Truck bed tent

[philanderer]

https://www.amazon.com/Kamp-Rite-Oversize-Folding-Outdoor-Sleeping/dp/B07L88Q1ND

i have this one and have camped out a number of times. put a sleeping bag and a pillow in there and its not half bad. get you up off the ground away from the creepy crawlies. havent used it for awhile so should probably sell it, but being recently semi-retired maybe i will start using it again.

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[Theslim_spaydee]

So, yes I have a super crew, I was looking to purchase a bed tent. Anyone know if you can still use them if you have a tonneau cover? Or is there a decently priced top tent?

What kind of tonneau cover? I had a roof top tent mounted to a frontrunner rack on my Embark LS rolltop tonneau cover for awhile. It worked well.

Probably can easily find in my profile.

 

[halligan1201]

Have you used those swag tents on a cot in the truck bed? Thats sort of what im
Leaning towards over my current otf tent

I have not; I've seen video reviews of guys setting them up on cots and at least one where a guy set his up in the bed (but not on a cot). Just check measurements of the specific model. Some come right out and say what cots they fit on. The ones I ordered are too wide for a cot but will fit in the truck bed no problem.

I'm still waiting for both of mine to show up. I was able to get my hands on one at a fishing/hunting show a month ago and that's what made my mind up finally.

I think @RoadBoss was selling some that he demo'd for his YouTube channel.

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/thre...wag-tents-23zero-and-other.17585/#post-377829

 

[NurseNeil]

What kind of tonneau cover? I had a roof top tent mounted to a frontrunner rack on my Embark LS rolltop tonneau cover for awhile. It worked well.

Probably can easily find in my profile.

I have a hard top flip back I think

 

[ppfd]

Those swags are pretty sweet. Damn you all for costing me money!?

Ive kicked around a RTT, cost is a huge factor, the new i Kamp mini is at least 3500 hundred. You know what kind of pop up or small pull behind camper I could get for that money or a few bucks more.
I live in WV so everything is remote / rural once your out of town. I’m also not blazing a path through the woods so a small camper would be ideal.
Plus I have a 85 pound doberman that I would have to winch up into a RTT.
Dont get me wrong RTTs are cool and I’d love to have a hard shell. For my needs I can’t justify the expense.
That swag is going to get some research though.

 

[Danager]

Those swags are pretty sweet. Damn you all for costing me money!?

Ive kicked around a RTT, cost is a huge factor, the new i Kamp mini is at least 3500 hundred. You know what kind of pop up or small pull behind camper I could get for that money or a few bucks more.
I live in WV so everything is remote / rural once your out of town. I’m also not blazing a path through the woods so a small camper would be ideal.
Plus I have a 85 pound doberman that I would have to winch up into a RTT.
Dont get me wrong RTTs are cool and I’d love to have a hard shell. For my needs I can’t justify the expense.
That swag is going to get some research though.

After some soul searching, I have come to realize I’m not a sleeping on my roof kind of guy. Hard to imagine what gets you more street cred than a rtt. And I know they suit a lot of people. I plan to stick with a ground tent this year and keep a look out for a deal on a tent trailer. Girlfriend wants us to buy a couple hammock tents - not sure that is my thing either. Updating the rest of the gear this year as well. Sleeping bags, cook systems, inverter/generator, solar/battery, etc.

 

[RoadBoss]

Have you used those swag tents on a cot in the truck bed? Thats sort of what im
Leaning towards over my current otf tent

You certainly COULD do it, but I don't understand what the point would be... I think it would just make it really difficult to get in and out of, and require that you keep the truck bed open and empty before going to sleep... if you're already planning on a cot, why not just put the cot on the ground? Then you can just sit to get in and out of the swag and not have to worry about any climbing.
Also I think you'd be real surprised how comfortable a nice swag is even straight on the ground.

 

[halligan1201]

Those swags are pretty sweet. Damn you all for costing me money!?

Ive kicked around a RTT, cost is a huge factor, the new i Kamp mini is at least 3500 hundred. You know what kind of pop up or small pull behind camper I could get for that money or a few bucks more.
I live in WV so everything is remote / rural once your out of town. I’m also not blazing a path through the woods so a small camper would be ideal.
Plus I have a 85 pound doberman that I would have to winch up into a RTT.
Dont get me wrong RTTs are cool and I’d love to have a hard shell. For my needs I can’t justify the expense.
That swag is going to get some research though.

Same progression of thought I went through lol.

 

[awd.nv]

You should look into a swag tent. You're first paragraph is exactly my scenario too. I'm thinking a swag will fit the bill for me.

Thanks, didn't know there was a class like that. My outdoor store had the model below but kinda forgot about them since I have been camping out of the Pilot about 3yrs. Gonna look into them a bit more.

https://www.amazon.com/Kamp-Rite-Oversize-Folding-Outdoor-Sleeping/dp/B07L88Q1ND

i have this one and have camped out a number of times. put a sleeping bag and a pillow in there and its not half bad. get you up off the ground away from the creepy crawlies. havent used it for awhile so should probably sell it, but being recently semi-retired maybe i will start using it again.

Kinda forgot about these, my local outdoor store had some on the floor pre-covid and they weren't that bad looking. Didnt get in but seemed comfortable enough. Something to think about.

 

[halligan1201]

After some soul searching, I have come to realize I’m not a sleeping on my roof kind of guy. Hard to imagine what gets you more street cred than a rtt. And I know they suit a lot of people. I plan to stick with a ground tent this year and keep a look out for a deal on a tent trailer. Girlfriend wants us to buy a couple hammock tents - not sure that is my thing either. Updating the rest of the gear this year as well. Sleeping bags, cook systems, inverter/generator, solar/battery, etc.

