Official Is a rooftop tent (RTT) for me?

[sixstringsteve]

I still do plenty of car camping, but I also enjoy backpacking, and generally camping away from roads and parking lots. Even when car camping, I enjoy the flexibility of pitching my tent away from the vehicles.

 

[Box Rocket]

I still do plenty of car camping, but I also enjoy backpacking, and generally camping away from roads and parking lots. Even when car camping, I enjoy the flexibility of pitching my tent away from the vehicles.

Fair enough. I have nothing against ground tents. But I definitely enjoy my RTT. Everyone has their preference.

 

[jeeper]

I am unfamiliar with these dome like structures of material.. Do the stove and toilet come installed, or are they add-ons like my microwave?

 

[4biker]

I love this sticky. I have always wanted a RTT, but the cost really was prohibitive for obvious reasons. I love the idea of things, and so I have such frivolities as a snorkel and a supercharger. Both of those things have a purpose, but are completely unnecessary, strictly speaking. Maybe it's that there's something to look forward to doing, then there's the next thing, and so on.

Anyway, I have a roof top tent now, and I love it. My wife and I were talking about our preferences, and she said that she has no idea what the appeal is for me to be 6 feet off the ground. Honestly I had to think about that one for a few minutes. She loves the idea of a springbar-type tent, where it's huge and rugged, and there's no ladder. My answer back to her is that I've NEVER slept well in a ground tent - EVER. I remember on camping trips when I literally wouldn't sleep for one minute during the entire night. It's cold, my pad is always inadequate (I'll find every rock and/or root), I can't move (roll, switch positions, etc.), and I'm just generally uncomfortable. I love the idea of camping, and I love being in the backcountry. I don't, however, love to camp. I'm assuming that it's a "princess and the pea" scenario, but I really don't know why it's miserable for me. Another reason I don't love ground tents is I have so many memories of putting them up and taking them down in the mud. Yay.

So I picked up my RTT at the end of the last camping season, and now it's hanging in the garage from the ceiling. However, I have actually camped in it. I've camped with it in American Fork Canyon, in the Uintas, and in Moab. To put it concisely, I love it. I love that I have a tent that I don't walk around in, and it's like it's just a sleeping/chilling out room. I love that I can get away from mud and bugs, and I'll never wake up because there's a root stuck under my shoulder blade, or a rock sticking into my hip. It's small, so I can turn on a heater and it will actually do something. The entire floor is a pad, so I don't have to readjust or re-inflate that, ever. I don't hear animals sniffing around in the middle of the night (yes it's happened, all you heavy sleepers), and for whatever reason, my brain will shut off and I can sleep. I wake up as well rested in the RTT as I do at home, and that's saying something. With that thing on the roof, I actually enjoy camping. I still smell like smoke and wish I had remembered my pillow, so I don't think I'm missing out on anything, but for me it makes the experience more complete, or at least more enjoyable. Plus I love the fun factor, and the fact that it's cool. Regardless, because I have the RTT, I've spent nights out of the house in the big, beautiful world, where I feel like I belong.

The next use will be down in Bluff in April, unless I break it out sooner (if the Mrs. will let me head to Moab for an overnighter/bike excursion). I love the idea of sleeping in it, but my wife doesn't. Our 1-1/2 year old boy makes it less fun for her while he's crammed between us, so we're borrowing her parents' big tent and taking the RTT and we'll see how it goes.

The day I picked it up


AF Canyon


A couple from Uintas - it was COLD in October!!! Tires were frozen solidly to the ground




Moab - amazing night at Bartlett Wash

 

[sLcREX]

Ive been seriously considering one for this year's season. Seeing as I've been camping more I think I would take advantage of it more also.

 

[MattL]

Id be all over it as well if they were more affordable.

 

[STAG]

I'm getting one when I can make up my mind between the Tepui Autana Siberian or the ARB Simpson 3

 

[4biker]

Mine's the Tepui Kukenam. I love it, but there are a couple of QC issues that should have been resolved. The zipper on the cover is great, but I snapped the pull tab off of it because how stiff the vinyl was when new. I've got a pull ring now and it works fine until I replace it in a couple of years (I'm sure). I also wish the cover were a teensie bit more waterproof - two of the corners are a little exposed, but not terribly. Finally I noticed the main entrance screen door gets weirded out once in a while, so I have to pull it back and forth sometimes to get it to stay engaged. That may turn into a bigger problem, but for now I think I may just need to clean up some of the thread around the zipper from the sewing machine work. I got mine super cheap, so I'm willing to accept those flaws at this point.

 

[STAG]

I'm definitely leaning towards the ARB.

 

[O'neal]

I know I have been thinking about the RTT for awhile.I like remote area's,staying off the ground,cold weather,hunting trip's and the like.How warm/windproof are these for a guy in the outdoor's in colder weather?

 

[STAG]

From what I hear, they are a lot colder than a ground tent because you have air underneath you, not ground. So the heat radiation is just lost.

Minimize the amount of air that can come and go underneath you and you'll stay warmer.

 

[MOODY]

From what I hear, they are a lot colder than a ground tent because you have air underneath you, not ground. So the heat radiation is just lost.

Minimize the amount of air that can come and go underneath you and you'll stay warmer.

