Topo Topper review

So sadly I am writing this a bit early, I haven't installed the topo topper yet but that'll be next weekend. Right now I am going to give the interwebs a bit of a review about my experience with topo topper as a company and Lizzie who I've had the pleasure of dealing with. So for starters, i ordered a mesa camper for my 18 Tacoma. While i wanted a GFC for the LONGEST time when i ordered my topper the current wait time was December, and base was almost $3500 more then my topper shipped to my door. I am not knocking GFC for this, but between cost and wait it wasn't going to work for me plus having to drive thousands of miles to have it installed also wasn't in my cards. I happened to see topo topper on a Nissan frontier on YouTube and decided to check the page out and reviews from some others. I placed my order back in Feb and payed my first of the two payments on the amount. I was told it would arrive in June, well got here a few days earlier. Through out the last few months i got a few progress emails and some emails regarding using a different material for the tent itself, the emails were detailed explaining all the what and whys. Then as they used to do, they would ship the entire setup in pieces for you to assemble, well one day i get an email saying they're going to start shipping the tent fully assembled all id need to do is the gaskets on the bottom, and that shipping would be a bit more, but wouldn't be coming out of my pocket. OUTSTANDING!!!! Also throughout the build process I had them add a couple things to my build, awning brackets and also picked their brains on if I should add the panel to extent my sleeping platform....ALL of my emails were replied with-in hours, I can definitely say I'm VERY satisficed with the customer service response from lizzie so shout out to her! So back to the shipping assembled part of my rant.....with them assembling the topper completely it comes in a pretty big crate, 9 feet long to be exact. and a grand weight of 900lbs. When I got the email from lizzie about them sending it assembled I was given the warning they had a couple customers have issues with shipping companies refuse to deliver or use their liftgate to help remove from the truck.....well I'm one of the unlucky customers this happened to. Estes refused to even load it on their truck and waited for ME to call them to tell me this. I was told that I needed to set up a delivery appointment and when I did was when I was refused service and needed to figure out my own way to pick it up from their warehouse. Now I was already looking into U-Haul etc. to go get it, but also reached out to Lizzie and explained my situation ( respectfully) because I was warned this could happen. With-in maybe 15 minutes Lizzie was hunting for a moving company to pick up my tent and deliver it to my location. This blew my mind, they could have said sorry and you were warned good luck....but they didn't and stepped up WAY beyond for me. While sadly my topper cant be installed until the 8th ( work) I wanted to come on and at least give this update of the business and the amazing work of Lizzie and the team. I will update this with pics when my tents installed but honestly if you're considering topo topper I HIGHLY suggest it!

 

Well, lets see it!

 

i will have some pics in the next couple days grabbed a couple while camping and will have a first used opinion of it as well but as it sits im VERY happy with my purchase!

 

Ok so sorry its taken me this long to upload some pics to this and give a bit more of a review of the actual product. Ive been busy work switching jobs and working and lack of decent weather these last few weeks.

So let me start off with a bit of a back story before getting my camper. I had a Roam adventure rtt and honestly really enjoyed that tent on a victory 4x4 rack. Overall comfortable not insanely bulky and fit my needs overall perfectly for the bit of camping I did. But the rack started to rust and put away started to get a bit annoying when i needed to leave. I ALWAYS wanted something better though and LOVED the concept of a topo topper ish style of RTT. I was like many and loved the GFC, and eventually started saving for one. Seeing that the earliest I could have one was DEC at the time and the cost of one and traveling a good amount to install it it seemed a bit much for me. I found topo and began the hours and hours of research. With-in a few days i was pretty much sold, continued saving, one day pulled the trigger and waited. I will say the wait (3 months) and the much cheaper cost was a real winner for me. Also the fact you pay half up front and half before shipping out was also huge for me. As stated above you can read about my amazing experience with the customer service experience I had with Lizzie. Overall i have about 4 days sleeping in the topo and honestly love it. Ive said multiple times, its probably the coolest thing I have ever bought for a vehicle! Ease of setup and breakdown is seconds.....it takes me longer to put a zero degree sleeping bag away then it takes to open and close my mesa! I tried shutting the tent with the sleeping bag in and sadly the bags a bit too thick for the tent....honestly no big deal. Now as of now I only have maybe 2 small " complaints" but its more personal things i can either modify to my needs or live with.

My pros to owning this camper are as fallowed:

• ease in setup and break down ( seconds )
• price ( $9600 for my specs shipped to my door)
• storage space in my bed vs RTT & Rack
• Solid walls.
• front and rear windows are standard
• AMAZING customer serivce!

Now as i stated i had two things i wish were a bit different.

• The mattress, while i sleep like a rock in most of if not any instance, it could be better. I do plan on investing in a hest mattress in the coming weeks to month. Youll read this in most reviews but its not terrible. I consider this a nit pick thing to have a " CON" imo.

• Second which Ive seen on GFC pages as a "complaint" the windows are either 100% open or 100% zipped up closed. As you know with many roof top tents you have arms that will keep rain flaps open and you can have a bit of coverage from weather, the big window could use a couple of awning like poles that would keep it somewhat open and having the side flaps open from the outside and have a sunshade/weather shade if you will would be better. Honesly it also wasnt a deal breaker but would be a small improvement. Now I am sure i could figure out a way for at least the bigger window to have this set up but honestly I dont feel like testing my terrible skills and messing up my tent lol.

So wrapping this up with a few terrible IPHONE pics for now, i will say overall i wish i had gotten this sooner and not gone the RTT route. I am planning on doing a build out eventually, I am currently fighting two VERY small leaks between the head of the bed closest to the cab on both corners (NOT THE TOPPER ISSUE!!!)and YES i do have a full dobinson lift sitting waiting to be installed......yes my stock sr5 suspension is tired! haha If you all have any questions feel free to ask away if i can help.

 

That's sweet!!

 

Old post, but very cool! Ordering my topo topper Badlander today!

Couple of questions for you:

How have you found the camper impacting your daily driving? Big difference?

Along the vein of my first question, any substantial impact to MPG? Trying to gauge what to expect.

 

hey sorry just seeing this! so for your questions, 1. it actually helped more then the roam adventure cause i had a sealed bed vs the open concept, i can some what feel the weight but given im a truck driver its not a major thing, have had a couple of times wind pushed me a bit but otherwise nothing effected daily driving. Sadly i cant comment on the second part because a few months later i added bigger tires and trd sema wheels. i havent noticed much of a difference. Somethings to consider......seal the bed, im fighting a leak at the head of the bed ( closest to the cab) im working on sealing. I have the cheapest windows they offer and like many have had a leak or two, they were amazing in sending me a new one which i have yet to install due to all the DAMN RAIN new england is experiencing! lastly look into a condensation mat. Had a weekend where it was low to mid 40s and raining and the entire underside of the mattress (hest upgraded) was wet so im currently looking into that as well. any other questions please feel free to reach out!

 

How's the tent material in heavy winds? Any flapping?

 

Its your typical tent material so slightly havent had it in bad winds myself but others have posted videos and said they do pretty well i have a mesa and someone posted a badlander in a storm and from what i saw it did pretty well