Thanks, didn't know there was a class like that. My outdoor store had the model below but kinda forgot about them since I have been camping out of the Pilot about 3yrs. Gonna look into them a bit more.



Kinda forgot about these, my local outdoor store had some on the floor pre-covid and they weren't that bad looking. Didnt get in but seemed comfortable enough. Something to think about.

Being that you're in NV, you might reach out to @RoadBoss and see if he still has the one he was selling that fits on that same cot (and I think he was selling the cot too?).

 

[awd.nv]

Being that you're in NV, you might reach out to @RoadBoss and see if he still has the one he was selling that fits on that same cot (and I think he was selling the cot too?).

Thx, yeah I am just going to try the options I have before spending but it is something on my mind. Sleeping in the bed with the mx4 cover is not too bad considering it unlatches from the inside and would protect against rain. I am not claustrophobic but does seem a little funny to me to do that.

I nap in the front drivers seat when picking up my kids so the passenger seat might work for a night. Gotta love getting to their school 45mins early because it is faster than dealing with the vehicle grid lock.

If I am lucky I only get out twice a year. We take out our travel trailer often to make it easy on the fam. I just love going where no one else is around thus the car camping thing.

 

[kavev42]

So here's my take. I'm 47 and have been tent camping since I was 6 months old. I've slept on the ground in every state except Hawaii. I've camped in all 12 months of the year, although as I age, it's shifted mostly to fall and winter camping - less crowds, bugs, heat.

I've slept in just about every type of ground tent out there, used the hatchback tents, and tried a truck bed tent on my last truck. There's plus and minuses to them all. I found the hatchback and truck bed tents to be a hassle and they kind of screw up how you're able to utilize storage space.

Because they're all the rage, I was set on a RTT for a while. But in talking to folks, I have found more that regret the purchase than are glad for it. Between cost to value, to hassle of getting it on and off during off-seasons (all American RTT manufacturers recommend taking them off when not using them because of wear and tear), they all had their reasons. The soft-top ones in particular seem to have the most regrets because the setup/take down time is roughly the same as a comparable ground tent but at four times the cost. The hard top ones get real close to the same cost of a cheap square drop trailer. So I passed on a RTT.

My latest experiment will be an Australian swag. Heavy weight, includes a thick ground pad, can be setup/torn down in the same time as my ultralight tent (about 90 seconds), don't need to be staked down, is a 3.5 season solution, is packed with bedding in it, and can be transfered from one vehicle to the next in 30 seconds. If you want, you can get them in sizes that fit on top of a cot and all of them will setup in a truck bed without issue. I have two different ones on order from 23zero.

I still own five other tents that all have their sweet spot purposes - backpacking, heavy snow, etc, but I'm anticipating the swag becoming my go-to 99% of the time going forward.

swag tent seems like a great tent for the weekend camper under favorable weather conditions. I would not use this for backpacking due to the weight and size of it.
On to the setup. You literally pull it out of the bag, undo an elastic strap, toss it and it takes shape right away. In our video it was snowing, cold and windy. Putting the tent back in its bag was a bit wonky the first time and in our video it was our first time. I have read a lot of reviews that people are afraid that they are going to break the tent poles but, I can assure you they will not break.
I had a few spots where I bent it over and I felt like it was going to break but it never did! I did the two figure eights and it went into shape as it should for packing away.

 

[Aonarch]

I have the Napier truck bed tent. It is for 5' beds and I've had it now for two trucks.

It leverages the tailgate too, so in reality it's about 6' long.

The only issue is, you have to take your gear out of the bed to put the tent up. Some truck bed tents simply go over the bed and have no bottom.

I chose the Napier because of bottom. I just use plastic totes for my gear.

EDIT: it works with a roll up tonneau cover

 

[halligan1201]

swag tent seems like a great tent for the weekend camper under favorable weather conditions. I would not use this for backpacking due to the weight and size of it.
On to the setup. You literally pull it out of the bag, undo an elastic strap, toss it and it takes shape right away. In our video it was snowing, cold and windy. Putting the tent back in its bag was a bit wonky the first time and in our video it was our first time. I have read a lot of reviews that people are afraid that they are going to break the tent poles but, I can assure you they will not break.
I had a few spots where I bent it over and I felt like it was going to break but it never did! I did the two figure eights and it went into shape as it should for packing away.

100% they are only for car camping and overlanding - mine weigh 30+ pounds each. And mine don't need favorable weather - they're much more rugged and weather proof than the typical nylon tent.

 

[RoadBoss]

swag tent seems like a great tent for the weekend camper under favorable weather conditions. I would not use this for backpacking due to the weight and size of it.
On to the setup. You literally pull it out of the bag, undo an elastic strap, toss it and it takes shape right away. In our video it was snowing, cold and windy. Putting the tent back in its bag was a bit wonky the first time and in our video it was our first time. I have read a lot of reviews that people are afraid that they are going to break the tent poles but, I can assure you they will not break.
I had a few spots where I bent it over and I felt like it was going to break but it never did! I did the two figure eights and it went into shape as it should for packing away.

pop up tents are cool and super easy to set up (I used one for years) But you still have to worry about setting up your mattress and sleeping bags and stuff.
One of the best part about a swag is that you roll it up with all that stuff inside it already, so when you get to camp you only have one thing to set up and put away.
And you are 100% right about them not being usable for backpacking.

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