Five months RSI SmartCap review

After five months of having had installed the RSI Smart Cap Adventure on my 23’ Tacoma Long Bed, there are a few Pros and Cons with my experience so far.

Cons:

The cap leaks water through the inside of the windows. It has been a heavier than usual rainy season here in the Los Angeles area and I’ve always found a large number of water pooling inside the bed after some heavy rain. I purchased the cap primarily for my dogs so I can deal with cleaning it after the rain, but I wouldn’t trust leaving anything valuable or fragile in the bed of the truck during heavy rains.

The sliding windows doesn’t stay secure if you want to leave it partially open. The side windows are larger than I expected, which is a good thing. But when i leave them partially open for my dogs on a hot day, the windows unlock and completely open when my dogs stick their head out. With the window partially opened they can only stick their head out but when it is completely opened, they can stick their body pass their shoulders out which causes me concern while driving on a busy street or freeway.

Pros:

It has a window i can open which lines up with the rear window of the truck. This window allows me to talk to them and creates a little wind tunnel which gives them air when the side windows are closed.

I think it looks pretty cool.

 

Good looking crew you have there. Shame about the leaks.

 

Was gonna ask why dont you just let them assholes tear up the inside like I do, but I see you got a couple more than I do! lol

 

I am actually surprised that it leaks the amount that it does. Maybe got a unlucky one. Wonder if you can try filling in around the gaskets and seal it up. RSI should have answers for that for the price.

 

Definitely reach out to RSI. From my limited interactions with them, their customer service seems very responsive.

By the way, the cap with the glass side/window is the Smartcap 'Sport' (The Adventure has metal sides).

p.s. Your pack looks great (former owner of GSDs)

 

I've had mine for several years now. None of my windows leak and the sliding window stays in place. Please do reach out to RSI.

 

that's a lot of dog.

like... a truckload.

 

Hey, Were saddened to hear about the leaks. Smartcap offers a wonderful product and we have installed many upon many caps that do not leak.

Reach out to us and we will happily work with you on figuring out the leaks and helping correct that, as the cap is designed to not have leaks.

 

Looks sick man, Im thinking about getting one of these. Sucks about the leaks. Have you since experienced any other problems besides that?

 

Came back to this post when researching the smart cap.
Would like to clarify that I tell my dog to stop being an asshole when he's being a pain. In no way meant those good dogs were assholes.

 

Motley crew, but awesome. I gotta get a pic of my pack of Rotties in my Alu-Cab now, I'm jealous.

 

Just started looking at the SmartCaps. You are the second review I see with windows leaking. The other person also mentioned gaskets and other sections leaking. This is a deal breaker for me as I would expect a 4k+ cap to be water tight. I was hoping to be able to use it to keep my battery setup nice and safe but water would kill it. And if water enters, so can dust, another electronics killer.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, however, I am also not surprised. I understand why vendors would insinuate that it is an uncommon occurrence, but it is pretty well documented on many RSI Facebook pages and the overall internet. I owned a sport cap for approximately 6 months, and during that time I battled with the company to get a full refund. It was the most tedious task of my life, but ultimately, I won the battle and was refunded. Ever since the Texas plant came to fruition there have been continuous quality issues consisting of paint delamination, leaks, corrosion, etc. The main rep for North America quit the company after close to a decade of employment, (assuming he didn't want to go down with the ship) leaving customer support little to non-existent. I feel bad for the people led to believe this is a quality product, especially for the price of the unit. I should have gone with the Alucab from the get-go but preferred the overall look of the SmartC"R"ap. Biggest financial mistake in my 35 years.

 

Either a bit melodramatic or you've had a very charmed life...

 

I've worked very hard to be where I am, and for that reason, I value my time/money more than ever. It got to a point where I was calling SmartCap two to three times a day to move forward with the reimbursement. I followed every instruction and even after the cap was no longer in my possession and uninstalled by the dealer I purchased it from, I was left for months demanding what was rightfully mine. If you ask me, the $8000CAD was almost not worth the time I spent to be reimbursed in the end, but I am a person of principal.

 

Same here. My windows are dry even in hard precipitation and even after 2,500 miles in Baja dirt, the dust NAD rain stayed out of my cap! (I do have an earlier (better looking ) version made in the RSA).

I would check your assembly work just in case... I have different windows, so I cannot guess at how to address that.

 

Yup, I bought mines when it first came out. It was not manufactured in the US, in Africa I think. That could explain the difference in customer experience and quality. The only issue I had was with the wiring harness - but they resolved it pretty quickly w/ an updated version.

I forgot to mention. I do periodically check the nuts and bolts, gaskets, etc...

 

Dust will get into any truck bed no matter what cap/cover you have. There is a large gap at the tailgate that can only be sealed so well.

 

Bought mine late ‘21 so presumably a made in S. Africa unit.
I’ve had two issues:
1. Seized/corroded lock cores
2. Paint flaking off rear door
Both issues were reported two + years after purchase and were resolved immediately by SmartCap customer service in S. Africa. I was VERY impressed with their attention to this and customer service in general.

Outside of those issues I’ve had no glaring issues with windows or leaks. At the time this cost me $5K CDN, I can’t imagine these being upwards of $8K now.
If what was stated above is true regarding the new US manufacturing then that’s unfortunate and also not at all surprising.

 

Some people who’ve bought the Smartcap have had great experiences with it while others not so much. Both experience with the Smartcap aren’t mutually exclusive. My experience with the leaking isn’t a big issue because I only carry my dogs in the bed of my truck, but it’d be a very different experience if I carried more sensitive equipment that needed to stay dry.

I like my Smartcap and still think it was the better option for me, but with that being said, I’m not looking past the quality control issues it does have.