Since the last post on this thread I bought a Jeep Comanche pickup in Florida that the previous owner had fitted a rooftop tent to. I had a few days of travel to give it a real world try staying at campgrounds on the drive home. For a "cheap" tent that retails for ~$1,300 it had some nice features and set up pretty quick. For camp teardown in the morning it had the same moisture issue as any tent. Unless you're somewhere arid there's the chance of morning dew, frost, or rain and having to later open the tent up again when there's hopefully a break in the weather and an opportunity to dry it out to prevent mold. The ladder was as annoying for me as I expected it to be. Fun the first few times, then annoying as I found myself needing to climb down and back up again. Ended up just throwing everything from inside the truck into a duffel bag and bringing that up into the tent to avoid more ladder trips. If you were parked somewhere scenic you might end up with a better view due to the height of the roof top tent, but not much advantage there at KOAs It was neat to try it out, but I ended up selling the rack and tent to a couple who were downsizing from a Smittybilt Overlander rooftop tent. Though the Jeep is still as aerodynamic as a brick on wheels and has a sketchy high center of gravity, it's doing a much better job of living up to the "SPORTRUCK" decals with the tent removed.
Ended up ordering a Softopper for the Jeep because I like the idea of having a topper that can be easily removed for when you want to use the pickup truck bed as an open bed. Will see if I actually end up using it like that once the weather warms up. There is a tent entry available for the Softopper, but I'm undecided on if it's worth the hassle of setup to gain the expanded interior camping space of the truck bed having the tailgate down, and easier entry and exit. It's more conspicuous than just sleeping in the bed without it, so might draw unwanted attention if you were trying to stealth camp. If I'm not stealth camping I'd still probably rather just bring a regular tent and set that up on the ground instead.
The good news is that there are plenty of options available to cater to individual preferences!
Ended up ordering a Softopper for the Jeep because I like the idea of having a topper that can be easily removed for when you want to use the pickup truck bed as an open bed. Will see if I actually end up using it like that once the weather warms up. There is a tent entry available for the Softopper, but I'm undecided on if it's worth the hassle of setup to gain the expanded interior camping space of the truck bed having the tailgate down, and easier entry and exit. It's more conspicuous than just sleeping in the bed without it, so might draw unwanted attention if you were trying to stealth camp. If I'm not stealth camping I'd still probably rather just bring a regular tent and set that up on the ground instead.
The good news is that there are plenty of options available to cater to individual preferences!
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