Imported Chinese Rooftop Tents? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

ElmoTheDestroyr

ElmoTheDestroyr

Joined
May 23, 2016
Threads
20
Messages
75
Location
Anacortes, WA
Hi,

I'm in the process of doing research, trying to plan out my next purchase (rooftop tent) ... I'm amazed how expensive a lot of them are. I'm on a very tight budget so most of them are out of my price range.

I stumbled across some Chinese rooftop tents for a significant savings, and I was wondering if anyone had experience with them? My gut tells me to avoid them, based on experience with other cheap Chinese stuff, but I have found a few Chinese products that are perfectly usable with no obvious flaws.

So... I'd love to hear what you think about them.. Potential problems/complaints, glowing reviews, whatever you have to say about them I want to hear it! :)

Thanks!
 
Not the best pic but good friend of mine have one and it good really good ..

20170303161300-a0ced52d-me.jpg
 
Cool, thanks for the feedback... Glad he had a good experience with it!

Hopefully a few more people chime in, would love to get multiple reviews...
 
ElmoTheDestroyr said:
Hi,

I'm in the process of doing research, trying to plan out my next purchase (rooftop tent) ... I'm amazed how expensive a lot of them are. I'm on a very tight budget so most of them are out of my price range.

I stumbled across some Chinese rooftop tents for a significant savings, and I was wondering if anyone had experience with them? My gut tells me to avoid them, based on experience with other cheap Chinese stuff, but I have found a few Chinese products that are perfectly usable with no obvious flaws.

So... I'd love to hear what you think about them.. Potential problems/complaints, glowing reviews, whatever you have to say about them I want to hear it! :)

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Links?
 
Interesting. Lots of tents with non-chinese branding are made in China anyway. Quite likely these Alibaba tents are made by the same contract manufacturers. It's just a matter of quality control. The risk you take with buying from them is that if something goes wrong, you have nobody to turn to.

As for Chinese made quality. Chinese factories are quite capable of churning out good stuff. It's all about QC. Don't forget that most smart phones (and the iPhone) are made in China.

And for myself, QC is worth paying for on some products.
 
But don't you have to buy min 10 of them to get the price?
 
ElmoTheDestroyr said:
Depends which manufacturer you use... Many of them don't have a minimum order...
Click to expand...
Just googled "how to buy from alibaba in usa". It seems like a PITA for single units. Doesn't sound like it will be worth the effort for a few hundred dollars. But if you have a friend who'll take care of the process for you......
 
Yeah, like I mentioned, it's not an easy place to order from if you don't use it regularly... Also, shipping often only gets it to the dock in this country, you often have to arrange shipping from the dock to your door separately.

I'm definitely not recommending everyone run to Alibaba and try to order stuff, but like I said, my buddy can order for me, and he imports from various manufacturers on Alibaba on a regular basis, so I don't expect any out of the ordinary problems.

My main concern is simply the quality compared to more mainstream stuff, as well as potential problems (like being a pain to setup or something) ...

Thanks again! :)
 
What's your budget? $899.99 Smittybilt RTT 2783 w/free shipping through 4wheelparts. (Although the one I received was not the correct tent, I'm picking up the replacement [better be the correct one] tonight) . I'll be testing it out this weekend but might sell it in favor of the James Baroud Horizon Vision no extra tent poles to screw with.
 
I purchased a hard shell roof top tent on Alibaba about 3 weeks ago. There was no minimum order quantity and the transaction was painless. I paid $950 for the tent and $212 to ship it to Dallas, Texas. When it gets to port I will pay Customs fees that should be right around $100.

There are some buyer protections on Alibaba as long as you purchase with a supplier that has "Trade Assurance". I have been kept in the loop the entire time and was sent pictures of my actual tent before they boxed it up for me. Had the option of 2 sizes, white or black shell, and 4 options for the canvas color. I have the name of the Container ship it is on and it is currently making its way across the Pacific. It is scheduled to make it to port May 3rd and be in Dallas May 15th.

I can not speak to quality (as I do not have it in my possession) but it is identical to several brand tents sold here in the US for double or more of the price I have paid. If it all works out then it will be a great. You always take a gamble when ordering something from overseas but decided to roll the dice on it.
 
Cool, glad to hear it was a pretty smooth process! Would you mind linking the specific tent you ordered? Sounds like the manufacturer is good to work with, and since it seems there are about 15 manufacturers for each tent design, knowing a good one to work with will be nice! :)

I'd also really appreciate it if you could post back in this thread after you get it, let me know your impressions... I suspect it will be fine, as you said, it's identical to several brands that are sold here, but still it would be good to have an actual review...

Thanks for the post, good information!
 
Like it was said earlier, 99% of the roof tents are made in China anyways. You just don't get the name brand.
 
A few years ago, a MUD member imported 10 RTTs from China, kept some for his family and friends, and sold the balance.
We went and looked at one, bought it and have been very happy with it.
I know that you can get a good, unbranded, RTT from China for a lot less money than the branded one.
Whether this can be done long distance with no hands on inspection is , in my opinion, a roll of the dice.
You pays your money, and you takes your chances.
 
Right on, seems like generally experiences are pretty positive... Glad to hear it! :) I agree, there's always a chance I could get complete garbage, but so far experiences seem to be fairly positive with these tents... I think the savings seems to be worth the risk, at least from what I've heard so far.

Thanks again for the feedback!
 
You can order singles from the folks at Alibaba. There’s a bit of leg work..... I looked long and hard at it. But eventually wanted to eliminate some of the potential problems and went with MUD member Box Rocket who reps/works for Tepui. 10% discount for MUD members. I got a Tepui Ayer Sky for $833 and for $125, they delivered it to my door.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Live to Ski
gazelle tent set up in rain?
Replies
4
Views
1K
Live to Ski
Live to Ski
Nifski
Inspire roof top tent
Replies
0
Views
799
Nifski
Nifski
T
Japanese North Face Tent N-1000 Rain Fly Question
Replies
4
Views
2K
jht3
jht3
G
Has anyone spent time in an ARB roof tent?
Replies
6
Views
2K
87warrior
87warrior

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom