Is This Overlanding?

Overlanding…. What is it? There are varying opinions and definitions of this popular term. Some believe its four wheeling across rugged terrain, miles from civilization and some believe it’s purely car camping. While both of those scenarios certainly fall into the definition of Overlanding, there’s a lot more to it then just that. You see, “Overlanding” can really mean something different to everyone. One of the best definitions that we’ve happened across is “Overlanding sees the journey as the purpose. Overlanding is about exploration, rather than conquering obstacles.” This is the definition that personally resinates with us the most because it’s how we like to approach the majority of our travel.

So why are we talking about this? There are hundreds of articles and videos out there discussing this same thing. Well… Lately we’ve run into a lot of people who are interested in Overland Travel, but feel that they have to spend a small fortune to build a capable vehicle and have products X, Y & Z before they can even embark on their first trip. It really kills us to see how worked up everyone gets about having the right gear. So much, that they never even go on a trip. Listen, gear is great, but it’s also bad… Let me explain. Having the right gear can obviously make all of the difference between an alright trip and a fantastic trip. There’s nothing worse than waking up in a pool of water because your awning or tent leaked. Or shivering all night because you have the wrong temp sleeping bag. You won’t get any argument from us on that. However… Gear can also be a bad thing because you set in your mind that you have to have all of this “stuff” before you can do anything. The truth is, you probably won’t even use a third of all that gear on your first five trips. Ask us how we know. We, like many others before us, have fallen down the exact same rabbit hole a couple of times and had to claw our way back out of wonderland. It’s hard to do.

Okay, then how do we go Overlanding without gear? Well that depends on what type of Overlanding you want to do and how you define it. If your definition aligns with ours, then there is a lot that you can do without any gear. Remember, it’s all about the journey and exploration. Have you ever been to the next town, county or state over? What makes their area different than yours? What is their heritage/culture? What hidden gems rural and urban are hiding there? All you need for that type of exploration is a vehicle to get you there and a lot of curiosity. Overnighting it? No problem. Hit a hotel, bed and breakfast, or a cabin in a state park. Still not one bit of gear needed. And guess what… You’re still Overlanding!

Obviously when you mix car camping into the definition of Overlanding, things begin to change. Or do they? What does it take to car camp? For one to two people, not too much. Depending on the vehicle, you could just sleep inside with a pillow and a blanket. Need more room? Buy a small tent and ground pad and you’re golden. What about food? You’ve made ramen before right? How about Pop tarts? You laugh, but 9 times out of 10, we eat pop tarts for breakfast. It all comes down to how comfortable you want to be in relation to how much money you want to spend on the gear vs the travel. Believe it or not, you can be pretty darn comfortable for a reasonable amount of money.

I guess what we’re trying to get across here is not to fall into the paralysis by analysis trap. You want to go Overlanding? Then go, but go within your means. Try to add gear only as there becomes a need for it, not because everyone is buying it right now. We don’t even want to begin to think about the amount of times we bought something because it was going to be “life changing” only to sell it the following year because we only used it one time. That would be depressing. Honestly, some of our greatest memories and trips only required a vehicle and some clothes. If we can give you one piece of advice when looking at gear, it would be: “Think about if it is a need or a want… How much does it cost and how many trips could I go on instead if I were to just spend that money on the trips themselves?”

Overland Expo East 2021

Just a couple of photos that we took at @overlandexpo East 2021. Admittedly we didn’t seize the opportunity to take a lot of photos this year. We were consumed by amazing conversations and being able to meet everyone in person. We’ll never complain about that because all of you are amazing! So many great stories and travel tips. Believe me, our list of places to visit and things to do grew exponentially this year and we’re as excited as ever to get out there and see it all. As usual, the event seemed to fly by and we weren’t able to sit in on any of the classes or round tables that we would’ve liked to. I guess there’s always next year. (We’ve been saying that for four years now.) Seriously though, you all rock and we much prefer the one on one conversations around the campfires/meals with you all anyway!

The “OG” Sportsmobile that camped next to us. Fell in love with this rig as soon as we laid eyes on it.

Saturday night camp vibes!

Meeting new people in the showcase area

Walking through the vendor area

Love this Chinook Camper!

WeBoost Cell Booster, does it work?

Cell phones, as we all know, are relatively thin handheld devices. But as thin as they may be, there is a lot of technology sandwiched between the front and back. Cameras, processors, batteries and antennas, just to name a few. Those last two are what we’re going to focus on here. Antennas pick up radio signals. Not rocket science, I know. Where it gets interesting is when you start to block the antennas. You know, that really cool, super indestructible metal case that you placed over your brand new $1000 smart phone so you could protect your investment. Yeah, that blocks the cell signals. Ok, so you don’t have a metal one. Maybe you’re rocking the old school Otterbox or some other type of plastic case like a Lifeproof. Well, guess what? They affect the cell signal too. Sometimes it’s not even what is physically on the phone, it could be what’s around the phone too. Trees, mountains, valleys, buildings. Do you think radio signals pass through solid objects very easily? Think about when you’re in your car. It’s a big metal object isn’t it? Do you think that will affect the cell signal? As a matter of fact, anything that is placed on or over the phone will affect the cell signal in some way.

