You&#;re not going on any overlanding expedition without a tent. OK, that&#;s not true; some of you sleep inside your rigs or in off-road trailers. For the rest of us, though, we&#;ll need tents. No matter whether you&#;re a rooftop tent fan or a ground-tent devotee, there are plenty of options to pick from. In alphabetical order, here are the best overlanding tents that we&#;ve found.
Sunday Campers supply professional and honest service.
The Condor Overland from Roofnest takes the hybrid rooftop tent design to the next level providing a compact package when closed but a roomy and comfortable space when deployed. The aluminum shell not only keeps the tent protected, but also offers mounting points for tools and other accessories. Read our full review here.
MSRP: $3,745.00
The FSR Evolution V2 is a premium rooftop tent that has earned its place in the upper echelon of hardshell RTT options. It&#;s thoughtful design, high quality construction, and four-season performance make it a stand out in a time when overlanders have such a wide variety of options in the market. Read our full review here.
MSRP: $4,095.00
Freespirit Recreation&#;s (FSR) Odyssey aluminum hard-shell rooftop tent is a slim, crossbar-capable, and side-hinged clamshell rooftop tent. It boasts a relative low weight at 134 pounds, despite its impressive spec sheet. Although we found it easy to use and rugged, we did feel it could benefit from slightly smoother-operating hardware and a comfier mattress. That said, for those wanting a slim, light, roomy and utility-rich aluminum hard-shell rooftop tent, the Odyssey is hard go beat. You can read our full review here.
MSRP: $3,295
OZTENT&#;s RV-3 tent sets up in 30 seconds (no, really), packs down nearly as fast, and can withstand 50-mile-per-hour winds. These bona fides make it one of the best ground tents I&#;ve ever tested. It has a great design. We tested the OZTENT RV-3 over four overlanding trips now and have become absolutely smitten with the thing &#; especially for winter camping. It is rated at sleeping three to four people, and it may. All we know is that it has enough room for an extra-long cot, which is essential for tall overlanders, plus two-or-so-feet of space for standing and dressing. And it&#;s a pleasure to use. In fact, it might be the best ground tent for winter camping we have ever encountered. Read our full review here.
MSRP: $999.00
A lot of overlanders first buy either a rooftop tent and then eventually step up to a canopy &#; or the other way around. Why not pull the trigger and get both at once? With the ARB Series III Simpson rooftop tent and annex combo, you can. The poly/cotton rip-stop canvas is rated at 300 GSM so you&#;ll stay dry in the rain. Climbing into the the tent is easy thanks to the 1.0-inch diameter anodized aluminum retractable ladder that can support up to 265 pounds.
MSRP: $1,789.00
When you absolutely positively have to sleep 15 people (for some reason), look no further than the Space Station tent from Mountain Hardware. Why would you get this for overlanding? Well, consider it a backup basecamp if, somehow, you and all your friends&#; rigs break down and you need a place to stay while waiting for help. Hey, it could happen, right? That or &#; better yet &#; you want to host an overlanding party. Then you&#;ll definitely need this beheamouth.
MSRP: $7,500.00
For those of you who&#;ve heard of &#; or seen &#; the gargantuan iKamper Skycamp but worried it was too big for your rig, iKamper has a new option for you: The Skycamp Mini 3.0. Just like the hard-shell foldout Skycamp, the mini expands off the passenger side of your vehicle. Since it&#;s smaller, the Skycamp Mini 3.0 only supports two campers. You can also choose the color of your hard-shell top color: Black or Rocky Black.
MSRP: $3,699.00
Not everyone wants a rooftop tent bolted to their roof nor does everyone want to lug around a big, heavy canvas tent &#; even when overlanding. For those, we recommend the modestly priced Marmot Limelight. It&#;s not your average backpacking tent; it&#;s a bit bigger. It can accommodate three to four people. It&#;s easy to set up, thanks its color-coded clips and poles. And it features a waterproof fly and floor to keep wet weather outside where it belongs.
MSRP: $358.95
Now, this is arguably more of a backpacking tent. Well, not arguably &#; it is. But that makes it a great backup tent for overlanding. It&#;s wise to bring backup supplies, especially on longer adventures. That&#;s because you never know when it&#;ll come in handy.
MSRP: $299.99
For more information, please visit Open Sky Roof Top Tent supplier.
