I have owned a number of trucks over the years and with the exception of my first truck back in 1986 and the 2020 Power Wagon I just bought, I have not put on Tonneau covers or felt a need for them. But as I live in the Northeast and we get a few feet of snow every winter, and I am getting to the age that climbing in and out of the bed of my truck after each snow to shovel it out has lost its appeal, I decided to put one on the new truck. My thought being it will be easy to clean off from the ground after each snow storm, as well as give me a clean, mostly dry, bed to use whenever I need it.
With the desire to have a cover this time around, I had a few requirements that the cover would need to meet. First, the snow that made the cover a desire to start with would need to support up to 2' of snow load at a time. While rare, we do get that much snow in a single storm every year or 2. Second, since I own stand up paddleboards and kayaks, I wanted a cover I could use with a rack system that allowed me to carry a pair of them, while still having the tailgate closed, to allow towing a camper. Third, since I buy my trucks and keep them for 8-10 years I wanted one that would last as long as I had the truck. Forth, and by far the least important, but still a consideration was being able to lock it for the times I was away from home and had something in the bed, like our mountain bikes.
After some research, reading a lot of posts on forums and reviews, I settled on the Retrax PRO XR. It is a retractable, flush mount, black powder coated aluminum, 500 lb load capacity, lockable, cover with an integrated track system that supports, Thule, Yakima and Rhino Racks and accessories, and comes with a lifetime warranty. Since my Power Wagon is silver with lots of black accents, the black cover and black Yakima Overhaul HD rack system not only met all my requirements, it also matched perfectly with my truck that has zero chrome. I replaced the only chrome, the lug nuts, when I upgraded the tires to 35" the day after I brought the truck home.
I have the Retrax tonneau cover installed, which was very straight forward to do yourself. It looks and works great, and matches the truck perfectly. I have not purchased the Yakima rack system yet, as I am waiting for it to go on sale at one of the numerous places that sell them online. But since kayak and paddleboard season has passed here in the NE, I have all winter to purchase the a rack system before needing it in late spring. I also plan on only having the rack on when kayak and paddleboard season is active. No need for it in late fall, winter and early spring, before the ice goes out around here on the local lakes.
While I have only had the Retrax on for a couple of weeks, used it a handful of times so far, and not added a rack yet, if you have similar needs from a tonneau cover, you should take a look at the Retrax brand. So far I am very impressed with its look and functionality. It is not cheap though, but you generally get what you pay for, so worth it IMO.
