MaxTrax: for when your luck runs out.
Used to be when you headed out bush a bit of old rope and a lot of luck was all you needed to make it back home. Or, at least, that what all the old guys keep telling me.
MaxTrax are for when your lucks runs out: the tide is coming in and you’re bogged on the beach. The mud is so deep you’re up to your knees in it just walking around the 4WD, and you’re all alone.
Unlike most recovery gear items, the beauty of MaxTrax is how well they work when you don’t have another vehicle around, or a tree to winch off. They are completely self-contained, tough as nails and worth their light-weight in gold.
I’ve probably used them at least once on ever trip I’ve been on the last few years. Whether it’s sand or mud, they just work to give you traction and flotation, the two things you’re losing desperately when things go awry.
Up the Cape I’ve used them in conjunction with long, complicated winch setups to keep the vehicle from bogging down in rivers of mud. I’ve used them to get caravans out of soft sand together with a snatch strap. I’ve used them to dig out stuck vehicles, they make a handy shovel in a pinch, and on the beach they’ve saved me so many times that I’ve probably gotten a bit relaxed, knowing how well they’ll get me out of just about anything.
Yes, a snatch strap is your best friend if you have a mate along for a lot of recoveries, but many of us travel in one vehicle. And that winch is pointless on sand unless you want to bury a spare in the noonday heat. No thank you.
Built from reinforced nylon, these aren’t the hundred dollar knockoffs that shatter like sun-ripened Tupperware the first time you use them in anger. They’re built to withstand Australian desert conditions…freezing cold and blistering heat. I like to think I can point my Cruiser at just about anything and make it, but that comes down to the gear I use as much as anything else, and my MaxTrax are a complete non-negotiable on that list.
RRP for the MaxTrax Mk II is $299/ pair, or you can go a bit more extreme with the MaxTrax Xtreme range with anodised alloy replaceable teeth built into the face for even better wear and tear for serious users for $499/ pair.
Visit www.maxtrax.com.au to pick up your new best recovery friend.
