Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
What is the best price\performance bed cover?
What kind of performance are you hoping for with a bed cover?
Gotcha.. I have a gatortrax on mine. I like it overall. No leaks in the 1.5 years i have had it (had it on my 17 and then put it on my 18). Its nice that it locks in any position. My only complaint is that it occasionally it gets stuck or slightly hard to open since the handle is off to the side. So when it does, I typically just climb up in the bed and push on it from the middle. Pretty crappy design to put the handle cantilevered off to one side. There is no way to not put an uneven torque on the bed cover like that which can cause binding.
But in the end, it does the job it is supposed to: covers stuff in the bed, can lock in any position, can be locked with a key, and you dont have to have the tailgate open to open it (as long as it doesnt bind as stated above). No wind noise with it and its a hard cover, so its not like a thief could just easily come up and slash thru it with a knife like some of the soft covers would be susceptible to.
I think I paid around $1000 for mine when I bought it because the company was running a sale at the time.
https://gatorcovers.com/shop-by-category/retractable/gatortrax-tonneau-cover.html
BTW, I had the truck cover USA on my gen 1 raptor. The rear seal eventually wore and tore off and after that, every time it rained I'd get water in my bed. That was after about 5 years of use though. Time will tell how long the gatortrax rear seal holds up.
My concern about those cover is the canister: in a very dusty/sandy environnement would it endup getting stuck?

Everyone of them have pros and cons. You just have to find the one that tics most of your boxes.
That's why I didn't go with Bak Filp. I don't want my rear window blocked if I need the full bed open. The down side of the Extang is you get 2/3 of the bed then have to remove it for the full bed. Removing takes less than 2 min.
Takes one minute to remove the Bak flip[emoji41]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You beat me! Maybe, I say undoing the extang takes the same.
Tomaaaato/Tomahhhhto
I left it open to interpretation, in case someone replied with something I didn't think of. For example, last time we had a thread like this someone pointed out wind noise which I never thought of, but what a huge deal that would make to me. I think I ruled out soft covers then.
I guess I'm looking for one that makes the least noise, keeps the bed cleanest/driest, looks the best and functions easy/well.
I was in love with the paragon. The idea of color matching it to the bed made it look the best, it looked really easy to use, it didn't block the rear window when folded all the way up, and if you needed more space, is looked really easy to remove and put in the back seat. I went to go order one and the shop told me they wouldn't order it for me and if I brought it to them they were going to charge me $400 to put it in because it was impossible to get lined up. They said the last one they did took an immense amount of time and labor to get lined up and it fell out of alignment shortly thereafter. They said it never opened all the way, never closed all the way, didn't move easily and leaked like a sieve. And they are pretty pricey.
They are pushing the Bakflip mx4 and the Retrax. I know a couple people got really good deals from vendors on here for those two. I guess I was just looking to see if anyone got a good deal on one that they've had really good experience with.
I had a "cheap" Truxedo vinyl cover on my 1794 Tundra for years that did the job just fine. For simple cover, that's really all you need. For the Raptor, I wanted something stronger/nicer. I too looked long and hard on the Peragon, but I didn't like that it was un-lined beyond the aluminum. It seemed a bit flimsy and too hot for where I am in SC.
I ended up going with the BakFlip MX4, and I am very pleased with it. My initial concern was the cost of these higher-end covers. But, I got it from vendor/sponsor Realtruck.com, and a chat on their web site, saying I'm an FRF member and asking for that discount, gave a price that made it a no-brainer. I seriously doubt you can do better for the money. Just my .02...