FEEDBACK REQUESTED: Car camping (or overlanding) rack options

[NTXTremor]

I'll be the party pooper and poop on RTTs. I'm an avid backpacker and car camper. I've done many multi day adventures out of my 2010 Subaru Outback. Last couple years with a Gazelle T4 instant up (and down) hub tent. We're deployed and ready to enjoy camp well within 20 min. The tent is up in 90 seconds, then I throw my Thermarest Mondo King mattresses back there to mostly self inflate. Before bedtime, I top them off with a small rechargeable inflator. Easy peasy. Drive a few stakes in the ground and the tent is ready. The rest is our camp chairs and table, out and setup in 2 min. Everything else stored in bins when we need it, which are weather protected and clean, btw, because their in a protected interior space.

If you store your gear in an open bed, with RTT on bars over it, your bins and stuff will be a dirty disgusting mess. Your hands and forearms filthy from handling it. They'll get rained on, and possibly more easily stolen when you run into the grocery store to resupply. If your RTT is soft version, you'll be wrestling that thing both up and down and take longer doing it than a Gazelle tent. I can stand in my Gazelle T4, I'm 6' 4".

If its a wedge tent, its 48" wide.. cant even fit two 25" standard pads inside! My ultra light backing tent fits my wife, dog and I with room to spare, each of us with 25" pads.. 3 pounds, takes 5 minutes to completely set up, less to take down. RTT is many times more expensive than an awesome ground tent. Can't secure your base camp when you leave with an RTT, or at least you can easily with your ground tent.

Anyway, make sure you're really sold on the idea of an RTT. They are expensive, must be taken down before driving your vehicle, are heavy and finicky (if soft version), drag down MPGs, are often small inside. I can see some benefit of a hard top RTT, but just barely.

When I get my Ranger, I'm sticking with the Gazelle T4 and all my current gear. I've got it dialed in. I've clocked in the hours with tents and have studied the RTT options very carefully... just doesn't pencil out or win out on the pros and cons. Your mileage may vary.

There are clearly pros and cons to regular tents and RTTs. Like you, I’ve spent countless nights in camping in tents. I have 3 really nice tents ranging from a small backpacking tent I’ve used for hiking as well as a bicycle trip across Europe, a 3 person 3 season tent small and light enough for backpacking, and a huge 4 season 4 person tent with a vestibule that is strictly for car camping. And it’s not like I plan to get rid of any of these. I definitely plan to rent a trailer with a RTT before buying one. Thanks for your opinion.

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[9zero1790]

ive seen some great prices on rtt online like on ebay and aliexpress but the shipping is crazy high. maybe a if a few folks want one they can buy a set of them and split up the shipping.

 

[khyros]

Yeah, this is all assuming that you want a RTT. I have zero interest in one personally, but I know others love theirs. I've never used one though, so perhaps I am missing out, but it just doesn't seem like it would fit into how I use my truck.

1) I have kayaks I put on my rack. These would compete for space with the RTT.
2) We setup our tent at a site (typically at some sort of campground, but often just on state forest grounds), and have dinner and sleep there. In the morning, we get up and explore / do stuff. And then we return to camp that night. With a RTT, this means that I would have to pack it all up and set it up each day. And it doesn't sound like the tent itself is that big of a deal to setup, but getting the truck level sounds annoying.
3) You have to get the truck level, which means carrying some sort of blocks to level it out. Now, one can look at that as actually a pro as well... I've had many a nights of sleeping with my feet downhill from my head because we couldn't find a level spot for a tent, but its still time consuming.
4) I have a tiny bladder, which means that I have to pee 1-2 times throughout most nights (there's typically plenty of beer drinking around dinner which may or may not add to that)... I don't really want to stumble down a ladder in the middle of the night.
5) The wife keeps threatening me with a dog. I've held off her advances by deferring to when we have a baby. Neither of those like RTTs because neither can get in one on their own. Tents are a lot more friendly.
6) $$$
7) Combining 5 and 6... it'll be a lot easier to convince the wife to get a TT to ease our camping with kids if we hadn't just spent a ton of money on a RTT. Not that I'm looking into going that direction, but based on how much easier it is for my sister to camp out of a TT, it might become the alternative that keeps us camping and adventuring.

