I just bought a softopper for my Ram and figured I'd post a quick review. I'm not really a canopy fan but we have three kids and dog so practically speaking a canopy is very helpful for family trips during bad weather. Frankly the five of us plus the dog pretty well overload my wife's Pilot anymore so we mostly use it around town and take the truck on trips when we need more space.
But like I said I'm not really a fan of toppers on trucks (they're called "pappy caps" for a reason). So I figured I'd give a softopper a shot. From the research I did there are basically two soft canopy options at this time - softopper and bestop. Softopper tends to have better reviews between the two although it does cost a bit more (I paid about $740 for mine including shipping and the storage bag). They seem very popular with the Tacoma crowd in particular.
The initial install took me about an hour and a half working slowly and enjoying some nice local IPAs. The quality seems really good and once you get the hang of it you can pop it up or drop it back down in about 5 minutes. The nice thing about that is you can pop it up pretty easy if you hit some unexpected bad weather. It's a solid unit once you get it up and it doesn't seem to flap or anything. I haven't tested it in the rain yet but I did use a can of good silicone sealant on the inside of all the seams so I'm not expecting any leaks.
If it holds up I'd say it's a great buy for anybody who wants a part-time canopy that's easy to pop up when you need it and take back down when you don't. The major tradeoff you make with it compared to a hard shell is obviously security. But it does offer a ton of flexibility. You can pull it out of the truck entirely by releasing two pins. You can leave it folded up in the truck and it doesn't take up much more space than a rolled up tonneau cover (buy the storage bag if you want to do this). Or if you want it up, you can have it fully up and deployed or you can roll up the back and sides to use it as a shade for the bed.
Overall it seems like a good product.
Here's a pic of it folded down in the storage bag.
But like I said I'm not really a fan of toppers on trucks (they're called "pappy caps" for a reason). So I figured I'd give a softopper a shot. From the research I did there are basically two soft canopy options at this time - softopper and bestop. Softopper tends to have better reviews between the two although it does cost a bit more (I paid about $740 for mine including shipping and the storage bag). They seem very popular with the Tacoma crowd in particular.
The initial install took me about an hour and a half working slowly and enjoying some nice local IPAs. The quality seems really good and once you get the hang of it you can pop it up or drop it back down in about 5 minutes. The nice thing about that is you can pop it up pretty easy if you hit some unexpected bad weather. It's a solid unit once you get it up and it doesn't seem to flap or anything. I haven't tested it in the rain yet but I did use a can of good silicone sealant on the inside of all the seams so I'm not expecting any leaks.
If it holds up I'd say it's a great buy for anybody who wants a part-time canopy that's easy to pop up when you need it and take back down when you don't. The major tradeoff you make with it compared to a hard shell is obviously security. But it does offer a ton of flexibility. You can pull it out of the truck entirely by releasing two pins. You can leave it folded up in the truck and it doesn't take up much more space than a rolled up tonneau cover (buy the storage bag if you want to do this). Or if you want it up, you can have it fully up and deployed or you can roll up the back and sides to use it as a shade for the bed.
Overall it seems like a good product.
Here's a pic of it folded down in the storage bag.
IdaD wrote:
Last Update.
New years day we traveled about 120 miles away from home for a day trip to visit family. As we were leaving I lifted the back panel up to load some cargo and the vinyl cracked all the way across the top. It was about 7 degrees and I probably should have been more careful, but I've had it in lower temps without issue so I was a little surprised. I was able to get it taped up and it held up great for the trip home (80 mph freeway). Worth noting that temps dipped down to -10 along the way but no further issues.
I contacted Softopper and they sent me a new back panel as soon as they got my email. So fantastic customer service. I think I'll take the old back panel and cut the vinyl part out and sew or glue in some waterproof canvas for very cold weather use, and use the new vinyl back panel the rest of the time.
There was some discussion of snow load above, and I've had about a foot on it with no issue at all. Outside of a major dump of wet snow I wouldn't expect any issues.
All in all I'm very happy with the topper, mostly cause it lets me not have a topper most of the time but it's a super quick swap on and off. A great feature in particular for people with fifth wheels. If you're going to use it in very cold weather I'd advise caution with that back vinyl. Had I been out of warranty, a new panel is $64 so it isn't a huge replacement cost.
These things are handy. Here are some hot links to the two brands:
http://www.softopper.com/softopper
http://www.bestop.com/component/products/?view=product&id=55
I did own a similar one around 1976-77, a cheaper version from J.C.Whitney (the only one I knew of at the time). I used the truck both for work and play and needed flexibilty for keeping loaded material dry, as well as open for loading dirt bikes. Mine kept 99% of the rain and snow out too. The sides were designed to auto-overlap the top edge of the box, snapped directly onto the box (drilled, screwed)and worked well. The bows were mounted directly inside the box rails, drilled again. I plugged all the screw holes when I eventually repainted the truck.
The demise of my vinyl top occurred when a careless employee (Grrr) tore the side with a sharp load on a rainy day. I replaced the vinyl with a slightly more durable aluminum hardtop that I could easily lift off (took up a lot of shop space off the truck.) I then gave the vinyl topper to an older gent who used as a quick rainfly and shade on a small fishing boat for several years.
Below, I modified your pics to fit the webpage better. Click on the quote button to see the raw html code to properly do this and also make the clickable hotlinks above:
Thanks for the review. I might do this again some day, when I have to replace my tonneau.
Wes
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