Five Great Gifts Ideas For Overlanders and Off-Roaders

The following items are some of the most useful gifts to give to those venturing off-road, and some might even help “save the day” when you really need it.

Disclaimer: We’re not extreme, hard-core trail  people, but have used most of the products listed below in real-world situations, off-road and with good success. This post includes affiliate links to products we use and recommend.

Overlander Gift Idea #1 – Off-Road Recovery Gear

Do We Own These? – Yes

Traction Boards – Every off-road or overland vehicle should carry some sort of recovery gear, even if it’s only as simple as a shovel and a couple of traction boards. Our choice for traction boards for carrying in our truck are a couple sets made by Pliosaur, which currently go for around $50. When choosing a set of traction boards for your overland vehicle, look for ones that are UV resistant and which are made of tough materials like engineering-grade nylon for durability. Tip – If you ever get into a situation where you need to use traction boards, chances are that two of them may not be enough, which is why we carry four.

Similar traction boards for overlanding can cost as much as $350, like those made by off-road gear manufacturer ARB, but these inexpensive and tough boards made by Pliosaur will work just as well.

Do We Own This? – No, not yet.

Overland Shovels – Every overland vehicle should carry a good shovel. So far, we’ve gotten by just fine with a $50 D-handle shovel from Home Depot, but wouldn’t mind taking our shovel game up a notch or two. One of the most versatile overland shovels is the Delta shovel made by DMOS, which we have seen carried on all many rigs lately. This lightweight and tough overland shovel collapses into a nice size for carrying on your rack or being stowed away. The Delta shovel was first introduced as a crowdfunded project and from the overwhelming reception it got in the overlanding community, it seems the engineers really got the design right.

Off-Road Recovery Kits

There are several “off road recovery kits” available on sites like Amazon, all containing about the same basic gear – a tow strap and D-ring shackles, maybe with a pair of gloves added and in the $80-$150 price range. Even if you don’t own a winch, these are a good idea to carry, since another vehicle who comes along and offers to help may not have the right gear to pull you out.

Below: Soft shackles also get the job done, and can be safer to use than D ring shackles in certain situations.

A shackle-to-tow hitch receiver adapter is also a good idea if your vehicle doesn’t have rear tow hooks to attach to. (Don’t worry if you think the person on your list might already have a recovery kit, they can probably use the extra gear for more reach.)

Tip – Look for tow straps with a pulling capacity of at least 30,000 lbs or more, to cover any task you might need them for off-road.

Overlanding Gift Idea #2 – Off-Road Mapping Applications

Do We Use All These – Yes

In our post How to Find Trails Based on Difficulty Level, we mentioned a couple of excellent apps which can help overlanders find the best places to explore off-road. We love using Gaia GPS for navigation,and the onX Offoad app to find more details about the trails in an area that we plan to explore. Both apps offer offline mapping, something that’s essential in the back-country where cell coverage is often limited. The cost for Gaia GPS is currently $3.33 per month, but there’s currently a special with Outside Magazine, which brings the cost down to $2.49 per month.

onX Offroad lists thousands of trails across the US and Canada, and has many very helpful features for overlanders, such as showing property boundaries and land ownership, along with recent trail reports from other users. The cost of onX Offroad is $30 per year for premium and $100 for elite (which gives your property ownership and a few other perks.)

We don’t think either of them are enough by themselves – yet. Gaia GPS lacks the thousands of man-hours of trail info and mapping that’s been put into onX Offroad. Gaia GPS has compact topo map files for offline use (we can fit the entire Southwest on our phone) and is easy to use, so we still use both. Both apps are available for Apple and Android devices.

Gift Idea For Overlanders #3 – GMRS Radio

Do We Own These? – Yes

We’re big fans of using powerful GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) mobile and handheld radios to keep in touch with other vehicles and our own family when camping and overlanding. With clear FM audio and output power that’s 10 times higher than old-fashioned CB radios, plus the ability to use long range repeater stations for covering a wider area, almost nothing works better than GMRS for keeping everyone in touch when traveling off-road in areas with no cell reception. These radios require an easy-to-get FCC license costing $35 (good for 10 years and covering the whole family).

