Picking out our favorite gear from any given Overland Expo is no easy task. For starters, there’s just so much to consider. Literally hundreds of booths to comb through. Next up, the team always considers how applicable a particular piece of gear is to our audience as a whole. With a wide array of vehicles and styles of travel within the overlanding community, we strive to find gear that will work for as much of our audience as possible. All of that being said, Overland Expo West 2026 gave us plenty of great options from camp essentials to awesome vehicle upgrades. Here are “some” of the best pieces of overlanding gear from last weekend, presented in no particular order.
Giant Mouse GMF1-XL
Everyone who camps could use a knife. From cutting cordage and meal prep to emergency fire starting and a thousand other tasks, there are plenty of reasons that wilderness explorers of essentially every era have considered a trusted cutting tool as first-line gear. If you’re going to have just one knife in your kit, the GMF1-XL from Giant Mouse is a great option. It’s crafted of N690 Cobalt high-performance steel for excellent edge retention. This high-quality steel is paired with multiple options for scales, but like the canvas micarta for their durability and grip, even when wet. The whole package can be carried via a leather sheath or paired with a Kydex sheath that offers multiple mounting options. The knife and sheath are both manufactured in Italy and carry Giant Mouse’s lifetime warranty.
CLIQ Chairs
At the end of a long day on the trail, it’s tough to beat a good camp chair where you can relax, enjoy a drink, and soak in the sunset. In terms of ease of use and pack size, we’re incredibly impressed with CLIQ’s offerings. We checked out the ClassiQ 2.0, a super compact option that only weighs in at 3.5 lbs., but it’s rated up to 400 lbs. When packed, it’s incredibly compact at 3.4 x 3.4 x 13.5 inches, but it deploys in seconds when you need to take a load off. The larger Riviera Lounge Chair is equally impressive. It packs down a bit larger, but it can support up to 500 lbs., and it’s made from stain-resistant material and features an integrated cup holder. Both include micro mesh bags that allow the chairs to dry out and for dirt to pass through with ease.
Mounting Company CR45 Plate for Pelican CRATES
The Mounting Company is known for quick-release mounts that work with a range of cargo cases, allowing the end user to easily remove them from their rig with a lockable quick-release pen. Now they’re bringing their expertise and craftsmanship to the new CRATE series from Pelican. The CR45 and CR90 mounts add less than .25 inches of bulk to the cases, but they offer an unbelievably smooth way to securely mount them to your roof rack, and with a lockable/one-hand open pin system, they also excel at keeping your cargo secure and accessible. We think the CRATE/CR Mounting Company Plates combo is going to become very popular very quickly.
Ranch Road Cargo System
We all started somewhere. Milk crates, plastic totes, or even a well-loved canvas duffel bag, but all of those are less than stellar ways to haul and organize your gear. However, the new Ranch Road Cargo System is a fully customizable option that can adapt to your needs. For starters, it’s sized to fit under bed covers, you can anchor it to hitch carriers, and the dividers offer nearly endless customization to securely carry your gear. The whole kit includes: one Ranch Road case, six non-skid feet, two handles with rubber grips, two 12-inch dividers, two 24-inch dividers, six rubber t-latches, and two cam buckle tie down straps. Measuring 24x48x12 inches, the Ranch Road Cargo System is a great option for open truck beds, covered beds, SUV cargo areas, and even SXS beds. This system is 100% made in the USA and backed by a 5-Year Limited Warranty.
READ MORE: The 11 Best Rigs of Overland Expo West
Vortex Triumph HD Binoculars
It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I started to include a good pair of binoculars in my truck-carry kit. From checking out wildlife to scanning mountain ranges, they’re well worth keeping in the kit, and the performance you get out of quality glass versus knock-off options is astounding. The Triumph HD is just about the perfect balance between magnification, durability, build quality, and price. With a linear field of view of 334 feet at 1,000 yards, the 10x magnification is perfect for checking out what lies ahead. These weigh in just shy of 1.5 lbs., so you can toss them in your pack as you head away from the camp and you’ll hardly notice they’re there until you need them. The Triumph HD Binoculars are shockproof, waterproof, and rubber armored so you don’t have to baby them, but if by chance they do fail, they’re backed by Vortex’s unlimited and unconditional lifetime warranty.
Terrain Tamer Parabolic Leaf Springs
The leaf springs are not exactly new technology, and while shocks and coils have seen significant advancement, the humble leaf spring has been left in the literal and figurative dust. However, the dedicated 4×4 experts at Terrain Tamer bring some incredible advancements that offer incredible performance. For starters, the noise issue that often plagues regular packs is gone. The Terrain Tamer leafs don’t touch, so dust and debris can’t cause squeaking. Secondly, and maybe more important for overlanders, is the weight savings. Some rigs can lose up to 60 lbs. per side, and that’s a lot of unsprung weight to shave off, saving wear and tear on other components. Lastly, they provide incredible articulation. And, if that’s not enough, these come highly suggested by overlanding legend Jonathan Hanson. They’re currently available for a wide range of Land Cruisers, and several other models are currently in development.
Leitner GearPOD HD
Leitner Designs is known for high-quality bed racks and cargo systems. And even though they have years of great products under their belt, they’re far from resting on their laurels. Overland Expo West attendees got a first look at the new GearPOD HD from Leitner. This cargo solution fits into their Active Cargo System like previous generations of GearPODs, but this one boasts a couple of significant improvements. For starters, the GearPOD HD design eliminates the interior lip, providing 20% more interior storage space. Additionally, the new aluminum construction allows for the use of a single external latch for easy access while still providing a dust and waterproof storage option.
Maxxis RZR AT Tire
Maxxis Tires has some cool stuff on the horizon, but while we were chatting with their team, we took note of the current RZR AT Tire on display. It features everything we like in an overland-ready tire, like 3D tread blocks, a reinforced sidewall, and aggressive sidewall tread. Plus, the siping goes all the way to the bottom of the tread blocks so that as the tires wear, you retain excellent traction. The compound also excels at avoiding chunking, so you don’t have to worry about rocky trails damaging your tires. Maxxis engineered a new tread design for this tire to minimize road noise and irregular wear. It’s also M+S (mountain snow) rated, so you can take the RZR ATs on your next winter adventure with confidence.
GME GMRS Radios
Comms on the trail are essential, and GME has been making reliable electronics suitable for the Australian outback since 1959. They’ve just recently entered the US market, and we’re currently testing one of their radios in a long-term review. Needless to say, we’re impressed. GME radios feature a 5 Watt chassis with built-in speakers, smartphone integration, over-the-air updates, fully customizable handset buttons, and they’re incredibly compact, so you can mount them anywhere. They also offer a range of antennas to suit any rig. Be on the lookout for our in-depth review soon.
