Full pop up camper topper?

With two little kids, a wedge camper lacks some of the extra space we need to spread out fully. Trying to explore all options for a full pop up given build times range from 2 months to 18 months. Here’s the companies I’ve seen that offer a full pop up for a short bed.

Four Wheel Campers - Project M

• Starts at $10,995 and 358lbs.
• 81x66” sleeping area.
• Trusted camper brand that’s been around a while. Spacious but a little too utilitarian visually for my tastes, both in overall design but also how thick the tent enclosure is and sticks over the cab. But damn that sleeping area is huge!
  
• Four Wheel Campers has actual dealers around the country, and notably has one close to me in Seattle.

AT Overland Atlas

• Starts at $14,300 and 360lbs.
• 80x48” sleeping area.
• Like it visually but holy crap it’s expensive. Also smaller sleeping area.
  
• Based on AZ for install. Haul from WA.

OVRLND Camper

• Starts at $8,400 and under 275lbs.
• 80x61” sleeping area.
• Cheap starting point but lacks a lot of standard features of other brands. So will probably add up. They claim it should be under 375lbs no matter how it’s optioned out.
• AZ installation. Far for me.

Hiatus Campers

• Starts at $15,500 and 460lbs.
• 74x50” sleeping area.
• Hard sided! Really cool design. But holy hell it’s expensive and the design eats away at some sleeping area compared to others.
• Located in Bellingham, WA. Perfecto.

Hower Built

• Starts at $17,000 and 400lbs.
• 80x60” sleeping area.
• Powered opening/closing. Cool, but…expensive. I can pop it myself and save some $$.
• Located in CO.

Trailfort Camper

• Starts at $12,500 and 420lbs.
• 78x50” sleeping area.
• Kind of unique design with a dormer. Wedge allows for super tall standing height at the base. Also has a unique storage tunnel hatch system behind the cab. I like it.
• Central CA. Not too far.

Oru Designs

• Starts at $9,499 and 300-400lbs.
• 80x60” sleeping area.
• Love the dual half barn door design. Allows for standing on the tailgate.
• Southern CA.

Topo Toppers Badlander

• Starts at $8,950 and 340lbs.
• 80x51” sleeping area.
• Popular option. Good solid design. Smaller sleeping width.
• Southern CA.

Honestly with the kids, having the biggest sleeping area is kind of the key selling point for me at the moment. Long wait times are fine as I’m not in a super rush.

Curious if there are other companies I’m missing. Would love people’s opinions on what option they went with and why. Also whether or not you stiffened your suspension! I’m assuming yes.

 

The Harker EDC is a wedge camper that has a lot of room because of the tailgate annex and the bed can be pushed up. I’m looking around the forums for opinions on it at the moment

 

I went with the OvrLnd. You can see the options here: OVRLND Camper (pop up)
3rd brake light + elec maxfan.
I went with Icon Dynamics RXT complete leaf springs, Bilstein 5100's on all four corners and used the existing front springs. Works great for what I need it for. Lots of 4x4ing but no crawling or extreme stuff.

I've had the OvrLnd over a year now and no complaints. Jay the owner and his wife are very nice people and are very responsive. I can't believe how spacious the camper is and well built. They can do a lot of custom stuff so you can check with them if you have ideas of your own...

Hope that helps.

 

I like that they have barn doors. Guessing it makes climbing in easier. When you say it works great for what I need it for, overlanding not crawling, were you referring to the suspension or the camper? Not that I want to crawl or do a lot of extreme stuff, but I would like a camper that can take a beating.

 

Topo all day.

 

I picked up a Hiatus recently. While it’s expensive as hell, the insulated hard walls are worth it. Particularly for the OP based in Washington state, I’d imagine hard walls would be a big factor. On my drive back down from Hiatus to Socal in December, camped a couple nights in 35-40deg heavy rain in Oregon and there were no leaks or condensation.

As for the sleeping space, if you go with the vertical walls like I did, you end up with a 74” x 60” mattress. I believe you can get up to 80”L on the mattress as well, just a matter of extending the bed rails. I was told my camper (6’ bed, vertical walls) weighed 480lbs. Of course since there’s no tailgate you subtract around ~60lbs and you’re left with around 420lbs net.

