*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

please keep us updated! Would also like to know if you can close up the tent with the insulation still set up.

 

I'll do two tests, one with the exped that I always run and one with the stock mattress for the sake of putting good info out there.

 

cheers

 

My money is on not being able to close it with the stock mattress, but I've been wrong before.

 

I closed my 3 inch thick memory foam mattress (6 inches when it folds on itself) with stock mattress and bedding lol, so you shouldn't have any issues getting it closed. Plus why would they sell something you can close?

 

I'm almost certain I will be able to, but we'll see. I say this for a few reasons. One, I was able to close the tent with a stock mattress, 1.5" memory foam topper, and some lightweight bedding. It wasn't easy, but I did it. Two, this insulator appears fairly lightweight based on this picture and how small it is. So I think with nothing more than the stock mattress and insulator, it won't be too difficult. But any bedding in there will be a no go. I have a whole lot of time on my hands with working from home with minimal actual work, so I'll have plenty of time to find the limits of what can be squeezed in the tent.

 

You're probably right. I might just be thinking too much of all the times I struggled to close my softshell, but I had it stuffed pretty good it was like a link sausage under the cover. Let us know, I was always curious about those cold weather insulators.

 

I think the key to a happy life with a softshell is the self inflating mattress to be honest. It allows me to leave so much shit in the tent and still close it relatively easily, and it's also just comfortable as hell. Struggling to close the tent and deal with the cover zipper in cold temps is miserable, so anything to make that better is worth it.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering a roofnest condor on black friday though.

 

No you're absolutley right. You're probably the biggest contributor to exped sales. Had I stayed with my softshell I absolutely would have gone the route you did. One morning in Yellowstone in it was 33* and raining and my hands were killing me from the cold. I camped in below zero temps in it as well, but I wasn't prepared for the cold that morning. Took me over a half hour to get that thing all stuffed and zipped up.

If you went to a roofnest you'd need a whole new setup tho right? No way you could fit it on your bed rack.

 

That's why I was eyeballing the condor because it would fit on my bed and I could keep it low like my current tent. It's 60" x 48" when closed up. I would just have to have my spare laid flat in the bed but that's not a big deal. I could never make the switch though. It's 40 lbs heavier and 5x what I paid for my current tent, which works just fine. It's not worth the increased cost and weight just to not deal with a zipper. Not for what I use the truck for anyways.

 

I love my CVT hybrid. You get the space of a soft shell but the ease of packing away of a hard shell virtually. So easy to unpack and pack. No more trying to zip a zipper and slipping and hitting your hand on something and cussing lol.

@TacoFMS can confirm now lol

 

Just watched a video on it, that's nifty. Essentially the same thing except the cover is now a skirt instead, and the ladder comes off.

edit: Holy shit those are heavy. 190 lbs for their smallest one.

 

Wow that's a pretty cool design, similar to the iKamper or FSR but I like this one the best.

 

LOL they are heavy but the materials is why. The standard non extend fly versions are a good bit lighter i think. Like 140ish. They are built very durable and out of premium materials. Blew my tepui out of the water in terms of how well it was built and the materials. I was honestly shocked.

edit: just looked it up and 190 is the weight haha. heavy sob

 

Diesel Heat is good heat. -2F Thursday night while I was camping. Needed a bit more than flannel sheets.

 

Ah man! One of my favorite places! My sis lives in GJ so we make the Junction to Moab trip a lot. Can't beat it. A+ pics as well. This is the RTT at the top of my list right now but I'm only a couple days into looking around. Anything you don't like about it?

 

So glad I held off from upgrading to hard shell tent the past three years until this Condor Overland came out; I can’t wait to use it in the wild. I’m really liking it so far. Fit and finish is nice. The Roofnest customer service has been great and the Roofnest flock has been good… so far. lol

 

Thanks for the recs. Finally got to do some poking around. I was right, head is spinning.

Bed Racks:
- Saints Offroad Tango is my favorite. Just too much $$. Still, that thing is badass.
- KBVoodoo might've won (or whatever the Max Modular / Taco Max is on their site, might be a different company. I didn't look long enough to find out). It's got some cool customizable stuff and a compartment like the Leitner one down the list. Good price. Good reviews. Good Size. TuffStuff was about the same on everything and I might've gone with them but out of stock.
- RCI, Body Armor, All Pro all about the same. Awesome bed racks and the price shows it. I think RCI was the cheapest of the 3 but was probably my least favorite looking of the 3.
- I'm not getting the Uptop Overland or Leitner bc of the crazy $$ BUT if you've got it to spend, Leitner's has this really sweet compartment (Gear Pod XL).
https://www.leitnerdesigns.com/products/gearpod-xl-gen-2
- IF you wanted to get just the bars to support the RTT (or a really low bed rack that could still hold some gear) I still might go with these. Super cheap. High Quality. Good Reviews. I'd rank them:
1. Oregon Load Racks ($375)
2. Front Runner Load Racks ($385)
3. Billie Bars ($500)

RTT:
This was simple (which ironically makes it really tough!). Spend around $3000 and I get exactly what I want or save money, spend about $1000 and get something good but not what I want. Not sure what I'll do. I wish there was something in the middle like most things Taco where you can find a "bang for your buck" deal. Honestly, I'll probably look for the expensive brands on resale sights and just get one used. But just in case my searching can help someone, I'll pay it back:
- I wanted a hard shell for a few reasons. Stealth/Small/Easy Setup, helps MPGs & wind. There's only two of us sleeping in it. Didn't need a big bulky one that pops out. Problem is I quickly realized soft shells are much cheaper than the hard shells / wedges.
- TuffStuff, Roam, and Desert Armor were my favorites that weren't crazy expensive. They had a couple soft toppers that weren't too bulky. Had great reviews. Looked fine. Close to what I wanted and affordable. Still miht go this direction eventually.
- FreeSpirit and OAS were about the same just a little more expensive and not as good reviews / quality.
- SmittyBuilt and Thule were perfectly fine but just not what I wanted at all for that price.
- RoofNest and CVT were perfect for what I wanted and seemed to be best quality, they just want a lot for it. Maybe I can find a Mt. Baker ( I think that was the 2 person hard shell) or a Condor out there that someone used it every other year and knows that's gonna continue.
- Saw some others. BigFoot and Hutch just looked cheap and had bad reviews. iKamper was way too proud of theirs, probably the most expensive and far from the best I saw. I'd say iKamper is around the quality of Smittybuilt and Thule (which isn't bad or anything) but they want to be priced like CVT and Roofnest.

I'm sure I missed something on both but I hope it helped. I'm just pumped to get the ball rolling. Been waiting too damn long. Looking around even got me wanting to look at awnings now. I'm still on the fence about some medium leaf springs. I just won't have the RTT on unless we're taking it out. Speaking of, how hard are the smaller ones to get on a medium bed rack?

Thanks again!

 

Not yet. We wanted a clamshell tent that fit the bedding in it closed up. There are thinner clamshells, but having bedding inside is convenient AF. It takes less than a minute to set up and close. The hard top blocks wind well. It’s roomy. light ish. And low profile. Has pockets and a carpeted ceiling to minimize condensation dripping on you. Plus I feel quite confident with it on the roof rack on hard trails. Plus, the wife absolutely loves it. If you are interested in a CVT tent, follow them on Instagram. They have 20-25% sales often.

 

If some extra stability is important to you check out BAMF and CBI, they both offer the availability of support legs that transfer weight to the frame at the bed mount bolts.