I bought this tent a month ago for a trip I'm taking through Utah and Colorado in June. I weighed the options of sleeping in the truck, a ground tent or the RTT. It wasn't an easy decision considering some of the new instant-erect tents they have nowadays and the fact that roof top tents are pretty expensive. But I had earlier this year purchased and installed a Voyager roof rack so, in a way, I had already committed myself to the RTT idea. That in itself was a bit of a struggle because roof top tents have both good and bad aspects to them.
Among the good - easy as pie to erect and collapse, takes only a few minutes. You can leave all of your sleeping gear in the tent so no rolling up bags and packing stuff. Being off the ground is nice in bear country and when it's raining. It's pretty darn comfortable.
Among the bad - It's a bit of a chore getting it up and mounted to the roof rack, it weighs about 120 pounds. I was able to get it up there myself but there's a potential for injuring yourself doing that. It's not particularly well suited for a weekend outing and you probably don't want to drive around with it up there all the time. Then there is the possibility of falling while getting in or out of the thing and if that happens you could hurt yourself real bad - out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. So there's that to think about.
Finally there's the cost. In that regard the Smittybuilt is the cheapest roof top tent you can buy. I got it for $749 on Amazon with free shipping. I looked at other brands including the Tepui - which appears to be the exact same tent, probably made in the same Chinese factory. Ultimately I decided to settle on the compromises. Yes you can get a much higher quality tent for three or four times the cost and if you are absolutely certain that the roof top tent system is what you want that's probably the way to go - or, better yet, look at the new pop-up roof top clamshell tents available now. Easier to put up and stow and much better aerodynamics.
So, on to the experience. I've taken it out on a couple of shakedowns to see how it all works. As far as the aerodynamics it doesn't seem to be too bad, at least not mounted on the back of a Disco. I really didn't notice it at all even doing 70 mph on the freeway. You are of course mounting 120 pounds up high but if you have ACE you won't notice it at all going around turns. Setting it up is pretty easy, the toughest part is getting the cover on and off. With the Disco I can get to pretty much everything by opening the rear doors and standing on the sill or standing on the rear tire or bumper. The Voyager rack is nice as it provides all sorts of great hand holds. I didn't want to modify the rack however so I mounted the tent on the top rails so even though my Disco is not lifted I decided to order the ladder extender which will give me a more comfortable angle for getting in and out.
Would I recommend this tent? I guess, if like me you just want to try out the RTT experience. If, on the other hand you're absolutely sold on it then you should probably invest in a higher quality product. I think this tent will last providing I take care of it and so far I have enjoyed using it. The real test will come next month when my brother and I take our trucks into Canyonlands.
Among the good - easy as pie to erect and collapse, takes only a few minutes. You can leave all of your sleeping gear in the tent so no rolling up bags and packing stuff. Being off the ground is nice in bear country and when it's raining. It's pretty darn comfortable.
Among the bad - It's a bit of a chore getting it up and mounted to the roof rack, it weighs about 120 pounds. I was able to get it up there myself but there's a potential for injuring yourself doing that. It's not particularly well suited for a weekend outing and you probably don't want to drive around with it up there all the time. Then there is the possibility of falling while getting in or out of the thing and if that happens you could hurt yourself real bad - out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. So there's that to think about.
Finally there's the cost. In that regard the Smittybuilt is the cheapest roof top tent you can buy. I got it for $749 on Amazon with free shipping. I looked at other brands including the Tepui - which appears to be the exact same tent, probably made in the same Chinese factory. Ultimately I decided to settle on the compromises. Yes you can get a much higher quality tent for three or four times the cost and if you are absolutely certain that the roof top tent system is what you want that's probably the way to go - or, better yet, look at the new pop-up roof top clamshell tents available now. Easier to put up and stow and much better aerodynamics.
So, on to the experience. I've taken it out on a couple of shakedowns to see how it all works. As far as the aerodynamics it doesn't seem to be too bad, at least not mounted on the back of a Disco. I really didn't notice it at all even doing 70 mph on the freeway. You are of course mounting 120 pounds up high but if you have ACE you won't notice it at all going around turns. Setting it up is pretty easy, the toughest part is getting the cover on and off. With the Disco I can get to pretty much everything by opening the rear doors and standing on the sill or standing on the rear tire or bumper. The Voyager rack is nice as it provides all sorts of great hand holds. I didn't want to modify the rack however so I mounted the tent on the top rails so even though my Disco is not lifted I decided to order the ladder extender which will give me a more comfortable angle for getting in and out.
Would I recommend this tent? I guess, if like me you just want to try out the RTT experience. If, on the other hand you're absolutely sold on it then you should probably invest in a higher quality product. I think this tent will last providing I take care of it and so far I have enjoyed using it. The real test will come next month when my brother and I take our trucks into Canyonlands.