With a Roofnest, you're always ready to go on your next adventure. You don't have to take out your tent and sleeping bags, only to realize that you forgot about the poles once you're 2 hours on the road. The stronger material of a roof tent means more weather protection and comfort for you. So, in addition to rising from the ground, the tent's own fabric will keep you protected from inclement weather.
An apparent benefit of rooftop tents over traditional tents is being off the ground and away from creatures. To tell you the truth, anything that crawls on the ground has no problem getting on the side of your vehicle and climbing into your tent. Depending on where you camp, that includes spiders, ants, mice, squirrels, gluttons and, no doubt, bears. It may seem safer than a typical tent.
Rooftop tents have their origins in the African jungle and inland Australia, where they provided people with a safe place to sleep and avoid entanglement with everything from lions and tigers to venomous snakes and spiders. The Yakima Skyrise HD, which is an insulated tent designed for use in very cold conditions and in warm climates, and the Thule Tepui Low-Pro, a much lighter tent, with a thinner profile when folded for less wind resistance while driving. During the camping season, your rooftop tent can always be above your car, and most models allow you to store your sleeping bags neatly inside. That means you can extend your camping season well beyond summer and get a lot more out of your roof compared to a traditional tent.
I only use an empty analog water bottle in the store with me so I don't have to leave the tent or even get out of my sleeping bag completely to urinate. Depending on what you're doing, a rooftop tent can be a wonderful comfort or a horrible headache. I imagine that these tents were originally designed for extreme overland use, where people drive, go deep into the desert and can't predict ground surface conditions. If you place a roof tent on a factory-installed roof rack, it is very likely that you will not only break the roof rack but also damage your car.
It's a relatively lightweight tent that installs via a locking latch system, so there's no need to screw in any bolts for installation and it probably won't damage your car. With the sleek and strong design of a Roofnest, you get better fuel efficiency than with other roof tents. Honestly, I said this to a Yakima rep at Outdoor Retailer a few years ago, standing in front of a pick-up truck mounted rooftop tent (RTT), adorned with accessories by land, parked next to a charming simulation camp setup. An RTT is a luxurious and ridiculously expensive tent for the Becky and Chads of the world who want to convince the perfect strangers who pass by them on the road that they are more willing to be outdoors, my friend.
The foam pad feels like your home mattress and doesn't move, covering the entire tent floor. When it's time to get some sleep in your Roofnest, you'll enjoy the comfort of a high-density foam mattress integrated into the tent. Leveling a tent on the roof means leveling your entire vehicle, which requires leveling blocks, a spirit level (if you want to save yourself some headaches) and potentially driving and backing up for a while every time you camp. Soft-top tents generally open to the side, while hard shells open like the top of an old VW camper.
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