resharp001

Alright, I received my new JTOPSUSA sun screen yesterday, so here is my initial, unbiased impression. Note that I paid full price for this thing, am unaffiliated with the company, and have nothing to gain by giving my opinion one way or the other.

First, I ordered this directly through the company since Extreme Terrain (my least favorite vendor) didn’t have the color I wanted on their website, and apparently doesn’t care about this Forum as they didn’t respond to PMs here. Could I have called them? Yes. Did I care to call them? No. So, they lost a sale, and I had to pay a tiny bit more to accommodate shipping and tax (since JTOPS is in Abilene, TX and I’m in DFW). Order was placed on Friday morning. By Monday my order showed it was still processing. I called JTOPSUSA and got put through to cell phone. Was told it probably went out, or would be going out that day, but that the system was sometimes slow updating. Tuesday I got an email saying it had shipped, and it was at my door on Wednesday. It came in a long, narrow box. There are some metal poles integrated in the top which prohibit it from being folded up in a small package –



I ordered the dense titanium color which is a mix of black and light grey. I was tired of settling for black the last couple times. It cost a little more than the black, but is what it is. I like the color, and think it looks good with my billet silver and anthracite powder coating.

Initial pics on spreading the top out –









Initial impression is everything looks to be very nice quality. No complaints about the stitching or materials.

The front of the top secures to the footman loops via 3 hooks as opposed to most other models that use a bungee or a strap with a snap. The length of strap here seems a little redonk to me. I might have to cut that short.



I’m not certain if these clips will make a big difference or not. There is a rod in that font seam which holds things a bit more rigid. I’m also not certain if that makes a big difference. There is also a rod in the back end’s seam. I suspect this is so they can add their LED taillight option. I was curious how this might affect my specific situation with my Excessive Industries 40-bar that I have installed instead of the rear rollbar cross member –



In the past I’ve always been a bungee guy and didn’t care for buckles. The buckles on this top appear to be very nice. They have a little clip design to accommodate easy adjustment.







The first thing that stood out to me is how long the straps were. I have no rollbar padding or covers, so the straps were ridiculously long for my application. I highly suspect that with a more factory set up, these straps are a much more reasonable length. It became apparent that I would have to cut these nice new straps and cinge them with a flame. Even with the typical little buckle to secure the loose ends I had these long tails –






So, top when on seamlessly, a bit more work for me to modify the straps, but most probably don’t have to do that. The overall coverage with this screen is much more than other models. My original 2-piece Dirty Dog had a small gap up front and on the sides (between the top and rollbar). The SWS had even greater gaps. This is about as full coverage as you can get with a screen. I’m not certain that is a big deal, in fact, it might make it feel a little more closed in. What I will appreciate I guess is the few days I forget my sunglasses and would otherwise be blinded by the sneak peak of sun through the previous gaps I had.







The top fits snuggly, and conforms nicely. If I had the rear rollbar cross member it would be perfect. Instead, this is what I got going on –



I’ll need to figure out what to do there. From the outside looking in it doesn’t look bad. From the driver’s seat looking in the mirror it’s a little distracting. My old SWS didn’t seem to look as weird right there. Also, the very front corners are a little odd. Since the top attaches to the footman loops and then to the roll bar about 6-8” back, it leaves the very front corners to where they can just barely stick up a little. Most bungee models with anchor that very front corner. It’s not a big deal at all, just a little different.

Took it for a test drive immediately. My old SWS I had to bolt down through the freedom panel holes so it didn’t flap against the soundbar. The SWS grommets didn’t line up great with the factory holes for the bolts, so the top always bunched up a little there and looked weird from the top looking down at it. Without the bolts, the top would lightly flutter against the very front part of the soundbar’s plastic. I’m not talking about a total flap up and down over the soundbar, just a little flutter when going low speeds…..up to 40mph say. Well, this top is no different. It’s a light tap tap tap tap at same speeds at the front of the sound bar. At higher speeds it’s not an issue, and there is no general beating over the soundbar as the integrated magnets hold the top firmly. I guess I’ll put a little bit of the soft Velcro right there and see if I can dull the tap down.

So, overall, I like the top, it’s ok. It’s not perfect, but nothing will be for my situation. I would say that for most people, paying double the price might not be worth it, especially if it’s just an occasional use thing. For me it’s practically full-time. The real test of time will be how the material holds up to the Texas sun. I’ve never had a quality issue with previous tops' seams/stitching, it was always the fading/streaking/discoloration of the web material that made them look like crap after a year or two, but, at half the price, you could replace a SWS or Alien shade every 2 years and come out the same. This could be one of those 6 one way, half a dozen the other situations.

Rednroll

Maybe another solution for the tapping you may consider. I put 1 sided adhesive foam pad on the top of my sound bar. I did it for sound quality purposes of helping to dampen any rattles, since I'm a sound guy. Was thinking that may work for solving the tapping problem and might even work better than velcro.

I don't have a picture to share at this time, but got a roll on ebay. It was 1/4in 1sided adhesive dense foam pad.

resharp001

Y, I think that would work. I was thinking just the soft side of some velcro, so essentially the same thing, but foam might be better.