Great, so we’ve established that objects and even your environment can affect cellular signals. Ground breaking stuff, I know. But did you know that it will directly affect how long you can use your phone too? What a lot of people fail to make a correlation between is that other thing I previously mentioned above. The battery. Think about it. Have you ever noticed when you have poor cell reception, your battery dies a lot faster? Your phone is constantly looking for the best signal it can get. Switching from frequency to frequency searching out that high speed LTE signal. All the while, you battery is slowly creeping down. I bet you didn’t know that if you have poor cell coverage, you can actually prolong your battery life by switching off 4G LTE and leaving it on 2G/3G. That’s a little pro tip for you.

Cell boosters, let’s start off by stating what a cellular booster does. I’m not an expert by any means, so we’re going to keep this as simple as possible. An exterior mounted antenna picks up a cellular signal and sends it, via wired connection, to the booster module. The booster module then amplifies or “boosts” the signal and sends it, via wired connection, to an antenna mounted in the interior. This antenna then transmits the cellular signal wirelessly to your devices. That’s about as simple as I can make it.

Here’s a scenario. Let’s imagine that we’re rolling along in our car and we notice our cell reception is just teetering on one bar of LTE. We pull over and step out of the vehicle. Alas, we have three to four bars of LTE. So what gives? Like I said before, anything around the cell phone that stands between the antenna and the radio signal will affect the strength of the signal. The big metal box on four wheels that you just stepped out of is no exception. Now let’s look at the same scenario, but with a booster installed. One bar of LTE, we simply switch on the booster and boom, three bars of LTE. Pretty cool huh? The booster basically takes the affects the car has on the signal out of the equation. It’s almost like you’re standing outside.

To be 100% clear here, cell boosters boost signals. They do not create signals or connections. So if you don’t have a signal, guess what, you still don’t have a signal even with the booster on. You may get lucky and pick up one bar, but it’s unlikely. Oh, and speaking of bars of service. It’s a lie. That little icon at the top of your phone is there to make you have warm and fuzzy feelings inside. Don’t believe me? Have you ever had a hard time pulling up a webpage or loading an app, even though your phone says you have a good LTE connection? Yep, that’s what I’m talking about. If you want a real representation of what your signal is, just google “cell signal in dB” and you’ll find out how to pull it up on your phone. WeBoost also has a good write up on this on their support page.

One other thing I have to give WeBoost credit on is how easy they make installing and setting up the booster. Each component in the box is labeled in order of installation, making it a foolproof install. The hardest part we had was figuring out where we wanted to mount the exterior antenna and how to run the wire inside. They have some great reference video’s on their webpage and YouTube channel to help with that as well.

So the burning question still to be answered. Does it work? It does exactly what they claim it should do. In every test I have performed it has increased the cell signal profoundly. Does that mean I am able to pull up the weather app or Instagram or Google maps anywhere that I am. No. Just because my cell signal increased, does not mean that the data will always increase. That has more to do with the frequency channels that are available or provided by the cell tower in that area and what your phone can use. I’m still rocking an IPhone 8plus. A little out dated I know. Admittedly, it’s falling behind on the bands/channels that it can take advantage of these days. Cellular providers are always updating their network and adding bands/channels to help improve their speeds by spreading the load out. Something that older phones cannot take advantage of as they do not have to provisions for these new channels. What I can say is that there was a very noticeable difference when using my daughters IPhone XR. I was able to pull up maps in more locations and faster than I could with my phone. Either way, this was not an issue with the cell booster, as both were connected at to the same booster at the same time. Even with my older IPhone though, everywhere I tested with my signal was boosted, I was able to place a voice call.

So there you go. You made it through my very long winded write up, just to tell you that it works. The next obvious question is “Should I spend $500 to get one?” If you’re serious about a cell booster, then I’d say yes. This is without a doubt the best one you’ll get for the money. But you really need to look at why you want one. If it solely for emergencies, I’d almost suggest you buy a Garmin InReach instead. The booster is just that a booster. Nothing in, means nothing out, not something I’d trust my life too. But if you’re somewhere where the cell service is spotty/weak and all you need is a little boost, then I say go for it. As a matter of fact, we have a friend that has a cellular hotspot that he keeps next to his interior cell booster antenna. He shuts off all of the cell antennas on their phones and connects them to their hotspot via WiFi. This allows the hotspot to take full advantage of the cell booster signal while still giving voice over WiFi and data to all of the devices connected to the hotspot. Genius! It’s little things like that idea that really show how the WeBoost can shine!

In an attempt to remain transparent, I want you to know that the unit we tested was provided by WeBoost in exchange for testing and writing of a review. In no way did they influence any of the information provided in this article. The results that we experienced are what we have conveyed above. That being said, the choice to to purchase one or not rests solely upon your shoulders. It is an excellent product and we have enjoyed it’s use. But we also do not turn it on all of the time. It is just another tool that we use when the time arises. This article is true a true representation of our experiences with the installation and use of this product.