
Desert-Tested's Overland Expo 2025 Review: A Mixed Bag
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We here at Desert-Tested made a pilgrimage up to Overland Expo West 2025 to see what we could see. And much was seen. The Expo saw a decline in attendees for the second year in a row, though only being down from 29,500 to 28,000 isn't exactly earth-shattering. However, the Expo was a mixed bag of both good and bad as we talked to vendors and tried to hunt down 2024 Ranger Parts, which were still few and far between, even in what is now mid-2025.
The good news is that there's still a lot of vendors that showed up who are genuinely knowledgeable about the parts and components that they're selling and how they can help out the outdoors/adventure crowd. We got some hints at new products hitting the market for both the 2024 Ranger and in general, and we had some good conversations about the state of the market and the direction that some these brands are going.
The bad news is that there was a ton of vendors there that didn't give us much, weren't informed on their own products, or were just going through the motions of being at Overland Expo. A lack of effort in regards to booths, current product offerings, and applications for some of the vendors there wasn't great. Factor in the lack of build variety, and even a serious lack of truck and vehicle variety, and you had a Grand Off-Road Overland Exposition that felt small and samey, despite its massive size.
There's still plenty here to be interested in, but how many Tacomas with coilovers, tires, bumpers, a bed rack, an RTT, and one pet product of the vendor in question do you see before your eyes glaze over a bit?
Not to mention, in a world where no one is getting COVID checks and economic uncertainty being the new normal, are showcasing these all-out builds helping normal folks out?

The Good Things About Overland Expo West 2025:
Not to be snide, but the weather was great. There is something special about Flagstaff in mid-May. We arrived at 8am on Saturday, and stayed until 1pm, and the temperatures never got above the mid-70s. The wind stayed down most of the morning, and only picked up a bit right as we where leaving, but it was beautiful out.
The amount of vendors present was something we'd argue as a good thing, though even with a 3-day pass, it would probably be impossible to visit all of them, much less have an in-depth conversation about what their offerings are. With 423 vendors registered, there's bound to be at least a few that will pique your interest, give you solid information, and maybe even sell you some kit while you're there. Granted, the amount vendors is also a bad thing, which we'll get into.
Plenty of the vendors put serious effort into their booths and brought out there A-Team reps to answer questions, talk to people, and even answer more pointed questions from industry people and general shit-stirrers (like us). You can learn a lot at events like these, and there's a ton of opportunity to better understand where a given vendors products may fit into your off-road vehicle build of choice.
We also got some insight as to why 2024-2025 Ranger products are scarce right now, though the answer is pretty unsatisfying (nearly everyone is working on new Toyotas first), but we do have some timelines both general and specific on when we should see stuff land.

The Desert-Tested Nice List:
-Accutune Off-Road: Accutune had a pretty impressive booth, with their “Ride” series of shocks and coilovers on full display. We did ask them if they’re planning on 2024 Ranger parts, and they were pretty honest that their big focus was on the Toyotas at the moment, which while disappointing, did make sense, and again, the honesty was nice.
-KC HiLites: Our fellow Arizonans KC HiLites came out in force. Being local to Flagstaff definitely helped, but they had a ton of product on display, more than a few trucks on display, including a rare Ford Raptor. We talked about the switchover to the new “Master Kit” setup for their lights, as well as their upcoming Platform One roof racks and new power options, which have a lot of no-drill options for some applications. Very knowledgeable and they answered all of our questions.
-ARB: ARB had an amazing booth, and unlike everyone else, their 2024 Ranger stuff is coming. They have everything good to go for the Australian Rangers, but Ford did make some frame changes that has caused ARB to go back to the drawing board. They did confirm that the leaf springs themselves are the same as the 2019-2023 Ranger, so you do have leaf spring options available, and that goes a long way to explain the similar “dump truck” ride they share. They did have a Landcruiser at their booth, like everyone else.
-Fox: Fox came out in style with a really impressive booth, and they were pretty tight-lipped about their stuff that was under development, but they were out there with really impressive displays and the news about the 2024 Rangers was “soon”, which we’ll take.
-Timbren: Timbren may have come with a Toyota, but they confirmed fitment of both their current SES and Active Bump Stops on the 2024 Rangers, so both those options are available for 2024-2025 Rangers that are going to be towing or ripping around hard off-road. Timbren never gets enough love for putting out a consistently good product across a bunch of different applications, so it was nice to seem them out there.
-DECKED: Decked had a good booth, with their drawer systems and new top-mounted slides on display, though they were busy talking to people who may actually buy DECKED systems, so we didn’t have a chance to talk to them.
-Nitto: Nitto was great, and they went into a lot of depth over the logic of releasing the new Terra Grappler G3 A/T when the Recon Grappler A/T had just come out. Having two A/T tires always seemed odd to me.
-Onwrd Supply Co.: Onwrd piqued our interest with their universal headrest and seatback options that avoided going the MOLLE and tactical route with their own proprietary system that loops and velcros on. While we weren’t huge fans of the color options, they’re a great option if you’re looking to expand your Ranger’s interior storage, which in our opinion, is a major downside to the truck.
-COBB: COBB Tuning was out with a bit more humble of a booth, but their rep was extremely helpful and put up with our questions. They now have Tacoma and 4Runner tuning, which is great, since the older naturally-aspirated Tacomas had a serious lack of tuning options, which meant that the few folks that did offer tunes for those trucks charged an arm and a leg without giving much back. COBB also has 2024 Ranger tuning on the way, and a few hard parts for the Ranger Raptors, which is always nice to see.

