There are a lot of fantastic products available on the four-wheel drive market in Australia. We name the 25 coolest.
Foxwing Awning by Rhino-Rack and OzTent
The Foxing Awning provides 270-degrees of shade and doesn’t take up much more room than a standard awning – that’s why it’s cool. Built around a massive, and strong, central hinge, the Foxwing can be set up quickly giving you nearly instant relief from the hot sun or the cold rain. It’s made from mould-resistant rip-stop polycotton canvas for a lifetime of service. Just make sure you stake it down, because they can be a massive sail when the weather gets rough.Click here – Rhino-rackClick here – Oztent
ARB Skydome Swag
One quick look at the ARB Skydome Swag and you’ll wonder why all other swags aren’t designed like this. The Skydome elevates the traditional canvas sleeping bag-turned swag into a full-on self-supported tent that doesn’t have to be staked down. It takes less than a minute to set up, and it includes a 75mm thick corrugated foam mattress inside while still rolling up to a respectable size. It’s available in both a single and double variant.Click here
Ironman 4X4 Silicone Compact Camping Gear
Until I used it, I was a bit skeptical about the idea of a collapsible silicone kettle. Fire tends to be a pretty good litmus test of whether or not a product works, and the Ironman Collapsible Silicone Kettle proved it was worth its weight in gold. The collapsible silicone bucket and tub also add a huge amount of convenience to your campsite without taking up precious room in your 4X4. Whether you’re washing dishes or getting water from a creek, they’re worth bringing with you.Click here
MSA Drop Down Fridge Slide
The idea is simple – fridges are hard to access in the back of a car, so by sliding them out, they become a lot more useful. It’s a great idea, but after you put a suspension lift and bigger tyres on your vehicle, they’re still not easy to access. MSA’s Drop Slides have a weight rating of 200kg and lower your fridge 300mm, putting it at just the perfect height for easy accessibility. Plus, you’ll have the coolest fridge slide in camp, guaranteed.Click here
Ironman 4X4 Dual Zone 65L Icecube Fridge
You’re on a long trip, and you have meat that needs to be kept frozen, and beer that needs to be kept something other than frozen. What do you do? Well, if you have a single compartment fridge, you have to choose between the two. With the Ironman 4X4 Dual Zone, you can have both without breaking the bank. It’s one of the most affordable twin compartment fridges on the market, and it’s a quality unit at that. I’ve been using one for three months without a single issue, and it hasn’t stopped running since I got it. It even comes with a free insulating bag.Click here
Drifta Car Back Kitchen System
Drifta’s Car Back Kitchen System brings all of the convenience of your kitchen at home to the bush. The freestanding, self-contained unit gives you plenty of storage for food, cutlery and cooking gear, and even has a folding bench for extra prep space. There’s a plastic wash tub as well, in addition to three drawers for organising your kit. This has to be the coolest, and fastest way of setting up a kitchen while you’re out on an adventure.Click here
Doble Lighting
There are plenty of solutions on the market for lighting up your campsite, but there are few as elegant as Doble Outdoor’s solar powered tent pole. It replaces a regular tent pole and puts out up to 250 lumens with 120 degrees of light distribution. They’ll run for 250 hours between recharging, and are even capable of charging your USB devices. I’m an even bigger fan of their smaller light, the 100p, which fits perfectly on the gutters of most 4X4s and provides plenty of light for those of us without tents.Click here
REDARC 108W Amorphous Panel
There’s a good chance this is the lightest, most-efficient solar panel on the market in Australia. It folds up no larger than a stack of magazines and produces plenty of power. I’ve used them everywhere from Fraser Island to the High Country with zero regrets, other than them being a bit pricey. They’re flexible and waterproof too, and with REDARC’s reputation behind them, they’re sure to last.Click here
Front Runner Slimline II Roof Rack
Steel basket roof racks are so last decade. Front Runner’s lightweight, high-strength alloy Slimline II Roof Rack is the next-generation of roof storage. It’s completely modular and customisable to your needs with dozens of purpose-built accessories available. The extruded aluminium slats are slotted and accept a standard 8mm hex head bolt, so it’s easy to mount almost anything you want, anywhere on the roof rack. The bottle opener accessory is my favourite.Click here
