review your Roof-Top-Tent

[loquito]

Well the other thread was moved so maybe some of you will give reviews?

I found the other thread informative, I understand that with Mel introducing himself it has sort of become a Sale thread.

With the interest the RTT thread generated, I suspect there are at least a few others that wonder what these tents are like.

So thanks guys

Steven

[calphi27]

That's funny steven, I was just in the process of starting the same thread. I will put a link in the old thread.

My tent is in transit, and will let anyone in northern colorado check it out when it gets here.

[Skillet]

Will someone please do me a favor and take a picture of the device that bolts to the Yakimas and keeps the tent from sliding from side to side?
Just curious what the factory setup is as I had to devise my own.


Yea, yea...repost...

[alf]

Just for Skillet head:

[tltaylor22]

I wondered why we got dumped into the "sale" area. The thread didn't seem a whole lot different than any other vender posting to people in this section. And I don't think Mel really pushed anything with his post. Not complaining, just wondering.

I drove to work on the freeway today with the tent mounted. Some wind noise, but less than I expected. Of course it's hard to hear anything with the noise from my tranny. I think I'll get a set of those cheap bars that were posted earlier and pu one up front with a fareling(SP) on it to help kick the wind up and over.

[calphi27]

[quote=tltaylor22]I wondered why we got dumped into the "sale" area. The thread didn't seem a whole lot different than any other vender posting to people in this section. And I don't think Mel really pushed anything with his post. Not complaining, just wondering.

I wondered the same thing, but I did not want to piss the mods off by calling them out. They do such a great job

[tltaylor22]

By no means complaining or anything. I don't want the Black helocopters coming to my house. I am just glad someone started another thread so we can discuss likes, dislikes and mods. My tent is still on the 80. We may go camping sunday night.

[calphi27]

Does anyone have the dimensions for the tents in packages that come off the trailer. Can one guy load it into his truck or do I need help. Could it slide flat into my 62. The reason I ask is because I have a drawer system(no more than 18 inches high), and need to know if I need a truck instead. I live an hour away from the truck dropoff point, and I do not want to waste a trip down to Denver.

[aim]

It does a good job filling a bed of a full-size pickup truck. The size they give for the closed tent is very close to the size of the box it comes in. It's heavy, but I had no trouble putting it by myself in my my pickup and later putting it on the roof rack on the 80. 33' and no lift; any taller, though and it would have been interesting.

[aim]

Short review of tent: Worth the price. Get one if you camp. And if you still can...

Longer review of the tent:

The good: cheap. For the price (and the service!), I have no complaints. Rooftop *is* the way to go. All the bad aspects can be improved with a bit of work and ingenuity.

No need to shake dirt, mud and ants out of the tent and footprint in the morning. Yay!

The open tent is a free sun/rain shield. Allows us to keep a couple of windows open for the dogs in the back (with homemade *real* bug screens).

The bad (at least stuff I haven't seen mentioned):

The bug netting is a joke, and the tent in general is clearly not bug proof, at least by northeast standards. There is a gap between the two halves of the floor bats could fly in. The bats, of course, then hunt the black flies.

The ladder is chintzy, but functional. This also applies to the rest of the hardware. Cheap buckles on cheap strapping attached to cheap rings. Cheap Velcro. Cheap seams.

The instructions (a cheap photocopy) transferred themselves to the outer vinyl cover (they were packed in the same plastic bag). I now have the mirror image of the second page of instructions in the corner of my cover.
The instructions are a joke. Then again, they are not needed.

The cover is fine, but the bungee cords pulled through and had to be rethreaded and the stop knots redone. I used brass rings to prevent the ends from pulling through again.

If you count the time it takes to adjust the ladder, the setup is clearly far more than 30 seconds. So is the takedown and pack-up. Still, no mud, no fuss, you can leave the sleeping "materials" packed up inside. A job easier for two people, unlike any ground tent I have ever owned. By myself, I spent most of my time running around the cruiser.

Many things to scratch your paint are included free of charge, including the cable preventing over-extension of the ladder (hits the corner of the rear door. Putting on the cover without scratching the roof is also not trivial. Tightening the bungees with a factory roof rack is impossible with normal size hands. Factory roof rack removal is on the to-do list.

The pins are a pain; I will have to modify that as well.

The tent slides side to side; the u-bolt solution interferes with the hinge. I suggest you place the u-bolts on the inside, between the tent feet.

The tent smells like a new Yugo. The foam mattresses smell a bit, the plastic floor smells a lot. The windows are nice and large, though and ventilation is awesome.

The ugly (nothing to do with this tent, but roof-top tents in general): with OEM suspension at least, the vehicle (and the tent!) rocks every time you sneeze. When the van's rocking... I'm seriously thinking about hydraulic outriggers. Makes it easy to level the tent as well, heh.

