Owl Magnetic Mounts Are So Good, They Demo Them With Ours.

Owl Magnetic Mounts Are So Good, They Demo Them With Ours.

Posted by Gaëtan Della Pietra on

Searching for Owl magnetic mounts, Owl magnets, or Owl recovery board mounts? Then you should know where they come from. We invented the magnetic vehicle mount. Tegna, Switzerland, 2020. No patent. We chose refinement over paperwork. So when a US company launches its own version, that’s legal. That’s the market.

But watch what they demo it with.

Tactic Vans magnetic quick release MaxTrax mount sold on Owl Vans store, archived product page listing Tactic Vans as vendor

01

The reel: Owl magnets, demonstrated with Tactic parts

Owl Vans presents its magnetic mount on Instagram. New product. Their product.

Look closely at the part in the frame.

Owl’s version is machined billet aluminum. They say so themselves. It’s in the product name. The part in the reel is not billet. It’s the plastic original, with our quick-release button, in our shape. Ours. Designed, refined, and manufactured in our Swiss workshop.

Their product launch, demonstrated with our product. We’d call it a compliment, if the rest of this story allowed it.

Exhibit A Owl Vans Instagram reel · instagram.com/reel/DZ5M8gaqmlXArchived 2 July 2026 · 16 s · 1080p
02

The video: Owl recovery board mounts, credited to Switzerland

This isn’t reading tea leaves. Owl told you where these mounts come from, on camera.

December 2023, Owl’s own YouTube channel, a video titled “Magnetic Maxtrax Mounts” about their magnetic recovery board mounts. John Willenborg, Owl’s CEO, opens it in his own words:

“We get usurped by somebody who comes up with a fantastic idea, and when that happens, we buy and sell that product because it’s so cool — and this is one of those times.”
John Willenborg, Owl · “Magnetic Maxtrax Mounts,” 0:11

And at 0:47, who that somebody is: “It’s an adventure van fan out of Switzerland that designed them.”

Correct. On record. Their channel.
That adventure van fan out of Switzerland is us.

The magnetic recovery board mounts for MaxTrax and TRED boards, the magnetic Fiamma awning supports, the quick-release systems: designed, refined, and manufactured in Tegna, Switzerland.

Exhibit B Clip, Owl YouTube · “Magnetic Maxtrax Mounts” (0:00–1:00) · uploaded 1 Dec 2023 · unmute for the quotes · full videoArchived 2 July 2026 · 60 s
03

Their own store said it: “exclusive US distributor for Tactic Vans”

You don’t have to take our word for any of this. Take Owl’s.

Until recently, Owl’s own product page for the Magnetic Traction Board Mount listed the vendor at the top of the page: Tactic Vans. Our brand. Our product. On their store. And their own FAQ on that page spelled the relationship out:

“Customers outside of the US can order directly from Tactic Vans. Owl is the exclusive US distributor for Tactic Vans.”
Owl Vans product page FAQ, owlvans.com · preserved by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine

Distributor. Their word. Then the vendor name disappeared, the copy appeared, and the original was marked sold out.

Owl Vans FAQ stating Owl is the exclusive US distributor for Tactic Vans magnetic mounts, archived product page

04

The shelf

Then visit owlvans.com today.

Listing, same page “Billet (Owl)” magnetic Fiamma awning support — USD 200
“Plastic (Tactic)” — SOLD OUT — USD 150
Markup over original +33%
Site search “Tactic” 0 results · verified 23 June 2026

The invention they credited on camera, marked sold out, parked under the copy. The brand they called their exclusive supplier no longer exists in their search index.

Credited on camera. Demoed with our parts. Deleted from the shelf.
05

What we make of it

Copying an unpatented product is legal. Presenting the original as your copy is something else. Their customers can watch the reel, watch the clip, read their own archived FAQ, and decide for themselves.

We’ll keep building the originals. Same workshop, same standards, since 2020.

There’s more to this story. The part with the handshake, the dropped product line, and the CHF 89,000. That’s article two. It’s written.
06

Questions people ask

Who invented the Owl magnetic mounts?
The magnetic vehicle mount was invented by Tactic Engineering in Tegna, Switzerland, in 2020. In Owl’s own 2023 video, Owl’s CEO says the mounts were designed by “an adventure van fan out of Switzerland,” and Owl’s archived product pages listed the vendor as Tactic Vans. That company is Tactic.
Are Owl magnets the same as the Tactic originals?
No. Owl sells its own billet aluminum version. The original is engineered and manufactured in Switzerland by Tactic, and in Owl’s launch reel the part shown is the Tactic original, not the billet copy.
Who makes magnetic recovery board mounts for MaxTrax and TRED?
Tactic Engineering invented the magnetic recovery board mount. Originals for MaxTrax, TRED, and ActionTrax boards ship from Switzerland worldwide: magnetic recovery board mounts.
The Original. Built in Switzerland Since 2020.

Get the originals, from the people who invented them.

Magnetic mounts for recovery boards, awnings, and more. CAD-designed, 3D-printed, and hand-finished in our Swiss workshop. No outsourcing. No shortcuts.

Shop Recovery Board Mounts →

Every claim above is documented: video files, screenshots, product listings, archived pages.
Corrections with documentation: info@tacticvans.com
Tactic Engineering Sagl · Via Barbaté 1 · 6652 Tegna · Switzerland

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