(I probably should have posted this in the write-up section)

resharp001

So, in really windy conditions, at highway speeds, those magnets will disconnect from time to time, and you get a "ping" as though a rock just hit your windshield as it pops back in place. In general, after having this for 7 weeks or so, I wish I had just bought another Spiderweb Shade that would have lasted 2 years and needed to be replaced. Most of that is because the rear rollbar crossover I have makes the rear of this top a bit awkward. For most that won't be an issue. I think the magnets over the middle crossover are generally ok, and it doesn't flap around like others do, but since I don't have any rollbar padding, the top is always a little loose as in saggy. I'd like to to be very taught, but that's just never gonna happen with these straps on bare metal rollbars. Again, for most that wouldn't be an issue at all cuz the straps could grab and hold to the padding and cover. The construction of this top is very nice, and I think most would like it, but for my specific jeep it's been a big "meh".

Rednroll

Thanks for the review update. It's always great reading a review where the good, bad, and the ugly concerns as well as personal use cases are included.

So that front part near the windshield is only held in place by magnets? Are the magnets exposed directly to the metal or under some material? If exposed then I would be concerned with the magnets scratching the metal, but if under the material then that likely explains the reasons they're popping up while driving at higher speeds.

resharp001

The attachment to the footman loops by the windshield are with a metal clip. That part is actually pretty nice as there's almost no gap between the windshield header and the screen, unlike the other models I've had that use a strap or bungee. The magnets are over the sound bar. They are actually really nice too. They're mounted on top of the screen with a little cover over them, so the screen itself is between the metal cross over and the magnet. It's only about 75 mph this issue starts. To be fair, this could also be a big more unique to my jeep. Because I don't have roll bar padding or covers, it's much harder for me to keep the top as taut as I think it would be on most peoples' jeeps. That part has been frustrating me cuz the top is a little saggy on mine, then when I'm driving on the interstate, it lifts up a little in a bubble-like fashion. Without the rollbar padding, you can kinda twist the straps on the bars which makes the top less taut. And, since I don't have the factory rollbar cross member in the rear, it's not held taut from front to back. tbh, at this moment, I'd just prefer a spiderweb shade again, but I've spent a lot of money on this one.

Bottom of magnet:

From top of jeep looking down: ​​


Top is saggy on my specific jeep for specific reasons. I can lift it from the underside with my hand as it's not taut, so as driving, it's flops up a bit. I think a stock jeep might not have same issue -

resharp001

Updating this thread as I've removed this turd from my jeep. I'm dead tired of it looking like a saggy diaper on top. Last night, in a last ditch effort to make this pricey shade work, I removed my Excessive Industries 40-bar and reinstalled the factory rollbar crossmember. The thought was if the factory piece was in place, this top would fit better and keep things more taut up top. Well, it doesn't. I'm sure my lack of roll bar padding doesn't help, but I'm done with this thing. It's back to a spiderweb shade for me. These tops are pricey ($200+) and not worthwhile. The magnets up top would let go occassionally at 70mph+ making a sound like a rock just hit your windshield. I can't suggest anyone buy one of these, save yo money.

Jtopsusa

Reshape, we are sorry for the issues you had but would like to point out that our top is not designed for your configuration.
Had you contacted us we would have never recommended our top for your build. We would have strongly recommended a bungee top right off! I know Chis at Spider and often recommend their solution over ours if it’s a better design for the intended use.
Our shade will not work without the roll cage padding and absolutely will do everything you described if installed on a build without padding! Used in the proper configuration it is tight, the magnets do NOT chatter and the strap lengths are strategically designed for the proper length and fit.
We have sold over10,000 of our JKU shades and all come with a “Never Fail Warranty. If a customer is disappointed in any of our products we are happy to take them back.
You are welcome to contact me personally and I will rectify the situation. Our goal is to help the customer find the right solution and If our product is not right for the intended use we will say so up front!
Thank you for your extensive write up.

Mike Matras
Owner
JTopsUSA

resharp001

Mike, I appreciate the response and it's nice to see that business owners are out there searching around for what people are saying about their products. I can only imagine that is how you stumbled on to my post at least. I will fully admit that I knew it was a gamble trying this shade out, especially since it is definitely not cheap. What really drew me to your product was how crappy all the other shades look after a year or so of use, so I thought I'd see if your material held up better as advertised. Since you're only 2 hours west of me in Texas, you are well aware of the UV rays we soak up, and my jeep is almost always topless. I knew when purchasing your shade that I would need to modify it a bit for my jeep. That primarily meant cutting the straps much shorter. My hope was I could keep the shade tight enough, but you see the results and I'm definitely not trying to argue that the shade SHOULD work without the padding......I just figured it was worth a try. I have purchased a Spiderweb shade for the time being, and this shade is sitting in my garage with no real plans as I don't know what to do with it. I posted my results mainly so others can make their own decisions for their use, not as an angle to bash you or try to get something out of it. I sure would never expect a company to take a product back that I have tried to modify. It kind of is what it is. If you wanted to take it back I would not complain, but that doesn't really fair to you. It's also an awkward product to ship since it requires a narrow/long box.

resharp001

just to update this thread. I did not reach out directly via company contacts to Mike, but I figured for a small business owner who found a bad review and took time to respond, he might have followed up here on the forum. Nope, registered, submitted 1 post, didn't follow up. I'll stand by my review and everything I've said above. I've resorted to chopping the straps off my top for a different use (extending a RTT tent straps) and will look to install some grommets and use tiny bungee cords to attach....maybe. I doubt I replace my current Spiderweb with this again, but right now I have a $225 piece of nothing I'm trying to find a use for. I'm just really surprised that a small business owner doesn't follow up. Apparently they have enough sales that it doesn't matter. No need to reply here or contact me further.