What justifies the expense for a rooftop tent?

[DintDobbs]

@FishFam_logs Agreed. It's one of those things you either need it or you don't, and as it's been said before in this thread, if you have to justify the expense, you don't need the accessory. Things like a tall utility jack, hitch receiver D-ring shackle, and a mini shovel were no-brainers for me, needed them long before I had them. Tent? I'll probably never even carry a ground tent. I'm in the same land-boat as you, more off-roading than overlanding. My longest trip to date was 2 days.

If I wanted all the comforts of home, I'd much rather just be at home, with all my stuff, my tools, my video games, and an unlimited amount of peanut butter. I dislike both camping and food prep, and would much more happily wheel until 10 or 11 PM, wake up in my back seat, eat a 5-minute meal out of a box, change my threads and hit the gas pedal, than have to get out of the vehicle for any amount of time, for any reason, and have to set up and tear down a campfire/tent/kitchen/all of the above. And then, people carry gas heaters for their tents. No, thanks!

 

[Polaris Overland]

There are pros and cons to Roof Tents in the same way there are pros and cons to ground tents and also pros and cons to a campervan.

It all depends on what you want to do, how much level of comfort you want and how much compromise you will give.

We chose a roof tent because on longer trips we were moving daily and the ease of set up plus the mattress inside made it simple. We were in a Defender 90. But we still had to live outside in the evenings so an awning was needed and if the weather bad sides are needed and so it all starts ad one thing leads to another.

With a ground tent you can don't necessarily need an awning. Depending on the type of ground tent you can probably cook in it or stay sheltered and cook outside of it. But you are on the ground, you need a reasonable surface to camp on to get a decent sleep. You can if needed camp away from your vehicle and have more flexibility if you need to change your vehicle.

A van for us is next level comfort but it is at the expense of off road capability that we had with our Defender. A good option is the Alucab type lifting roof for defenders but in the end in our case we knew that was just a stop gap before a Camper so we decided against it most on a financial basis as it did not make sense for us.

So I guess I am saying what's right for you might not be what's right for someone else as there are many variables to consider however I will say if not having an RTT is the only thing holding you back because you only have a ground tent then take your right hand and slap yourself.
A bivi bag, sleeping bag and wee gas stove is more than enough to get outside and start your overlanding adventure. If waiting for the next big thing is holding you back you will never get going as there is always someone with something nicer, bigger, more comfortable or just plain impressive than you.

Hopefully that mostly makes sense.


Russian Altai with our Roof Tent.


Scotland in our 4x4 Camper

 

[TK-421]

If its a one night stay, my wife and i sleep inside the 4 runner with a Napier Sportz Cove ($100) on the back for airflow and more room. Plus it feels more like sleeping in a tent.
If its a longer stay, i put up a tent...easy peasy and much less moola.

 

[grubworm]

What justifies the expense for a rooftop tent?

i had them ship me an RTT minus the RTT and saved HUNDREDS!

 

[Peanuts]

Because it saves people from spending 25K on a 4 wheel camper?