Camper top w/ tent vs. bed rack w/ tent (apples and oranges)?

Hey guys, new to the community. I am just getting into the tacoma world and am looking forward to all the adventure there is to be had. So to get down to it, I might be asking a question that has been already asked. Though, I have not been able to find another thread discussing this. I travel over road for work and will be driving my truck. I have purchased a Snugtop GB sport shell with the outdoors-man package so I can placed a tent up top. I wasn't surprised to see a drop in MPG but not one as big as going from 20 mpg on highway to 17mpg. Granted I've changed my tires also. I cant imagine what it will be once I put a tent on top. So I started to look into bed racks being that they are lighter in some cases and would allow me to have a tent that was at or below the slip stream coming off of the cab. The other issue is that all my possessions must be placed in the back and the shell seems to be better for that. So there it is, I've sat down trying to decide which direction to go with this and thought I'd get some seasoned opinions on this matter. Thank you.

 

Depends on what you are after.

I love my bedrack, it has a shelf for action packers, can attach rotopax or max trax to the side supports my tent well, has exterior lighting and can be used to rig a ton of gear onto it. It is lower and creates less drag and is lighter, but more solid than a topper.

The downside is all gear needs weatherproof containers.

Pm me if you want picks of my setup, it is for sale...

 

Welcome to the forum. I went the bed rail/RTT route to keep things aerodynamic as possible.