The official OTO "Ozark Trail Overland" gear thread!

[outwardbound]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Based on popular demand, and entertaining campsite discussion at the Overland Expo East 2017 OB Campsite this year, specifically on Walmart's Ozark Trail Brand, I bring you, the OTO "Ozark Trail Overland" gear review thread! Many thanks to @dziner, @wawaskittletits, @CFTAdventures, Greg, and the boy named Wyatt, as well as many others for the motivation to start this thread, and potentially develop a cool Walmart OTO decal for my truck for next year . Since everyone has a brand nowadays.

Anyhow, We can all agree that there are many products we will spend money to get the quality, and longetivity out of, and yes, it likely has really cool branding. But there are many "off-brands" that make products reasonable enough to purchase for use in the field or at the campsite. Not everyone can, or wants to afford a 30 dollar Yeti cup, or a $500 Yeti cooler, or a 1500 gee-wiz instant tent.

Therefore, I bring you, the Ozark Trail Overland, gear review thread. Now, in order to maximize participation, and the fact that some people prefer Target, or the Dollar Store, for their overlanding essentials, I welcome EVERY off-brand out there, and by off-brand, I mean, cheap! Not REI off-brand, but like department store "camping" section off-brand. Walmart, Target, K-mart, Meijers, etc.. all fair game.

Post your gear and some pics! Let's review and save us commoners with limited funds, or other priorities, some money and time!

Enjoy!

 

[outwardbound]

I'll start:

my Ozark trail goodies:

20oz and 30oz tumblers. Identical to the Yeti's and less than 1/3rd the price. And it KEEPS the ICE!!!

Also the Ozark Trail performance 26L coolers. Also comparable to Yeti, also very very good for the price.

Finally, the Ozark Trail instant 10 person tent. @dziner had the privilege and honor of assisting in its setup at OXE this year and was in aw of the ease with which it was set up and I was in aww that it actually survived the week intact!!! good tent for less than $200.

 

[davis31052]

Same here. I've Wal-Mart, Yeti, and Magellan (academy sports brand) tumblers and cups. Far as I can tell they are equal in all aspects except for price. I also have two of the 53 quart, and one 26 quart Ozark Trail roto-molded coolers. For me, they are the right tools for the job.

 

[dziner]

Awesome to see this thread take off! I want to pick up one of those tumblers. My LED lantern is from Walmart. It doesn't put out a lot of light, but it's ok for ambient light in the tent or on the table. But that solar light you had was da' bomb!

Now I need to get to work on the OTO logo!

 

[dziner]

I'll add Amazon Basics to the list too. I just received their AA and AAA rechargeable batteries in the mail for my electronics needs. Amazon keeps releasing their own branded products... it will be interesting to see what all they come out with.

 

[outwardbound]

I'll add Amazon Basics to the list too. I just received their AA and AAA rechargeable batteries in the mail for my electronics needs. Amazon keeps releasing their own branded products... it will be interesting to see what all they come out with.

Very True regarding the amazon products.

 

[CFTAdventures]

Ha love the fact that you started this! I’ll put in for a pre order now for the sticker for the truck!

I will third the amazon shout out as the majority of our kitchen set up is from amazon (minus the new front runner set I blame @Wawa Skittletits for influencing me to buy)

 

[dziner]

Ha love the fact that you started this! I’ll put in for a pre order now for the sticker for the truck!

I will third the amazon shout out as the majority of our kitchen set up is from amazon (minus the new front runner set I blame @Wawa Skittletits for influencing me to buy)

That's ok. We peer pressured him in to buying a fridge! Heck, 3 fridges were bought in our camp over the weekend.

 

[CFTAdventures]

Ha that is true.... @outwardbound any luck on that free shirt? Or discounted slide?

 

[outwardbound]

Ha that is true.... @outwardbound any luck on that free shirt? Or discounted slide?

Got the discounted slide. They honored the walmart price.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

 

[outwardbound]

No free t shirt though.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

 

[Raul (Rawly) Castorena]

I just ordered my ozark 52 quart from the Wal-Mart website, it's actually on rollback right now with $20 off. Total was $136.84 tax included (FREE SHIPPING). Walked in to my local REI the other day and I gravitated to the Yeti section, never having seen the prices of those beautiful lustful products prior to that day. As soon as I saw the price I quickly rebuked the Yeti out of my life and looked for alternatives, hence the ozark! I'll be glad to give my review on it as soon as it gets in. Good luck fellow Wal-Mart shoppers. P.s. I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart's but hey they have rollback savings.

 

[outwardbound]

The thing I remind myself of when shopping for these things (needs and wants of overlanding), is that most everything is now made in China, and most everything is made in the same Chinese factories.... case in point----- CVT tents. Once an American made product, now a Chinese made product, and thus every other tent is nearly identical except for 1 or 2 that are still made in South Africa or Australia. Except for Yakima, that thing looks so cheap I am not sure where it is made, even by Chinese standards.

that's pretty much what happened with Yeti. They didn't patent their products, at least not quick enough, and then brands like RTIC, and Ozark Trail, and everyone else started picking up on the roto-molded plastic.

