What's the Difference Between the Retrax PRO XR and MX for a 2019 Ford F-150?
Ford F-150 Owner: I've got some kind of special requirements that I need to throw out on the table then you can tell me what your recommendation would be. First off, I have a 2019 Ford F-150.
Sean: Okay.
Ford F-150 Owner: Secondly, it's a SuperCrew, and what it's going to be used as is primarily as a tow vehicle for a 23 and a half foot, double whole trailer. Each summer I drag it around chasing all the paragliding competitions, so 13,000 miles every summer. Get where I'm going, drag the trailer up, literally 6,000 feet to where it's cool. I park the trailer with other people and then I use my truck since, it's a four-wheel drive, to carry typically seven pilots total, myself included. To do that we found that if I put all their wings in the cab that I can then pack them into cube space pretty well and get them there. So that means I get two up front, I got to put five in the bed. I have a five and a half foot bed.
Sean: So you want to know, I spoke to you before, right? And you want to know if people could sit on the cover?
Ford F-150 Owner: That's it. Yes. Yes sir. I need something that can hold a decent amount of weight.
Sean: We originally spoke about a rolling cover and you said you can't do that because it'll take up about a foot of your bed space.
Ford F-150 Owner: Well, after talking to you earlier now I'm thinking that a roll-up that rolls in a circle in a box against the window would probably be my best bet. So that I can have three people sit on that. And then two into the bed. So since we talked last I've kind of come to the conclusion, well I can't really have my cake and eat it too. I've got to give up somewhere to get that bench seat.
Sean: Okay. Well, I will say then that if you're okay with a canister type deal, the Retrax is probably the best way to go. I mean its weight rated at 500 pounds evenly distributed on the cover. So I imagine if it's rolled up, it should hold at least that cause there aren't any springs or, moving pieces in a box that you have to worry about. It's all ball bearings. Or if you wanted to do something even more up your alley, they have their RetraxPRO XR which is the same as the MX, same finish, everything like that. But it's another hundred dollars. The difference is it has a T-slot where you can put ladder racks or kayak racks or anything your heart desires. And right now they're actually doing a promotion where if you buy that cover they give you a set of Yakima JetStream load bars for free. So essentially you can have your cover open and still have things on top of the load bars as well, which are movable.
Ford F-150 Owner: Yeah. Wow. I'll have to look at that. So, the XR and the MX, other than the T-racks, is the cover on the roll up canister effectively the same? Or is it reinforced heavier?
Sean: Yes, they're exactly the same. The only difference between the XR and the MX is just a T-slot rails. So the cover is the exact same cover. They do make a retracted one, which is polycarbonate, but that cover only holds up to 200 pounds, so I don't know if that would be the one that I would have people sit on.
Ford F-150 Owner: What is the depth? Four and a half?
Sean: 14 inches.
Ford F-150 Owner: That's perfect. Sounds good, man. I appreciate it. I think that you gave me good advice and it took me a while to do a whole bunch of research and I really wasn't looking at this one, but the 500 pounds sitting on the lid I think is important and it works better for me.
Sean: With a lifetime warranty too, so keep that in mind as well.
Ford F-150: Oh, really? That's really good. All right, thank you so much and I'll holler back at you.
Sean: You got it.
- Aubrey Lovegrove
- Tags: Ford Ford F-150 load bearing Retrax Retrax Pro MX Retrax Pro XR T-Slot Yakima Jet Stream load bars
