I don't agree with this. With a proper sleeping pad, sleeping on the ground is certainly warmer than sleeping on a cot (no personal experience with RTTs, but figure the principle is the same). I camp all year in all kinds of weather, all the way down to single digits, and that's been my experience, anyway. I tell people to stay away from cots and from air mattresses during the winter.

 

I don't have one, but my impression is that RTTs have a faster set up and take down. Also while camping on an overland trip or when you'll have a different camp site each night it's nice to not have to find a part of the ground with no rocks. It's hard to justify the cash (for my cheap a*** at least) but having a more mobile campsite sounds pretty nice. If you were to get a magalioni (spelling?) then you would also be able to bring a full-sized mattress and all your favorite blankets.

 

Don't worry, I'm frugal as well. If I do anything, I plan on building my own trailer and finding a lower cost yet good RTT to add on it myself. Maybe someday...

Until then, I still enjoy the tent. Takes a lil more work, but it's cheap, fairly easy to do, and saves a lot of room when it comes to storage/supplies. Also, I just turned 21 a few months ago, so I'm not as bothered by things that I will consider unbearable in 30 years from now.

 

I'm SO glad I didn't miss this.

Two words.

Stud
Epic

Thanks so much for sharing.

 

I'm pretty short, so I just fold down the rear seats, throw in an inflate a mattress, & sleep in the back! No tent needed!

 

You mean vertically challenged! Lmao! Me too bud , me too! Or hook up a hammock to a tree and the other end to the bumper, piece a cake!

 

Me too, the wife and I can sleep comfortably in the back with an air mattress.

 

Kinda hard though to sleep in the back when the back is packed full of stuff! That's why I plan on making a sleep system on top of some DIY drawers that connect to each other with and a water well! Just an idea I've had!

 

In addition to my off-road trailer with rooftop tent, I also have a regular camping trailer, I used to have a four-door that I slept in, and I sleep in regular ground tents several times a year, so I can give my two cents on each. Of the four, both my husband and I have found that we sleep best in the rooftop tent. The mattress is very comfortable--almost as comfortable as our bed at home. For us, it's easier to get down the ladder in the middle of the night, than it is to get up from the ground in a regular tent. We've only used it for a total of 7 nights so far, but we are very happy with the setup and will take this trailer for remote camping and off-road trips. Setup takes about 3 minutes, and teardown about 5. It's super simple compared to a ground tent.

Our regular camping trailer is a small T@B trailer, and we find the cushions a bit too soft, so we add thin Thermarest mattresses on top. We use it for camping in developed campgrounds. The benefits of it are that it has A/C, heat, and all the amenities except for a shower. It will be our choice for most winter camping trips, but not when there's off-roading or even dirt roads involved.

We used to have a four-door JK, and we slept in the back of it on many occasions. We slept better in it than our regular camping trailer, but the real drawback was that we had to empty out the entire back of the Jeep in order to sleep in it (as someone mentioned above). A few times we had to set up a tent just to have a place to put our stuff out of the weather.

As for a ground tent, well we have two. We have a large tent we've used on short trips with the Jeep. Now we will use our off-road trailer, but if we go somewhere too challenging for the trailer, we'll still use the ground tent. We also backpack once a year, and we travel on our motorcycles 3-4 times a year and use an ultralight backpacking tent. The biggest drawbacks I've found with ground tents is that the ground can be cold depending on mattress selection. The NeoAir mattresses we use for backpacking and motorcycle traveling do let the cold come through. We have warmer foam/air Thermarest mattresses, but they are too big to carry, especially on the bikes. We've combatted that issue with quality Western Mountaineering sleeping bags. Also, getting out of the tent, especially the backpacking one, can be a challenge in the middle of the night. And setup and teardown take longer and can be messy (dirt everywhere). Condensation seems to be more of an issue with nylon ground tents (Big Agnes and Nemo) than the canvas of the rooftop tent as well.

So that's my take. I think all of these setups have their advantages and disadvantages, and each have their place. It's nice to have a choice...to be able to pick the best setup depending on where I'm going. While having these choices may seem expensive, I figure we have less $ in our camping equipment than most people have in one big RV, and we're having way more fun than our friends who think having a 40' rolling house is the way to go.

 

Awesome set up! I like the convenience of flippin up your tent, being above ground, and you get a view! nice