For , America&#;s number-one rooftop tent, Roofnest, has completely redesigned its aluminum-shell foldout rooftop tent and taken it into its second generation. It&#;s called the Condor Overland 2 and it now features five accessory channels that run the entire exterior of the top shell &#; each M8 bolt inserted into any one of the five channels can alone hold 30 lbs, enabling optional crossbars, which can hold up to 160 lbs of gear when the tent is closed. The top-shell struts have been moved inside, too, for better packaging. And, speaking of inside, you can now leave your bedding inside the Condor Overland 2 when it&#;s closed. There&#;s so much more to this tent than we can list here. Read our full write-up on the all-new Condor 2 lineup here.
MSRP: $3,745.00
Speaking of premium aluminum clamshell tents, we have the latest from Boulder-based Roofnest, the Falcon Pro. Building on the success of its super-slim Falcon family of tents, the Falcon Pro puts an even more premium spin on the low-profile, quick-deploying rooftop tent. Made from aircraft-grade aluminum, the Falcon Pro is incredibly sturdy as well as waterproof. The single piece top shell means there are no seams or welds that can fail over time. What&#;s more, it comes standard with crossbars that can hold 150 pounds when the tent is closed and 75 pounds when it&#;s open. Climb inside and you&#;ll find a true memory foam mattress that&#;s 2.5-inches thick, LED light strip, and a 16-pocket gear grid. Falcon Pro measures 83.5 X 54 X 8 inches and weighs 180 pounds. Despite its compact size, it&#;s bigger on the interior than the original Falcon design. That&#;s because the unique U-bar that folds out creates both an awning at the same time as expanding the usable interior space.
MSRP: $4,095.00
600D rip-stop fabric means this tent is durable, high-density foam mattress, mesh panels for increased air flow, internal pockets &#; these are all features you hope to get with other soft-shell roof top tents. But they&#;re all standard with the Thule x Tepui Ruggedized Kukenam 3 rooftop tent. Plus, it&#;s construction &#; the whole thing &#; is mold-resistant. So you don&#;t have to worry about it getting all, well, moldy after a rain storm.
MSRP: $1,894.61
Last but not least, we have the Yakima SkyRise HD, which puts you up so high that you feel like you&#;re sleeping in a dang high-rise condo. Sweet. Weighing in at a mere 114 pounds, this light but weather-resistant rooftop tent isn&#;t too heavy. It&#;s also not too big either. Folded down, it measures just 58 x 48 inches. So it&#;s ideal for smaller overland rigs. Ya dig? It has an aluminum frame, foldout ladder, and four big ol&#; windows to feast your peepers on during the sunset. You&#;ll just have to ignore the frame, which obstructs the side windows. Hey, maybe your high-rise condo is under construction, OK?
MSRP: $1,899.00
Lightning fast setup and plenty of room for additional gear on the roof. With the Vento alloy hard-shell tent, which retails for just under &#; 2,700, Arcta want to offer a practical complete package for spontaneous weekend trips and thoroughly mapped out off-road expeditions. Can the Arcta roof tent keep up with the competition?
We tested 12 ½ of the most exciting roof top tents in a direct comparison and took along 20 roof tent newbies and experts, 2 small kids, 2 dogs and 1 giant teddy bear on an epic road trip &#; here for our buying advice, and an overview of all the roof tents we tested.
It&#;s a family affair: Arcta is a German father/son family business based in the Rhineland-Palatinate region &#; and grandmother also has her say. The Latin product names are a tribute by the founder to his grandmother, who helped him study Latin when he was a schoolboy. The tent in our comparison test is called the Vento &#; Latin for wind. That&#;s an allusion to the speed at which the wedge-shaped alloy hard-shell tent can be set up. However, the Arcta Vento doesn&#;t just want to impress with lightning-fast setup times, but also with an all-round carefree package that doesn&#;t require you to buy any additional parts.
Comparing the Arcta roof tent against its direct competitors, the triangular hard-shell tents from Vickywood and Naturbummler, you can tell that all three come from the same factory. Some of the components are identical, and the materials and accessories are similar too. Nevertheless, there are some key differences between the three tents, like the price, accessories and functions, which makes it all the more exciting to see how the Arcta roof tent fares against the other two hard-shell competitors. Can it beat its direct competitors?
&#;2,690
Type Alloy hard shell tent
People 2
Weight 85 kg (without ladder)
Dimensions (opened)
217 x 131 x max. 140 cm
Dimensions (closed)
217 x 131 x 19 cm
Interior height 140 cm
Bed area 210 x 117 cm
Thickness 6 cm
Material High-density memory foam
Covers Flannel, removable and machine washable
Arcta
Vento
.