If you can wait (~1.5yrs) and stomach the expense, its well worth it.

 

I don't know why anybody would want to do a Tacoma with camper setup with 2 kids. It is small enough for two adults. If you were just using it for sleeping it would be the bare minimum in space. What if you have bad weather? Do you just bail and head home. I understand trying to make it work because you already have the Tacoma. It may be worth your effort to consider a full-size truck setup before investing a significant amount into a Tacoma camper and be a lot happy in the end.

 

The TRD Pro is lacking in the payload department for an in bed camper. Maybe look at a RTT with a pop up gazebo for more space?

 

Barn doors make it so you can stand on tailgate and not hit your head. The swing back and fasten securely. I wanted to keep my tailgate on. I was referring to the suspension. Regarding the camper, Jay at OvrLnd mentioned he's had customers send photos of the campers in some rough 4x4 terrain. I think the campers are very tough. The sides are aluminum, so I'm careful to not pack stuff above the pickup bed or pad it well if it leans against the camper. I'm planning on putting insulation panels that will help.

 

I think you got them all. I've wanted the AT Atlas for a while because it seems like the gold standard, but agree - the price tag is rough and it seems to keep going up. You do get a lot more options "standard" for that price tag though.

A couple of friends of mine have OVRLND campers and are extremely happy with them.

I dunno... probably just gonna keep using my camper shell for the time being until I get tired of crawling in the back.

 

For whatever it’s worth, I just installed my AT Atlas last Wednesday. Made a trip out of it. Hit up Grand Canyon and Moab (again ) on the way back. Stayed in hotels on the way there since I ditched my old setup.

So far I really like it. Honestly a little more than I was planning. I was starting to consider selling my slot. It looks pretty decent on a 2G DCSB. Do kinda wish I had a AC, but wasn’t about to try to find a similar quality 2G manual OR under 60k.

The bed space is definitely a downgrade from my Tepui, but setup is way easier. Two dogs and a lady make it tough. I’m gonna build another partial/removable platform insert so the dogs can sleep over the truck bed. Or maybe I’ll just make them sleep down below once I get that all situated.

 

Just put the $$ down on a Harker EDC. I'll pick it up in Utah in January. Not exactly prime camping season, but I have goose down...

 

Happy with my OVRLND camper. Sleeps myself, wife, 3yo, and 3 midsize (40lb) dogs. Still building out the interior. One feature worth noting is they tension the canvas when popped which cuts down on wind related noise significantly. Barn doors are a great feature as well.

 

I went with OVRLND.

I liked the vertical walls for the extra space they provide which allows me to easily build out the inside without taking into account walls that slope in. I like all the customization of OVRLND- if you can dream it, they can probably do it. Every camper is built for your truck in AZ. I liked the barn doors and the blank slate to build it out as I see fit. Excellent customer service by Jay and Maggie as well as the crew at OVRLND. I feel that it is a super solid camper that if I damage it, they will fix it or if I am out of the country, I can probably find a local welder that can weld aluminum to get it fixed easily.

I did take a brief look at FWC but was a bit turned off by the lack of customization, the interior shelf, and some of the problems that some owners have reported.

Haitus hard-sided popup and the possibility of straight vertical walls were one of my options, they do look really sweet and they do a lot of custom stuff, but they are very expensive. I can easily see pushing $20,000 with options that I wanted. This one was on my radar.

Dont really like the non-vertical walls on Topo or AT. Just a personal preference.

At the end of the day, for me, I wanted to build the topper out how I wanted, I wanted good customer service and a camper that was rock solid. I think I got that.

I guess it comes down to how much time you have to build out something yourself or do you want a turn-keyish camper.

Another company you might want to take a look at is Tune. https://www.tuneoutdoor.com. They build a wider camper that overhangs the rails of your truck so that you can sleep E to W. They are a newish company so there might be a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out, I did join the FB owners group and many folks say the owners are very responsive. YMMV.

 

Curious what you think of the Harker now that it’s in. I was planning on getting one.

 

Loving my OVRLND camper.

 

I saw ovrlndcampers just came out with this. Been always looking for this design. Low COG as it’s not a can over. For guys 6” and above like me, will just have to sleep diagonally. Anyone getting this?


https://campovrlnd.com/pages/bivy