Soft tops come in many different shapes, styles, and designs. Remember, tops aren’t just about appearance, but also about what features they might include, and how they cover your interior. There are two basic styles when it comes to “the look.” The square back style or the fastback.

Choosing the soft top that’s just right for your Jeep can seem confusing at times. Luckily Eric and Bestop’s Larry Lyon break it all down so it’s an easy score to get the best soft top for your Jeep.

What is the look and style you prefer?

Soft tops come in many different shapes, styles, and designs. Remember, tops aren’t just about appearance, but also about what features they might include, and how they cover your interior. There are two basic styles when it comes to “the look.” The square back style, which resembles a factory Jeep top. One example of this kind of top will be the Bestop Supertop NX. Then there are the rear fastback models, like the Bestop NX family of soft tops that have a more stylish and “military” look to them. These are extremely popular with Jeep owners today. Once you choose the look you like best, you’ve narrowed down the choices of which top might appear best with your own Jeep.

What is your Jeep Lifestyle?

Do you like to drive with most of the top up? Do you like to remove various parts to get as much sunshine and fresh air as you can? Are you looking for a top that just has the Sunrider option, where you can flip back the front portion to get some air? Or maybe you just want to remove the windows now and then, and leave the top with full coverage for shade. Or going the other way, you like to strip as much top off as you can to a bikini style, or nearly nothing. Where do you live and trail? Is it a sunny and dry area? Is it a northern area with lots of cold weather? Your location can determine how often you will remove parts on the soft top, or how much you will leave on at long intervals.

What Soft Top material do you prefer?

Bestop makes their tops out of two major constructions; a sailcloth material, which is like an OE soft top. The other higher grade material is a Twill design. Sailcloth is a 20oz. fabric and the windows on those tops are 30mm. Bestop gives Sailcloth a 5-year warranty.

The Twill is a 3-ply material with an acrylic and neoprene center and a vinyl backing. The windows on those tops are 40mm. Bestop gives their Twill material a Limited Lifetime Warranty.

Once you choose these basics designs, you can drastically narrow down what you’re looking for. If you were thinking of the Fastback design tops, be sure and check out the full line of Bestop Trektop NX soft tops for your Jeep. There are a lot of options just within that family of tops if that’s the look you’re going after.