Maggiolina AirTop Field Review (Part 1)

[yedi]

I've got about 85 nights in my medium Maggiolina AirTop Black Storm now, so I wanted to post my impressions of the tent. I've used the tent in nighttime temperatures from the low 30s to the high 90s and everywhere from the Canadian Rockies to the Mojave Desert. (Note: I have not used the tent in winter conditions. I hope to do so this winter, and I'll update the review then, but for now, this is a three-season review.)

I found threads here on ExPo to be particularly useful when I was considering buying an AirTop, so I thought I'd try to add to the collective knowledge. I know it's hard for people to plunk down the cash for these tents without ever seeing them (or at least it was for me), so I'll try to be as thorough as possible and give a virtual tour and then post my impressions. I'll try to touch on each category that I was interested in before purchasing the tent. If I've left anything out, or if anyone has questions or wants pictures of things I haven't put up, let me know and I'll try to answer or get some pictures. I'm splitting this review up into multiple parts to get as many pictures as I can.

Ordering: Ordering was very easy. I simply called up AutoHome and spoke with Mike Spies. He gave me an estimate for the shipping costs while on the phone, and I received an invoice via e-mail then next day. The tent shipped the day after I spoke with Mike.

Price: $3,499 for the tent. Crating was another $100, and shipping from AutoHome's distributor in Nevada to a terminal near me (VA) was another $450. All told, it was $4,049.

Shipping/Delivery: The box showed up at the shipping facility about a week after I ordered it. (AutoHome had one in stock when I ordered. If the model you're interested in is not in stock, it may take longer.) Unfortunately, when it arrived, the box had been punched through during the shipping process (the crate is actually a wooden exoskeleton that goes around just the edges of a heavy duty cardboard box).



The cardboard had been punched through and the top of the tent was scraped up. I wasn't too worried about it, though, because the scratches were superficial and after some rubbing with fiberglass restorer, they mostly came out. It was definitely irritating to get a brand new tent and have to go to work on it with fiberglass restorer.



Initial Mounting: I mounted the tent on a Tacoma with an ARE CX cap. Initially, I used two Yakima bars spaced about a quarter of the way in from the front and back of the tent. This seemed to work fine in terms of weight distribution when testing it, and I've seen others running Maggiolinas with only two bars, but it made me nervous for the long term. I would have preferred to use three Yakima bars to support my fat ***, but because of the convex nature of the ARE cap, a middle bar would have been about 1/2 inch higher than the other two and wouldn't work. I believe other shells are flatter, as I have seen other people with three bars across the top. The Yakima bars keep the tent a little more than four inches off the top of the shell, and the mounting hardware that comes with the tent is very easy to use.



Final Mounting: Because I was concerned about the cap supporting the tent, me, and the lady long term, I started talking to Kevin at Armor Tech Offroad about fabricating an internal skeleton to support the cap. I wanted something that would bolt into the existing holes in the bed and still allow as much useable space in the bed as possible. He more than delivered, with a solution that supports the roof under each of the feet for the roof bars, tucks in at the edges of the bed, and still allows full functionality of the bed, windoors, and drop down front window.




In order to get the center of gravity as low as possible, I also asked Kevin to fabricate two bars to drop the tent as low as possible to the cap, while still allowing the cap to flex some. These replaced the Yakima bars and dropped the tent about two and 1/2 inches.




I've used this set-up for a little over 19,000 miles and have had no problems at all.

Impact on Driving: When I first picked up the tent, I had the stock TRD suspension on the truck. I could immediately tell a big difference in how the truck handled. The tent weighs 130 pounds, and putting that much weight way up on the roof made things a lot squishier going around corners and turns. I later swapped in Dakkars with the added D29XL leaf and dropped the tent a couple of inches. This made all the difference. The truck feels totally solid going around turns now. I don't even notice it's up there. In terms of gas mileage and noise, I haven't noticed any effect from the tent on either. The tent is no louder than the bare Yakima bars I had on the truck prior to the tent, and I didn't notice any perceptible hit to my mileage.

Construction/Materials/Design: The tent shell is made from graphite-colored, thick fiberglass. The fiberglass is rough on the inside under the mattress.



