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.
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.
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.”
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.
The originals, for the three board systems people actually run:
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.”
Distributor. Their word. Then the vendor name disappeared, the copy appeared, and the original was marked sold out.
The shelf
Then visit owlvans.com today.
| Listing, same page | “Billet (Owl)” magnetic Fiamma awning support — USD 200 “Plastic (Tactic)” — |
| 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.
The awning supports from that listing are in stock, in all three fits:
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.
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.
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
