Ute Canopies

S,

I've got a Flexiglass, one year old no problems.

Whatever you decide to go with, make sure you get the lift up side windows to be able to access gear.

With regards to your _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx, we do a set for the Hilux, $1099 with a 5 year warranty.

Cheers,

Jim.

My last vehicle was an 'o5 Hilux. I fitted a Carryboy Canopy. Probably at the more expensive end of the options, but excellent quality. Looked like it was part of the vehicle, not an add on. Colour coding was perfect.

Another benefit is, it has a roof load capacity of 100 KG with no added supports. I put roof racks on the canopy and carried a tinnie on it for our travels.

I made my own roller _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx for it which were an excellent addition.

Depending on what you will carry, you probably don't need the one with the high back. I reckon they don't look as good and they interfere with fitting roof racks if you ever want to.

TJM are CRAP

I had one on my old Triton Dual Cab and will never fit another TJM Canopy to a vehicle that I own.
The quality of finish was shocking to the extent that the colour coded paint bubbled and peel within the first month, The front window piece is seperate to the remainder of the canopy shell and mine leaked.

Cheers Kev

Gday Sobriquet. I can not help you with a canopy selection,but you may need to look carefully around the inside of the well body of your vehicle especially under the top combing. In my case there were may areas that were only stiitch welded and a few other smalll holes that let dust into the enclosed area. I used a good mastic type sealing product to seal all the hair line slits and holes. Happy travelling LOS

another question on these canopies: I'm wondering if those metal ones get hot inside as well as outside?

I have an old TJM fibreglass one which is perfectly ok but but looking a bit tired now. The side window locks coroded inside the barrel but I've just bought two new ones quite easily from TJM.

My new work crummydore ute was delivered with a flexiglass canopy. Quality was good, but the locking was rubbish. One quick tug on a rear handle popped the back hatch open without any problems (or any damage).

The opening side windows were good for access.

It has now been dumped and I don't have a canopy.

Pete

Interesting that nobody said anything about ARB, which BTW are the cheapest of the brands mentioned here.

Prices I got: ARB $2490 with 2 lift-up sides, TJM $2640 with 1 lift-up side ($120 more for 2 lift-ups), Flexiglass $2980 with airvent and 2 lift-up sides.

At that price Flexiglass is smooth, color coded, the others are textured, white. I'm beginning to like the Flexiglass/Challenge one most.

We got a Flexiglass from new. It's hard to rate the quality on a comparative scale, having no experience of other brands, but...

1. It had to be refitted three times, as it was too close to the cab and banged into the cab on mildly bumpy suburban roads.

2. The interior light fell off - not replaced as useless anyway - wired to be powered only with tail lights on.

3. The lower strut mounting nuts and bolts and latch bolts and nuts are mild steel and now rusted, the upper ones are stainless and perfect.

Note: Paint is good, and there are no leaks. The unit is now two and a half years old. From memory it was a bit over $2000, but there may have been a bit of a discount in there.
It is the smooth finish one, with a lower roof load capacity than their high roof tradies model.
It has basic sliding windows - good for the dog.

Good luck. Enjoy the Hilux, it is a superb vehicle, to my mind the best all round value available.

Regards, John.

you should ask over here as well

http://www.newhilux.net/

which ever you get make sure you get lift up sides - the sliding windows are only useful if you have a dog in the back. rgds

I have an ARB on my 02 Lux, colour coding is fine, have had no probs at all but did improve the tailgate sealing somewhat. I went for a flat top not hi top as I sometimes carry a kayak or two, Hitop would prevent that.

The TJM, ARB, and Flexiglass/Challenge canopies all look to be of a similar quality. The ones I have noticed all seem to have the same lifting windows with same 2 locking handles. (I may possibly get shot down here as I have not looked too closely - but I will still maintain they all look the same type of crap and I am expressing a personal opinion.) I purchased an ARB model for my D40 as the Nissan one was not available with lifting side window. It is not a patch on the quality of a Nissan canopy on a family members D40. Mine feels too lightly built, no lining and 2 locks/handles per window - the Nissan windows are of heavier construction with a single point handle with good locking points each side. I would have paid the extra $1,000 or so extra for better quality if the Nissan one had lifting side windows.

An extra disappointment was the window was not very high (even though I have a high top canopy.) I find it not the easiest to get things through the side windows. Since getting the canopy I saw a couple of other models recommended in the Navara forum. Have a look at these and express your opinions:
http://www.utecanopies.com.au/thdcwsww.html
http://www.autoseatandsun.com.au/NewProducts.aspx

PeterD

Thanks to everyone for their input. Its been interesting and informative.

At this stage what I got from it all is that the TJM got a lot of bagging, the Flexiglass is not significantly better but it is more expensive, and may have fitting/locking poblems, other brands mentioned in other posts were either too expensive (eg Carryboy - looks fantastic though), or had no representatives to supply & fit the things in SA.

The ARB one has received very few complaints here, and it is actually the cheapest as well by a significant margin. Not often you get those two attributes together.

Soo, I've bitten the bullet and ordered an ARB with two lift-up windows - $2264 installed. Its just I need it installed for a trip later in the month - so I'd better get on with it.

Well, thanks again for all the input.

Cheers
Sobriquet.

Interesting nobody has mentioned that there has been an issue of the ARB glass falling out of the windows. Maybe they have fixed that.

Here is my Caddy Workmate canopy on my 2007 Hilux which I chose over all of the rest. It is vastly superior than the Flexiglass one and is much the same price when fitted with roof racks. The rack is 100 kg rated and screws straight onto the roof so there is nothing obscuring the window access.



Here are a few more pics More Caddy Canopy Photos

Note the lockable slam shut latches.

This stands about 80 mm lower than the rear of an ARB high back canopy and is tall enough to stand a washing machine up in no worries. You will appreciate the extra height if you add _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx and a fridge and you have that height over the whole tray!

The side doors are big enough to put the largest porta pottie through. Try that with the Flexiglass Windoor.