I'm looking for a tonneau aka bed cover for my 2001 Silverado. Thinking about one of the fold up types so I can open it up and use the bed for big items such as dump and home depot runs. I've never bought one of these before. Anyone got advice / input on what brands and styles are good?
The retractable ones look interesting also but Cheaper is better
I've had and used several types over the years, as well clam shells and the like. Currently, the truck bed is bare and I intend to keep it that way as it's the most useful to me.
In my experience, any type of fabric cover will sag and puddle rain water, making it sag and stretch even worse.
The setting of bows and snaps, as well the time spent rolling and bundling such a top results in it being left up at the front of the bed, ignored, most of the time.
Anything cover bunched up at the front of the bed will get crushed by tall heavy objects slamming into it, especially when braking hard and suddenly.
Covers that have tracks down the sides of the bed will get the tracks smashed and made inoperable by tossing things over the side, and missing. These covers are also generally impossible to get to slide closed from the side and require either two people to pull it back to the tailgate, or require you to get into the bed and pull from the center.
Light weight covers, even ones that can be carried by little girls, as evidenced by their advertising photos, are darn awkward and a lot harder to get on or off in real life than imagined. This results in the cover being kept in one state or the other, not both.
They all leak. It's only a matter of degree.
Fabric covers tear easily. Be it a vandal kid or the things you drop in the bed that catch it when it's rolled up at the front.
Being able to lock the bed with a solid cover like a Leer or such is kinda nice when road tripping. The suit cases will be wet, but out of peoples eyes. They will all slide to the front of the bed, requiring you to knee walk your way up there to get them, but ok.
Having the likes of a hard cover on the bed will cause you to find wonderful treasures for free that you cannot carry home because they will not fit. Running home to take the cover off and come back only ensures the guy with the open truck has already gotten it by the time you get back.
Running the bed open means you never find treasures like you will with a bed cover on.
Foxtrapper did a really good write up. I agree with all, the greatest benefit is locking thing out of site but the downside is everything else.
One question for what reasons are you trying to cover the bed?
I had a snap-on vinyl tonneau cover on my truck, for a couple weeks. I bought it used, but in excellent condition. I think it was in such condition, because the seller didn't like it, either, for many of the reasons foxtrapper pointed out, and the same reasons I took it back off, and sold it!
One thing fox may have missed, is that with the snap-on covers, you need a warm, sunny day, to get a good stretch, to get the last six snaps snapped, around the corner. berkeleying forget about it, in temps below 80 degrees without sun, unless it's already old and saggy. 
I've been running soft tonneaus for a very long time (since my 1993 GMC back in the late 90's). We have a snap on this time around. If you roll it up in hte cold, you are not going to getit re-stretched out in the cold. The nice thing, unroll it in the sunlight for a half hour and it becomes pliable and will stretch easily. Even though it's not locked, it is nice to be able to put things underit out of the weather.
I always liked my snap on vinyl tonneau covers. Never had the trouble with them. Yes, water puddles. Yes, they are a bitch to work with below freezing. And they are not water tight. But they keep stuff mostly dry, look good, and are easy to live with.
I had an "Undercover" brand ABS hard cover on my F-150. It came with the truck when I bought it but I really liked it. Tough plastic design that didn't scratch and could hold up to having 6 men stand on it. I replaced the weather-stripping and it did a fine job of keeping luggage dry. Basically turned an open air space into a giant trunk, lockable and all.
Every one of the six pickups I've owned has had a vinyl tonneau cover. In the early days, I had the snap-type ones, made by Extang. Yes, they could be a PITA, but the ability to keep things out of sight and out of the weather was more than worth it to me. But the last couple were the velcro type, by Truxedo. No issues with rolling those up or down at any time of year. The bows are part of the cover, so there's no need to store them, either. Easy-peasy.
I would consider one of the hard folding ones for my next truck, but I hate to lose any bed length. I'd never do the one-piece hard shell, you lose too much utility with those, despite the security they offer.
I run a Truxedo Lo Pro QT. It's a soft cover that rolls up and has Velcro on the sides. There are bars running side to side that are attached to the vinyl for support. After 5 years, the Velcro doesn't grip perfectly but the tension on the top keeps water from getting in. It's been through some near-tornados running to and from the Mitty.
