which soft topper?

After looking at some of your trucks and that my wife likes riding in my truck compared to my silverado HD I had. I can't decide which mod I want or would be more beneficial, either new wheels or a soft topper like bestop or softopper. If we ever went on a trip or a vacation (what is that?) we could drive my truck and keep our luggage or whatever dry in the back. So my question and poll is which do you prefer the bestop or softopper? I know it probably boils down to having side windows or not but honestly I'm not sure what I want or like better. I've heard good and bad about the windows but have heard bad from the tailgate velcro on the softopper I beleive.

 

Do you or do you not want people to see what is inside your truck bed.?? There is your answer.

 

I have a Softtopper and have never used a Bestop, so I'm biased. I went Softtopper for a few main reasons:

1) No side windows. Everywhere I looked said the windows in all of the products are a weak spot. They scratch, fade and break. Softtopper had less windows. Because of this, you can roll the Softtopper up on the sides and drive on the freeway with the safari look. If you want that on the Bestop you have to remove the sides and store them carefully somewhere.

2) Build quality. I looked all over on truck sites and found several people complaining about rusted out frame parts on the Bestop. Not on TW. I didn't see a single issue about Softtopper ... doesn't mean they aren't out there I just didn't see them. Softtopper is all stainless steel and hand made in Colorado. I don't know where Bestop is manufactured.

3) Price. I called Softtopper and they matched the cheapest Bestop price I found .. that happened to be on e-trailer.com at the time.

4) I applied the velcro on my tailgate directly under the black trim pc. and have had zero issues. It looks great and holds great. I'm not worried about putting velcro on my truck in that spot. When I have the topper down I don't even notice it. If I ever get rid of the topper I can get the velcro off.

Some pics are in my gallery.

Overall I'm very happy with my topper. I also found all the MPG loss claims to be false. I track all of my MPG on Fuelly and have actually seen an increase since I got it.

 

I like the no windows look of the Bestop better than the Softopper. It's very versatile, and I like being able to take the windows out and leave them at home rather than roll them up.

 

I have the softtopper. I didn't use the velcro, I sprayed a strip of plasti dip under the tailgate trim to protect the paint.

 

Sub and bump. I'm interested

 

Has anyone noticed the material flapping against the rear window? I had one of the "Military style soft top racks" that eddie209 built and it would beat the hell out of the back window. I want another soft topper but I am a bit nervous to drop the cash after my last ordeal

 

I've never had the Softopper, but I think my Bestop provides more visibility while backing, changing lanes etc. I leave the windows out unless I go camping. My only gripe with the Bestop is they should have used stainless steel hardware. The rivets on the frame have rusted.

 

you can do away with that velcro or leave it but the topper comes with 3 snaps. Drill a very small starter hole and screw in the 3 snaps, which have a philips head for them. That works better than the velcro imo.

Softtopper customer service / owner bob is pretty legit. I've goofed mine up camping or in the woods and they've always been happy to help me sort it out. After owning several jeeps, i wouldn't go best top. If nothing else than i dont' want it to look like a jeep in my bed and the windows suck.

I've taken a couple several thousand hiway mile trips and the top doesn't move or balloon up like my old jeep tops used to. It's a keeper for me, i will definitely buy another when the time comes.

For those of you that already have them, go to walmart or ace and grab some 3m or the orange top canvas water proof shit. Clean the top well and then spray the stuff evenly all over it. It will turn it back to brand new black and add to the water proofness. Good stuff.

 

I was wondering what those extra clips were for. That's a great idea to use them for the rear window flap instead of the Velcro, which is working well for me at the moment. I love my softopper by the way. Very sturdy and doesn't flap at all.

 

I've had my softopper for about 4 months now and still love it. It was money well spent. I've done lots of highway driving and have had no problems with flapping.

I have the window nearest to the cab Velcro'd to the bed, but I don't use any for the rear window.

Looked at the Bestop but I don't like the look of them nearly as much. Plus, I love the way it looks with all the sides rolled up.