The tent walls are made from a carbon grey fabric that feels similar to a lightweight canvas. The fabric has a fairly loose weave, which allows you to see pinpricks of light during the day.




(Continued in the next post)

 

[yedi]

AirTop Field Review (Part 2)

The AirTop has three doors, one on each side, and one in the back. The tent also has a half-circle window in the front and a half-circle window built into the back door, so you can have the door closed but the window open.


Back door.


Front window.

Each of the doors has a mesh screen panel and a fabric panel. Each door panel has zippers on either side, but is open at the bottom. The screen panels are longer than the door is tall, so you have an extra fabric flap at the bottom of the panel to tuck under the mattress, sealing the door.


Side door from inside, showing both doors and the extra fabric that hangs down.

The fabric panel has two flaps at the bottom. One flap stays outside the tent, to channel water away, and a shorter one that gets tucked under the mattress like the screen panel.




The screen panel is made of a mesh material that has holes roughly the same size as house screening (i.e., larger holes than no see um mesh).



Each door has a set of velcro straps to hold the screen panel when rolled up and a set of webbing straps with side release buckles to hold the fabric panel when rolled up.


Showing fabric panel rolled up. The orange strips are velcro for the mesh panel.

The interior of the tent is outfitted with a headliner, a roof-mounted cargo net made of bungee cords, a battery-powered LED light (uses AAA batteries, turns on with a touch), and two sets of side pockets that hang from the roof via velcro and are made of mesh. The interior also has two bungee cords that you stretch across the tent to help pull in the sides when you're closing it up.


Looking from the back towards the front. You can see the headliner, the cargo net, and the bungee cords pulling the sides in (the ladder's in the blue bag).


Organizational pockets and the edge of the gas strut.


The LED lamp.

(Continued in the next post)

 

[yedi]

Maggiolina AirTop Field Review (Part 3)

The tent uses four articulated gas rams to open, instead of the traditional scissors lift. The struts are positioned on each corner and fold along the sides of the tent (versus folding at the front and back of the tent, like the traditional scissor lifts do). This allows more room front to back, but means you sacrifice some space side-to-side.




The mattress is a piece of 2.5 inch open cell foam that comes with a removable cover and is shaped sort of like the Chevy logo. The cutouts on either side allow the struts to fold to the floor of the tent. The mattress is 80" inches long, 53.5" wide at the wider section, and 44.5" wide at the narrow section. The cutouts are each about 4.5" inches wide and just under 20" long. The tent also came with three foam pillows, which I have not used.




The tent latches with three rally-style ratcheting plastic buckles. Two on the front, and one on the back.



Finally, the tent comes with an adjustable-height aluminum ladder and a nylon bag for the ladder. The ladder I received has three pre-set heights that it can be locked into, although you can use it at any height without locking it.

Impressions After Use: Overall, after putting it through its paces, I would give the AirTop a B+ or an A-. The tent has performed very well for me during the time I have had it. I have some minor gripes that don't affect my judgment much, but one fairly major design issue that I would like to see resolved.

First, the good:

Comfort: This is the most comfortable tent I've ever owned. Bar none. No lumps, no weird depressions in the ground, no roots, no sticks. It doesn't feel like camping. It feels like cheating. The mattress is a little bit hard, and compresses completely when I'm on my side, but compared to every other camping pad I've ever had, it's far and away more comfortable. I have seen some people put an additional layer of foam or a mattress topper to give the mattress a little more cushioning, but I haven't seen the need to fool with it. If I have some time on my hands in the future, I may try to cut a piece of 1" foam to size, but for now, I'm very happy with it.

Condensation (or lack thereof): Because the tent is made of the loose weave fabric, it breathes extremely well. This breathability is nice because it's a single wall tent, and this helps cut down on condensation. I have yet to have any condensation issues with the tent (this may change as I camp in colder weather, but even when the temps were down in the low 30s, I didn't have any problems). I understand that people get condensation under the mattress in cold weather camping. I didn't experience that, but again, I haven't been in truly cold weather with the tent. I also understand that Maggiolina makes a mat that goes under the mattress to help deal with this problem. If I begin to have issues with condensation under the mattress, I may look into this solution.

