Does anyone have experience with roof tents for cars?

Thinking of getting one for summer... the main advantages being speed of setup and being able to "camp" in parking lots (a tent in the boot works for most other things, but gets frowned upon when setting up in parking lots)

I know someone who went around the world with one on top of their Landrover without any problems. Super quick to set up and bedding can stay in place when you're on the move which beats folding up sleeping mats, sleeping bags etc every time you move.

Unless you're 'touring', using it for one night here and there would be a bit of a pain unless you kept it on the vehicle for the season.

The other thing - if your vehicle is normally kept in an underground car park, you may need to park it outside for a few hours (with the tent up) after use if it has got wet because of rain.
Leaving it damp and packed up in a garage will make it mouldy.

Getting one that overhangs the vehicle can give you a dry area underneath to cook etc.

I had one in Australia, they are great in the bush.
I Europe I am not so certain.

+easy/fast setup
+bed is already in the tent.

-Can't move the tent (mostly) so you sleep where the car is park.
-very obvious
-not so great on motorway
-may be hard to store
-mostly, it's a good idea to have an extra tent for hiking
FYI
*It's possible to find extralight rooftents

Please be aware that it's not allowed in Switzerland to sleep in the roof top tent while the car is driving.

something like this? www.ihana.com

Is that you?

Somebody not far from me rents out a roof tent and tear drop caravan..

Never tried them..

no it's not. But I followed the trip that Tom and Barry did, the updates were great.

Not around the world, but I've done Africa, Europe and Asia overland before...

I've seen some nice (hard shell) tents for 1.5k or so, and am tempted to throw it on the duster for summer and spend a month or so touring the balkans with my dog...

I looked at alternatives, but I won't have my overland truck sorted by then,... this seems... interesting

Perfect for Namibia and South Africa on top of the bakkie. Last time, we have done that in 2019. There’s one really good company in RSA called Tentco.

https://www.sa4x4.co.za/product-cate...rooftop-tents/

Disadvantages are that once your tent is set up, then you don't have a car. If you want to go quickly down to the river/town in the evening or get a few croissants from the bakery in the morning, you always have to pack up the whole shebang (or drag a couple of bicycles around the world).

A normal tent, you can just set up somewhere and leavet it there for a week, while touring around and maybe overnight in a hotel once or twice before coming back to "base". We quite often did things like that, when we had a caravan.

Anyway; enjoy your trip!

We used to do it on daily basis and it only takes about 10min - 20min max to put up the foldable tent.

If you get one that is quick to open and close it doesn't have any big disadvantage really, except the high price and increased fuel consumption, and issues parking if your total height becomes more than 2 m.

I have a relative who was happy with it.

The VW California integrates it in the car and it's just great. Closed in 3 minutes, it turns into a normal car with a normal roof height. Can't get stolen and it doesn't create additional drag.

Critically important to have the proper rig
https://www.porsche.com/stories/expe...-just-add-tent

I've never understood crossovers... but that link I get!

I've crossed the Sahara in a W202 C-class; old brick volvo, honda CRV, shogun V6, L200 and a few more that I can't remember... Guess what, you don't need a 4x4... even in soft sand.

A 4x4 is good to have for some of the stupider things (e.g. guelb el richat), but really, ground clearance is king (and tyres that don't fall off when totally deflated).

For one rally, I raised the suspension on a nissan micra by almost 15cm... that was an amazing car. So light it would glide over even the softest sand. The only time I needed to use our sand ladders was to help a big, overloaded 6x6 get out of a river...

Right now, I'm boucing between a roof tent + building a pull out kitchen... versus waiting for my HX58 campervan... but I don't think I can go another summer without an adventure of some sort!

They also make inflatable mattresses that are specifically designed to fit in the backseat of a car, like this one:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Sinbide-M...2234723&sr=8-3

It's probably only big enough for one person, though... and someone who doesn't mind sleeping without their legs stretched out.