As a "young bloke" looking for an informative publication to help me develop as a 4wd'er, I looked at 4x4 Australia and 4wd Action. Personally, I found 4wd Action to be more about big lifts, big tyres, big mod and deep mud pits with a few handy hours of winching. this was apparently labeled as "4wding"
4x4 Aus seemed more infomrative na "thoughtful", a big more "cerebral" even. The Thinkning man's 4x4 Mag. I think Ron Moon was even the editor way back then....
HOwever, I have become disallusioned with even my prefered 4x4 mag. Yes, sadly, the articles all seem the same as I read 5 years ago, perhaps updated to refelct a new model or brand entering the market. And whilst inforamtive for the novice to mid level experienced 4x4'er, they are begining to lack anything to hold the interest of more experiences 4x4'ers. Or at least ones that have been buying that mag for more than 5 years
I too switched to the Camper Trailer Mags, each are "sister publications" to the 2 aforementioned 4x4 mags. One has the same people doing the same, IMHO, stupid stuff, with their heavily modified trucks, but has some interesting destinations. I would probably choose a different route (as discussed previously). The people dont strike me as having my "cred". Perhaps they do great mods, but 6" lifts and Big Block Chev's aint my cup of tea. One of their DVD's even had an apparent regular contributor saying (in a 2010 DVD) it was the first time he'd even towed a CT? Wow mate, really building your credentials and credability there. Well Done. I'll really value your opinion now......... NOT
The other, a newer player on the CT mag market i'm told, has a better feel for my personal taste (and each to their own here people) , but suffers from terrible "production quality". 1 edition I found 16 typo errors!! (almost as many as there are in this post
) and just a generally "cheap" feel to the layout and printing. I feel a little ripped off to cough up $8.95 for something that looks like it was laid out on "Microsoft Publisher Free Edition". And the subscription price offers no benefit over buying monthly from the news stand? Why would I bother subscribing (and paying the equiv of 10 editions) when I cna browse it in the newsagent, and decide yes or no to part with my $9! And the re-printing of articles 'm sure I read 2-3 months ago in the sister mag (even if slightly altered, the topic is the same - tyres, compressors, gizmoes etc)
That being said there have been some ripper comparisions but the lack of journalistic diversity (ie 1 bloke seems to write all the articles) doesn't allow for a variety of opinions and the comparos all sound similar after a while (PS I'm waiting for someone to really bag out some piece of crap camper , instead of writing "If you are in the market for a budget price camper, this "Shin-Huang"* may be for you."
D4D - you know, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Maybe I'm just not feeling the love for these blokes that others do
Anyway. I'd rather get an I-something app for a couple of bucks a month and read them that way now. almost $10 for a mag full of articles I've probably read before is too much. however, if you are newish to the scene, you may well get some really useful stuff out of it.
my 2 cents.....which is worth exactly that.....2 cents
*I made that name up - I really hope they aren't a real CT manufaturer or i could be in trouble!!!