Temperature: Because the tent breathes well, it sleeps cooler than other tents I've owned. This meant the tent really excelled in hot weather camping. Even with ambient temperatures in the 80s at night, I didn't feel the need for a fan. When the temperatures rose into the 90s, it wasn't particularly comfortable, but it was no worse in the tent than it would have been outside. Really excellent performance in this regard. The flip side of this, though, is that the tent doesn't hold in heat as well in colder weather camping. It's simply harder to keep the heat inside the tent, meaning you need to have heavier insulation than you might expect for a given temperature. One note: when I bought the dark AirTop, I was a bit concerned about it heating up too much in the sun (but obviously not enough to keep me from buying it). I never experienced any problems with this. You can definitely feel warm air inside when you first open it from being closed and in the sun all day, but that's the only time I ever noticed it. I don't spend a lot of time in the tent during the middle of the day, though, so if you like to take midday siestas, that may be an issue.

Convenience: Another area where the tent excels. I typically spend long days on the road or trail, roll into camp fairly late, and get back on the road early the next morning. The AirTop is the perfect tent for me for this type of use. I can roll into camp, make sure the truck is level, hit three buckles, give the top a push, and camp is basically set up. I can have everything set up in about three minutes. Breaking camp takes a little longer, but I can get everything put away in about five minutes. I never have to worry about putting bedding away because it's all just left in the tent. The AirTop is easily the most convenient tent I've ever had. If your camping style is more along the lines of setting up a base camp, taking day trips to explore, and then returning to base camp, I could see how having to take down the tent every day would get annoying. This is just a fact of owning a RTT, though, and it's not a function of the AirTop in particular. If this is your style, a trailer for the RTT might work better.

Wet Weather Performance: The AirTop does very, very well in wet weather. Because the tent walls are vertical, the fiberglass shell overhangs the walls, and the fabric is treated with a DWR, the tent sheds rain extremely well. I have used the tent in light rainstorms with just the screen panels (i.e., with the fabric panels rolled up), and not gotten water inside the tent. The only times I've had any issues with water intrusion have been when I've guessed wrong about a particular storm, left the fabric panels rolled up, and rain started blowing through the mesh panels. Once the fabric panels are down and sealed, the tent seems to be very watertight. I know some people have questions about getting in and out of the tent during a rainstorm. Honestly, I have never found this to be a big problem. Admittedly, I've never tried to get in the tent during an absolute deluge (I just sit in the cab until the rain eases up), but when I've gotten in it during some rain, I just shake off the door panel and then get inside quickly. I've never had more than a few drops get inside on the very edge of the mattress, which dries quickly. (I usually wear flip flops or sandals in camp. Those get shoved between the bottom of the tent and the top of the cap, out of the weather. For larger shoes, the mattress cutouts, where the struts fold down, make good storage areas.)

The tent also shines when packing up in the rain. I just shake off the excess water and fold the tent up. As I drive, air seems to circulates in the tent through the overlapping shell and dries things out. I've only ever opened the tent once after putting it away wet and have it still damp. And that was after a very short day of driving. I've never had water get in while driving (or after using a car wash pressure washer). I haven't used the tent for more than about two straight days of consistent wet weather, so I can't speak to the performance after several days of consistent rain.

Wind Performance: The AirTop seems to fare well in the wind. I had the tent on an exposed ridge outside of Bozeman when a line of storms blew through. I pointed the truck into the wind and pulled the front of the tent down and latched it. We had 40+ mph gusts and the tent shrugged it off. Later that night, with the tent fully up, we were having consistent 20-30 mph winds, and the tent felt completely stable. The next morning, a guy camped nearby had a couple of broken tent poles from the wind.

One note about wind performance: although the tent fares well in the wind, it was was unquestionably a mistake to camp on an exposed ridge that night, and I wouldn't want to subject the tent to regular batterings like that. Because the tent is up higher, it feels more exposed to wind (it feels like a giant sail), and it's harder to take advantage of natural windbreaks (boulders, downed trees, whatever) than when using a ground tent. Because of this, I think site selection is more important with a RTT if you expect wind. Taking advantage of topography (i.e., camping on the leeward side of ridges), utilizing natural shelter, and pointing the short end of the tent into the wind strike me as more important with a RTT than a ground tent.