 

[EJH]

There are other threads on RTTs, and their pros and cons. I will only add a couple items:

• My RTT is quicker to setup and pack up than any of my ground tents. A lot of this is due to the fact that (for us) the RTT never really gets dirty, being elevated off the ground.
• We have a 26 lb dog and lift him in/out of the RTT. He (and us) are fine with that. A larger dog would be a challenge.
• I agree with some other comments that RTTs are at their best for single night use. If you are setting up camp for several days, your truck is out of use while the RTT is setup, unless you want to pack it up. We love the RTT when stopping for a single night at a trailhead, etc.
• You can store a few items in the RTT when packed (at least ours). We keep sleeping bags and pillows inside when we fold it up. That makes setup and pack down quicker.
• Regarding bed items getting dirty (someone commented on that), this is irrelevant of using an RTT or not. There are bed racks that allow tonneau cover usage.
• RTTs are pricey. IMHO this is their main downfall. We received ours at significant discount. I am not sure I would pay the $1k-$2k full cost for one...

We have backpacking tents, car camping large tents, the RTT and a 20' travel trailer. We use what is the best for whatever trip.

 

[mtbikernate]

I live in an outdoor destination. Get people traveling here from all over the eastern half of the country. Rooftop tents are madly popular, but I feel like in the eastern half of the country it's more difficult to take advantage of their main benefit. That ability to pull up and sleep wherever you're parked and then move along fairly quickly.

In the eastern half of the country, the number of places you can do that are precious few. Most trailheads don't permit that sort of thing. You're more likely to be able to stealth camp undisturbed if you have a stealthy camper van conversion or otherwise have the ability to sleep inside your vehicle. But a RTT that unfolds is going to catch attention when sleeping overnight at the trailhead is not permitted.

The eastern half of the country has far fewer places that you can do multiday offroading/camping trips. And also FAR fewer places where you can boondock camp. Though, the RTT does make it a bit easier to use the spots that are available compared to a small trailer. It's even more difficult to find boondock sites in the east that also will fit a small trailer.

What I see a lot of are people using rooftop tents in the same campgrounds as people who have ground tents and travel trailers and all other manner of camping gear. A lot of these campgrounds are not necessarily right next to the places you want to recreate. So you need to load up and travel a bit to get to whatever you plan to do. And there are obvious disadvantages to using a RTT in that scenario. At least with a camper van/Class B RV, you can usually just drive off without disassembling much (maybe take down your awning if you have one). If you've gone up to a Class C, you start having the option to drag along a car to use. And if you've got a Class A, you almost certainly have a separate car along for side trips. If you're staying in campgrounds like the vast majority of ppl in the east do, then why not use a camping setup that allows you to just leave everything at camp and then go explore?

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of RTTs I see are kept on their respective vehicles full-time, also. Sure, keeping one under the roofline of a pickup helps maintain aerodynamics, and the hardshell ones are usually more aero than the soft ones, but also consider the extra wear and tear keeping it on the roof full-time puts on the tent. Sun exposure, exposure to wet, freeze/thaw cycles, and the wind buffeting from driving around with it. The hardshell ones are also more resistant to the elements. I am completely baffled by how many smaller vehicles (small SUVs and even smaller cars) I see with the really boxy soft-case RTTs apparently left on full-time.

In the western US, the camping situation is quite different. It's a whole lot easier to boondock. It's a whole lot easier to do multiday offroad trips where you're less likely to base camp for a period of time. I lived in TX for a number of years, and the camping situation there has a lot more in common with points farther east unless you have a hunting/fishing lease somewhere.

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