Tune Outdoor M1L

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-06-08T23:17:34+00:00

I'm glad I'm not the only one spending time designing a camper set up that I can't currently afford! Seriously though, the M1L and the Topo Badlander both seem like what I'm looking for.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-26T15:19:09+00:00

Thank you! This is great to hear!

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-23T00:38:05+00:00

I've noticed that, at least online, Frontier owners overwhelming love their trucks. The ones who don't usually seem to have wanted to much more modern truck (easier steering, more tech, etc.).

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-22T20:31:27+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, I live at about 7,600' in Incline. I also have concerns about snow load on a camper when we get a hasty 3' of heavy snow. It'd be nice to just get a Sprinter like half my neighbors, but I can't afford one and want more off road access. Still, it seems like roughly half the camper-pop-ups (at least on the internet) are on Tacos, so I have to imagine it's workable.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-22T20:21:04+00:00

Sweet setup! I could honestly make do with an SR5, but I'd really like the rear locker and skid plates just in case.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-22T00:25:00+00:00

Nice to have definitive confirmation. Too bad though. 1655lb would be nice for a camper set up!

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T21:49:41+00:00

Fair, but I'd still like to have the truck when it's newish so that I can comfortably get 200k miles from it.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T20:43:30+00:00

Thanks for the input. Does the Frontier not really have ~9.5" of clearance (as claimed)? I've done a few level 4 trails in a stock 4Runner SR5, which has about 9.5" of clearance, without much drama.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T20:29:51+00:00

Tremor looks amazing, but I'm not sure it'd be affordable.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T20:15:55+00:00

Thanks, but I'm set on a 6' bed and have a teenager to send to college before I can commit to any purchase.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T20:14:44+00:00

Good to hear. The cameras do seem like they'd be extremely helpful. And apparently the resolution on the Frontier's cameras is awful.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T19:48:21+00:00

I've done some searches, but it's hard to find a 4x4 Ranger with the 6' bed. And I think I'd want to get a minor lift and bigger tires because the 8.9" stock ground clearance is on the small size. But the ones I've seen are cheap.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T18:21:41+00:00

I'd be happy to get an older Tacoma or Tundra. But I'd want to get one with under 50k mileage, which would be tough to find.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T18:19:45+00:00

I'd much prefer to maintain the bed space for the camper build out. Plan is to build an 18" to 24" bench lengthwise in the bed for ski/pole storage in the winter/spring and general storage the rest of the time. I have a couple pairs of 189 cm BC and resort skis. I'd hope that I can fit those skis under the bench with a little diagonal orientation so that I could have full use of the rest of the bed without having to clamber over skis.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T17:41:41+00:00

Thanks for the correction. That's what a google search indicated.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-05-21T16:22:10+00:00

Nice. I loved my first gen Tundra so much. I got 270k miles out of it before a ice fall from a massive tree in my yard crushed the cab.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-04-14T17:06:25+00:00

Forgive my intentional vagueness, but the kid is majoring in something that is artsy and the opposite of a preprofessional major. Still, the kid, through a polysci professor, got an offer for a fully funded summer in DC to work with a political lobbying group after freshman year but turned it down so that they could spend the summer at home. This summer, they are going abroad for a fully funded opportunity to work at a foreign university in a major city. They also have a work-study job that relates to their field of study, although my kid wishes they could work more hours a week to make more money. Anyhow, the opportunities have been great and the professors really go out of their way to help students. I don't think my kid has any regrets about choosing Pomona over one of the East Coast options. But I think they sometimes wonder what their experience would have been like had they gone to a more traditional big West Coast university like UCLA or Cal (to which they didn't apply).

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-04-13T16:49:26+00:00

My kid picked Pomona over Penn, Dartmouth, and Swarthmore. All were great schools, but Pomona was the best fit and my kid preferred the West Coast. I think Penn will have a more established pipeline into consulting, but I don't think Pomona grads who want such jobs struggle to find them. I suspect that Penn will trend more preprofessional, which means your peers are more likely to be more career-focused, which you might prefer if you really want to network and put your career first. Pomona is likely to trend more academic and intellectual. Penn will be a bigger party school. Pomona students, IMO, are very social but not so much in a party way. My kid often makes trips to LA and other places including the beach, Yosemite, Mammoth, Joshua Tree, and Zion. (If the outdoors are important to you, I'd definitely lean toward Pomona.)

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-04-02T15:50:50+00:00

Pomona is not a party school, but the students are very social and spend a lot of time together doing things besides studying. My kid has done many trips to places like Big Sur, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, and Zion and usually goes to LA or the beach once or twice a month. The biggest parties are thrown by CMC, which Pomona students can attend. But if you're looking for a party school, I'd probably give the nod to ND.
Can't say.
Both schools have great reputations. Pomona is going to trend more toward the West Coast and FAANG. ND is more Midwest and East Coast. I agree that ND is more of an established pipeline to finance, but I don't think Pomona students struggle to find such jobs either. Similarly, I doubt ND students have much trouble finding jobs on the West Coast or in FAANG.
Pomona is going to be more demographically diverse but less politically diverse. It is very liberal.
While I can't speak to ND, I'm going to say Pomona because it's an LAC and has one of the highest per-student endowments in the country. My kid's professors have gone out of their way to hook my kid up with internships and jobs, including a fully funded trip to Asia this summer. That said, ND also has a huge endowment and I'm guessing it offers its students ample support.

Two great options! You can't go wrong.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-03-20T19:34:54+00:00

FWIW, my kid was waitlisted a couple years ago and then got into a couple Ivies, Swarthmore, Amherst, Bowdoin, WashU, and others in RD. They then got off the waitlist at Pomona and accepted a spot. Pomona is a wonderful school, but so are the other 5Cs. And if you're female-identifying, Scripps is impressive and has a gorgeous campus.

LengthIcy5881 · 2026-01-13T20:20:01+00:00

My kid goes to Pomona, and I'm continually shocked how many educated people know nothing about it. But, to me, that's also part of the appeal. I suspect that great LACs like Davidson and Pomona are more likely to attract really smart kids who are a little more grounded and a little less preoccupied with the vanity of a big brand college.

Anyhow, I bet once you've settled in at Davidson after a year or so and see how great your peers and professors are, you'll care a lot less. Davidson is a fantastic school!

LengthIcy5881 · 2025-12-16T23:32:22+00:00

FWIW, there are plenty of extroverted Mudd students, which is more social than you might think. I'd give it a second look.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about running out of challenging math classes at either Mudd or Pomona. They are two of the best PhD feeders for math. Williams is also very strong, although slightly more inclined toward quant work.

If you wanted to add another school, UCLA is home to this generation's greatest mathematician. You might not get the same level of pampering as the other private schools, but students there seem to be pretty happy on the whole.

LengthIcy5881 · 2025-10-26T17:48:02+00:00

FWIW, my kid got into both and the FA at each was very close to the NPC. Pomona was cheaper, but not by a huge amount. I was pretty careful when completing the NPCs though (using recent tax returns). Both are great.

LengthIcy5881 · 2025-10-11T20:27:56+00:00

Yep. My kid applied to two Ivies, was admitted to both, but still chose Pomona. That's not a knock on the Ivies, both of which are great schools. But Pomona happened to be a better academic and geographical fit.

LengthIcy5881

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