James Baroud Roof Top Tent Hard Shell
A hard shell roof top tent is the closest thing you can get to home when you’re on top of your 4X4. They’re comfortable, solid, and well-insulated against a drop in temperature. James Baroud makes some of the best units around, with some models even having the provision for a spare tyre to be mounted on the tent, along with a solar powered fan vent. As an added bonus, you can leave all of your sleeping gear inside the tent when you close it, saving you room inside your vehicle.Click here
Rigid Industries RDS Curved LED Light Bar
Modern 4X4s are quite rounded in their styling, and that’s why curved light bars make so much sense. Not only are you able to get a more usable pattern of light, but you’re no longer putting square glasses on a round face. Rigid Industries’ RDS Curved LED Light Bar was the first to come to market, and it’s still the best with two US Patents dedicated to its innovative technology. They’re available in sizes from 20 to 54-inches.Click here
Red Hornet Dual Motor Winch
If you’re driving a touring vehicle and only occasionally use your winch, there’s a good chance this is absolute overkill. So we’re pretty much featuring this for one reason – it’s awesome. The Red Hornet Dual Motor winch can pull as fast as 60m per minute with the optional overdrive gear set, and pull as hard as 4000kg. There’s also an electric winch brake and dual Albright solenoids. We’re pretty sure this winch would make its way onto our dream rig.Click here
ARB BP-51
A suspension system can make or break a vehicle. ARB’s new BP-51 is an example of a suspension system making a vehicle. What you’re looking at is essentially an internal bypass, completely adjustable, remote reservoir racing shock absorber adapted for touring four-wheel drive vehicles. This means you can independently adjust rebound and compression to tailor your vehicle’s ride, specifically to its individual requirements. Best of all, unlike most racing shock absorbers, the ARB BP-51 mounts to factory locations and even includes the necessary brackets for professionally mounting the remote reservoirs. We beat them up on a 76-Series Landcruiser, and the verdict was that they were so good they were almost dangerous.Click here
SPOT Personal Locator Beacon
When the first SPOT device launched, it allowed people to go further knowing that if they found themselves in a life-and-death situation, help was just a press of a button away. The SPOT Generation 3 Personal Locator Beacon takes that a step further with the addition of advanced tracking every 2.5 minutes (so your followers know exactly where you are) and the ability to alert people that you need help and are not in a life threatening situation. The latest SPOT also features better battery life, which is important for those on extended adventures.Click here
Snow Peak Folding Campfire and Grill
I’ll admit that it’s a bit overkill, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of my favourite bits of gear that comes along with me on adventures. The Snow Peak Folding Campfire and Grill gives you a contained campfire and the ability to cook your food right over a hot fire. There’s just nothing else like it on the market. The complete kit comes with an adjustable cooking grill, a solid but lightweight baseplate to prevent ashes from falling on the ground, and a wonderful canvas carrying bag.Click here
Outback Armour Snatch Block
You don’t know that you need a snatch block until you’re caught in up a creek (or a mud hole) without one. The Outback Armour Snatch Block is rated to 10 tonnes, comes equipped with a CNC-machined pull wheel and has a provision for up to a 25mm shackle pin. It has a grease point as well to keep things lubricated and moving, and the internal bushings even feature channels to distribute that grease. It’s one of the beefiest snatch blocks we’ve seen come through the office, and it just looks plain cool!Click here
Goal Zero YETI 400
It’s becoming more and more essential to have a well-sorted power source when you’re out in the bush. Usually this is achieved through a dual battery system, but with some vehicles that’s not an option. Goal Zero’s YETI 400 kit is a one stop solution for powering everything you need in the field, whether it’s a TV, a fridge, a few cameras, or a smartphone. The kit includes a compact 30W solar panel to charge off the grid, and the ability to link as many other Goal Zero solar panels as your heart desires. The best part is that the YETI 400 has built-in inverters and USB ports.Click here
