Rough As Guts’ 2024 Best In Class & Best Value Awards
It’s that time of year.
Rough As Guts looks at the top 4WD and camping products every year to determine the best in each category. We have one outright winner for each category and a best value option.
All our tests and conclusions are completely independent and we don’t accept any form of sponsorship or reimbursement. You can’t buy our approval.
We have deliberately omitted a lot of items such as tables, frying pans and camp pillows. There’s only so much leading you to water we can do before we end up insulting your intelligence by trying to spoon feed.
How We Determine Best Value
Something you may notice, is that for many of our categories, our winners for best value aren’t all that cheap.
There’s some products, such as fridges, where going real cheap buys you something affordably, but doesn’t give you a reliable product. As any good marketer will tell you, value isn’t an absolute measure, rather it’s a relative assessment between expectations, quality and price. Thus, if you buy a cheap fridge that you expect to last and it doesn’t, the value is reduced, regardless of price.
Therefore, most of our best value items aren’t just the cheapest, but are the cheapest of those where you’re buying what you expect. Basically, what we’re saying is that you’ll see a few Adventure Kings products, but not many.
So here it is. Broken down by category, the Rough As Guts Awards for the best four wheel drive and camping products available in Australia for 2024.
Four Wheel Drive Vehicle Accessories
Lighting
Light Bars
There’s no denying that light bars have changed the way we go about four wheel drive lighting systems and they were even the impetus for regulation changes in every state.
A light bar is often the cheapest, easiest and quickest way to augment a 4WD’s existing lights and provides for a dramatic increase compared to stock. Here we’re looking at ~31″ light bars, but you can find other sizes in both ranges.
Supernova Commander
Best Value Light Bar- 1 Lux at 878m
- Lifetime Warranty!
- IP69K Waterproof
STEDI ST3033
Best Light Bar Overall- 1 Lux at 810m
- STEDI Quality
- 5 Year Warranty
Spotlights
Spotlights are still an essential component for creating a killer lighting system, even if you’re running a light bar. Where light bars create great coverage from side to side, helping you to spot kangaroos or livestock, they can’t compete with spotlights for throw. If you’re trying to light up the road 1.5km in front of you, spotties are a must.
Supernova Rogue
Best Value Spotlights- 1 Lux at 1,080m
- 25,000 Lumens
- IP69K Waterproof Rating
Light Force HTX2
Best Spotlight Overall- 1 Lux at 1,650m
- Australian Made
- IP69K Water/Dust Rating
Work Lights
LED work lights (or mini lightbars), have made cooking after dark much easier than ever before. With wiring and switching systems easily available for a low price, a lot of us have adopted permanently wired working lights in our trays, wagon or canopy.
As work lights aren’t critical, like spotlights etc., we’re happy to recommend a cheap option for the best value work lights. We have used them personally many times and have never had problems.
Adventure Kings 4" Light Bar
Best Value Work Lights- Dirt Cheap
- Deutsch Plugs
- Gets the Job Done
STEDI C-4 Light Cube
Best Work Lights Overall- Diffused - Better for Working Under
- STEDI Quality - You Know it's Good
- 24 Month Warranty
These are sold individually for $94.99
Luggage, Storage & Awnings
Roof Rack
Roof racks are one of those things that were adopted by suburbanites and weekend warriors faster than a lot of other products. After all, they do make it easy to overpack for a weekend away, so it makes sense. Where else would you put your cheap kayak or Adventure Kings swag that you bought solely for the Christmas holidays.
Ocam
Best Value Roof Rack- Aluminium
- Not T-Slot Compatable
- Clunky Design
Yakima Locknload
Notable Mention- Aerodynamic
- T-Slot Compatable
- Good Quality
Pioneer Platform
Best Roof Rack Overall- Rhino Rack Quality
- Aerodynamic and Sleek
- T-Slot Compatible
Drawer Systems
I remember the first set of drawers that my family got. My Dad and I bought them second hand from an old fella who was taking them out of his MQ Patrol and advertised them in the Quokka, which was a West Australian classifieds newspaper for those who remember.
At the time, we were some of the only people I knew that had a drawer system and it seemed pretty flash. It cost us $900, which is almost $1,500 today if adjusted for inflation. This was for second hand drawers, where you can now buy new ones for $400. It just goes to show how much the off-road industry has proliferated.
The Titan drawers are cheap, but not quite nasty. It’s almost guaranteed that all the screws will come loose at some stage, but their fundamental structure and construction is solid enough. Armed with some contact adhesive for fixing the carpet and a bottle of Loctite for the screws, these can be turned into very good drawers for the price. They rattle noisily, but hey, what do you expect for the price.
