I need help choosing a camper shell! (truck topper)

That’s totally depending on if you have a long or short bed

 

^^^ Fair point. I have a long bed.

 

yes I’ll measure... I’m sure he short bed rack would fit better, for me I’m looking at the “roof rack” so it matches up with height of the raised camper shell...so I don’t have a even higher camper shell with rack on it(imagine turtle)

 

^^^ also true... Didn't think of that

 

I have the Overland and love it. They're all pretty much the same other than looks. The one feature I wish it had is auto-locking from key fob. If that is important to you, Overland is not a good choice.

 

I would steer you away from ARE. My experience with my shell and especially my dealer has been awful. I will never buy another ARE shell. I will try Leer next time for sure.

 

Nice looking truck & topper. I like the black accent/stripe. I've seen that on toppers (off trucks) and I thought it wouldn't look good. This has me re-thinking that.

 

Can you tell me more, I've had Leer snugtop and ARE and ARE was the best of the 3 but it's been 7 or 8 years since my last topper, has ARE gone to crap?

 

Isnt the top too narrow? But yeah, mine is a SB.

 

Thanks!

Here's another photo I forgot I had, with Yakima top box

 

No.

 

From what almost every ARE dealer told me that the “overland” is just a regular cap with a rhino liner style spray on the outside and it cheaper to just get it done by someone else for cheaper...

 

Not an ARE fan but, spend the extra money to get windoors and stuff you really want up front

 

Where do I start...

-The paint color was way off. Dealer told me I expected too much and that paint can't be matched since my truck wasn't fresh off the lot and my paint was faded (the cap is significantly darker than the paint on my truck).

-The dealer put a fist sized dent on my roof and wouldn't admit to it (right next to the third brake light, as if a technician leaned on it likely by accident).

-The cap was ordered without a front window so I could add a gasket and connect it to my cab for airflow for my dogs (which is awesome BTW now that I have it done). The cutout they left was ridiculous, sharp edges all over (like a crooked line/saw teeth type jagged edges), not even close to the same size as the window on the back of the truck (like off by 3+inches). I expected to have to do some fitting/filing/sanding, but not bust out a saw and re-cut the entire opening. Even with the crap opening, they glued a seal on the front of the cap and smashed it into the back glass of the cab, even though I told them they didn't need to do anything to the front and I would take care of mating it to the cab. When I got home, I realized that this seal was so big (think round peg square hole), that it was causing the cap to hang back about an inch off the end of the truck. So I removed the seal since I wasn't going to need it anyways and re-positioned the cap so it wouldn't rub the paint off my bedsides.

-It was installed with a broken window. Dealer wouldn't fix, said I voided the warranty when I removed off their excuse of a rubber seal on the front.

So I took it back the next day and the dealer literally yelled at me in the parking lot, in front of other customers, stating that I broke the window, I voided the window my expectations were too high, blah blah blah. Yeah, I spent $2600, I expected functioning windows, paint that was at least close, and for him to fix the dent. He wouldn't do any of it. He was so confrontational, that I actually had to back up to avoid him hitting me. So I left, and filed a chargeback claim with CapitalOne. The dealer lied on their response and CapitalOne closed the case without allowing me to show proof (which I offered from the day I opened the claim).

End of long story, I now boycott that dealer and CapitalOne. I had to go out of my way to contact ARE and find another dealer several hours away that would replace the window (which they did in like 30 minutes, said they get broken in transit all the time).

Now the inner workings of the slam latch handle are broken and I dread trying to get the right replacement parts from ARE. I think I have a better chance at becoming president of the USA.

I will say that the second dealer I went to was great, but I shouldn't have had that experience. ARE should have told the original dealer to make it right. They could've cared less that he told me to pound sand.

 

Not in my case, best dealer anywhere and the shell has a great warranty.

 

I think the dealer is a authorized independent distributor for ARE- So they really dont do much past mailing sales material to them and giving them a wholesale price for the cap as ordered. Your guy sounded like he should have been working in a job that didnt have anything to do with people, but you got what you got. ARE should have covered for you too, but maybe the right person there didnt know your case and issues? Ive had great service with mine, so unfortunately I may sound like Im ignoring you when I say that I really like mine.

 

I like the Overland - Note. It does have smaller windows which means it has more fiberglass at the front where the black stripe is.

 

Thanks for the help! I think I need to choose between the CX and Overlander....

 

As a consumer, I don't really care what the relationship is between the manufacturer and the dealer. The dealer or seller represents the brand. I would think any company would want that relationship to be a good one that retains customers. Case in point: I recently ordered a Decked storage unit, through an independent dealer. It got lost in shipping. Decked was going to bend over backwards to ship another one out if I wanted while the first one was still not found. They didn't care that they didn't sell it directly to me. They won a customer for life, by taking care of (offering in this case) the customer.

 

I’m picking up a cx for my white 17 on Saturday.