Factor 55 Flat Link
Ditch the unpredictable hook on the end of your winch and replace it with one of Factor 55’s Flat Links. Designed to easily and safely accept a D-ring shackle, the Flat Link attaches to the end of your recovery wire or rope and greatly increases safety and usability. Did we mention that they also happen to look pretty cool? The Flat Link folds into the fairlead to ensure that you’re ‘by the book’ ADR compliant and have nothing sticking out past your vehicle’s bumper. They have a max load of 16,000 lbs and are made with pride in the US of A.Click here
MAXTRAX
Winches are great, but you don’t always have something to safely winch from. That’s why MAXTRAX make so much sense. They allow you to safely recover your 4X4 from a wide variety of situations without risking a broken strap or winch cable. Head to the beach and you’ll see plenty of these orange recovery boards mounted to the vehicles of four-wheel drivers who are ‘in-the-know’. Available in a variety of colours, they’re 100 per cent made in Australia from engineering grade nylon. They’re also really handy for making sure you can always find your 4X4 in a crowded parking lot.Click here
Diesel Flexi-Tank
A year or two ago, if you didn’t have an auxiliary fuel tank, your options for carrying additional diesel were pretty much limited to fuel cans. They certainly work, but they often end up being carried on the roof, which is the worst place to put weight. The Flexi-Tank allows you to keep that weight down low inside the vehicle without worrying about diesel fumes entering the cabin. Plus, when you’ve used all the fuel, you can roll it up and store it away without having to worry about carrying around a bunch of empty fuel cans.Click here
TVAN Camper Trailer
Track Trailer’s TVAN is one of the most innovative camper trailers on the market, giving you almost all the benefits of a caravan without the size. Its pop-open design gives you a hard floor, and the hard walls around your sleeping area ensure a warm dry place to sleep, no matter what the weather is doing outside. The asymmetric link suspension has its roots in military use and gives the trailer the ability to carry fragile loads over incredibly rough terrain without issue.Click here
Lotus Caravan
The words ‘caravan’ and ‘sexy’ usually don’t go together in the same sentence. But the Lotus Caravans Trooper makes that happen. It’s one sexy caravan, and one that’s not afraid of a rough track, either. The interior accommodations look like they’re straight from a five-star hotel, and the outside looks unusually cool. It’s our pick for the coolest, sexiest caravan on the market.Click here
REDARC BMS 30 Amp
If you’re looking for the most advanced battery management system on the market, look no further than the REDARC Manager 30. Rated to handle 30 amps of solar, DC, and mains charging all in one unit, the Manager 30 is a do-it-all system that’s designed in Australia by electronics gurus. It features an intuitive digital display that tells you everything from how much solar you’re getting to the charging status of your batteries, and even has the smarts to take the most solar when available, reducing your system’s dependence on the vehicle’s alternator or mains.Click here
Hitchmaster DO35 Trailer Coupling
Trailer couplings are an incredibly important piece of your trailer puzzle – need we say why? The Hitchmaster DO35 Trailer Coupling is the result of years of engineering and testing and is designed, manufactured and tested right here in Australia. With it, your days of fiddling with pins and tow balls are over, and the self aligning drop-on design means that you can hitch up and get on your way in no time.Click here
ARK Corp Extreme Off-Road Jockey Wheel
The poor old jockey wheel usually fails to get just recognition for its job. It has a tough gig, tasked with supporting a large amount of weight while still being able to easily roll around. The ARK Extreme Off-Road Jockey Wheel is one of the toughest, most-advanced jockey wheels in existence. It features two wheels to spread the load out on soft surfaces, and its adjustable, heavy duty body means it can take a beating if you have to winch your camper trailer out of the mud. Making a jockey wheel cool is a hard thing to do, but ARK has done it.Click here