Titan Rear Drawers
Best Value Rear Drawers- Gets the Job Done
- Screws Come Loose
- They Rattle a Lot
No frills, but damn cheap.
ARB Rear Drawers
Best Rear Drawers Overall- High Quality Hardware
- Great Construction
- Smooth Operation
Awnings
If there’s a 4WD-centric product that’s been blasted out of obscurity and into mainstream awareness, it’s the awning. Thanks to it’s prominence on the side of a car and being such a good branding opportunity, awnings became a loss-leader for many of the discount brands such as the 4WD Supacentre’s home brand; Adventure Kings.
The Adventure Kings side awning became the first awning for many people who were taking up four wheel driving for the first time, or simply those who had never bought one due to them previously being a more expensive item. And, while Adventure Kings did do a great job of getting people up to speed with the idea of having an awning, they ultimately left consumers wanting something of a higher quality after their awning inevitably broke due to such a cheap construction.
Here’s what we recommend, for making that step up to something better. We cover 270° freestanding awnings as well as side awnings. We don’t cover 270° awnings that aren’t freestanding, as they’re not built as tough. If you’re going to bother getting a 270°, we strongly recommend going for a freestanding option, particularly as most also allow poles when there’s abnormally high winds.
Drifta Stockton Side
Best Value Side Awning- Affordable Quality
- Australian Made
- An Ethical, Australian Brand
Campboss Quickie
Boss Shadow Quickie 2.5 | Best Side Awning- Freestanding Side Awning
- Super Quick Set Up
- Very Innovative Design
Drifta Stockton 270
Best Value 270° Awning- Great Quality
- Australian Made
- Strong & Rugged Design
Boss Aluminium 270
Best 270° Awning Overall- As Good As it Gets
- Australian Made
- Sleek & Strong
Recovery, Protection & Capability
Winch
We’ve got a whole article on the best winches in Australia, as well as one on how to use a winch. It’s one of our most popular topics and a product we really recommend considering. If you don’t have a winch, it’s definitely worth thinking about, as they offer some of the cheapest insurance for unexpected sticky situations, even if you don’t plan on acting like a porkchop Youtuber and bypassing good lines, just so you can get stuck.
XTM 12,000lb Winch
Best Value Winch- Free Spool
- 12,000lb Pulling Capacity
- No Wireless Controller
Ultra Winch PDX Mk4
Best Winch Overall- Free Spool
- True Wireless Control
- 12,000lb Pulling Capacity
Snorkels
We’ve written here about why we believe a snorkel should be one of the first modifications you make to any weekend bush bashing rig or even a sensible tourer.
We haven’t included any stainless steel snorkels, because most manufacturers don’t make them for most models. We recommend Torqit’s stainless snorkels, if they’ve got one to suit your vehicle. A lot of vehicles will require a custom snorkel if you want to go stainless. Because of the expense of stainless and our reluctance to recommend very cheap snorkels which may let water into your engine, our winner for best in class and best value is the same.
Safari Snorkel
Best Value & Best Overall Snorkel- Good Value
- Top Quality
- Long Heritage of Reliability
Bash Plates
Bash plates, skid plates, whatever you want to call them, they can often be an overlooked important addition to a 4×4.
The reason they’re often ignored is because they don’t offer any additional functions or capabilities to a 4WD and it’s not often you notice when they’re being used. However, they’re one of those things that if you realise you should have hade one after you needed it, you can be in for a lot of grief, far from anywhere.
Roadsafe
Best Value Skid Plate- Zinc Coated
- 3mm Mild Steel
- Cheap
Custom Offroad
Best Underbody Protection Overall- 3mm Stainless Steel
- Available Up to 6mm Thick
- Full Underbody Systems Available
Electrical
Solar Panels
Walk into any 4WD and camping accessories retailer, ask them what you should buy for your setup and it’s inevitable that you’ll be told you need a solar panel. We don’t believe that’s true.
Solar is great and has fortunately become much, much cheaper over the years, all the while becoming a lot better. However, it’s one of those products that’s fallen victim to this new wave we’re always talking about. As the industry has exploded and is being adopted by more newcomers, there’s a lot of misperceptions being thrown around about the minimum gear you need to hit the tracks.
Solar does enable a lot of things when you’re touring and parking up for days at a time, but I believe 75% of solar setups you see on the road are unnecessary and sold by salespeople trying to meet a quota.
