Smittybilt Overlander Tent review.

Been posting around in the RTT forum, but I thought I would do an actual post in-case someone is thinking about getting this tent.

I bought this tent at full retail ($800) off Amazon. I get amazon gift cards from work quite often so it was only really like 300$ of my actual money.

I saw the smittybilt and an ARB side by side almost at a local off road expo, and the smittybilt at the expo looked every bit as good as the ARB.

So I hashed out the pro's and cons and decided to pull the trigger on the Smittybilt, despite lack of, in my opinion, knowledge/reviews online. Purely based off of what I saw at the expo.

So ill kind of start now.

First off. Shipping was really fast. It was from Smittybilt directly, just sold through Amazon from what I could tell. It was scheduled for delivery on a friday, and it arrived to the local shipping center on monday. So I picked it up on a Tuesday, which in total only took 3 days to get to me from the initial shipping center in cali.

Instructions weren't really necessary, its all pretty straight forward how it all goes together.

When I was putting it together there were a bunch of small aluminum metal chips and shavings all over the mattress and floor of the tent. I just took a small shop vac and cleaned them all up. There arent any holes or anything from the chips, so it wasn't really an issue.

After putting it all together, I just started looking over the tent, making sure there were no defects. What I found was just a lack of "care" in the machined parts. Almost every piece of metal had a burr on it. It was obvious the one at the expo had all the burrs removed.

I wasn't too surprised as its a Chinese company basically. I just went through with a small file and removed all the burs, which took about 45 minutes. Not too bad.

The ladder mounts were another thing that were corrected on the display at the expo, as mine were two completely different sizes and the ladder currently sits crooked. I called smittybilt and they are sending me new mounts. Kudos to them I guess.

Everything works as far as function, its just lack of detail in the small pieces.

I took it out this weekend, even though the forecast was nothing but rain. I really wanted to put this to the 'worst-case' test.

Tent performance is flawless. It worked amazing in the nothing but wet weather and I really couldn't ask for more. Of-course there was some condensation, but it rained non stop. Ive never owned a tent that didnt get a little moist on the walls/roof, especially during rain.

It sleeps two plus sized people (Im 250, and GF is about 210) VERY comfortably.

Its pretty simple to put up and take down. The cover is a little finicky being velcro and tie downs to hold it on, but I'm getting better each time I put it up and take it down.

Overall I am pleased with the purchase, and would recommend it to anyone, especially if you can get a good deal on it.

Sorry if this is hard to read, I'm not the best at putting sentences together with correct punctuation and what not, and I have never done a product review.

If you have any specific questions or anything, feel free to post or pm me!

 

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to share your experience with prospective buyers.

 

Great review.

 

Thanks, this is the best kind of review, puts it all in perspective. Want to pay a little less, may have to do some finish work.. Thank you

 

Thanks for the review, but how about some pictures? You could show one of the issues you had (or non-issues) with some closeups and maybe an overall view of it mounted to you rig.

 

Just got same tent. Could not have said it better on the review. Great tent for the price.

 

@scottalot @Acerwin

Good review right here

OP swing through the RTT BS Thread man. You'll find all sorts of products and ideas to incorporate with your tent.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-rtt-owners-thread-with-bs.312269/

 

Nevermind just read this.

 

Great write up! Just linked here from the RTT Owners thread. This is going to be my entree into the RTT world. I haven't camped in 30 years or more, and I certainly wasn't going to drop $1,800 - $2,500 for my first RTT. The more I read about the Overland tent, the better it looks and may end up being quite the keeper.

 

*I have this tent and its wonderful for what you pay for. This guy's review is on point minus the ladder mount issue for mine.

I do have two question for owners of this tent:

-How much of an Angle should the RTT ladder be at?

-Did you guys drill new locking holes into the ladder after finding correct length?



**I temporary locked the ladder with a braided metal strap around 2 steps till I get my wheels/lift on then drill holes to permanently lock the ladder... is what I imagine will happen.

 

I have this tent and I'd say the ladder should be at least a 45* angle to the ground and I did have to drill new holes for the correct spot on the ladder.

 

My Overlander drops in my driveway today...

 

Sweet!!!! Your gonna love it

 

Anyone put the Overland XL on a tacoma? I just picked one up. They are 76" long which is 3" longer than the bed. I don't believe that would be an issue since it'll be attached to a bed rack. Just curious? As i've only seen people put them on jeeps.

 

I don’t think it would be an issue, would just say make sure you make the tent fairly even on the bed bars.

 

I took measurements. The end of the tailgate is around 75" so it should look fine.

 

Just picked one of these up from 4wheelparts and it was on sale for about $250 Off! Not sure how long this sale price will last!
Love It!
Maiden Voyage this weekend for a little New Years Trip!
There were some small metal shaving inside and under the mattress but nothing a little dust buster couldn’t fix.
I did have to bend the mounting brackets to get them to fit around my 1 3/4” bed bars but will be upgrading those to exhaust clamps soon... will post about the exhaust clamps as soon as I get them up & running!

 

Maiden Voyage Was a Success!
Had a couple of issues with the mounting hardware coming loose... The hardware that connects the tent floor to the the rails rattled loose and caused a little wiggling but a quick tighten and back to normal. I plan to upgrade all of the hardware to a higher grade (Grade 8) and lock tight them all as well.

All In All... Great Product! Great Price!

 

Installed Exhaust Clamps!
Much better than the factory blah...
Had to stop off at The Home Depot to get longer bolts... 70mm