With traffic as bad as it is these days, I have been leaving my work trailer at home more than not and just throwing tools in the bed of the truck. The loading and unloading of tools is getting old. I don't really want a tool box on my truck, so I have been thinking of a tonneau cover. I like the low profile looks and functionality of some of the retractable covers. I've been browsing online and stopped at the shop that sprayed my bed liner and checked out his sample displays. There are probably 3 I am interested in; each one with pluses and minuses versus the others. I keep going back to the Retrax Pro XR, the Pace Edwards Ultra Groove and the Truck Covers USA. Anyone here have one of these retractable covers? What is your thoughts on it and is it worth a couple grand?
I have Truxedo Sentry CTs and love it. About a grand new. Best bed cover I've ever had/used Sits flush, hard aluminum (can stand on it) but still rolls up so super easy to haul things and secure.
I have none of these, but I do Know Nils (Truck Cover USA in San Diego) PM me details of the cover you'd want, I'll call him for a bro deal and give ya the details.
I had a Retraxx on my previous truck, and I wound up getting a new Diamondback locking trifold cover on my current truck for half off just by dumb luck. Not a day goes by that I use that Diamondback that I don’t miss the Retraxx. My Retraxx was amazing, super versatile, and I had that thing on for 8 years and it held up great to the elements. The locking trifold design, at least for the Diamondback, is a pain to work with if you actually use your truck bed regularly — the middle section of the three is fixed/locked in place by U-bolts so you can hinge open the front third and the rear third of the cover, but that just means you now only have a third of your truck bed to work with without removing the fixed middle panel. I’ve just found myself crawling under the damn cover all the time to get to whatever I need that has slid to the front of the bed or just to get the stuff that’s loaded to the front of a full bed. PITA. It sure looks nice though. But I would buy a Retraxx again in the future.
Sounds like the BAKflip would solve your gripes about your current cover, it will fold up and rest on the cab allowing full use of the bed with no tools. I think the problem with most of the tri-folds is security though, the Retraxx has them beat there. What’s more important, an extra foot’ish of usable bed space when the cover is rolled/folded up or outright security? I know people with an assortment of tri-folds and one with a Retraxx, nobody has anything bad to say about them. The Retraxx is on its second Tundra and still looks good, I’ve seen some tri-folds look pretty faded if you’re going to keep it long term.
Dad has the truxedo and loves it. It rolls up prettt easily. However if you’re going to be using it everyday the retraxx seems easier. he had a trifold and bitched about it non stop. Hated how much space he lost. Etc.
Yeah I gotta hand it to Diamondback, it came covered in LineX and it’s made from diamond plate, so it’s incredibly durable and it looks pretty badass. Also security-wise it has to be as good as Retrax, maybe better but not sure. The Diamondback is locking though, and it’s just heavy heavy duty. But for ease of use, Retrax all day every day. And it looks as nice, just different from the Diamondback.
I have a Vanish Tonneau cover on my Silverado. It works well for my purposes and I like the fact that when I roll it up it really does almost vanish. It's about half the price of the Truxedo stuff but it's not much in the way of security. If someone knew you were storing expensive tools underneath it they'd be quite vulnerable to ... vanish. Fortunately for me all I usually have under that cover is junk I'm planning on taking to the dump. Make my day. Steal it.
I have a BAK flip on my 18 (5.8 foot bed ) and a BAK roll up on my 15 (6.5 foot bed ) , both holding up great down here in south florida weather. The roll up one is aluminum with Tonneau cover ( not sure if this model is made any more )
Only issue I ever had with my roll up one was losing that 10-12" of bed hauling a bike. Put the rear wheel on the tailgate and bouncing dented it slightly, overall not a huge deal.
Got a Summit Racing multi page truck booklet in the mail today. There's 4 pages of different photos/descriptions of many different bed covers mounted on trucks. Call their 1-800 number & see if they can put you one in the mail.
Had a Roll N Lock and liked it but as Mongo said had to give up the bed space. Went to the HD Bak Flip and really like it. The downside to the bak Flip is you lose the visibility when it's all the way up.
Free advice for truck owner...........Go to Walmart and buy an aluminum telescopic boat hook. Saves climbing in and out of the bed for stuff you can't reach. $10-$20 .
I have an old broken hockey stick with a screw in hook on the end, and a short tether to clip onto the rear tie down to keep it from sliding to the front. Best use of a hockey stick I've ever had lol. I have a trifecta cover on mine. It's about 15 years old and been on 2 trucks. It's seen better days. Much better out there now IMO.