For the sake of uniformity, we’re comparing rigid, 120w (or similar) solar panels. If you’re looking for something a bit different, it’s worth looking into the same ranges and brands we’re recommending here, to see if there’s something that will suit.
We also compare solar blankets below. They vary from 100W to 160W, because there’s less uniformity among manufacturers in this space. Regardless, there’s some great options for solar blankets these days.
XTM Solar Panel
Best Value 110w Solar Panel- No Frills, But Decent
- Very Reasonably Priced
- Requires Separate Regulator
REDARC 120W Panel
Best 120W Panel Overall- REDARC Quality - Best of the Best
- 24 Month Warranty
- Requires Separate Regulator
iTechWorld 100W Solar Blanket
Best Value Solar Blanket- Tidy & Compact
- Includes PWM Solar Regulator
- Very Good Value
REDARC 160W Monocrystalline
Best Monocrystalline Blanket- REDARC Quality
- Tidy & Compact
- 2 Year Warranty
REDARC 112W Amorphous Cell
Best Solar Blanket Overall- Best of the Best
- Brag to Your Mates
- 2 Year Warranty
Dual Battery Systems
Crucial to any touring setup is a dual battery system. Not because we believe you need lots of electrical storage for a myriad of accessories, but because no matter who you are, it’s inevitable that some sort of lighting, fridge or phone charger is going to be used, leaving you at risk of flattening your starter battery.
Dual battery systems are great, but another one where you need to think about just how fancy you need to go, and where you should take any salesman’s advice with a grain of salt.
We’re only looking at DC to DC batter chargers/management systems and not basic isolators. For the sake of comparison, we’re looking at the 40A models.
We haven’t included any cheap options such as Adventure Kings, because we know first hand that with DCDCs in particular, you do get what you pay for.
Enerdrive 40A DCDC
Best Value Dual Battery System- Highly Controllable
- Good Quality
- Inbuilt MPPT Solar Regulator
REDARC BCDC 40A
Best Dual Battery System Overall- Very Best Quality
- Multiple Stage Charging
- Inbuilt MPPT Solar Regulator
Deep Cycle Batteries
Now you’ve got your dual battery system, it’s pretty superfluous without a deep cycle battery.
Lithium is not necessary, it’s just a nice to have. It’s benefits are that you can discharge it much further without damaging it and how incredibly light they are compared to AGM etc. It’s biggest downside is how expensive it is.
We believe a high-quality AGM or gel battery, is a much better option than a cheap lithium battery, if you’re limited by budget. It is also our opinion that AGM is a better option for most four wheel drivers than gel or flooded, so long as you’re not going for under bonnet/engine bay mounting. Therefore, our best value option is an AGM battery and our best in class is Lithium. We’re staying in the 100-120Ah range to compare apples to similarly sized apples, but we’re essentially just endorsing both product ranges.
Bosch 120AH AGM
Best Value Deep Cycle Battery- German Engineering
- Completely Sealed
- Cost Effective
REDARC 100AH Lithium
Best Deep Cycle Battery Overall- REDARC Quality
- High Current - Suitable for Inverters
- 2 Year Warranty
UHF/Two-Way Radio
Another thing we’ve discussed in detail, is the best UHF. If you don’t want to take a deep dive though, these are some of the same two-way radios that we recommend in that article.
GME TX3500SVP
Best Value UHF Package- Australian Made
- 5 Year Warranty
- Gets the Job Done
GME XRS-330COBG
Best UHF Package Overall- Australian Made
- 5 Year Warranty
- GPS Location & Bluetooth
Camping Equipment | Sleeping, Cooking, Comfort
Sleeping
Swags
No man is Australian without a swag and no Australian is a man without a swag. We don’t make these rules, we just discuss them.
Anyway, get one of these in your shed if you don’t already have a swag. If you don’t have a shed, then that’s a problem. You’re going to have to build one so you have a place to store a swag. And just so you know, a carport is not a shed, but if yours has a swag in it, that’ll gain you a six month grace period to build one, before they come and take your man card away.
23ZERO Dual 900
Best Value Swag- Freestanding
- Elbowed Poles - More Headroom and Minimal Sag
- Tough Design
AOS Tracker Deluxe
Best Swag Overall- Ultra Rugged & Tough
- West Australian Made
- Not Freestanding - Does Allow for a Full View of the Stars though.