[tltaylor22]

Good review. Mine is on a 93 with ome 2" springs . We were in it tonight with the two kids bouncing around and didn't notice a whole lot of movement. I did notice on the website that the ladder had angle braces going out towards the corner of the folded down side of the tent. Mine did not come like that, but I am going to modify it so that it supports those corners better. I am thinking of putting in some of those ball detent things on the inside of the ladder or at least pins with ball detents so that I can get rid of all the split rings and spring pins. I guess you could move the ladder locator to the left side of the ladder or flip the tent so it opens over the drivers side. The netting needs to be finer to be effective against nats and such. I've got the same matching imprint on my cover. I tried to get the wife and kids to sleep in the yard tonight, but with the street lamps and road noise I was veto'd.

[loquito]

well it's been a week since these tents started showing up on peoples door steps. Does anyone else want to give good/bad feedback about these tents?

[e9999]

are these the old Mombasas from a couple of years ago or the newer ones?

IIRC, the former had some sort of cardboardish bottom and the newer ones something like fiberglass?

[calphi27]

Well I just picked mine up today in Denver. The company I picked it up from said they had seen quite a few come through. I took pics today and will post them up tomorrow.

[Greddy0]

Does it fit into the back of the 80 with the back hatch closed? Need to transport it back home before I can fit it onto the roofrack.

[calphi27]

Originally Posted by Greddy0

Does it fit into the back of the 80 with the back hatch closed? Need to transport it back home before I can fit it onto the roofrack.

The dimensions of the box it arrived in are 74 inches long, 46 inches wide and 12 inches tall approximately. I took a friend's pickup and it fit nicely in the bed.

If you had to, it would be easy just to open the box and mount it. The roof rack bars have to be 28.5 inches apart. It took my about 5 mins from box to roof.

[Rockrawler]

Did anyone elses arrive strapped to the pallet with the "THIS SIDE UP ^" facing down? Thinking about it I'd better open it and check for damage... still sealed in the box until I find a trailer

[alf]

Mine came this side up up

[letus]

Originally Posted by e9999

are these the old Mombasas from a couple of years ago or the newer ones?

IIRC, the former had some sort of cardboardish bottom and the newer ones something like fiberglass?

the diference is that the fiberglass cover "black" is the newer design., the kahki color cover is the older sesign with the kahki ladder. the newer design has a black ladder,, this all work the same though, and the older and newer has the crdboedish floor inside.

[letus]

Originally Posted by alf

Mine came this side up up

i dont think it will make a diference.

[letus]

if someone has extra time and a "tent less budy" you can cut the tent in half and make 2 tents. all you need is some denier and little
time .

[e9999]

Originally Posted by letus

the diference is that the fiberglass cover "black" is the newer design., the kahki color cover is the older sesign with the kahki ladder. the newer design has a black ladder,, this all work the same though, and the older and newer has the crdboedish floor inside.

there is a fiberglass cover?

wasn't there also some change to the inside posts?

[BMAN]

I took a look at Brittan's tent on Sunday. The only difference I really noticed was the cover. His, and I assume all of yours, is a vinyl cover. This is MUCH better than my heavy denier type cover. It seems like the tent is actually maybe a mil or two thicker also. We didn't set his up to take a look at the interior mechanics but the rest seems to be the same as the earlier model that I have.

[calphi27]

For your viewing pleasure... here are some pics...

[calphi27]

A few more... sorry the ladder pic is blurry

[calphi27]

And Finally...

The pic with my hand shows the "bat-hole" the opens right into the tent

[calphi27]

Initial thoughts...

This tent is huge!!!

Cons:
1. Rain fly barely covers the tent- you can see it in the pics above
2. The netting needs to have smaller holes. Should block mosquitos though
3. Bathole... it velcros shut, but there are still holes.
4. Ladder seems weak and is uncomfortable to climb on. It is annoying to mess with putting all the pins in. Will look at replacing the ladder. Already removed its limiter wire too.

Pros:
1. Its a roof top tent!
2. It's Cover
3. Easy to setup
4. Its size
5. I only have it on two yakima bars, and the thing hardly bends at the floor!
6. The flooring (whatever it is made of)

Would like to see in new model.
1. Better and taller ladder (even if it has to be carried in the truck)
2. Bigger moonroof
3. Larger Rain fly (large enough to cover windows like awning)
4. Finer mosquito netting
5. Some way to lock it to the roof for security
6. Pockets on the inside for misc. gear

I am also thinking about taking out the sleeping pad to put in a smaller (full) sized air mattress. That way I could have more room for gear.

That's it for now. I will add more later.