Desert Armor - Tank RTT and others

Hey Folks, launching this review thread to make sure an un-biased review of the Desert Armor roof top tents are accurately captured.

 

Not just the tents, customer service stories too. I came into this looking for a tent and I’m kinda glad I held off on my purchase. Waiting for more info.

 

Ordered in February, with a delivery date of March 30. Promised it was shipped multiple times, (from China on a cargo ship). Took delivery of tent, very close(?) to the original date at the end of May. Spec sheet says 126lbs for tent with aluminum shell.

This is not a cheap tent, the Tank was $3275 with an Annex included as a promo. This is premium pricing for an RTT. I expect premium quality.

Mounted it immediately, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Initial mount on truck, badging (riveted) misaligned, (or as my 6 yr old daughter says, it's "whacky")
There are a lot of fit and finish, craftsmanship issues, dimples, bad welds, ripples and warps on edges. I
I’m going camping for a couple days, I'll wait until I get back in a few days before I rip into it, try and give it a fair shake. But as an initial leader, the riveted badge is indicative of most of the things I noticed throughout.

 

Upper alum Shell doesn’t fit the platform, which comes from a generic design . I had to add garage door rubber flashing to keep the mattress from being exposed on the latch side when closed, otherwise the shell will fill with Mojave dust just driving down the road. The biggest downer, is, I had to remove the mattress, otherwise the shell doesn’t close correctly. Start subtracting money from $3k because it is starting to add up in retrofits and I haven’t even hit the road yet. Had to throw away the included mattress, got an air mattress and am storing it in bed. The latches are a joke, even when closed (they don’t stay closed unless you lock them btw) you can still remove the cable from the hook. They were riveted that loosely and don’t ratchet or adjust down. I had to suitcase strap the shell to keep it closed. Already spent about $300 in retrofits and I don’t hit the road until morning. Oh yah, shake and vacuum the shit out of it before you put in an expensive air mattress, it’s full of aluminum shavings.

 

Haha. Done. That’s a wrap for me.

Edit: I want to clarify that I’m not purchasing one at this time because there are too many issues with quality, shipping, misleading specifications, etc. Hopefully, things improve because the product looks really good, I just don’t want to take the risk of waiting that long for something I’ll have to modify/repair on receipt.

I wouldn’t accept poor quality in a $3k suspension lift, why would I pay that much for a tent and still have to fix it

 

I used the tent over the last 3 days. 1 night in Mojave desert and 2 nights in mountain Yosemite. I wanted to give the tent a fair shake.

The aluminum shell on the Tank has some issues, as covered already; namely misaligned badges, bad latches, and fastener hardware is defective. The gaping holes in the corners need to be retrofitted as well, but I've solved it for the moment with rubber garage door flashing and black closed cell foam carved to fit the corner holes. I've already talked to DA and they will send me replacements for the other affected issues.
That is where I stop dinging on the tent as a whole. There are some good things about it as well. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the quality of the tent platform and fabric is actually pretty good. I was dry and comfortable in wind/desert/mountain. It felt rock stable with me in it, and I'm 6'2" 210 lbs.

For the $3K price, I do feel like we got factory prototypes on the turtle shell side of the tent, and if I had seen and compared it in a store with something else in that premium price range, I would have not made a move with DA. Oh well, moving on.

However, ugly warts aside, for me, its worth repairing and modding, instead of sending it back. I feel it has potential, because the actual tent platform is decent quality, and as long as DA doesn't leave their customers left hanging with poor shell components, I'm willing to work with them. Granted this is my personal opinion, because I feel I have all the tools necessary and the know-how with identifying and retrofitting.

That being said, I completely understand other peoples view on the matter, such that at $3K it should already be perfect, and they should not have to do any mechanical work or modifications. Each person will have to make that decision themselves as to how far they want to go, and I wouldn't blame them considering all the delays and crosstalk we got. That experience will weigh pretty heavily on people, as it does me still, to be honest.

 

The last thing I should call out is this tent is spec'd at being 126lbs. Hell no it aint', it's more around 165-170 lbs. They even call it out in the rack section, but still list the wrong weight for the actual tent. I'm waiting for my dads hanging scale that he uses for weighing pig carcasses so I can get an accurate weight on it. This is not something minor, as it dramatically changes the metrics and calculations in place with the type of rack you have, and active/dynamic load limits. I absolutely felt the added weight as I was driving, an extra 50 pounds up top makes for some serious weight distribution issues and stressors on the rack mounts, and especially when I go off road and start bumping and banging and sliding around.

 

Here’s 1 thing I do like, having a strong enough (albeit heavy) shell with rails on the roof. Perfect for latching onto with a winch for lifting. Waiting for the hanging scale, get it tomorrow, I’ll update that weight question Saturday. The weight question being the listed weighted on the spec sheet vs. the actual weight.

The tent isn’t balanced by the way, so when you pack it, I’ve noticed the non-latch side is lighter, and the ass is heavy, you can pack some heavier objects on those sides to counterbalance

 

My last post from that thread.

 

I had a simiar story to the comment above.
In my own personal opinion... If anyone is thinking about purchasing from this company, please think hard about it. They might be a few bucks cheaper, but defientely not worth the hassle or heartache. They are rude and inconsiderate, they dont care about you, they're just looking to make a quick buck. I thought with them getting an invester, they would have learned there lessons and expanded/ hired additional help. Appearently not. I blame it on imaturity and greed from the owners. Sad that this company will fail because of it.

Bottom line. I'd look elsewhere for a RTT and a company that deserves your buisness. This company isnt it.

 

On another note. If you want to find the same exact tent they sell AT COST, you can find it in the link below. Of course you'll have to deal with the importing issues.

https://m.made-in-china.com/hot-china-products/Roof_Top_Tent.html

Fyi. If your having issues using the link just type in RTT into the search bar from the site.

 

Most recent post in the desert armor deals thread.

 

So, 2nd call resulted in me being informed that the refund process would be started after they received the tent back, being I never took ownership nor was I the one that canceled, I took offense to this and disagreed. After being expressing the tent was in FEX EX possession, they knew where it was. About 2 pm today Fed ex changed the status of the shipment to reconsigned to new consignee, which tells me DA already has had contact with FED EX. I have contacted my Credit Card company, it’s in their hands now. I just wanted it done with.

 

Just remember that even though the CC immediately returns your money upfront when you dispute a charge, the vendor has 30 days to give their version of the story. If they try and prove that they didn't violate their terms of agreement, that you accepted these delays by agreeing to those terms, then there is theoretically a chance you could still be liable for the charge. All the documentation you can provide the CC with to bolster your claim the better.

 

After being laughed at and hung up on by the super professional owner, I cannot get a hold of them to confirm that they will indeed to refund me. They blocked us on social media, and will not return emails.

 

Fuck that noise. I wouldn’t do business with a company like that for a $20 product, let alone thousands of dollars. Call your CC and call it a day.

 

My wife did yesterday and started a claim since I can’t trust they are actually refunding us.

 

I’m not sure why you think you wouldn’t get a refund.
Also, why would they block you on social media? I want to follow up with that. Seems… childish. I’ll circle back in regards to this. Because I’m curious.

They told me they are calling you today to get your order all wrapped up.

 

I’m not sure why you think you folks won’t get a refund or your issues fixed…

I think they’re on the hook for those things. Technically, as I understand it, canceling your order is okay. You could loose and mount for a restock fee. Makes sense to me, and seems like a common practice for a lot of companies. Kinda like buying a house. You back out of the deal, you could loose your earnest money.

I’m sure you’ll get your money back @scottstrong89
I know the owners told me last night they are reaching out to you today.

The other order here that has issues is getting resolved with warranty.

 

Thanks for the update. I hope you’re right. Then I can cancel the cc charge back investigation and get refunded the right way.