I never found that to be the case on the hard sided RTT's I had but I also never used my ARB or Eezi Awn in super cold temps like I did with the Columbus and Maggiolina.

 

[4biker]

From what I hear, they are a lot colder than a ground tent because you have air underneath you, not ground. So the heat radiation is just lost.

Minimize the amount of air that can come and go underneath you and you'll stay warmer.

Well strictly speaking, there's an aluminum floor, a thin pvc layer, and a two to three inch thick foam mattress between your sleeping bag and the air under the tent. On the Elk hunt it was about 10 degrees (felt colder at 4:00 am on horseback) and I never felt heat loss through the floor.
An air mattress on cold earth will suck the heat right out of you.

 

[STAG]

I don't have any first-person testing yet, just what I read and hear

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Well strictly speaking, there's an aluminum floor, a thin pvc layer, and a two to three inch thick foam mattress between your sleeping bag and the air under the tent. On the Elk hunt it was about 10 degrees (felt colder at 4:00 am on horseback) and I never felt heat loss through the floor.
An air mattress on cold earth will suck the heat right out of you.

Additionally, the ARB (and some other models) have foam (insulation) in between the aluminum frame of the floor, add the mattress and it's actually quite insulated.

 

[smartass_kid]

not going to read 13 pages but i got these saved in my favorites from threads on other sites. anyone heard quality of these?

http://www.ridgerunneroutdoors.com/

http://tentsonarack.com/

 

[sixstringsteve]

From what I hear, they are a lot colder than a ground tent because you have air underneath you, not ground. So the heat radiation is just lost.

This has been my experience. Except for one or two trips, I was always cold in my RTT, and more than several times EXTREMELY cold, even with a true 0* down bag. I think part of it also has to do with the fact that my RTT was a lot bigger than my ground tents on the inside, so there was a lot more space to heat up and keep warm.

An air mattress on cold earth will suck the heat right out of you.

Maybe one of those 12" thick ones you buy at walmart for $10, but a true sleeping pad meant for camping will insulate you extremely well from the ground. My ground tents with sleeping pads are much warmer than my old RTT.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Here are my thought from back when I owned one (many of these are mentioned by Kirt in post #1.)

Pros:
- the ability to leave your bedding in the tent as you travel. This gives you more storage room in your rig, and keeps your sleeping gear dry and clean and out of the way. To me, this was the biggest advantage. This only worked for me for multi-night trips though. I didn't ever leave my sleeping bag or pillow in there long-term.
- coolness factor
- fun factor of feeling like you're in a treehouse
- it stayed cleaner than a ground tent for two reasons: 1) I had to climb a ladder, which knocked the dirt off my shoes. 2) it's not in the dirt/mud/snow, so it stays cleaner.
- quite stormproof, we always stayed dry on the inside (except for condensation in the cold)
- nice and dark. It's easy to sleep in, the sunlight doesn't wake you up
- lots of room on the inside. We would hang things from the ceiling to dry them, and we could easily fit my wife and I plus a small kid or two.
- beefy design. The floor, hinges, and the whole way it works was very well built. Nice big zipper that didn't snag (except for the cover zipper).


Cons:
- Canvas soaked up water and took a long time to dry
- Having to pack it up wet, and not being able to dry it out in my family room. I had to pitch it in the garage and let it air-dry, while it was attached to my truck, meaning I couldn't drive anywhere while it was airing out. If it happened to be below freezing, the tent would never dry out on its own, and I didn't want to leave a wet tent packed up in its cover.
- Cost. You can buy two of the best ground tents on the planet for the price of most RTTs. I'm not saying RTT's aren't worth what you pay for them, but a lot of people are comparing their $50 walmart tent experience to a $1400+ tent.
- Outdated tent design. The folding part, and ability to store on your roof was brilliant, but the actual tent design, as a tent, was pretty outdated. Pockets, vents, openings, etc were cumbersome and outdated.
- The ARB version didn't get much of a breeze going through it due to the design of the windows. This was great for keeping storms out, but I wanted it to breathe better in the summer.
- It wasn't any faster to set up than my ground tents, in fact it is slower. Especially so when you factor in having to choose a site that was level, or factoring in the time to put rocks under your tires to level it out.
- Not able to travel while your tent is pitched (unless you have it mounted to a trailer)
- MPG and takes up space on your rig
- more difficult to clean than a ground tent (although you don't have to clean it as often)
- horrible sleeping pad. Super uncomfortable, and heavy.



My RTT was fun when I had it, and I have some cool memories of it. I loved the feeling of being up there, like the treehouse but ultimately I found the downsides to outweigh the upsides for my needs.

 

[4biker]

Except for one or two trips, I've always been cold in my RTT, and more than several times EXTREMELY cold, even with a true 0* down bag. I think part of it also has to do with the fact that my RTT was a lot bigger than my ground tents on the inside, so there was a lot more space to heat up and keep warm.

Just to qualify my statement about being warm, I never noticed being cold from the floor. On the sub-zero nights I sparked up my little coleman catalytic heater with a couple of vents cracked open and I was snug as a bug. The night I spent in Moab was about 35* and without a heater I was still warm, with a crappy sleeping bag and a blanket or two.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Yeah, I never felt like the floor was cold, and was sucking away my heat, I just know I was colder in my RTT than when I was in my ground tent (without a heater). Add a heater, and any tent will be warm.