The Bad Things About Overland Expo West 2025
Unfortunately, there was plenty to not like about the Expo, even as we first arrived on-site. We paid for a parking pass and got the pleasure of parking on Ft. Tuthills horse racing track. It's fine moon dust managed to get just about everywhere, and it seemed like a lot of folks were just parking on the side of the freeway access road for free and walking in with no issues. Granted, they had a bit further to walk than we did, but they also didn't shell out an extra $20 for the parking pass.
Despite there being 1500 less attendees than last year, the even still felt pretty crowded, especially as it got later in the day. The Expo still doesn't seem all that people-friendly, and there's a major lack of places to sit and rest after wandering around for a few hours. As more folks kept coming in, it got harder to talk to vendors as they were interacting with folks that may actually wanted to buy their products, instead of us schlubs just looking for mythical Ranger parts.
It was also disappointing to not see Ford, Ram, Nissan, or Rivian at the event. GMC, Toyota, and Subaru (who was also doing pet adoptions, which was cute) all made it out and had some vehicles to showcase. With Ford having such a solid lineup of mdi-size vehicles nowadays, it seemed really weird that they weren't there with some Broncos, Rangers, and Ranger Raptors. Getting more OEMs involved would've done a lot to break up the endless sea of built Toyotas.
Speaking of which, the tidal wave of Tacomas and Landcruisers got pretty old, pretty fast. With the market laser-focused on the Toyotas, there really wasn't much there for anyone else. Both Fox and Accutune told us that their focus was on the new Toyotas which is why Ranger ended up on the wayside. To some extent, I get it. Tacomas are essentially the Glock of the off-road/overland world, but to see so many of them and a lack of variety in how they're built was pretty disappointing. That's not to say I'm a Toyota hater, but there are other trucks out there on the market that offer more or less the same performance and packages that don't have the Toyota dealer tax.
However, out biggest gripe was that there did seem to be more than a few vendors at the Expo that were just going through the motions both in regards to booth design and knowledge of their attending reps. King Shocks was probably the most egregious example we came across with just a glorified merch booth and vendor reps that gave us conflicting information about 2024 Ranger offerings and even if they had a truck in for fitment testing. As much as I like King's 2.5 coilovers and shocks from a performance perspective, there was a decisive lack of effort in informing the public about product, and they seemed more interested in selling King merch than anything else.
The Desert-Tested Naughty List:
-Wilwood: Wilwood was there showing off some of their Big Brake upgrades, including their AERO6 six-piston brake kits that reuse the stock spindles and can fit with smaller diameter wheels than their previous offerings. However, there’s still offset requirements, which have always been a huge concern, even going back to the TX6R kits that came out for full-size trucks years ago. Download the template or talk to one of our reps is not a guarantee, and eating an $1800 brake kit because the template wasn’t helpful or you misunderstood the template and only find out after the kit’s installed and your wheels don’t clear isn’t great, and nothing Wilwood told us made us feel much better.
-King Shocks: The King booth wasn’t a great experience, just in general. They showed up with a lot of merch, and not much else. They weren’t able to answer many of our questions. We specifically asked them about how their Ranger 2.5 coilovers and rear shocks are listed from 2019-2024 when there’s been suspension design changes. According to the guys in the booth, they weren’t aware of the changes, and stated that they didn’t get a 2024 Ranger in for testing. As of this writing, King (and many aftermarket vendors selling King’s coilovers) are saying these fit the 2024 Rangers, and they’re the only ones. Yikes.
The "Meh" Things About Overland Expo West 2025
Like anything in life, there's plenty in between good and bad, and there was some of that at Overland Expo West, as well. While not good, also not terrible. The major thing in this category was the vibe of the event itself. It felt like it existed mostly for the vendors to advertise and make an appearance in a dusty SEMA sort of way. I'm not sure what the average consumer gets out of this, outside of a chance to get some questions answered and get a little more hands-on with some products. Almost all the vehicle builds are aspirational, and the majority of them are Tacomas or Landcruisers this year. There's a value question here for the average person that I don't really know the answer to.
We also talked to some vendors and saw some booths that were a bit more of a mixed bag. Either the booth was impressive and we didn't get particularly good information, or the booth was pretty meager and we did good information from their reps. Rigid Industries' booth probably exemplified this more than anyone. Their booth really only showcased some of their newer light offerings on a panel, and they had a couple of trucks with E-Series, SR-Series, and D-Series lights installed, but they weren't a core part of the showcase. However, the Rigid rep we talked to was extremely knowledgeable, and she walked us through some of their rationales.