I’ve had an AOS tracker swag for more than 20 years and it is still going strong. I have replaced the poles once, but that’s it. The tracker hasn’t changed much in design or aesthetics over that time, but that’s because they’re on to a winner. They’ve made them to be tough, for the Australian outback with their oversized zips, patented zip-in pole design and water/rot-proof treated cotton canvas.
This is an old-school swag made to last. We love AOS swags so much, you’ll notice this is the only product in this whole list to get a blurb after being displayed in the comparison section.
Sleeping Bags
We weren’t going to include sleeping bags at first, because they’re such a common, non-4WD specific item that you can easily get information on. But, we decided to go ahead, because we do have a couple of swag specific sleeping bags in part of our tour arsenal that we’re very fond of and decided would be worth sharing.
AOS Swag Sleeper
Best Value Sleeping Bag for Swags- Tough Poly/Cotton Outer
- Soft Flannel Inner Lining
- Two Can Be Zipped Together
23ZERO Alaska Black
Best Swag Sleeping Bag- -10° Comfort Rating
- 235gsm Canvas Outer
- 2 Year Warranty
Roof Top Tent
Roof top tents are cool. They serve a purpose, but you can very easily do without one and use a swag instead. Particularly with the bulky, soft-covered, folding types, they take as long as a swag to set up and don’t offer a whole lot more room. Their biggest downside is that they absolutely destroy your aerodynamics and fuel economy. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good roof top tent, they’re just another one of these products that I see people being told they should have, when there’s no real need.
Both of our recommended roof top tents are hard shell. These are more aerodynamic, faster to set up and often a bit more robust. They look better too, but that’s not really something we consider too important.
Drifta/Wild Land Desert Cruiser
Best Value Roof Top Tent- Better Value Than Darche
- Heaps of Headroom
- Quick Set Up
Darche Ridgeback Highrize RTT
Best Roof Top Tent Overall- Revolutionary Double Hinge Design
- Headroom On All Sides
- Strong, Hardshell Design
Cooking
Portable Campfire Pit
We’ve never been too fond of the idea of lugging something around just so you can have a fire that’s inferior to what you could have on the ground, which wouldn’t require you to lug anything around.
However, as a lot of places now only allow fires if they’re contained and off the ground, there’s only so much you can do. If you do need a fire pit, these are our favourites.
Drifta Stockton Fire Pit
Best Value Fire Pit- Stainless Steel
- Weld-Free Design
- Collapsible
ARB Fire Pit
Best Fire Pit Overall- REDCOR Weathering Steel
- Packs Flat Into a Bag
- Looks Cool Once Weathered
Gas Cooker
Other than cooking on the fire or coals, we only ever really look at gas cookers when it comes to four wheel driving. Liquid or solid fuel stoves are more of a hiking or adventure motorcycle riding thing where weight and volume is much more critical.
Gasmate Classic
Best Value Gas Cooker- Unbeatable Value
- An Aptly Named Classic
- Not a Lot to Go Wrong
Coleman Fyreknight
Best Camp Cooker Overall- Built to be Thrown Around in a 4WD
- Piezo Ignition
- Pumps Out Heaps of Heat
Campfire Cooking Tripod
God I long for the old days, before every second traveller was using Jetboils, and back when billy tea on the coals ruled the bush. I’m just glad there’s still off-the-shelf options for tripods. Nothing beats making one yourself out of old hydraulic rams though.
Campfire Tripod
Best Value Tripod | The Brand is Campfire- Cheap
- Steel Construction
- There's Not a Lot to it
Drifta Stockton
Best Campfire Cooking Tripod- Lightweight Aluminium
- Packs Down to 40cm Lengths
- 3 Heights Plus Chain Adjustment
General Camping Gear
12v Car Fridge
Engel taking out the top spot as best overall car fridge, should come as no surprise. If you did a lifecycle analysis and broke down the cost of an Engel over the amount of years they can reasonably be expected to last, they could probably even contend for the best value option as well. We know that’s not what you want to see though, so here’s another one of our favourites. We’re comparing 75L dual zone fridges specifically, but as always, if that’s not the size you’re after, we’re recommending that whole range.
Dometic 75L Dual Zone
Best Value Car Fridge- Waeco Heritage
- 3 Year Warranty + Extra 2 Years Parts
- Assignable Dual Zone
Engel 75L Fridge/Freezer
Best Light Bar Overall- Engel - Toughest Fridges Ever Made
- Swing Motor - 1 Moving Part
- 5 Year Warranty
Folding Chairs
My wife is a reformed suburbanite who has seen the error of her ways. Her past life has seen us owning a bunch of Kathmandu products. While Kathmandu as a brand is designed to exploit suburbanites that are as interested in fashion as they are in displaying Yeti stickers on their rear window, they do make good products.
