Nope, never owned one. Im sure theyre great in the southwest. But in the rain and snow of British Columbia. Not worth it at all. Theres no way in hell youre going to be able to dry out wet gear, give your dogs a place to sleep or cook a meal in one. Theyre too small and too low. For half the price of a roof top tent you could by 12’x27’ hot tent with a wood stove. Dont think id appreciate climbing up and down a snowy ladder doing multiple trips with a dog under my arm living in a freezing cold tent. I also like the idea of my tent not moving every time i roll over or change positions, or if its windy.
I used to raise an eyebrow at RTTs too, but I decided to give one a try. That was nearly 10 years ago, and since then I've had hundreds of nights in my RTTs, and my opinion on them has changed and grown.
As a traveller hailing from Edmonton, Alberta who spends a lot of time in your stomping grounds, I can tell you that it's super easy to dry my gear in my tent (way easier than with a ground tent), and I have two 65lbs German shepherds that curl up nice and comfy with our 3-person family, and one of life's simple pleasures is cooking breakfast and a pot of coffee on the roof of my rig through the window of my tent while the sun comes up (or the thunder clouds roll over - and thanks to the awning over the window, I'm able to do both). The tent is very stable -- wind doesn't bother it, nor does moving around at night. And my tent is cheap relative to others on the market -- the more expensive tents perform even better. The snow doesn't collect on the ladder - there's an awning over the door. This isn't true with all designs but most of the clamshell designs will never have a problem with snow on the ladder.
They are expensive, but I can't imagine setting up and tearing down a 27' hot tent with wood stove every day. Plus with ground tents, you need to figure out ground conditions (rocks, roots, etc.) and when packed, your shelter and bedding take up valuable cubic inches in the cargo area of the vehicle. Plus, if you are relocating every day, there's really no opportunity to dry out a ground tent. I've put my roof tent away wet, and opened it dry after a day of driving (the covers seem to let some airflow through so the tent dries during the day -- not always, but often. Conversely I've never put away a dry RTT and opened a wet tent.)
Everyone has their use cases and of course your choices are yours to make, but a lot of the "cons" you have identified with RTTs are not at all cons in my experience, and your thinking on the comfort or value of an RTT might evolve if you got the chance to spend a bit of time in one. They are popular for a lot of good reasons (and some bad ones, like Instagram likes!)
). The type of RTT makes a difference as well though. I prefer a hard-shell as it's quick (my iKamper sets up in around a minute), you can leave your bedding in some and shoe bags work well for boots and gear.
