Roof Top Tents

Hi Dunc
Haven't got one, but saw some recommendations, and one point made was ingress and egress without climbing over another person .......... quite important I thought.

Cheers
Jim

Hi Duncan, Judy and I have used a roof top tent up until recently. The only reason we stopped is due to our age ( late 60's an d 70's) I have no knowledge of the brands you mention but, we use a Hannibal brand rtt that is a bit more up market. For the sum you mentioned, You are in the range of Hannibal brand which is a 16oz aussie made canvas manufactured in Africa ( when I purchased) , but fully assembled in Australia in Queensland. The other brands that you mentioned are a lightweight construction out of ripstop, woven type nylon. I would consider canvas over ripstop, but finances do have a great input. Have a look at Hannibal and see if that is also is within your budget. There are also good secondhand Hannibal rtt's for sale worth considering. I have no affiliation with Hannibal, but a very happy customer and owner, and when I did have a component problem, the associated part was forwarded promptly and was at no cost - only my time. Hope this helps.
Regards Judy and Garry

Hi Duncan, we have the Kings one. Have only done one trip with it to Cape York that was 10,000k over 4 weeks.
No regrets at all about getting it, for the last 7 years we had the ARB style soft RTT which we were happy with but these are so much easier to setup and pack

The build quality seems fine, ( we were going to buy the South African version at more than double the price but couldn’t see the additional benefits in doing so) no dust or water ingress, the canvas is heavy duty and well sewn, the mattress is a bit on the firm side so have fitted a lambs wool mattress topper . All our bedding and pillows stays in the tent permanently.
The only negative I would say compared to our old tent is ventilation when we were up at the cape is not as good as our old tent which has windows on all four sides whereas you only have it on three with these. The upside of that is that it is much better in the wind than our old one.

I haven’t seen the Anaconda one but a couple of points I noticed when I checked it online. It is poly cotton with a silver backing which I don’t think would wear as well as the canvas
It is only 2m long V the Kings which is 2.2 m long. I found that to be too short for me so would be a dealbreaker

Just another point ,worth noting, you can sleep comfortably with your head at either end with the Kings. We initially started with our head at the open end but changed to the other way around as you can get in and out easier and you can look out from bed better that way.
We use the end door to access the tent as it suits our setup best as we have gullwing doors on our canopy

Hope this is of help to you

Dunc,

A mate had a James Baroud rtt and the only thing he disliked was the limitation to the thickness of the mattress (and bedding) due to the closed internal height ; might be worth considering if you have an old back,

Phil

Hi Dunc.
We've had a James Baroud Evasion for about 6 years now and done thousands of kilometres in it around Australia. It's the best piece of camping equipment we've ever owned and we're glad we spent the extra bit and bought it over a cheaper brand. It weighs 61kg and sits on 3 aluminium Rhino bars so I suppose add an extra few kilos for them. It's very streamlined, has a small solar panel in the roof, a reversible ceiling fan and an LED light. We think the mattress is perfectly adequate and have had zero problems with it and it is a guaranteed 60 seconds up and 60 seconds down. Just love it.