having worked in a design shop hat was big in R&D, and many engineers I have seen the total process of a project from paper, blue prints, prototypes to final product, I personally do not mind paying top $ for a product That shows extreme high quality, as for product mentioned I have bought 2 and am testing in our shop as we observe and so far it has stood up extremely well anther 2 weeks testing and I will let you know Thanks
I have a shovel I carry with me, looks old because it is over 45 years old but other than some rust it's still in perfect shape and it probably cost about $5.00 when I bought it.
Thank you Casey for taking the time to review their product. These must be the Roles Royce of shovels and great for those mall crawlers to use. What I feel is the company lacked in R&D. Let me give an example. The shovel bent on your light duty use. The tip could have been interchangeable so a new steel head could have been put on. The handle part protrudes on the shovel where the dirt, mud, snow, or whatever you shovel would sit. The mounts look fancy but come on $149+ on a mount? What is this made of, aircraft grade aluminum? Overall I feel overlanding companies are going too far with their prices and when used it falls apart. I have a lifetime warranty shovel from a department store with no questions asked. I will use that if needed as I know the box office warranty will be better.
I think what is just as bad is the cost of the mount! We looked at importing them into Canada 2 years ago. There was a lack of support, etc from DMOS. After multiple attempts we gave up. Mark-up is about 20-25% for the seller. Not a lot of margin. Is it a great built product, yes, but over $550cdn for a shovel and mount is no way worth it for most.
I have had the stealth shovel since 2020 (with the bag, not mount) and it has been super handy digging out friends stuck in the snow the last three winters here in Alaska. I have a Delta steel blade/aluminum handle one as well, but still need a bag to carry it, as I honestly don't see the need for a mount unless you already have a cage or roof rack to mount it too (I don't). And with all the thieves wandering around up here, I would rather put my gear in non de-script bags to draw less attention to them rather than mounting it on my rig essentially yelling out to the thieves "come take me!". The good thing about these shovels is the long handles, as I previously used an old military trowing shovel, and with it's short handle ones back feels the pain much sooner. Both shovels have held up well for me, but I am not doing a lot of rocks and my blades are steel, not the aluminum variety.
Thanks for doing this review. I have a Stealth and a Delta Pro. Both have been very handy. I mount them to my rig using their mounts which helps with stowage and accessibility. I use the Stealth the most for sand, raking, trail maintenance, camp prep and clean up, etc. Good gear in my opinion.
I feel like when a company uses "overland" in it's product description it is an excuse to charge 2x what the product is actually worth. Don't get me wrong, those are nice shovels but if I spent $400cdn on a shovel and it looked like that after the first use I would probably cry.
I gotta say no to this. Carry a small shovel and have never used it in 10 years of wheeling. 300 bucks olus almost 150 for a mount buys alot of offroad parts for the jeep that I'd rather spend it on.
I guess if you need something super compact and lightweight? But (give or take) $160 bucks for a Krazy Beaver shovel and $10 bucks for a couple of quick fist mounts? Seymore westland has one similar to the Krazy beaver for $120. I also have a ROK brand shovel with serrated edge and that was like $50 that I don't care if it gets wrecked or not. Also to be used with quick fist mounts. I am with life is adventure. This is getting really far into mall crawler territory. *Edit* for reference my ROK shovel looks almost exactly like your princess auto one for size/looks comparison.