 

[Tahoe.Adventures]

What a great thread idea!

As much as I would like to get all name brand/high dollar stuff, I just can't bring myself to do so. Also, I am a very hands-on/diy kind of person. So, if I can build/make it myself, I probably will, unless I just don't have the tools to do so.

Here's my contribution, many more pics to come!

I got my RTIC cooler on sale and I made my own "storage" box. I have other things that ive gotten a deal on and have worked great!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using OB Talk mobile app

 

[billum v2.0]

Old enough to have a "you get what you pay for" mentality. Therefore, I avoid Walmart and particularly their "in house" stuff. That written, I was in a pinch last Spring and needed a stand alone awning for a trip we were leaving on.........in an hour. I grabbed an Ozark Trail 10'x10' awning because: A) it fit in our trailer, and; B) it was in stock, and: C) it would work for our needs, and D) at under $70 (on some sort of sale), couldn't complain when it would inevitably fall apart shortly after (more likely during) it's initial 10 day trip.
2 years, 7 extended trips and 1 birthday party later, I'm doing my best to let Mother Nature tear this thing apart to confirm that you do IN FACT get what you pay for and that Walmart stuff in particular is junk. 30+ mile an hour winds and dime sized hail in a thunderstorm, couple inches of snow/ quarter inch of ice, 90°+ temps in Moab, zero issues. Zero. Counted on the 4 year old grandson's birthday party to validate the inferiority of this thing once and for all. Nope. Dammed thing reminds me of those old Timex commercials. Good Grief.

 

[outwardbound]

What a great thread idea!

As much as I would like to get all name brand/high dollar stuff, I just can't bring myself to do so. Also, I am a very hands-on/diy kind of person. So, if I can build/make it myself, I probably will, unless I just don't have the tools to do so.

Here's my contribution, many more pics to come!

I got my RTIC cooler on sale and I made my own "storage" box. I have other things that ive gotten a deal on and have worked great!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using OB Talk mobile app

Agree on homemade options. I made an expedition box like yours with drawers for well under $100. Just made a removable fridge slide for it this weekend so I still retain the use of the platform for storage/transport without having to work around a permanently bolted down fridge slide. Pics to come.

 

[outwardbound]

Old enough to have a "you get what you pay for" mentality. Therefore, I avoid Walmart and particularly their "in house" stuff. That written, I was in a pinch last Spring and needed a stand alone awning for a trip we were leaving on.........in an hour. I grabbed an Ozark Trail 10'x10' awning because: A) it fit in our trailer, and; B) it was in stock, and: C) it would work for our needs, and D) at under $70 (on some sort of sale), couldn't complain when it would inevitably fall apart shortly after (more likely during) it's initial 10 day trip.
2 years, 7 extended trips and 1 birthday party later, I'm doing my best to let Mother Nature tear this thing apart to confirm that you do IN FACT get what you pay for and that Walmart stuff in particular is junk. 30+ mile an hour winds and dime sized hail in a thunderstorm, couple inches of snow/ quarter inch of ice, 90 some degree temps in Moab, zero issues. Zero. Counted on the 4 year old grandson's birthday party to validate the inferiority of this thing once and for all. Nope. Dammed thing reminds me of those old Timex commercials. Good Grief.

Haha. good story. Never doubt the power of the Ozark Trail brand... haha. The only difference between their chinese factory and the big name chinese factories is marketing and quality control budget. All of the seamstresses are the same I suspect. My Ozark Trail 10 person instant tent is MUCH more resilient that I every thought it would be. I even joked that if it fell apart at Expo East I'd just throw it in the dumpster and travel home lighter, for what it cost me.

 

[dziner]

@outwardbound What was the solar lantern you had? That thing was pretty cool, and brighter than I expected. Weighed a lot less than my Ozark Trail battery powered lantern, and brighter.

 

[outwardbound]

I

@outwardbound What was the solar lantern you had? That thing was pretty cool, and brighter than I expected. Weighed a lot less than my Ozark Trail battery powered lantern, and brighter.

'll have to look at it but I picked it up at REI for less than $10 I think. I've seen the same things at Walmart though, after I bought that one. those are like $5 or $6.

 

[outwardbound]

I

'll have to look at it but I picked it up at REI for less than $10 I think. I've seen the same things at Walmart though, after I bought that one. those are like $5 or $6.

BTW, made this great, albeit, heavy, removable mount for my fridge slide this past weekend. I'll post up some picks, but I essentially mounted the slide to a cut piece of 3/4 inch plywood and attached verticle locking clamp latches on one end and the other hinge/attachment onto the expedition drawers I have so that I can have my fridge/side secured to the expedition drawers when needed and remove the whole setup completely when I want to have room to haul/carry other things without a bolted down fridge slide in the way.