Hey all!
I wanted to do a quick first impressions/review of my recently purchased TractionJack traction mats.
First off, their website says they're backordered so I shot a quick email over to them and Jeffery (the owner) responded saying they had black pairs in stock. He sent me an invoice on Monday, I paid, and received them by Thursday. Jeffery was a pleasure to work with!
The packaging is awesome and you get 2 fold-able mats and two recovery ropes.
The quality on initial inspection is really good. They're beefy mats and you can tell the hinge is very strong. They can be a bit difficult to handle because the want to kind of flop when you're carrying them. I found tying the rope through the holes when collapsed helped keep them together and made them easier to carry.
Now I attempted to go get really stuck to try them out this weekend, but it turns out getting stuck in the desert is pretty difficult, especially in a cruiser.
What we ended up doing was attempting a hill until we couldn't go up any further, then using the mats to assist in going up further.
They worked well and I had very minimal tire spin while on the mat. Also, the little bit of tire spin didn't burn down the knobs at all as far as I could tell. They seem very strong.
The one issue I did notice was once you're on the font half of the mat, the back half picked up and actually got caught in the rear bumper. I don't think you would have this issue in a normal, flat ground, stuck situation though. The hinges are limited on their inverted (opposite direction than intended to fold) extension, but it wasn't enough to keep the back from kicking up under the bumper during a climbing situation. Once finished, I pulled them out of the sand using the ropes and gave them a quick kick and they were clean. Its nice they don't have all the huge channels and groove to trap dirt and mud.
Overall, these things are super well made and will definitely be what I carry in the cruiser. The fold-ability, design that prevents mud accumulation, traction, and customer support are top notch! I don't anticipate there being any issues when using them in a real recovery event.
Thanks for reading!
-Rami
***edit*** another awesome feature is that you can replace each half through traction jack at a discounted price. So if you ever burn up one half, its something like $30 for a new one.
I wanted to do a quick first impressions/review of my recently purchased TractionJack traction mats.
First off, their website says they're backordered so I shot a quick email over to them and Jeffery (the owner) responded saying they had black pairs in stock. He sent me an invoice on Monday, I paid, and received them by Thursday. Jeffery was a pleasure to work with!
The packaging is awesome and you get 2 fold-able mats and two recovery ropes.
The quality on initial inspection is really good. They're beefy mats and you can tell the hinge is very strong. They can be a bit difficult to handle because the want to kind of flop when you're carrying them. I found tying the rope through the holes when collapsed helped keep them together and made them easier to carry.
Now I attempted to go get really stuck to try them out this weekend, but it turns out getting stuck in the desert is pretty difficult, especially in a cruiser.
What we ended up doing was attempting a hill until we couldn't go up any further, then using the mats to assist in going up further.
They worked well and I had very minimal tire spin while on the mat. Also, the little bit of tire spin didn't burn down the knobs at all as far as I could tell. They seem very strong.
The one issue I did notice was once you're on the font half of the mat, the back half picked up and actually got caught in the rear bumper. I don't think you would have this issue in a normal, flat ground, stuck situation though. The hinges are limited on their inverted (opposite direction than intended to fold) extension, but it wasn't enough to keep the back from kicking up under the bumper during a climbing situation. Once finished, I pulled them out of the sand using the ropes and gave them a quick kick and they were clean. Its nice they don't have all the huge channels and groove to trap dirt and mud.
Overall, these things are super well made and will definitely be what I carry in the cruiser. The fold-ability, design that prevents mud accumulation, traction, and customer support are top notch! I don't anticipate there being any issues when using them in a real recovery event.
Thanks for reading!
-Rami
***edit*** another awesome feature is that you can replace each half through traction jack at a discounted price. So if you ever burn up one half, its something like $30 for a new one.
Last edited: