The Official Unofficial Super Pacific X1 Camper Thread

Absolutely happy with my purchase- would do it again! I love the overall ease and versatility- it's quick and easy to set up a relatively warm and dry camp site but still a functional pickup truck. This is my daily driver, so I didn't want to deal with the weight, size, or security concerns of a slide in camper. I also didn't NEED all the amenities of a camper. I only spend a few nights in it at a time, and more stuff is more stuff to maintain.

I have 18 nights since May on a 2023 TRD Pro. Temperatures ranged from 17f to 90f across Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. I did a minor build out- interior and exterior lights, Kammock awning (love), and a removable floor inspired by Bambeds. I run a small Yeti cooler, the Dometic water system, and a power bank by Bluetti.

As much as I love it though, this would not be my personal pick for real long term trips or full time live in, unless I was going to be in an environment where I could do most of my living outdoors. I've hung out in the bed for a day or two at a time, and it's plenty comfortable, but it's not an upholstered couch in a climate controlled camper with a flush toilet. It is light years better than camping in my old 4runner, though. For me, it's the perfect middle ground.

 

While I just got mine(used), I spent many nights in a custom wedge camper similar to a gfc design but with SP enhancements(moving floor, no trusses, etc).

If you can find a used one for 10k its definitely worth it. That is about how much a new GFC with all the bells and whistles(which X1 comes stock) would cost. Plus you don't have 6 months lead times I think.

My only gripe so far is the upper section can't hold bedding or you cant really use a solid mattress unless its like 2" thick. The single lock design per door is nice(there is also a company that sells auto unlock/lock kits).

I just saw a company that started, which looks very similar to a X1 but priced lower. I'd imagine it will be lesser quality but another wedge camper company too look at. www.bynd4x4.com

 

I fit the Hest up there and it's 4". Slight bit tight though. Very much agree. I would get a used one if I was looking today.

 

Do you know what company sells the auto lock/unlock kits? I've been wanting to add that and was going to DIY. But it's been a year and I haven't had time to make progress on that mod.

 

https://mountainyotas.com/shop/tacoma/canopy-camper-keyless-entry/

I’ve been debating pulling the trigger but it’s costly at $500. I already have the tailgate unlock.

 

Got a HEST (dually long) per the HEST website to compare. I’ve used the megmat for a couple nights and first time use was a trial and error. Since they have a trial period couldn’t hurt. Just got it so posting for anyone interested in initial comparison.

1. Basically the same size/thickness with about a ¾” difference in length.

2. The HEST does fold over easily so no issues with moving out of the way vs the MMat has to be deflated to fold, though could be raised up I guess.

3. The HEST came shrink wrapped so should collapse enough to close with minor effort.

Pumped up good the MM does seem to be a tad more supportive but use will see how things work out. Plus and minus to both. MM would allow use of the insulation kit and or leaving some bedding. No need for the air pump with the HEST.

 

I have the tailgate lock installed on my truck. But I don't want something similar installed on my X1 doors. If someone breaks into my truck they could hit the unlock button on the door and then get access to the entire bed area. No bueno. Keeping the X1 under separate key means a thief would have to break into the canopy separately. Since they can't see in to that easily and it only has a small window, I think it the canopy is less likely to be a target than the cab - provided they can't open it at the touch of a button.

I've only used the Megamat. Once you figure out the right air pressure for you, it's super comfortable. And takes minimal time to inflate/deflate with a good pump. It has also been quick to deflate enough to flip it over so I can move the sleeping platform out of the way.

Definitely spend some time on it to figure that pressure out before you move on to Hest. A number of X1 owners have bought a Hest before fully getting to know the Megamat, but ended up not liking the Hest as much in the end.

 

I was an early-ish purchaser (#27) and have about 350 nights in my camper now. Short trips, long trips, all over W USA/CAN from heat of summer to PNW in winter. Still loving it as a road trip setup, even for longer trips provided the weather is mostly decent. FWIW, my previous setup was an open truck bed where I carried a dual sport moto and MTB in the bed, and I would sleep next to the truck in a bivy most of the time. I'd sometimes sleep in a tent if camping in the same spot for a few days or if the weather was bad.


I agree with what Enboo and smiper posted and will expand the list a bit:

Pros:
-side doors without the frame taking up most the space like the GFC
-cable management for electrical stuff is amazing
-threaded inserts everywhere = highly customizeable
-SP sleeping platform is 10" longer, 2" wider overall. (GFC is 90x50", SP is 80x52" plus 20" for removable panels that you can also expand the bed onto).
-removable panels: can use sleeping platform with both in place, or just one, or none, so you can access the bed area without moving any bedding even with two people
-when tailgate is up you can use it as a step to get into the camper (3rd gen only I think.) No need for ladder or crawl up from the bed area. I do this 99% of the time.
-vents on both sides and the rear of the tent increase airflow for less condensation
-single latch side and rear doors for one-handed opening
-comes with Exped MegaMat, not a generic pad that most people will immediately replace
-low profile is a huge plus if you need to park your truck in a standard height garage. My truck with stock tires/suspension just fits. GFC might fit as well, but many other brands would not.

Cons:
-tolerances are very tight causing some issues closing the tent. Not a huge deal, normally just takes an extra yank. [Evdog - I have this happen sometimes too.]
-cant store much bedding up top.
-extremely expensive. I don't have a whole lot of cons. Price would be the main one if shopping in the future.
-MegaMat is a bit short at 80". Despite being short myself, my toes sometimes touch down in the wedge end when sleeping on my back. Taller people might want to slide the mat forward onto the removable panels to allow more foot room.


I love the SP but I also agree I'm not sure I could pony up the ~$4k premium to get a SP again. It was similar to GFC pricing back when I bought mine but SP had a claimed 10week wait time vs 2 years for GFC, and GFC was having lots of issues with hinges. GFC has some design features I have since realized would be problematic (diagonal bars in side windows) but for $4k I could probably figure something out. I would also consider a regular topper and a separate wedge style RTT. I'd lose the pass through ability which would be a bummer, but this would open up purchase options and possibly cost less.

I mostly use the pass through ability when waking up in the morning, basically toss pillows and anything I'll move to the cab down through the opening onto my fridge, then I retrieve it through the side door. I don't often hang out inside the bed area with the sleeping platform pushed back. But that's mostly a function of living in Socal and having good weather most of the time, so I'm usually outside. I only hang out inside the bed area when there is a cold wind or rain making it too miserable to be outside. So losing that option is (possibly) not a deal breaker since I could still hang out in the RTT. I would want to keep using a canopy of some sort. I've gotten used to having a place to (somewhat) securely store my bike and gear and keep it dry and (somewhat) dust free.


General cons for wedge style tent wall campers, since there are other options out there:
-wedge design does reduce the functional length since your feet can't really go all the way to where it narrows down
-in windy locations the tent flaps a lot even when truck is oriented facing the wind. I made my cabinet/fridge setup flush so I can use it as a sleep platform without deploying the tent when wind is bad.
-camper drips water into rear seat when back door is open during rainy weather. Can make or buy gutters now to address this.
-hard to insulate for cold weather (can get package for upstairs but I doubt it's that helpful with uninsulated bed area)
-hard to fully seal against water/dust intrusion.

The main pro for the SP/GFC wedge design is the pass through ability, since I wanted somewhere I can hang out and get out of the wind in late fall camping when our mountains get cold and it gets dark at 5pm. I haven't used this as much as I thought I would though. Usually I'm out biking until dark or after, and by the time I clean up and make dinner, or move to the next spot, it's pretty much time for bed.

So...would I buy and SP again? Yes. At $4k premium over other brands? That would be a tough sell. I'd definitely be looking at all available options.

 

I didn't spend enough time harping on the length of the bed or the ease of pass through. I'm 6'4" and line in the PNW, so I wanted more room to sleep and move around inside vs. the GFC.

 

Yeah. And for you tall folk, they have padded attachments to the panels so you can extend the bedding area. They are additional and expensive, but I can see it being a big convenience

https://superpacificusa.com/product/crash-pad/

 

It would be pretty easy to make something yourself inexpensively, with just a 4" piece of foam. Your pillows would be on top of that anyways so it just needs to raise that spot up to level.

 

Thanks for the link. Yeah, that is a steep price. I also already have the tailgate unlock and the actuators and all the wires. Might shot them an email to see if they will sell me the brackets. Will pull the trigger if the price is reasonable.

 

@EnBoo @smiper @evdog @2ski4life7

Thank you all for the feedback. I like that a lot of y'alls review points & pros/cons overlapped. They touched on things I had not yet considered and were super helpful.

It seems to me that wedge GFC/SP designs are the superior option without going up into the next class of camper (Alucab/Kimbo/FWC M1/etc.) but that you're definitely going to pay for it. It also seems to me that the SP is fantastic build quality, but potentially not worth the price tag new.

My goals for a wedge are:
1. Extend the length of camping season. In Colorado, camping in April can still be extremely cold and everything is still covered in snow. Likewise the season can end as early as late August depending on the year, elevation, etc. It is always unfortunate to go camping, only to spend the hours not doing activities cooped up in a tent, rushing to finish cooking food to get back under shelter. The "living room mode" and pass-through capability seem to make the SP/GFC a more enjoyable & sheltered experience.

Do you feel that you camp more frequently throughout the year and for more of the season than you did with tents?

2. Make camping work better with my work schedule. I work remote full time. My hopes for a camper would be to leave work at 3-5 PM on a Thursday/Friday and drive 2-5 hours to Crested Butte, Ouray, Telluride, Medicine Bow, etc. and make camp for the night on a shoulder on BLM/National Forest land in the dark without having to furiously scour Google Maps satellite photos for fire rings and pre-existing flat ground for tents. Ultimately this would give us more days at farther destinations.

Do you feel that wedge campers enable you to camp more flexibly on shorter notice?

Ultimately what did a Super Pacific do to improve what you thought was lacking in your previous tent setup?

Thanks all! Scouring the internet for used Super Pacifics!

 

Checkpoint, I have been camping since 1948. My parents brought me to RMNP in a Baker tent when I was almost 1 year old. I have camped in tents, trailers, 5th wheels, motorhomes, vans and cab-overs. My wife decided she no longer wanted to travel nor camp, so I sold everything. Big mistake! I bought an SP June 2022. It has worked well for my fishing trips, not as well for cold weather hunting. Its biggest advantage is it will go where my cab-over camper would not although at my age I would be in dire straights if my heart had an issue, I fell and broke something, etc. I am usually alone on my trips.
We have camped from Arizona to Deadhorse, AK. Fl Keys to Nova Scotia. A grand life!
We use to go skiing every weekend parking our cab-over in the resorts’ parking lots or on a pass for back country tele skiing. The cab-over was much warmer with a toilet. Easier to cook in. Easier to warm up after skiing.
The SP on my Taco is easier to daily drive, but no comparison in comforts to a cab-over.
Every method of camping/traveling has their disadvantages.
At 76 I chose the SP over a couple of others because I didn’t want to climb a ladder out in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
At 76 the SP isn’t the easiest to move around in, but I manage.
I have been in no-where Alaska in a cab-over camper knowing there were large dangerous game near and having to carry a sick Samoyed outside in the dark. A big unnerving. The next morning we watched a mother brown bear and cubs walk by.
No RV is perfect for everything…NONE! You take a gamble and make it work at least for the time being.
Best of luck making whatever you get work for you! The important thing is to enjoy your outdoor experience.

 

Yes it's easier to just hop in the truck and go because of the camper. The biggest improvements were:
1) being off the ground
2) ease of setup and take down (I feel like you can break camp in 5 minutes reasonably
3) having all the benefits of a shell on your truck bed
4) much more comfortable from the backpacking and RTT setup I used to have
5) extremely dog friendly. My lab can sleep below in the truck bed and smaller dogs can sleep above. Not the easiest to get bigger dogs up top, but much easier than my previous setups

It isn't super insulated but stays pretty comfortable. I just use a nice 0° sleeping bag + a quilt if I really need it.

If you live in Colorado and you want to see it in person lmk

 

Good questions Checkpoint and not entirely addressed in the essay I wrote earlier haha.