Security: I've spent my fair share of time hanging out in ground tents and tarps, and I'll continue to do so when warranted, but if you can get off the ground, why wouldn't you? It's nice not to worry about things creeping into your sleeping bag at night (ever woken up with a stinging caterpillar crawling up the inside of your thigh? not my idea of a good time), or larger animals getting too close to your tent.



Roominess: As I said, I don't spend a lot of time hanging around camp, and even when I am in camp, I'm rarely in a tent. I only get in the tent to read, sleep, and to wait out the occasional storm. For my usage, the AirTop feels palatial. It's plenty tall for me to sit up (I'm 5'10") and I can lie down with plenty of room at the head and foot of the tent without touching the ends. My girlfriend and I typically share it, and it has plenty of room for two people to sleep (about the width of a double bed). We typically sit up side-by-side, but if you wanted to sit facing each other, you could remove the cargo net at the foot of the tent and give yourself more headroom at that end.

Seal: I know some people have had trouble with dust and dirt getting into the tent through the overlapping top. The tent isn't sealed (mine has only a few blocks of foam spaced along the top of the shell), and air certainly gets in as I drive, so I could see that being a possible problem if you were following a group along a very dusty trail, but I've never had any issues with dust, dirt, or water getting in. I've had a couple of spiders set up shop, and I had a bat nest under the overhang in North Dakota, but no issues with grime seeping into the tent itself.



Organizational Pockets: Very large and very handy pockets on the sides of the tent. They swallow books, headlamps, notebooks, pencils, computers with no problem. Really nice feature to have.

Now, the bad:

Latches: The latches are plastic, rally-style ratcheting buckles. They're heavy duty plastic, and I haven't had one fail, but I expect that it will happen. They can also be difficult to unlock because the latch gets jammed from the pressure of the strap. It often takes two hands to unlock them (one to press the latch, and the other to feed the strap through it), which can be difficult while balancing on the door sill. They're not lockable, meaning the tent can be accessed by anyone walking down the street, and the straps hang down below the edge of the tent. When I dropped my tent closer to the truck, I ended up having to cut the ends off of the straps because they were constantly tapping on the roof of the cab. I also wonder how tightly I should close the tent. I worry that ratcheting it too far down will push the ladder into the headliner. The AirLand-style buckles seem to be a better solution. I'm not sure why Maggiolina went away from them.

LED Lamp: The LED lamp is easy to use (turns on and off with a touch) and it gives off a nice glow in the tent, but it falls off of the attachment point fairly frequently. Not a big deal, obviously, but it can be irritating.

Cargo Net: The cargo net is made out of lightweight bungee cords, meaning it droops any time you put something in it. I use it to hold jackets only. Anything more than that just makes it fall way too far down. It's a good idea, and would be really helpful if it were made from lightweight webbing, but as it is, it's basically just for show.

Fabric Wear: The tent fabric seems to be great from a performance perspective, but I worry about its long term durability. When you fold the tent, the fabric naturally gets squeezed and folded and crushed. There's nothing you can do to change that. The problem is, the carbon grey fabric shows white spots where it's been worn. It doesn't appear to affect the integrity of the fabric, but it looks bad, and I wonder how it will last in the future.



Closing: The gas rams are very convenient when opening the tent. Just give them a push, and they pop right open. To close the tent, you have to pull down on the tent hard enough to overcome the pressure the gas is exerting to keep it up. This isn't a problem in the back, where I can stand on the tailgate to pull down on the tent, but it's hard to do when standing on the doorsill, reaching for the top of the front of the tent. You get better at it with practice, but it's not the easiest move. The struts are also wobbly when they're folding down, meaning the top of the shell can move laterally. I worry that this could lead to a strut breaking.

(Continued in next post)

 

[yedi]

Maggiolina AirTop Field Review (Part 4)

Finally, the ugly:

Struts Wearing Holes in the Fabric: The only major issue I have with the AirTop is that the edge of the struts comes into contact with the fabric on the sides as the tent is going up and coming down. That sharp edge has worn small holes in the tent fabric.




