We’ve all felt the feeling - it’s the beginning of summer, the weather is starting to warm up, and you can’t wait to head outside and sleep under the stars... But with all the different setups popping up (literally and figuratively) lately, how do you know which one will be best (and most efficient) for you?!
My husband and I have spent thousands of miles and countless nights in too many states to keep track of living out of our trucks across the USA and Canada! We’ve experienced two, out of what we believe are the 3 main options when it comes to truck camping, and i’m going to share our feedback!
This blog will cover a a truck tent, a rooftop tent (that of course isn’t exclusive to just trucks!), and our ideal setup that we haven’t tried yet but expect to be the best (if you camp a ton!).
First up - Truck Tents!
We love our @Rightlinegear tent and how each one is customized to fit your specific bed size.
Pros:
Lightweight: Compact and easy to transport. The camping bag for a truck tent compacts to less than 10lbs and folds into a bag you just throw in the bed along with your other gear!
Cleanliness: Your gear, tent and yourself stay clean and free of dust/dirt since it’s up and off the ground!
Accessibility: Since the tent is at the height of the bed, it’s easy to access all your gear inside the tent
Affordable: most of these truck tents range from $150 - $200 which makes them super affordable
Cons:
Unpacking the bed: One thing we realized is that in order to set up camp, you have to unpack everything from the bed of the truck in order to sleep! In areas where bears weren’t an issue we could easily story food bins and kitchen supplies under the truck, but if you’re near pesky animals we had to figure out how to store everything inside the cab.
Doesn’t fully seal: Since the sides of the tent connect to the bed it’s not fully sealed - if you live in a state with major mosquito or bug problems, you might find a few inside the tent!
The summary: overall this tent is sweet! We drove from British Columbia, Canada to Grand Rapids, Michigan (2,000 miles) and camped solely out of this tent. It’s simple to set up, comfy and durable! It’d be an awesome upgrade from a basic tent and really up-level your camping experience for an affordable price!
You can grab a truck bed mattress to fit in it and make it even more comfy too! This is the brand we’ve used for the last six years and it’s held up through all our adventures! Truck Bedz
Next up: Rooftop Tents
Our favorite setup to date is the @cvttents rooftop tent and is what we use currently.
We’ve traveled all over the Southwest USA in this tent and lived out of it for just over a month! It comes with a mattress, sets up for amazing views wherever you decide to park it, and has a stargazing window up top so you can see right into the sky!
This is the CVT Shasta Pioneer Extended Fly (extended because the annex size is much larger and the general shape offers more weather protection)
We installed ours on top of a Yakima Overhaul HD Rack system so it stays up higher and so we’d have plenty of space to store gear in the bed.
The tent weights around 150lbs and can fit my husband and I, plus our 3 dogs! It comes with a mattress that stays inside the tent when you pack it up, along with a rainfly as well.
Pros:
durable, the material is sturdy and can uphold a ton of wear and tear
easy set-up: my husband sets up the tent and can have it up and ready in under 5 min!
rooftop tents mean good views! Wherever you park your car you get the best view out of the window of the tent since it’s always perched higher up!
comfy! The mattress that comes with the tent makes you feel like you’re glamping, which i’m all about :)
cleanliness: similar to the truck tent, a rooftop tent stays clean and free of dirt and dust!
Cons:
heavier which effects gas mileage: since the tent does weigh 150lbs when we put it on for the summer we don’t take it on and off much so it stays on the truck all summer long which can effect gas mileage. It also creates a little wind resistance on the truck since it sits higher up
cost: it’s not as affordable, this one was around $2,000 - after a few nights you’ll realize it’s 100% worth it though :)
Lastly: Built-in pop up truck camper
one day we’ll invest in a @howerbuilt
Although this isn’t something my husband and I have invested in or experienced, we believe this would be the ultimate setup! A truck topper is ideal for camping long term, in variable weather conditions, and also provides the most safety.
We had various nights where we would have loved to park in a Walmart or on the side of a road somewhere but having to setup tents significantly decreased the places we could sleep. Truck campers are sleek, safe and wherever you find yourself parked you can set up camp.
Don’t take our word for it because we haven’t experienced it for ourselves but our friends with these setups seem to have it MADE!
Thanks for tuning in and I hope this helps you get out there this summer with the best set up for you & your family! I’ll link some of our other favorite camping gear below:
North Face Double Sleeping Bag: we’ve used this bag for the past six years and it’s the best for staying warm and for a quick set up!
Jackery Solar Generator 240: this is what we generated all our power through for a month on the road and it’s easy to transport so we take it on all camping trips!