The only time it leaks is if I have heavy rain on the interstate, and that's limited to one small area at the front corner. No puddling. No sagging. Easy to roll and unroll with one person regardless of temperature. I've never smashed the side rails or the rolled up top, but I also take a bit of care when loading my truck and loads get tied down. It's difficult to open when the tailgate is closed so it provides a small measure of security.
I'd buy another if I changed trucks. Heck, I've done that once already.
I have a soft cover that I bought through gm, no snaps cause they rust and don't work. This one has a tongue and groove system. Never a problem with cold and no puddling of water. Only issue is like all fabrics, no locking and easy for someone to cut it to get in. I only carry rubber boots and a grease gun 99% of the time so nothing worth taking.
also have experience with the truxedos like keiths. My FIL has them on both his trucks and likely will never own a truck without.
Just like Keith says, they are easy to work in all weather, easy for one person to roll/unroll, spring loaded automatic tension keeps it taut, not 100% leak free but close, and we just had to replace the cover on the 2005 truck because the velcro came off (10 years old, not bad). It was like $100 to replace I think, but if we would have had the receipt or had registered the product THEY WOULD HAVE SENT A NEW COVER FOR FREE!!
Never really had issues with pooling - of course some water sits on the cover, but only if the truck is parked on an absolutely flat surface.
I think it pays for itself in gas mileage over the life of the truck. It does however slightly reduce the width of the bed at the top rails, which does have an impact when you are say moving couches or refrigerators. We however do not do that very often so it isn't a big deal.
Oh, and one more thing: If you have a cover of any kind, get a broomstick and screw a big rubberized hook into the end of it. Keep in in your bed at all times. Now getting items that slid to the front of the bed is as easy and grabbing the broomstick.
I also have the truxedo lo pro and recommend it. I've had mine on since 2007 and it's still going strong. It leaks a little but I just throw things in garbage bags to keep them off them out of the drips and it's fine. Rolls up quickly, rolls back tight and quickly. The exposed stake bed holes let me do silly things like this and still keep the load covered.
I'll buy another for my next truck.
Bought a Extang Fulltilt two years ago. It also has snaps around the frame perimeter and can roll up and the bows can be removed easily.
Or for removal unhook the gas cylinders, tilt it up 45° and the entire cover on frame slides out to the side from it's extruded hinge. One man job in a manner of minutes. It's gasketed well too.
Woulda liked the security of a hard shell but removal would be a PITA, soft cover doesn't have the security but has the weather protection and is easy to remove. It's all a compromise. I don't haul that large anymore or mess w/ snaps ftm but when so the entire cover gets removed, it's either on or off. These list around $425 at Realtruck but I shopped the internik and found it for $380 IIRC.
I like it cause it's versatile and suits the way I haul, would buy another one.
I've been running an Access roll-up cover for years. It's about used up now, but it's been out in the weather 24/7 for over ten years now. Convenient, easy to install, does what I want it to do, which is keep stuff in the bed, keep weather out, and look good doing it. Recommended.
I had a covercraft back in the day, it was awesome, lasted like 12 years and work great. I tore it by letting it flap against an ls motor I had in the bed, stupid. I tried to find another one like it, they all seemed like bad designs at the time. I really liked the dovetail system that secured the old covercraft. I think next time I'll do a fabric cap next time.
Thanks. I need a lockable hard cover. Basically so I can keep race spares in the bed w/o unloading so curious people can't go through the stuff at night. That's why I was thinking of one of those fold up hard covers. Like below. I guess most of you only had soft covers - which won't offer me the security I need.
I hated the hardtop tonnue on my s10, have a 99 silverado now that came with a roll up cover. I took it off too, the snaps are a pain in the ass and i like my truck for truck things.
Janel had a hard cover on her work truck. It was a pain in the ass.
The Truxedo covers need to be released from inside the bed - they're locked down at the back with straps that run all the way to the front under tension. They can be released from outside if you know how to do it (I think, I'll go try), but between the contents being invisible and the difficulty you certainly make it too hard for curious folks to go exploring. Just lock the tailgate.
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