I was aware of the issue of the struts pinching the fabric and causing holes before purchasing the tent, so I have been extremely careful to follow the packing directions provided by Maggiolina. Essentially, you pull the tent down partway and then pull the loose fabric out and tuck it over the struts so that it does not get pinched in the strut. Despite my efforts, the fabric still got holes in it, which started after about 25 nights.

The problem seems to be that the edge of the elbow of the strut is a sharp corner and it contacts the fabric as it is going up and down. You can see the path of the strut from the white wear marks in the pictures below. Eventually, it wears through the fabric (where I'm pointing).





At this point, the holes aren't very large, and they don't affect the performance of the tent, but I imagine that they'll get bigger. And for $3,500, this shouldn't be happening at all, particularly as careful as I have been with the packing. I've contacted Mike about this issue, and he told me that the factory is concerned about it, but I haven't heard anything more. Without some resolution from Maggiolina, this is the one reason I can't fully recommend an AirTop to everyone.

Conclusion: The AirTop is a very good tent. It excels in almost every category for which I need this type of tent. It is the most comfortable, convenient, weatherproof tent I have ever owned. I have a few minor gripes about certain features, but all in all, it's an extremely well-thought-out tent. The only major issue I have with the tent is that the struts can cause premature wearing of the fabric. Given the cost of these tents, I think most people buy them with an eye towards using them for years. I certainly did. Without some sort of fix from Maggiolina, I would be hesitant to buy another AirTop. If I were in RTT market today, I would almost certainly buy another Maggiolina, but I'd likely buy a model that uses the scissors lift mechanism instead of the gas rams.

 

[mrchips]

I have a Airtop, and have good things to say about it, my only gripe is the mattress is to hard, so I plan on getting some thicker foam to get better cushion. Other than that it works great for me and my wife and we use it once a month.

 

[mrchips]

Also struts have worn holes in fabric, (very tiny) Mike sent me some spare fabric to make a patch. I am going to put foam covers over the struts to stop it from happening again.

 

[yedi]

Foam is a good idea

Would you mind posting pictures of what you come up with once you've fixed the foam? I'd like to see your solution.

Thanks.

 

[Ash]

Extremely thoughtful review. Thank you!

I had considered the Airtop to be my Autohome of choice, but have recently decided that an extra-long Columbus would be better. Any thoughts?


Ash

 

[DUTCH]

Extremely thoughtful review. Thank you!

I had considered the Airtop to be my Autohome of choice, but have recently decided that an extra-long Columbus would be better. Any thoughts?


Ash

See here:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/88070-Maggiolina-Air-Top-RTT-For-Sale

 

[Corey]

Great review, one of the best detailed ones I have seen so far.

That bat was just creepy

I have been very happy with my Maggiolina AirLander tent I have had since spring of 2008.

 

[Colin Hughes]

The Columbus Variant is a nice tent too. Very quick up and down, the XL gives you the leg room you need and the big window at the back is awesome on clear, starry nights. You could actually use the rear opening as an entrance if you had a ladder mounted to the rear of your vehicle. I like my Extreme and have used both, The CV is a very close second.

 

[spressomon]

Great review!

FWIW: I liked my Maggiolina Grand Tour (medium)...but I love my Columbus Variant (small x-long).

 

[STREGA]

A very good and honest review on the Air Top IMO.

I have 26 nights in my Air Top that I bought used in July (previous owner claimed they used it 3 nights) and I have had about the same experience as you. For me I have found that it sleeps quite warm in cooler weather, which is about the only place where we differ. Only been in moderate wind so far (30 mph or so) and it performed quite well, I'am confident it will be OK in higher wind as well. Did a week long trip in the San Juan Mts. where it rained every day and we stayed perfectly dry the whole time.

Your grade of B+/A- is fair and the only thing that keeps it from being a A+ for me is the struts wearing small holes on the fabric. Mine came from the PO with 4 holes all from improper folding but are repaired using Sunbrella Fabric repair tape which has so far worked good. I noticed on the last trip I took (Kokopelli Trail and some Moab stuff) I have another small hole starting to show. I'am also interested in the foam protector idea as well, will have to look into something like that for mine.

