First road trip - Need RTT advice

Hi all. Took the '21 SR5 DCSB on it's first road trip this weekend and put about 1k miles on it between home, Maggie Valley, NC and some of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It did really well on the highway and on some backcountry gravel/dirt roads. Nothing too difficult. Got a tiny vibe at 79mph on the highway but I don't think these things are meant for that anyway and it wasn't bad enough to worry about. I expected some of that with the 3.5/2 RC lift and BFG AT/KO2s. I'll get more action shots of the truck next time.

I'm about to pull the trigger on a rooftop tent (RTT) and wondered what you guys had/recommend. I am leaning towards the Smittybilt Overlander right now because of cost and good reviews. We'll likely only go on trips once a month or so, so it won't be abused and will be stored inside when not in use. Trying to stay below $1,500.

 

My girlfriend and I have a Roam Vegabond Lite that we got on sale for black friday and absolutely love it! It's "cozy" inside due to the slightly smaller footprint, but it helps keep the tent warm on cold New England nights and all the windows in the Vegabond Lite help keep it cool on hot summer days. So far we've had it for almost a year and have had to store it outside due to not having a garage and it has held up amazingly well!

 

Check FB marketplace/Offerup - honestly you can find very lightly used ones for a good price (at least out here you can). Tons of people buy them and barley use them then sell them

 

I have the SB Overlander XL and its been great. Fits me, wife and the kids easily.
I have no experience with anything else, but have no complaints.
It's warm as hell I can attest to that.
I got the mid-height Uptop rack to account for a little less wind resistance/drag. I think Uptop also has a rack that can accomdate your tonneau cover as well.

 

Hope you have a rack already … getting anything nowadays turns into months .

 

I'll be building one myself. Should be fun.

 

I like the size of the XL, but wasn't sure it would fit on my short bed. I'll be building a rack to hover over the tonneau cover.

 

I agree with checking out “used” (mine was a showroom demo) ones, I bought mine off Craigslist for 1/2 of retail. I also got three Front Runner bed rails for under a hundred off Craigslist.

 

Exactly the same! Bought on Black Friday and we love it. I had it for a Subaru before so if I had the choice now, I’d just get the size up. But there’s plenty of room for both of us so we’re keeping it! Roam makes a great tent with high quality materials.

 

I'll parrot to check for used. I got mine for half price and it had only been slept in a handful of times. Only thing wrong with it was some scuffs on the outside cover. It's been great.

I prefer this style, where there's no overhang to the entrance, only the rain fly. It makes setup very easy.








As opposed to something like this, where there's an overhang. It's just a pita while setting up. It's nice if you also use the annex, because then you can enter the tent from the annex, but with a low tent like yours, it's pointless.

 

My setup, I also built my bed bars myself. Keeping it low makes setup a breeze. I used to have one up on a camper shell and it was a pain in the ass.

 

We've been happy with our Tepui K3 - 2 years and several trips . Pretty solid and roomy. Mounted of Frontrunner Load Bars. Tent is about 130#'s

 

I have a tepui A2 and I dig it it’s small enough and lightweight. I don’t care for the front of the tents that are fully enclosed. Just not what I want. I prefer the style with the open front. I also got mine used on Offer up I believe. Was used like 6 times and I paid 800 for it and the C4 bed bars came with it

 

I have the Roofest Nest Sparrow Eye. I like the hard shell because it's so easy to setup and take down. At 123 lbs. it's a production to remove/install it.

 

This is my current setup and it lives on my truck. We camp (1-2long weekends a month). Also went with roofnest. For me it was about a hard RTT vs soft in the midwest. It sits on a Yakima Overhaul HD, water port, Decked…and some other added options. More than you want to spend but always an option. Building one of these is like playing with Legos…not a right/wrong way to do it just what you want and how much you want to spend. Labor of love and a learning process but eventually you figure out what works best for what you want. My .2cents