The Desert-Tested Okay List:
-aFe: while aFe’s booth wasn’t bad, and they did have 2024 Ranger stuff, I left a bit iffy. They’re going hard into bumpers, grille guards, and “rock-rails” that don’t actually install on the frame. Can’t say I’m super-excited for it, and it feels like this is aFe trying to become an omni-manufacturer as fast as they can without putting a ton of thought or effort into what the market wants, and it seems a bit too late, but we’ll see.
-K&N: K&N came with a big booth, and their rep that spoke to us was great and super-excited. They did try to sell their NexGen intake pretty hard, and according to their site, their offerings are pretty thin in the affordability department. The NextGen also looks like a take on Airaid’s design cues, so it’s going to be interesting how that fits in with anything Airaid comes out with and whether there’s going to be cross-competition between those two companies, and also puts the future of Airaid into question.
-Rigid Industries: Rigid’s booth was a little bare-bones, but their rep did answer some of our questions. They did admit that their move away from amber LEDs was mostly due to consumer demand, and that the rise of pods and the move away from light bars was also due to demand. It was pretty disappointing to hear that they’re only supporting brackets and bracket kits back 5 years, so if you do have an older truck, you may soon be out of luck with Rigid-branded mounting options.
-Bilstein: Bilstein has 2024 Ranger stuff coming out in the next months, with 4600s and 5100s coming out first. 8100s and 8112s are in the project phase. Disappointing, but they were honest about the timeline.

Takeaways from Overland Expo West 2025:
Honestly, I don't know if there's any grand conclusion to draw from this year's Expo. While attendance was slightly down, you still had more vendors than ever and more than enough folks showing up to take a look. The "overland is over" crowd is most definitely incorrect, but there are some things that probably need to be fixed going forward to keep people interested.
A lot more variety in vehicles would be nice to see, and a much bigger variety in vehicle builds would definitely be nice. Someone with a modern, bone-stock truck that just needs a few tweaks is probably going to be more overwhelmed than anything coming to Overland Expo, especially if they don't already have some idea what they're looking for.

Vendors probably need a bit more substantial of a vetting, as well as some oversight as to what these booths ought to contain. Granted, not everyone needs to be KC HiLites with three trucks, two tents, a ton of product, and a partridge in a pear tree on display, but you also can't have a major manufacturer like King showing up and just selling merch. You also can't have brands showing up selling overpriced "overland" wet wipes as their only offering (yes, there was at least one).
One of the big issues with SEMA is that it's pretty much solely tailored to vendors and retailers. SEMA has never really escaped that mindset of when it wasn't open to the general public, and it feels like Overland Expo is headed that directions. A more human touch, a lighter hand, and more sanity or variety from the vendors are some of what's probably needed here. The attendance drop this year could just a be blip, and Overland Expo West 2026 may go totally gangbusters. We'll just have to see.
