During the course of our film making and videography, we are always looking to find great gear that helps us tell our stories, without added complication. In this case we were looking for a connection / control device to insert into the audio chain of our video recordings. We needed to merge the stand-alone Rode VideoMic Pro+ Shotgun Mic with a set of Lavalier Wireless Pro mics into a nice clean signal going into the camera for sound on our recordings. Beachtek kept popping up on our searches. It turns out that these guys are a small pro company out of Kelowna, BC, who design and make DSLR camera adapters suited for exactly this purpose. We decided that the DXA-GO would be ideal.

One thing that would be good to have along with this unit is a storage pouch to stow the unit in our camera rig bag. All in all, this Beachtek bit of gear is exactly what we needed for this particular application, it also looks to be quite robust and resilient. We will update this review as we use the unit.

A look at the Beachtek DXA-GO incorporated into our camera rig.

SumoSprings is a product from SuperSprings International out of California. They are a cool group of guys that have figured out a way to support and stabilize a load in a truck, motor home or a trailer using an innovative and practically indestructible rubber-like compound that gets denser as more pressure is applied to it. There are three densities, Blue: the lightest and most practical, Yellow: medium, and Black: for the most demanding applications. We needed a slight lift on our truck, as it sagged about an inch while towing our trailer. We elected, based on the recommendation from the Engineers at SuperSprings, to use a two part (Blue) product SSR-143-40-2, as our truck is a 4x4 lifted 3" higher than factory specs.

You can watch the Video of our Installation and some other cool scenes.....

So far ...Our ride is firmer and feels more planted. The position of the truck is about an inch higher at the rear. The cornering is much better with even less body roll than there was before (not that there was much). When you combine this addition with our already existing Bilstein 5100 shocks, the ride is fantastic...not cushy by any means, but you do get the sense that the capability of our pickup has been transformed.

Upon hooking up the trailer, we noticed an inch less sag than before, so the truck actually sits at least an inch higher in the rear, even with the trailer (5600 lbs, approx 800 lbs of tongue weight).

We haven't hauled the trailer any distance as of yet, and haven't hooked up the Andersen weight distribution hitch, so we still have yet to report on how this factors in. My guess is that we will have to loosen the bushing / chain tension to balance the load for this adjustment.

Stay tuned for our next update...

80-20 is a framing system that was originally designed for the automation and robotics industry. It is strong, lightweight, weatherproof and ultra flexible in its uses. We used it to create a framework for Solar Panels and Propane Tanks.

Brahma Wheel Lock, designed in Vancouver, BC. It's simply the best lock we've seen anywhere. Easy to use, very secure, stores flat. We met the Designer...there is plenty of heart and soul that went into the development of this product. Smart engineering, wouldn't be without it. Highly recommended.

Classic Industrial Design Ltd.  604-291-7655

Very Innovative Design, easy to setup, top notch Detail and Machining. Light weight and does the job on compatible trailers. Great company to deal with in Idaho Falls, ID.