Gear for the long way out.
StoneWave is an outfitter for serious outdoor and overlanding customers. A small catalogue of rooftop tents, portable power, expedition shelters and outdoor kitchens — chosen one item at a time, with one maker per category at launch.
StoneWave · mineral expedition
Hand-picked, not stockpiled.
A considered catalogue for the long way out.
StoneWave began with a simple conviction: serious kit deserves more thought than a listing grid can give it. This pre-launch store is a catalogue in the making, assembled one item at a time. Every line has to earn its place through fit for the trip, confidence in the maker, and a freight plan we can explain before an order is placed.
Rooftop tents and Power & Energy are the first categories. Hardshell and softshell tents are considered against the vehicle, climate, and cadence the buyer actually runs. Portable power stations and solar panels are chosen to make the same two or three nights off-grid more capable, without asking a roof rack to carry what it does not need.
The catalogue stays narrow on purpose. If a product cannot be described clearly, supported by its maker, and moved with a known handoff, it stays off the page. StoneWave grows by selection rather than by inventory — a specialist desk for people who would rather buy once with context than browse forever without it.
What "expedition-tested" means here.
Every line passes a field-suitability check before it opens: the load the roof rack carries at highway speed, the climate the tent flies in when the forecast moves overnight, the vehicle underneath it, and the cadence of the person living with it. A mid-size truck, a full-size van, and a Land Cruiser ask different questions of the same category.
Expedition-tested is our selection brief, not a certification, per-unit test result, or published score. It means the line has been considered against the weight class, climate envelope, and vehicle footprint of the buyer it is meant to serve — with the honest gaps left visible when the answer is not yet clear.
“A short catalogue of equipment-grade kit, chosen for the trip, not for the listing.”
The 20-point evaluation.
Every item StoneWave considers passes a structured evaluation before it earns a slot in the catalogue. The evaluation runs across five axes — the same five categories the selection explainer names — and scores each unit against a grid of four criteria per axis: twenty questions that must all answer yes before the line opens.
The five evaluation axes
- Margin viabilityPrice, freight cost, and maker warranty handoff are modelled before the line opens — the margin must support the freight plan without padding the listed price.
- Shipping feasibilitySize, weight, origin, and destination are checked before the order is accepted so the freight quote describes a real handoff rather than a hopeful estimate.
- Warranty termsThe maker's published warranty is read at the desk: who handles the claim, what the turnaround looks like, and whether it survives a cross-border shipment.
- Supplier reliabilityThe maker answers email without a chase, ships within the window they list, and replaces a defective unit without a fight — the day-to-day handoff, confirmed before the line opens.
- Field suitabilityThe unit fits the trip a serious outdoor or overlanding customer actually runs — load, climate, vehicle, and cadence — across the realistic buyer population for that category.
The SelectionExplainer section below walks through what each axis means in practice. A line only opens for sale when all twenty criteria answer yes, and when the freight plan lines up to ship the unit.
How the catalogue is chosen.
Five questions sit behind every line we add. They’re process questions — not scorecard questions — and the answer for each unit is held against the freight plan, not against a number we can’t defend.
What we look at
- Margin viabilityWhether the price supports the freight plan and the maker’s warranty handoff without padding, so the line stays sellable at the rate we ship.
- Shipping feasibilityWhether the size, weight, and origin depot support the DDP freight routes our buyers actually run, and whether a single carrier will sign for a unit at that weight class.
- Warranty termsWhether the maker’s published warranty is something we can stand behind at the order desk — who handles the claim, what the turnaround looks like, and whether it survives a cross-border shipment.
- Supplier reliabilityWhether the maker answers email without a chase, ships within the window they list, and replaces a defective unit without a fight — the day-to-day handoff, not a sticker on the box.
- Field suitabilityWhether the unit fits the trip a serious outdoor or overlanding customer actually runs — the load, the climate, the vehicle, and the cadence a buyer would be willing to live with.
A line only opens for sale when each question answers yes, and when the freight plan lines up to actually ship the unit. If any one of the five answers “not yet”, the line stays on the bench until it does.
What stays off the catalogue, on purpose.
The catalogue is narrow by design. StoneWave is built for the trip a serious outdoor or overlanding customer actually runs — not for the widest possible fit chart, the marketplace aggregator’s long tail, or the listing that moves on price alone. The exclusion list is short on purpose, and a copy edit keeps it short.
- Cheap-end gear
The catalogue rarely stocks the budget end of a category — it costs the freight plan more to clear a low-margin line through the warranty desk than the line ever pays back, and the buyer ends up financing the difference. StoneWave chooses the unit the serious outdoor or overlanding buyer would run if the price were a smaller part of the question.
- Deadstock
Old inventory and liquidated makers don't reach the catalogue. The 20-point evaluation lands a line when the maker is still publishing parts, still answering email, and still replacing defective units on a horizon the warranty desk can stand behind — deadstock and end-of-life listings generally don't clear that bar.
- Marketplace aggregators
StoneWave is not a marketplace aggregator. The catalogue is the desk's selection — one maker per category, one freight plan per vertical — not a long-tail feed pulled from every listing the wider outdoor market exposes. Items that live on a marketplace aggregator's long-tail almost never pass the supplier-reliability check at the desk.
- Dropship white-label
A line that is someone's relabeled SKU is rarely going to clear the supplier-reliability axis of the evaluation — there is no maker to escalate to, no published warranty to read, no origin depot to coordinate the freight plan with. StoneWave carries only the units the maker themselves makes and the maker's published support stands behind.
- Unverified badges
StoneWave doesn't certify a line as "expedition-tested" or "field-rated" against a published spec the desk hasn't substantiated. The selection criteria are programme-level process questions — margin viability, shipping feasibility, warranty terms, supplier reliability, field suitability — not a public score or a per-unit badge that the catalogue couldn't back up on a buyer's first warranty call.
Three operational promises, kept end to end.
- Freight
Freight planned around the order, not left to checkout.
Oversized kit needs a real freight conversation. Before an order is accepted, StoneWave confirms the origin, destination, dimensions, and handoff so the quote is clear about what it includes. The Shipping & Returns policy sets out the current routes, inspection window, and return path as the catalogue grows.
Read the Shipping & Returns policy - Financing
A considered path for the trip you’re actually planning.
StoneWave doesn’t run a public financing page. The desk discusses available options one conversation at a time, against the specific line, freight plan, and trip you’re sizing for. Bring the vehicle and the route; we’ll keep the answer as specific as the kit.
Open a financing inquiry - Warranty
A clear handoff when the kit needs its maker.
If something needs attention, StoneWave stays with the claim: we help collect the details, route the request to the maker, and explain the next step. Coverage follows the maker’s published terms, with the order desk as the single point of contact rather than a dead-end link back to a listing.
Read the expedition-grade warranty
- Shipping & Returns
How orders move from origin depot to doorstep, how freight is quoted, and the 30-day change-of-mind return path.
Learn more - Warranty
What the warranty covers, how StoneWave stays with the maker handoff, and how to open a claim.
Learn more - Contact
Kit-fitment questions, financing inquiries, warranty claims, and wholesale enquiries all reach the same StoneWave desk.
Learn more - Pro Outfitters
A small working programme for guides, expedition photographers and overlanding leaders — early catalogue access, a shared test fleet, and a direct line to the desk.
Learn more
- SelectionOne maker per category at launch — chosen for the trip, not for the listing.
- SourcingOrders ship from origin depot once launch freight is in place; freight quoted per order.
- ContactA real person answers from the StoneWave desk — no automated upsell.