Tred failure

[Bill]

Treds come in all colours

http://www.tred4x4.com/index.php/products

Just as well they have this

I stand corrected...
Bill

[evolution]

Have you tried trends warranty?

Cheers
Evo

[Carlisle Rogers]

My favourite, from TRED's website, under the History section:
"TRED sets itself apart due to ease of use and its specifically designed features. The two-in-one design of both a shovel and a heavy duty highly engineered recovery ramp make TRED the ultimate Total Recovery & Extraction Device."

It's uncanny that no Australian had come up with anything like that before...especially not anything coloured bright orange and patented with almost those exact words.

I kept waiting to see MaxTrax on TRED's History tab, but history, like anything else, is rarely written with the truth in mind.

Carlisle

[achjimmy]

Truth is all these plastic mats are just a modern day version of "marsden matting" anybody claiming any originality is full of if.

 if I could still get original marsden mats I would. Google marsden mat's they built airfields out of them during ww2.

[alnjan]

I am surprised people actually use them at all.  I thought they were just the latest piece of plastic bling to customise your vehicle with.  Some footage of people using them makes me really wonder why these people are referring to themselves as 4wders.

[ozbogwam]

I am surprised people actually use them at all.  I thought they were just the latest piece of plastic bling to customise your vehicle with.  Some footage of people using them makes me really wonder why these people are referring to themselves as 4wders.

So you've never used them then? So you've never got stuck in deep sand or snow? They are a great bit of kit if you actually 4wd in those sort if terrains, can turn a complex recovery into a pretty simple one is used with a bit of thought

[Carlisle Rogers]

So I looked this one up. It is historically interesting, and while a set of these would be very helpful when bogged, I'm not sure they really suit the average traveller:

"A single piece weighed about 66 pounds (30kg) and was 10 ft (3.0 m) long by 15 in (0.38 m) wide."

To say that MaxTrax are unoriginal is akin to saying that the iPhone is really nothing but a fancy wind-up payphone. The TRED is more like an 'iPone' that you might pick up on eBay from Hong Kong, it looks the same, and is trading on someone else's intellectual prowess, but is essentially inferior.

I have noticed that there are two alternate, and incompatible, views in the world regarding the purchase of just about anything. In the one group are those that save for the best. They might make do when they can't afford the best, but they appreciate that buying better in the beginning saves money in the long run; also time, headaches, and when it comes to remote travel, maybe lives.
 
The second group always buys the cheapest: those plastic boxes for $12 that smash on the first trip away, the knock-off of whatever 4WD product is big this week, the GIC camper, any camera but a Nikon or Canon, the 3L Patrols from a decade ago. They will try to convince you (and themselves) of their wisdom, foresight and savings, but in the long run, old proverbs run true:

The fool buys everything twice.

Truth is all these plastic mats are just a modern day version of "marsden matting" anybody claiming any originality is full of if.

 if I could still get original marsden mats I would. Google marsden mat's they built airfields out of them during ww2.

[achjimmy]

So I looked this one up. It is historically interesting, and while a set of these would be very helpful when bogged, I'm not sure they really suit the average traveller:

"A single piece weighed about 66 pounds (30kg) and was 10 ft (3.0 m) long by 15 in (0.38 m) wide."

To say that MaxTrax are unoriginal is akin to saying that the iPhone is really nothing but a fancy wind-up payphone. The TRED is more like an 'iPone' that you might pick up on eBay from Hong Kong, it looks the same, and is trading on someone else's intellectual prowess, but is essentially inferior.

I have noticed that there are two alternate, and incompatible, views in the world regarding the purchase of just about anything. In the one group are those that save for the best. They might make do when they can't afford the best, but they appreciate that buying better in the beginning saves money in the long run; also time, headaches, and when it comes to remote travel, maybe lives.
 
The second group always buys the cheapest: those plastic boxes for $12 that smash on the first trip away, the knock-off of whatever 4WD product is big this week, the GIC camper, any camera but a Nikon or Canon, the 3L Patrols from a decade ago. They will try to convince you (and themselves) of their wisdom, foresight and savings, but in the long run, old proverbs run true:

The fool buys everything twice.