1 - I wouldn't say the SP extends my camping season since I camp year round, but it definitely makes camping in winter or rain storms more pleasant. I mentioned sleeping in a bivy most of the time and this was true during winter as well. I mostly camp to mountain bike and often move from spot to spot each day, often moving to the next spot at night. Pulling into a campsite late at night I'd often just sleep in the driver's seat if it was windy, raining or generally miserable even though my bivy setup only takes seconds to unroll (faster than deploying SP, even). And I definitely wouldn't want to hang out outside in those conditions. Winter is particularly sucky when it gets dark at 5pm (and I am a night owl, normally go to bed 2am or later). So a big reason for getting the SP was the ability to hang out inside on cold, rainy, or windy nights. It definitely fills that role when needed. I wouldn't call it a pleasant experience hanging out inside it though, but it's definitely better than sitting in the cab or trying to sit outside bundled up in blankets.

I also wouldn't say I camp more often than I did before either. I camped a ton before too, and could throw stuff in the truck on pretty short notice since my setup has always been pretty minimalist. The nice thing with the canopy is I just leave much of my camping gear in the truck all the time now. With the open bed previously I couldn't do that. The other part of the reason I bought the SP was finding out I was getting laid off from work which had me planning to take some time off and do a few big road trips to places with possibly cold/wet weather. So in that respect I camped more for sure. But back at work it's similar to how much I camped before. Long trips were waaaaaay nicer with the SP than using a bivy/tent.

The camper can make it easier to find some spots to camp than before. I'm more willing to park in something like a roadside pullout for sure. The bivy doesn't take up much space and is easier to find a small level spot but I never liked setting up roadside in it unless it was far up a forest/BLM road where there was little chance of any traffic. The camper seems a bit more protected so this isn't as big of a deal. I just don't want to be bothered. You do want to have the truck/camper somewhat level though so there is still the issue of finding a "level enough" spot to park. Sometimes this isn't as easy as you'd think.

A wedge camper also has the issue of needing to pack away the tent any time you want to drive your truck somewhere. Not a big issue given the minimal time it takes to stowe the tent but unless you leave some gear behind you might lose your spot if you plan to camp there again. Some people put up a cheap tent anyways to "save" their spot.

I never really wanted a canopy for my truck since it can limit what you can carry. And bringing a dual sport moto along is a pain if you can't put it in the bed. I also never wanted a roof top tent since I think they're overpriced and sleeping off the ground is overrated. RTTs seemed like things people who weren't really into camping would buy "I bought a RTT, now I can finally go camping!!" But seeing the wedge camper with pass through after enduring so many frigid nights changed that perspective and it definitely met my expectations.



Something else I forgot to mention earlier regarding cost and used campers, since the current price of a new SP is a common issue for people: While the initial price is high, SP will also have high resale value. That is why you see used SP's selling for $10-11k while a new GFC might cost $8-9k. It's like buying a tacoma. Expensive up front but you'll get much of your investment back if you sell...

 

I couldn't agree more - enjoying the time that you have with your loved ones in the outdoors is the most important thing. You've lived a storied life and have some great memories to boot. I hope in 40 years time I'm able to be saying the same to whoever comes into these forums down the road asking similar questions!

I'd love to buy you coffee and see your rig. I'll shoot you a PM! Thank you!

This is a killer write-up. I appreciate it. I definitely agree on the whole "I have a RTT so now I can camp" vibe, and I'm very careful to be realistic about how often I camp and what a wedge would actually do to enhance to solve "problems" that I face now.

For me the wedge seems to solve the "I can make bad weather tolerable by having a hangout space and not sitting on a foam pad on the cold ground inside my tent while I wait for the weather" and the "finding and setting up camp in the dark in remote places on BLM/Nat. Forest Land".

I want to camp every other weekend or every 2 weeks basically for the next few years before kids. And I want to cut out of work and go cannonball down to Crested Butte in the dark and make a weekend of it on short notice with little planning to fish, hike, and climb. Life is short - I want to make even more of the time I have!




Thank you everyone for the advice, insights, and lived experiences. You have been immensely helpful, and have once again proved that Tacoma owners are the best people on the planet with the best forum to boot. Thank you all!

 

I wanted to address this one specifically, since other shave done a nice job addressing other questions.

For me, what I want, my financial situation, etc., the Super Pacific price is absolutely worth it. GoFast is the OG in this space and makes a really nice product. But the features, innovation, quality, experience, weather resistance, etc. of the Super Pacific justify the extra cost for me.

 

yes

 

Is there anyone in salt lake city who would let me check out there x1? Looking to buy, but would like to physically see one before ordering.