Tentbox/Rooftents. Any one bought one?

[geeks]

I still dont understand why tentboxes/rooftents or whatever are so fking expensive when compared to a standard tent, its a tent with a built in base panel!

Is it purely a volume thing? (as in volume of sales)

[bongo96]

Just bought one of these. I can't see any disadvantages they have over a roof tent.

https://durstongear.com/products/x-mid-2-tent-ultr...


I can have this up in 5 minutes and packs down to less than the size & weight of a 4-pack of beer.

Ground insulation is taken care of with a sleeping mat.



I reckon the real appeal is that they're a bit fetishistic - people like/love their car and want to sleep on it! Each to their own though and I'll admit they do look cool, (especially the Land rover and the MK1 shown earlier) but they don't offer any practical advantages over a good quality external tent.

[Speed addicted]

bongo96 said:

Just bought one of these. I can't see any disadvantages they have over a roof tent.

https://durstongear.com/products/x-mid-2-tent-ultr...


I can have this up in 5 minutes and packs down to less than the size & weight of a 4-pack of beer.

Ground insulation is taken care of with a sleeping mat.



I reckon the real appeal is that they're a bit fetishistic - people like/love their car and want to sleep on it! Each to their own though and I'll admit they do look cool, (especially the Land rover and the MK1 shown earlier) but they don't offer any practical advantages over a good quality external tent.

Well it wouldn’t be much use in a car park (or on rocky ground) as you’ll need pegs to keep it upright, you need flat ground to sleep on and it’ll be less comfortable unless you take some sort of bed.

I quite like the idea of a roof tent but the only camping I’ve done in the last 20 years has been on big motorbike trips so it wouldn’t be that much use for me!

Edited by Speed addicted on Monday 28th August 08:42

[Familymad]

Thanks for the Durston link. Purchased!

As far as roof tents, we loved ours for the time we had it. All our off Rod camping was Pyrenees or Morocco and that was moving on each day. As soon as we started to do some European longer stays, the the camp was set up and we found having no vehicle an irritation. So sold them on.

[airsafari87]

Spent the weekend up in the Northumberland National Park close to Rothbury.

[ChocolateFrog]

bongo96 said:

Just bought one of these. I can't see any disadvantages they have over a roof tent.

https://durstongear.com/products/x-mid-2-tent-ultr...


I can have this up in 5 minutes and packs down to less than the size & weight of a 4-pack of beer.

Ground insulation is taken care of with a sleeping mat.



I reckon the real appeal is that they're a bit fetishistic - people like/love their car and want to sleep on it! Each to their own though and I'll admit they do look cool, (especially the Land rover and the MK1 shown earlier) but they don't offer any practical advantages over a good quality external tent.

That's a rather bizarre conclusion. While there's lots of hype they do offer some advantages over a normal tent.

People like them because they can pretend they're overlanding on their trip to Norfolk. They've been a marketing success.

I'm starting to see more for sale on the SH market, mostly silly prices being asked for a used tent though.

[PurpleTurtle]

bongo96 said:

Just bought one of these. I can't see any disadvantages they have over a roof tent.

https://durstongear.com/products/x-mid-2-tent-ultr...


I can have this up in 5 minutes and packs down to less than the size & weight of a 4-pack of beer.

Ground insulation is taken care of with a sleeping mat.

I reckon the real appeal is that they're a bit fetishistic - people like/love their car and want to sleep on it! Each to their own though and I'll admit they do look cool, (especially the Land rover and the MK1 shown earlier) but they don't offer any practical advantages over a good quality external tent.

We go to a lot of music festivals with our caravan and I have noticed rooftents have become increasingly popular.

The reason for this is that the car plus rooftent is normally allowed in the campervan field, provided you have paid extra for a campervan ticket, so you can just drive in, pop your rooftent up and crack open a beer from your coolbox.

You usually get a nice spacious pitch which is quieter at night because everyone is sleeping in their own tents and motorhomes, and you have the added security of your own vehicle at the place you are sleeping to store valuables in, to avoid theft from tents.

The alternative 'regular camping' option at festivals is to schlep about a mile from the car park to the campsite, often with difficult terrain, carrying all your stuff in often multiple trips, to then try to find a suitable place to pitch that isn't near noisy people. It's a total pain in the arse and is the reason why my wife, son and I bought a small Eriba caravan. If we didn't have a kid I'd have plumped for the roof tent option.

[geeks]

PurpleTurtle said:

bongo96 said:

Just bought one of these. I can't see any disadvantages they have over a roof tent.

https://durstongear.com/products/x-mid-2-tent-ultr...


I can have this up in 5 minutes and packs down to less than the size & weight of a 4-pack of beer.

Ground insulation is taken care of with a sleeping mat.

I reckon the real appeal is that they're a bit fetishistic - people like/love their car and want to sleep on it! Each to their own though and I'll admit they do look cool, (especially the Land rover and the MK1 shown earlier) but they don't offer any practical advantages over a good quality external tent.

We go to a lot of music festivals with our caravan and I have noticed rooftents have become increasingly popular.

The reason for this is that the car plus rooftent is normally allowed in the campervan field, provided you have paid extra for a campervan ticket, so you can just drive in, pop your rooftent up and crack open a beer from your coolbox.

You usually get a nice spacious pitch which is quieter at night because everyone is sleeping in their own tents and motorhomes, and you have the added security of your own vehicle at the place you are sleeping to store valuables in, to avoid theft from tents.

The alternative 'regular camping' option at festivals is to schlep about a mile from the car park to the campsite, often with difficult terrain, carrying all your stuff in often multiple trips, to then try to find a suitable place to pitch that isn't near noisy people. It's a total pain in the arse and is the reason why my wife, son and I bought a small Eriba caravan. If we didn't have a kid I'd have plumped for the roof tent option.

Would be handy for me as well travel to alot of race tracks for either racing or organising, would be handy to have a place to stay at the track attached to the car on weekends where I can't take the campervan for whatever reason

[TwinKam]

PurpleTurtle said:

bongo96 said:

Just bought one of these. I can't see any disadvantages they have over a roof tent.

https://durstongear.com/products/x-mid-2-tent-ultr...


I can have this up in 5 minutes and packs down to less than the size & weight of a 4-pack of beer.

Ground insulation is taken care of with a sleeping mat.

I reckon the real appeal is that they're a bit fetishistic - people like/love their car and want to sleep on it! Each to their own though and I'll admit they do look cool, (especially the Land rover and the MK1 shown earlier) but they don't offer any practical advantages over a good quality external tent.

We go to a lot of music festivals with our caravan and I have noticed rooftents have become increasingly popular.

The reason for this is that the car plus rooftent is normally allowed in the campervan field, provided you have paid extra for a campervan ticket, so you can just drive in, pop your rooftent up and crack open a beer from your coolbox.

You usually get a nice spacious pitch which is quieter at night because everyone is sleeping in their own tents and motorhomes, and you have the added security of your own vehicle at the place you are sleeping to store valuables in, to avoid theft from tents.

The alternative 'regular camping' option at festivals is to schlep about a mile from the car park to the campsite, often with difficult terrain, carrying all your stuff in often multiple trips, to then try to find a suitable place to pitch that isn't near noisy people. It's a total pain in the arse and is the reason why my wife, son and I bought a small Eriba caravan. If we didn't have a kid I'd have plumped for the roof tent option.

This is a very valid reason, thank you for enlightening those of us who don't camp at festivals, now I can see a use (other than the Daktari-wannabe angle)
Nowadays I don't camp anywhere that I cannot have my car alongside, but that explanation did bring back horrific memories of 'trudging to-and-fro' at various early Carfests!