Yeah there was smaller Marsden mat that were carried on Jeeps as well (do you like the longitudal groves for winch cables?) But yep I do belive the Maxtrax aren't an original idea, a great product and clever concept on an older idea Yes.  a decade or more ago we were using that reinforced fiberglass that comes in sheets cut down to suitable sizes (I think some fourbie shops sell it now)

Re your other points mate I agree totally, people will always try to justify there  decisions often aggressively.

But just as obvoius today in the industry that has become "4wd " you have companies marketing and buying reviews and promoting products "over and above" what they are good for. And often the price of that product is reflective of that marketing and not the production costs.

[D4D]

The fool buys everything twice.

I prefer, quality remains long after the price is forgotten.

[achjimmy]

This was the stuff I was mention FRP grating, insanely strong.

I knew there was shorter Marsden but I think maybe it was just cut down?  Anyway see they had a "mounting " system sorted as well?

[Carlisle Rogers]

Jim,

The FRP stuff looks promising. If tyres bit into them, they would provide some lift in sand/ mud. If...
Without any protrusions on the top for the tyres to grip, though...I'm skeptical. Not discrediting, just healthily skeptical.

The steel ones...I'm just not sold that they would work when wet at all. I can see tyres slip-sliding all over them in anything but the conditions they were designed for, lying flat above a bulldozed site as a temporary road surface.  Ever ride a motorcycle on a steel grate drawbridge? You're praying and nearly closing your eyes the whole way to keep the thing going straight, there's zero lateral traction.

Of course, there's always corrugated steel as well, perhaps the worst possible traction aid known to man, and an even more diabolical thing to find half-buried in a water crossing. And yet, the amount of times I've found scraps of corry ripped to bits and waiting, like the fangs of ineptitude, to tear holes in my tyres is disconcerting.

It's worth noting that Australia's Special Forces have been ordering MaxTrax and eschewing any other option available on the market recently. Proof that even the military will eventually move onto better solutions.

C

[schmik]

So I looked this one up. It is historically interesting, and while a set of these would be very helpful when bogged, I'm not sure they really suit the average traveller:

"A single piece weighed about 66 pounds (30kg) and was 10 ft (3.0 m) long by 15 in (0.38 m) wide."

To say that MaxTrax are unoriginal is akin to saying that the iPhone is really nothing but a fancy wind-up payphone. The TRED is more like an 'iPone' that you might pick up on eBay from Hong Kong, it looks the same, and is trading on someone else's intellectual prowess, but is essentially inferior.

I have noticed that there are two alternate, and incompatible, views in the world regarding the purchase of just about anything. In the one group are those that save for the best. They might make do when they can't afford the best, but they appreciate that buying better in the beginning saves money in the long run; also time, headaches, and when it comes to remote travel, maybe lives.
 
The second group always buys the cheapest: those plastic boxes for $12 that smash on the first trip away, the knock-off of whatever 4WD product is big this week, the GIC camper, any camera but a Nikon or Canon, the 3L Patrols from a decade ago. They will try to convince you (and themselves) of their wisdom, foresight and savings, but in the long run, old proverbs run true:

The fool buys everything twice.

Love your post. Except the part about canikon..... Pentax make some quality kit!
It's all about risks right??? Buy cheap chinese DVD players for the kids... why? Because who really gives poop when they fail.
A winch? Recovery gear? The vehicle? There is a reason I drive a toyota not a great wall (and there are max trax in the boot).

[weeds]

This was the stuff I was mention FRP grating, insanely strong.

I knew there was shorter Marsden but I think maybe it was just cut down?  Anyway see they had a "mounting " system sorted as well?

i have two lengths of the grating and carried it around for a while.......its heavy, sharp corners etc.....i used one of them once to make a ramp, they have been sitting up the side of the house for the last three years. i do agree it would be hard to break them as i used them for a ramp i.e. bridging ladder

[Chippy76]

I know a place where there is heaps of marsden matting!!!

