X Overland

First season was good, second season was ok and third season was meh. I liked how in the first season what they were doing was achievable by anyone with a 4x4 working on a regular joe budget but then by the 3rd season all the $100k plus rigs was a turn off.

 

Me and my 11 year old son have been watching these together. He has been watching some of the other videos they do on gear they use and so forth. I’ve been hearing dad we need this or that. Lol! Videos are on YouTube too. We rather be watching these than 90% of the other stuff that’s out there.

 

Stoked to check this out when I get off work. Anyone watch 4wdAction? The Australians? https://www.youtube.com/user/4wdaction
How do they compare? 4wdAction adds some humor whereas most other overland vids I've seen have a much more serious tone. This sounds like it has the serious tone.

 

Big fan of XO, and have been watching them for years now.

Their episodes (mostly the older stuff) always gets me pumped for adventure. They had a huge impact on me devoting more time and money to explore the vastness of the world. Will always be grateful for that. The Mackenzie trail series was top-notch for me. Always enjoy watching groups overcome challenges together by sweating it out.

Though I will mimic others in this thread. Before it seemed, at least, to be a bit more challenging. Their most recent season was too 'easy' for my taste. Plus they dropped off the Tacoma and put in a Gladiator. Nothing against Jeep, but they were Toyota guys from the get-go, and I enjoyed that. Now they are doing a huge Dodge truck build as well. That seems to be the nature of the beast though.

 

I can see that, but you don't need a $100,000 rig to drive around on dirt roads. You could do what they did with less. They need the sponsors to keep doing shows though. They need to "advertise" to get sponsors. Nothing is free. I've enjoyed all the seasons to the Southern tip of South America, not for the builds, but for the places they went. You could do the same with most any decent reliable pickup truck.

 

Yeah I love these guys, but they lost me with the flying shit. Also a little tooo much talk about “constructing a team based on excellence and intentionality, elevating our goals and achieving greatness.” Like, I’m really just here to watch some friends take cool Toyotas on fun adventures, not run inspirational talks and air missions out of a $150,000 Gladiator.

 

I said it on the other thread that got locked, but the main dude who does VO (if he still does) made it seem like they were out here doing the most important shit on planet Earth. It's what ultimately made me bail in the middle of the SA season.

 

First season was great, but these guys just take themselves way too seriously. It's not a mission, guys, it's a road trip, lighten up. I thought overlanding was supposed to be about the journey, but these guys act like everything is a military operation.

 

DAD WE NEED 4 pairs of MAXTRAX!!!

 

Yep. I said I already have 1 pair I don’t use. He did say today he wants to study for his ham radio exam. I thought that was cool. I already have mine.

 

I do appreciate the emphasis they put in training (even if they do act like some wannabe militia in how they talk about it) because most people who get out there don’t have a damn clue. Ronny is still the gold standard for off-road tutorials IMO but the XO guys have more visibility and average people need to realize that one bad axe swing is all it takes to end things if you’re not prepared.

 

One day those tracks will save your life. I gotta work on getting my Ham radio license too!

 

I really respect the effort they put into the content; beautiful shots and locations for sure. The personalities seem a little stiff for my tastes and I just can't get sucked into it, however. I'm a goofy idiot though

 

Tbh, I enjoy mostly all of it! But I just got into this " overlanding/car camping" My favorite part is when they talked to random strangers! My last trip I ran into some people from Indiana that I met at the Grand Canyon during my road trip. We hike the bright angels trails together and caravan to Zion national park! Probably my favorite part about my road trip. It only took us "hey do you want some firewood?" They were rolling 4 deep in a small sedan....

 

Love those silly blokes from down unda...
They wheel the shit out of their rigs. No being gentle at all.
My favorite Offroad channel by far.
Expedition Overland have some sweet rigs, but the content leaves much to be desired IMO.

 

I enjoyed a couple of seasons, it does seem that now they are using whatever people will give them and not what’s the best for the task. There have been many people that have done their routes on motorcycles and even scooters....each of us run our own trip, low budget or high they are equally as challenging

 

Sorry, chiming in later on this one... I didn’t see it when it was happening last month.

I (we) have no illusion that the show is or will be engaging and entertaining for every viewer. It’s naive for us to assume we could even produce content that would/could be useful to all. For those that gave it a try and didn’t like it... thanks for watching. For those that are regular viewers, thank you too! Many long for the earlier lower budget seasons, I don’t think we would all disagree but they were simply not financially viable. XO is a business and has employees that need fair compensation for their work, that can’t be done on a Season 1 budget where Clay & Rachelle maxed out their credit cards and hit the road.

Unfortunately Toyota has zero marketing budget to send a 3 year old platform anywhere... let alone a 10+ year old platform. Along with that many vendors have zero budget or desire to feature older product offerings. Many criticize using a Jeep (which XO purchases at the local dealership, it was not given), however the Gladiator is a super relevant platform and it’s wise give it a try. I say that being a super Toyota fanboy freak who hasn’t owned anything but a Toyota for 2 decades, works on Toyota’s, sells parts for only Toyota’s, desert races a Toyota (go Canguro Racing!) and does everything I can to avoid even sitting in the Gladiator .

Again, thanks for giving it a try either way. I always have and do pass feedback along to the rest of the team so I appreciate you sharing it.

 

I just watched all 3 seasons also! I liked it a lot! Very cool and fun. About to watch season 4 on YouTube!

 

Kurt, from the show????????????? no way how awesome

 

Rich and Ash just made it to the top;