[Amberrr]

Hey Amberrr, can you post a photo of your roof rack w/ the IKamper?

 

[Big-Ern]

Ground tents have their advantages as mentioned earlier in this thread, but they are not for me. In my experience, ground tents are cold, they really suck when it's wet out side (actually got flooded once in a ground tent in the middle of the night), take a little while to set up and even longer to prepare your site (get rid of rocks, sticks, etc. ), and I have had all kinds of creepy crawlies in the tent. I am not knocking those who prefer ground tents. If they work for you that's all that matters.

I bought an Eezi Awn RTT last summer and installed it on my FJ. We love the tent! It's comfortable, warm, and set up is easy. The hard sided RTTs are way fast and easy, but cost a lot more. Tear down is a bit harder and takes more time to tuck all of the fabric in and get the cover on. This is where the hard sided RTTs would really shine. The biggest con of the RTT is when it is mounted on your vehicle. Once camp is set up, you are not going anywhere. That was a no go for us, so we bought an off road trailer and put the tent on that. Now we can set up camp and then go explore the area if we want. Plus, we don't have the weight of the RTT (ours is 154 lbs) on our FJ during daily driving. I definitely felt the additional weight on the roof and was glad we removed it and put it on the trailer.

Off road trailers are not cheap. That was the biggest concern for us. But in the end, we just splurged and got the one we wanted. Buy once, cry once.

Here is a pic of ours during a camping trip near Moab last fall.

 

[Circa1983]

I can set up my tent in 30 seconds while the rest of my friends are barely getting their tents out. I usually end up helping them anyways [emoji28]. Also, the feeling of being off the floor and safe throughout the night while sleeping on a mattress really gives me a great night's rest. Makes a huge difference. It also depends how many times you intend on using your tent. If you spend the money, you better get your moneys worth [emoji4][emoji106]

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Can you pass along the details and cost of your setup?

 

[knicolas]

Can you pass along the details and cost of your setup?

Sure! I have a CVT 50" Mt. Hood with their platform rack and a 23Zero Peregrine 270 Awning mounted to a Rhino Rack Backbone and Front Runner Load Bar combo

 

[knicolas]

Here's a recent photo

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

 

[AussieAdventurerz]

I do a lot of outdoor stuff - camping, hunting, fishing, canoeing etc. one of the reasons I got the FJ.

I'm trying to understand what the big deal is with roof top tents - I have a few 'normal' tents that I use in different conditions. What is the 'use case' that makes it worth the $$$?

We love ours, but we fitted it to our trailer so we can still use our vehicle and not need to pack the tent down before we can use the car. We have a Darche since we could also have an annex attached.

 

[john170]

For roof top tents my favorite brand is 23Zero. Usually on this site
i find what I need.

 

[norm356]

Sorry, I just had to post that because it makes me laugh every time.
Actually I think RTT are pretty handy, but still have to laugh at that meme.

 

[AgnesFJ]

I rented RTT to test it before I decide to buy and so far I wasn't convinced I should get one.

I rented Sheepie Yuna Medium (Dutch brand). I recorded video of setting it up and it took 4 minutes and 40 seconds. I was doing it first time ever. But after that, I had a bit of the fight with the ladder, to level the overhanging part of the tent. It took good 10 minutes to set it properly.

I'm rather average sized female, so opening the tent was hard for me.

Then I didn't use my car on second day of the trip, because I didn't want the hassle of packing the tent. Because of that I had to hike longer distance than I would like, as I had no other transport option.

When I got to packing the tent, it was bad too. First, I forgot to put the cover on top, second time I put it wrong and had to open and close the tent three times to make it right. A lot of hassle and again, quite heavy to put the tent up and down again. Also got wet and dirty from wet tent (moisture) and ladder. I think, I provided quite an entertainment for others on camp site. One guy stopped by later to comment on my efforts of putting the tent down.

Other things I didn't like:
- a lot of condensation inside, even though I opened windows for the night
-going up and down the ladder
-lower mpg. I topped up before renting a tent and after returning it, to compare.
-lack of any private space without annexe

Test was done in November on mild weekend in England. We don't have dangerous wild animals and don't do wild camping, so totally different from USA, AU or Africa.

I plan to rent hard shell RTT and see if it's any better.

So far, I think standard tent is better option for me. And on short trips when it's wet, sleeping in the car is ok. I have couple of tents and use them depending on the weather, destination and how long is my trip. Pop up tents can be setup really quickly with minimal hassle.

 

[FJtest]

I rented RTT to test it before I decide to buy and so far I wasn't convinced I should get one.

I rented Sheepie Yuna Medium (Dutch brand). I recorded video of setting it up and it took 4 minutes and 40 seconds. I was doing it first time ever. But after that, I had a bit of the fight with the ladder, to level the overhanging part of the tent. It took good 10 minutes to set it properly.

I'm rather average sized female, so opening the tent was hard for me.

Then I didn't use my car on second day of the trip, because I didn't want the hassle of packing the tent. Because of that I had to hike longer distance than I would like, as I had no other transport option.

When I got to packing the tent, it was bad too. First, I forgot to put the cover on top, second time I put it wrong and had to open and close the tent three times to make it right. A lot of hassle and again, quite heavy to put the tent up and down again. Also got wet and dirty from wet tent (moisture) and ladder. I think, I provided quite an entertainment for others on camp site. One guy stopped buy later to comment on my efforts of putting the tent down.

Other things I didn't like:
- a lot of condensation inside, even though I opened windows for the night
-going up and down the ladder
-lower mpg. I topped up before renting a tent and after returning it, to compare.
-lack of any private space without annexe

Test was done in November on mild weekend in England. We don't have wild animals and don't do wild camping, so totally different from USA, AU or Africa.

I plan to rent hard shell RTT and see if it's any better.

So far, I think standard tent is better option for me. And on short trips when it's wet, sleeping in the car is ok. I have couple of tents and use them depending on the weather, destination and how long is my trip. Pop up tents can be setup really quickly with minimal hassle.

Your experience emphasizes the benefits of a hard-shell RTT.

Total set-up time should include everything necessary to make the tent climb-in ready, so your Sheepie actually took ~ 15 minutes to prep.

Crank-up or pop-up hard-shell RTTs have set-up times in the 2-3 minute range, with take-down times of ~ 5-6 minutes if you want to be really meticulous about tucking in the canvas.

 

[AgnesFJ]

I already agreed rental for December, just need time and decent weather.