it folds in at the front of the bed...(for me this can be a dealbreaker because my snowboards fit in at an angle touching the front of my bed)
3. being able to use the bed extender (flops over onto the tailgate...will the railing installation block this from happening?)

 

you have the short bed?

 

1. I do not have any rattling whatsoever. Even when off road.
2. The bed cover folded into the bed doesn't take up much space, You can still use the full length of the bed as there is still space on the bottom where it folds in. I have fit snowboards in my bed and was still able to use it. (Yes I have the short bed) I can take more pictures to show you what i mean.
3. And I think you should still be able to use your Bed extender. I can take some measurements for you if you'd like.

 

THAT WOULD BE AMAZING. I couldn't get great answers from anywhere online and the guy I called from paragon wasn't sure either.
you have the bed extender as well?

 

I was in the same predicament spending weeks looking for a new tonneau cover and those were my same choices. Went with Truck Cover Usa. Super heavy duty don’t recall drilling anything installed it myself. The box is relatively small. I’ve had it for almost three years no complaints. Went from a Roll-n-Lock couldn’t be happier. Unsure how the bed extender mounts or what the possible obstruction would be.

 

With the Truck Cover USA cover, how is the weather proofing? Do you find much water in the bed after a good rain or car wash? Looking into several models, this one included.

 

Bone dry. Some seepage near the tailgate but very minimal. Never had any leaks otherwise.

I froze the latch a couple of times getting a car wash below 32 degrees. 5 minutes parked in the sun loosened it up though. I have the keyless option don’t know if using a key in that circumstance would overcome the ice.

I had a Roll-n-Lock in the past and those would leak. This is a night and day difference.

 

Great feedback, thank you.

 

i am thinking about selling my cap and getting a rolling cover/rack system. The Paragon looks interesting. Do you know how much weight can rest on the cover? There are times where I will need/want to put crap on the cover. I then need to figure out how to mount a ladder rack. While the Voodoo fab kit will work, i will occasionally need to slide the rack back and forth. I don't think that will be a quick easy task like the retrax and yakima overhaul hd kit.

A buddy has the Retrax and thule track rack on his Tundra. It is sweet, but very expensive. I am also considering the bak revolver but that appears to have the same issue with mouting a rack.

 

I have been wanting a Paragon cover since before I had my truck. However, when I finally got my truck I did more research and found out you lose the OEM side rails in favor of theirs. Not a huge deal if you don't need them but just something that turned me off. Otherwise I love their design and so far haven't seen anything else similar.

The next hard cover that peaked my interest was the Lomax. There's a thread in this subforum with lots of happy buyers and a couple TW vendors offering great deals on them.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/lomax-hard-tri-fold-tonneau.607175/

They have their own add on rails which allows you to still use the open space of your OEM rails. It looks streamline and very clean like the Paragon. It won't open as small as the Paragon since it's a trifold so if full bed space is important for you then you might not like it. Both should come off entirely pretty quickly.

I did also look into retractable covers but the canister and harder removal killed it for me. They're also quiet expensive.

That being said, I ended up buying a really affordable Tyger soft trifold from Amazon because I realized where I park and what I store (nothing normally) I don't really need the extra protection. I am keeping my eye out if a used hard cover goes on sale locally but for not I'm pretty happy with the Tyger. They make a hard trifold as well.

 

You can still use your bed rails with the paragon. You will just need to cut them a little shorter.

 

Oh interesting, this is news to me. Do you have the Paragon and did this or have photos you can share? If I recall the installation videos I watched they removed the OEM rails and installed the Paragon ones.

 

I have the Paragon cover but I have not done this yet. The reason you need to remove the bed rails that come with the truck is to screw in 4 brackets on the using the factory screw holes from the bed rail. I kept my bed rails with the intention of cutting them a little shorter to fit within the bracket.

If you dont want to cut them down, you could install the full bed rail if you space it out right with some washers so that it is flush with the bed cover brackets.

 

Ah I see, so after the brackets are installed the rails can be reinstalled? But only in the places that the brackets aren't located? Any chance you have a picture of what you mean? How's the water resistance of the Paragon?