Cheers Chippy

[achjimmy]

Jim,

The FRP stuff looks promising. If tyres bit into them, they would provide some lift in sand/ mud. If...
Without any protrusions on the top for the tyres to grip, though...I'm skeptical. Not discrediting, just healthily skeptical.

The steel ones...I'm just not sold that they would work when wet at all. I can see tyres slip-sliding all over them in anything but the conditions they were designed for, lying flat above a bulldozed site as a temporary road surface.  Ever ride a motorcycle on a steel grate drawbridge? You're praying and nearly closing your eyes the whole way to keep the thing going straight, there's zero lateral traction.

Of course, there's always corrugated steel as well, perhaps the worst possible traction aid known to man, and an even more diabolical thing to find half-buried in a water crossing. And yet, the amount of times I've found scraps of corry ripped to bits and waiting, like the fangs of ineptitude, to tear holes in my tyres is disconcerting.

It's worth noting that Australia's Special Forces have been ordering MaxTrax and eschewing any other option available on the market recently. Proof that even the military will eventually move onto better solutions.

C

FRP grating comes with either flat or with the top serrated, grips good. Again heavy though but very strong.

I agree I think the Maxtrax are great just don't accept they are a totally original concept.

[GeeTee]

So I looked this one up. It is historically interesting, and while a set of these would be very helpful when bogged, I'm not sure they really suit the average traveller:

"A single piece weighed about 66 pounds (30kg) and was 10 ft (3.0 m) long by 15 in (0.38 m) wide."

To say that MaxTrax are unoriginal is akin to saying that the iPhone is really nothing but a fancy wind-up payphone. The TRED is more like an 'iPone' that you might pick up on eBay from Hong Kong, it looks the same, and is trading on someone else's intellectual prowess, but is essentially inferior.

I have noticed that there are two alternate, and incompatible, views in the world regarding the purchase of just about anything. In the one group are those that save for the best. They might make do when they can't afford the best, but they appreciate that buying better in the beginning saves money in the long run; also time, headaches, and when it comes to remote travel, maybe lives.
 
The second group always buys the cheapest: those plastic boxes for $12 that smash on the first trip away, the knock-off of whatever 4WD product is big this week, the GIC camper, any camera but a Nikon or Canon, the 3L Patrols from a decade ago. They will try to convince you (and themselves) of their wisdom, foresight and savings, but in the long run, old proverbs run true:

The fool buys everything twice.

...but they got it for a good price

[BigJules]

I can't agree that anyone who manufactures a recovery track made of some polymer is copying MaxTrax.

For me it is analogous to spoons. We've been using spoons for a long time. Initially they were made of wood or bone, then bronze, brass, eventually tin, steel and stainless steel. Then someone made them out of a plastic material.

Every spoon has a bowl and a handle as a result of its intended use, but it is still essentially the same tool it has always been.

I congratulate the MaxTrax folks. They took an idea forward and I believe they have done extremely well out of it. Well done, how could one not acknowledge success. They can also afford to sponsor lots of events (a good thing) and attempt to challenge (and limit) any potential competition.

Now, all you you please put down your rip off cutlery and think of another way to get the food to your mouth.

[weeds]

I can't agree that anyone who manufactures a recovery track made of some polymer is copying MaxTrax.

i dont think there has been any over the top discussion about copyrights in this thread....maybe one or two loose comments, plenty of other threads harp on a whole lot more

this thread has had plenty of discussion about different recovery equipment which i reckon would be helpful to those about to buy some

i do agree that many/most companies develop there products based on somebody elses idea or product 

[GeeTee]

After a thorough analysis, the boffins have found the cause of the splitting down the middle



  

[briann532]

After a thorough analysis, the boffins have found the cause of the splitting down the middle



  

PMSL.................. 

thats gold.

[duggie]

I don't know nuffin about  Marsden matting, MaxTrax or Treds but I do know that the side boards of the ute work well as does corrugated iron when stuck in sand, but nothing works real well once your tread blocks up with sticky mud.

cheers duggie