In one of our vehicles we’ve installed a Midland MXT-575 50 watt mobile unit, and in the other a Btech GMRS-50X1. To keep in touch with family back at camp, we often carry a couple of Baofeng UV-9G waterproof handhelds, which can work up to 10 miles or more. One of the most exciting new developments in GMRS radio is the ability to send SMS text messages and use GPS tracking with an affordable GMRS radio, not just with an expensive Garmin Rhino.

If getting an FCC license and using “call signs” isn’t really your thing, a good alternative is using a pair of FRS (Family Radio Service) radios. These license-free radios have less power and range, but can still work very well for most people and provide several miles of communication range. An bonus is that FRS radios can communicate with all GMRS radios, if you ever want to upgrade and use them with those. We like the Motorola T-800 model, which can be used with a phone app to track the location of everyone in your party, and even send text messages in areas where there’s no cellular signal.

Overlanding Gift Idea #4 – Recovery Jacks

Do We Own This – Yes

For over 100 years the basic design of the Hi-Lift jack has been about the same. These jacks are to be used only for recovery (getting your vehicle up and off of something it’s stuck on – not for tire changing). Simple to operate and able to lift your vehicle’s chassis up to 4′ over obstacles, there’s (almost) no better substitute. Hi-Lift jacks can even be used in a pinch as a makeshift winch to free a stuck vehicle (although this is a very slow process). It’s important to note that Hi-Lift is a brand name and there are cheap imitations out there, so beware!

If you’re flush with gift-giving cash, ARB makes an even better recovery jack. The ARB Hydraulic Recovery Jack uses a hydraulic design instead of cogs and levers, making it much safer than a Hi-Lift jack. All this technology does comes at a price though, with the ARB hydraulic high-lifting jack costing around $900. (No, we don’t own this.)

Do We Own This? – Yes (Mean Mother Exhaust Jack)

Another type of jack that can be used for vehicle recovery is an exhaust jack. Exhaust jacks like the Mean Mother and ARB Bushranger X-Jack can lift a vehicle using either exhaust gas from the tailpipe, or air supplied by your onboard compressor. These jacks are hard to beat for sandy areas but require using caution where there are thorns and sharp rocks.

Overlanding Gift Idea #5 – Fire Extinguisher

Do We Own This? – Yes

While they’re probably not the sexiest of overlanding gifts, a fire extinguisher is another piece of essential off-road gear. When choosing a fire extinguisher for overlanding, look for ones that are rated for fire types A, B and C. (Type B and C are the most common type of vehicle fires, involving flammable liquids and electrical items). Our choice for a good overlanding vehicle fire extinguisher is to carry a couple of Amerix B402 five pound extinguishers, mounted in the cab in two heavy duty brackets.

These 5 lb fire extinguishers do take up a bit more space that the more common 2.5 pound size extinguishers, but when you have a fire in a vehicle, you have a FIRE, and the more extinguisher you have on hand, the better off you’ll be.

Tip – (When you go to use a dry powder fire extinguisher such as these, be sure to invert it and give it a couple of sharp bumps on the bottom to free any powder that may have settled on the bottom.)

Bonus Gift Idea – Tire Deflators

Here’s one more bonus overlanding gift idea for the road – tire deflators. When traveling off-road, it’s common to air down tires a bit from highway pressure for a smoother ride. A set of automatic tire deflators like the ones above can help make this job easier. These run in the $30 range for a set that includes a valve core tool and pressure gauge.

We hope this list has been helpful by offering some holiday gift-giving ideas for any overlanders you might know. We’ve used all products listed here except the ARB hydraulic jack, and the DMOS Delta shovel, and are happy so far with our purchases. The only issue we had was with one of our Baofeng GMRS UV-9G radios, which was defective and replaced under warranty.

Full Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links to products we’ve used and recommend.

Related Articles: Recommended Gear List for overlanding.