Our Kathmandu chairs have outlasted every other brand we own, and being that we run a 4WD tour business, we own a lot of camping chairs that see a lot of use. We’re not considering any options such as full-frame reclining or moon chairs, as these don’t pack down compact enough for our uses.
Kathmandu Roamer
Best Value Folding Camp Chair- Basic, But Well Made
- Folds Up Small
- Gets the Job Done
Kathmandu Retreat
Best Camp Chair Overall- Reclines
- Very Comfy
- Very Durable
Recovery Equipment
Snatch Straps
As a quick note on snatch straps vs kinetic ropes, if you already own a snatch strap that’s in reasonable condition, there’s no need to upgrade to a kinetic rope. While kinetics might be a bit stretchier and a bit more effective, we all got away using snatch straps for a very long time before kinetics were invented.
Hercules Snatch Strap
Best Value Snatch Strap- Dirt Cheap
- Actually Works
- 11,000kg Rating
TJM 11t Snatch Strap
Best Snatch Strap Overall- Neoprene Covers Prevent Abrasion
- 3 Year Warranty
- 11,000kg Rating
Kinetic Ropes
If you’ve got a worn out snatch… or you don’t have one at all and want to go for the latest and greatest, a kinetic rope is a good bit of kit.
EFS Recon
Best Value Kinetic Rope- Better Than Similarly Priced Others
- 13,000kg Rating
- Reputable Brand
MAXTRAX Kinetic
Best Kinetic Rope Overall- The Name in Recovery Gear
- 12,000kg Rating
- Protective Covers on Ends
Recovery Boards
Let’s just say that there’s a reason these are most commonly known as Maxtrax, regardless of the actual brand being discussed.
TRED GT
Best Value Recovery Boards- Similar Price to the Horrible Aldi Boards
- Reputable Brand
- Hard to Melt (Unlike Adventure Kings)
MAXTRAX XTREME
Best Recovery Boards Overall- Replaceable, Anodised Alloy Teeth
- Lots of Compatible Accessories
- Very Expensive
Puncture Repair Kits
Every plugger needs a rubber. A rubber plug that is.
4WD Supacentre
Best Value Puncture Repair Kit- Dirt Cheap
- Actually a Pretty Decent Kit
- Low Quality Plastic Case
Dr Air Heavy Duty
Best Puncture Repair Kit Overall- Solid, Stainless Steel Handles
- Spare Reaming & Insertion Attachments
- Very Comprehensive
Recovery Kits |Snatch, Shackles, Winch Ring…
If you’re new to this whole ordeal and don’t have any existing recovery gear, it would probably be most cost effective to buy a kit, rather than each component individually.
Both these kits are almost the same price and are quite similar. The Ultra Winch bundle comes with a few more accessories such as bow shackles, winch ring and a snatch block. The Campboss kit doesn’t come with these but contains a kinetic rope. By the time you buy some extra accessories to go with the Campboss kit, it will cost a bit more but will be a more premium kit, hence why the Ultra Winch bundle is better value. The Ultra Winch kit is a great option if you’re not specifically wanting a kinetic rope, or would be a great kit to add the EFS kinetic to.
Ultra Winch 4x4 Recovery Kit Bundle
Best Value Recovery Kit- Full Featured
- Contains everything required for two types of double-line pull
- Snatch Instead of Kinetic
Campboss Premium Adventure Recovery System
Best Foundational Recovery Kit to Build On- Very Reputable Brand
- Kinetic Instead of Snatch
- Does not contain everything needed for a double-line pull.
Tyre Deflators
We’re including two sections for deflators and deflator gauges. Out of everything, here’s what we’ve found in our experience to be the best.
If you’re looking at brass type, automatic deflators like the ones below, we’ve written about how to set your tyre deflators.
OCAM 4x4 Deflators
Best Value Automatic Tyre Deflators- Dirt Cheap
- Not Super Accurate
- Requires Setting a Reference Pressure Before Setting Deflator
Boss Air Deflators
Best Automatic Tyre Deflators- Accurate
- Very Easy to Use
- Preset Markings | No Need for a Reference Pressure
Dune Big Red
Best Value Tyre Deflator- ARB Clone
- 24 Month Warranty
- Cost Effective Solution
ARB E-Z Deflator
Best Automatic Tyre Deflators- Accurate
- Great Quality
- Is It Worth 2x the Price of a Dune?
