lx450landcruiser
Moderator
IMHO the problem with roof top tents is the general construction. The design of most of the roof top tents is straight out of the 50s. (The house tent type style) Exception is the Maggiolina, which is in my opinion a better one of the bunch.
I personally used the Autocamp (very similar to your Ezi Awn), the Maggiolina and a friend of mine has the Hannibal roof top tent.
The "house type" tents work reasonably well if it rains straight down. Add a little wind to the mix and you get a wet experience quick. If you are unlucky, it rains a few days and the tent has to be folded down to move the vehicle. That compromises the weatherproofing and everything will be wet from now on.
Good modern (ground based) tents are are almost all dome or tunnel shaped. That has a reason. Dome shaped tents are much more resiliant to winds and have a stronger construction. I have yet to see a rooftop tent that has specially sealed seams, like the professional expedition tents.
VauDe tents e.g. have a feature that the inner skin of the tent can be disasembled from inside the tent while it's pouring rain outside. That way your inner tent and your stuff stays dry even if you move the tent in the rain.
On top of everything, I find roof top tents extremely overpriced compared to the professional ground based tents. I admit, they look cool and adventurous, but in the end they are just a tent on a roofrack with several annoyances.
1. You can't move your vehicle while your tent is pitched
2. You have to climb down a ladder to pee. It sucks especially when it is dark, raining and the steps are slippery. Been there...
3. You can't move your vehicle in a hurry.
4. They are heavy.
Don't get me wrong. Basically I like the idea of a rooftent for certain types of camping/expeditions. In dry areas with snakes and scorpions etc. on the ground, they are excellent. However they are not for everybody and before one spends thousands of $$, one should check out the ground based alternatives.
So your saying the design is out of date? If you ask me the design is the way it is because it works on many levels. With the auto home design (although I like some of its concepts) does not allow for you to have the windows open in the rain.
Ground tents although have the dome shape have other issues as well such as finding a flat soft spot with no rocks. You need to bring an air mattress of sleeping pad to have the same comfort.
In hard rain the rain fly of a ground tent can be amazing but you have to think about ground water as well. Water can pool up and seep through the bottom leaving your bedding wet.
Most roof top tents allow you to leave all of your bedding in the tent, I don’t know about what model ground tent you have but I can set up my ezzi awn in 3 min that includes the rain fly and all my bedding (completely dry in a down pour)
Going to the bathroom (at least for us guys) requires you to open one side of the tent and piss out the side.
Cost is an issue however you have to take into account that for a tent such as the ezzi awn, its being imported from South Africa. That’s a long trip for a 100-pound package.
As far as wind is concerned I have had my tent in 50MPH wind in Moab this past spring break and woke up to 3 inches of snow. The tent preformed very well and to be honest if I were in a ground tent I would have left in the middle of the night.
When camping with friends I can pack the tent up faster then every one of them taking down tent poles and pulling stakes. If you’re really concerned about not being able to move your truck with out taking down your tent then maybe you should look into a small trailer.
Not trying to argue but from everything you’ve said (to me) it sounds like you may not have as much experience as your claiming.
To each there own I suppose