Anti-condensation pad
Transport bag for ladder
Dimmable USB LED light
Shoe bag
Outdoor cubicle shower: &#; 279
The tent&#;s outer box features two additional roof bars.
If you&#;re inherently impatient, the Arcta roof tent might be an excellent choice: it requires no additional prep time and can be installed on your roof straight away. The mounting rails are already fitted to the box, allowing you to get started straight away. Ideally, you should have three strong people to help you, because the Arcta tips the scales at a whopping 85 kg with the additional alloy crossbars for outdoor equipment, which come as standard with the roof tent. If you chose the Vento based on the information you get on the manufacturer&#;s website, you might be a little surprised when it gets delivered to your door: the Arcta shell tent is supposed to be &#;wafer-thin and light&#;, weighing just 70 kg. This is definitely not true and, once we asked Arcta for an explanation, they told us that this refers to the weight without the roof rack system and alloy crossbars. However, since these are an integral part of the tent, the extra weight is relevant for assembly and should therefore be taken into account. Given the high system weight, we recommend using a fork lift or similar hacks to lift the tent onto the car roof. You&#;ll find more details about this in our group test intro.
Once the Arcta roof tent is on the base rack, you can secure it with the rubberised, preformed steel brackets that come in the box. Like most tents in this test field &#; except the qeedo, Quechua and Yakima &#; the Arcta Vento relies on locking nuts, which take a great deal of time to tighten &#; do yourself favour and buy a ratchet if you don&#;t have one yet! This is an unnecessary waste of time, because there are plenty of other systems that don&#;t come loose with vibrations, like wing bolts, for example.
The two standard cross bars allow you to attach a roof box or solar panels to the tent &#; an exceptional additional storage solution! This puts the Arcta one step ahead of the Vickywood Cumaru Light, which also gives you the option of installing additional crossbars too, but not before you&#;ve bought them for an additional &#; 100. Naturbummler&#;s aluminium roof tent also comes with standard cross bars.
On your marks, get set, coffee! Setting up the Arcta roof tent only takes a short moment and a few simple steps. All you have to do is open the buckles, slide down the elasticated rope &#; which also comes in handy for disassembling &#; give the tent a nudge, and let the gas struts do the rest. So far, the process is the same as with the Naturbummler Alu Kraftkiste and Vickywood&#;s Cumaru Light. Unlike those, however, the Arcta roof tent doesn&#;t require you to install the tension rods for the canopy above the tent entrance, because with the Vento they&#;re already pre-installed. All you have to do before going to bed is open the tent and secure the ladder!
Disassembling the tent is super-fast too. No poles to pull out &#; just push the rubber rope around the Arcta roof tent and pull the drawstring &#; job done! The closing mechanism works extremely smoothly and has hardly any resistance. Instant tent rather than instant coffee! Unfortunately, neither the telescopic alloy ladder nor the bedding can stay inside the Arcta roof tent when closed. At most, there&#;s room for an ultra-thin sleeping bag/blanket or inflatable pillow. With thicker items, the rubber lip on the case just won&#;t close. This means that you&#;ll have to stow away your bedding and ladder inside the car. This takes up space and gives the Arcta a big disadvantage over folding tents, which often have enough room for a bulky blanket or a teddy bear under the soft cover. It&#;s a completely different story with the Arcta&#;s direct competitor, the Naturbummler &#; but more on this in its separate review.
Once you crawl inside the tent, you quickly realise that the sleeping area isn&#;t fully usable: although the mattress covers the entire base, the tent takes the shape of a pie slice when unfolded, with the narrow end of the roof running at a steep angle towards the floor. This affects the internal space utilisation, meaning that you can only put your feet up straight if you squeeze your head against the other end. And if you turn around, your head won&#;t fit into the small space on the narrow end. For taller people over 180 cm, like our tester Paul, this can get uncomfortable, and &#;nocturnal&#; couples will be more crammed in the Arcta Vento than in the German manufacturer&#;s pop-up tent, the Radix, which is a far better option.
While the Arcta might lack some space in length, it&#;s reasonably wide. Just like the Vickywood tent (and unlike the Naturbummler), it mounts the gas struts on the outside of the box, meaning that it doesn&#;t require cut-outs in the mattress, so can be used in its full width. In addition, the zipper is easy to operate, because you don&#;t have to reach around the gas struts, as you do in the Naturbummler Alu Kraftkiste. However, if you want to sleep a bit longer on the 6 cm thick mattress in the morning after a wild night, the black alloy case quickly warms up in the first sunshine. As a result, daytime sleeping in the Arcta is only possible if there&#;s a draught.
At the very front of the Arcta roof tent, it&#;s almost like sitting outside with the windows open. At 140 cm, the roof is pleasantly high. However, by the time you get back to the centre of the tent, the 80 cm headroom in the centre of the tent means you can no longer sit upright. This is a disadvantage compared to some of the higher roof tents in this test, like the Intrepid GEO 3.0 and our test winner, the qeedo Freedom Air 2, especially if you want to spend more time in your roof tent.
Although the triangular design only allows for openings on three sides, the windows are nice and big &#; not quite as expansive as the GEO 3.0 from Intrepid, but still 135 cm wide and 85 cm high. This means that the Arcta roof tent offers good ventilation options, great views and plenty of light. However, if you want to turn day into night and take a siesta in the tent, you can close all the openings and make it pitch dark inside, even in broad daylight.
In terms of accessories, the Arcta roof tent is generously equipped, just like Naturbummler&#;s triangular hard shell tent. There&#;s a dimmable LED strip with USB controls, which creates a cosy atmosphere for reading and snuggling up. Practical large mesh pockets on the roof liner can hold all of your small cables, and you can mount your tablet in a see-through pocket. A shoe bag is also included, which can be clipped into a keder rail to give more floor space.
Tip: Arcta&#;s &#; 2,890 Radix model relies on the same lifting mechanism as Naturbummler&#;s Alu-Kraftkiste, the Vento&#;s direct competitor, which provides more room for the feet, ladder and sleeping gear.
Arcta include a remarkably wide range of accessories with their roof tent, including a 1 cm mesh underlay for better ventilation, which prevents damp and mould from forming. Most manufacturers offer anti-condensation mats separately, often at a relatively high price. These are a real must in hard-shell tents like the Arcta however, with clear moist patches appearing all over the tent in the morning. Despite the anti-condensation pad and open ventilation window, water just runs down the ceiling, at least during our DOWNTOWN road trip, with two people inside the tent and temperatures dropping into single-digits at night. A pair of jeans left at the edge of the tent were wet in the morning. In summer, condensation might be less of an issue with the big windows open and only the mosquito nets closed.
The Arcta roof tent is the ideal choice if you&#;re lazy, or simply don&#;t fancy fiddling around with a tent on holiday. Set up takes about thirty times less time than with the most complex model in our comparison test, the GentleTent roof tent. At 19 cm tall, the Arcta has a pretty low profile, which comes in particularly handy if you have a tall vehicle, but still want to leave your car in an underground car park from time to time. Only the Vickywood Cumaru Light Eco 127 (15 cm) and Intrepid GEO 3.0 (18 cm) pack even flatter. However, the tapered shape isn&#;t ideal for taller people over 180 cm.
If you want to use the additional roof bars of the Arcta tent to carry luggage or sports equipment, you should take a look at your vehicle&#;s tech specs, because only very few vehicles are allowed to carry the maximum legal additional load of 100 kg specified by the manufacturer. It&#;s therefore essential to observe the permissible dynamic roof load. And then, of course, don&#;t drive into the underground car park with your bike on the roof &#; .
The Arcta Vento roof tent is super quick and easy to set up and fold up, and comes with some super cool features, including an anti-condensation mat and LED light strip. In the race against the other near-identical triangular hard-shell tents, it comes out on top against the Vickywood, which is &#; 100 more expensive and has fewer features. Compared to the Naturbummler, the Arcta roof tent scores with a faster assembly and wider effective mattress surface, but loses out in terms of packing volume and in-tent storage when closed.
For more info, visit arcta.de
Click here for our big comparison test &#; 12 ½ roof top tents in direct comparison
All roof tents in test: Front Runner Feather Lite (Click here) | Decathlon MH 900 (Click here) | Vickywood Cumaru Light 127 ECO (Click here) | Yakima SkyRise HD Tent MD (Click here) | Qeedo Freedom Air 2 (Click here) | Thule Foothill (Click here) | Gentle Tent Sky Loft (Click here) | Arcta Vento | Thule Approach M (Click here) | Intrepid Geo 3.0 (Click here) | Naturbummler Alu-Kraftkiste (Click here) | Thule Outset (Click here) | Naturbummler Flitzer I L (Zum Test)
Words: Felicia Nastal, Julian Schwede Photos: Mike Hunger, Robin Schmitt
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Open Sky Roof Top Tent wholesaler.