This is our 3rd RTT and it is the best one overall. Our mpg's have gone up some (.5-1) due to its better aero shape. It is faster to deploy and stow away and my wife can close it by herself, not having to deal with a cover is nice. Since the RTT will be on the FJ 24/7 it will do better against the elements which is one of the reason I went to the Air Top. If a Columbus Variant had come up for sale locally I would have bought it.

 

[yedi]

Thanks for the kind words, all.

Corey, the worst part of the bat episode was that it hid somewhere when I went to get a stick to poke it out. When I came back, I thought it had flown away, so I started closing the tent. All of a sudden, there was an explosion of leathery wings in my face and I may or may not have fallen off the tailgate. I then spent the next several minutes getting dive bombed by a very angry bat. By the way, I blame you and your youtube videos for making my wallet a lot lighter.

Ash, I've never seen the Columbus Variant in person, but have heard good things. My understanding is that it uses similar gas struts to open. It seems like the biggest difference is greater headroom on one end and shorter headroom on the other end versus consistent height throughout. The medium Columbus weighs about 22 pounds less and is about an inch shorter when closed than the medium AirTop. For me, the consistent height throughout just made more sense. I don't have a need for the greater headroom (I don't stand to change clothes inside or anything like that, and I didn't find the AirTop's height claustrophobic), and I didn't want to give up any headroom at my feet. If you have a need for more headroom or if you get claustrophobic, the Columbus might be a better choice.

Two other differences I wonder about. First, I wonder if the Columbus is as breathable as the AirTop. The AirTop has the additional half-circle window and basically another fabric wall, so it seems like it might catch better cross breezes. Second, I wonder if the Columbus is more stable in high winds. By pointing the low end into the wind, it seems like you could have an extremely stable shelter. These differences are just speculation on my part, though.

 

[Ash]

See here:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/88070-Maggiolina-Air-Top-RTT-For-Sale

I would need an XL. Otherwise I would be very interested!

The Columbus Variant is a nice tent too. Very quick up and down, the XL gives you the leg room you need and the big window at the back is awesome on clear, starry nights. You could actually use the rear opening as an entrance if you had a ladder mounted to the rear of your vehicle. I like my Extreme and have used both, The CV is a very close second.

Great review!

..but I love my Columbus Variant (small x-long).

Thanks for the kind words, all.

Corey, the worst part of the bat episode was that it hid somewhere when I went to get a stick to poke it out. When I came back, I thought it had flown away, so I started closing the tent. All of a sudden, there was an explosion of leathery wings in my face and I may or may not have fallen off the tailgate. I then spent the next several minutes getting dive bombed by a very angry bat. By the way, I blame you and your youtube videos for making my wallet a lot lighter.

Ash, I've never seen the Columbus Variant in person, but have heard good things. My understanding is that it uses similar gas struts to open. It seems like the biggest difference is greater headroom on one end and shorter headroom on the other end versus consistent height throughout. The medium Columbus weighs about 22 pounds less and is about an inch shorter when closed than the medium AirTop. For me, the consistent height throughout just made more sense. I don't have a need for the greater headroom (I don't stand to change clothes inside or anything like that, and I didn't find the AirTop's height claustrophobic), and I didn't want to give up any headroom at my feet. If you have a need for more headroom or if you get claustrophobic, the Columbus might be a better choice.

Two other differences I wonder about. First, I wonder if the Columbus is as breathable as the AirTop. The AirTop has the additional half-circle window and basically another fabric wall, so it seems like it might catch better cross breezes. Second, I wonder if the Columbus is more stable in high winds. By pointing the low end into the wind, it seems like you could have an extremely stable shelter. These differences are just speculation on my part, though.

I'm pretty sure a medium Black Storm XL Columbus is the direction I would go. Ultra fast, really long (I'm 6'2 and like to stretch out). Only have to open and close from the tail gate. Lot's of headroom (dont really care about the feet) and we dont camp in really cold weather. I love the size and functionality of our Eezi-Awn, but we tent to drive each day, not camp in one stop, so setup/down is very important. Eezi-Awn is also the right choice for the family situation...

While nice, $4,000 delivered is pretty spendy. I'm still struggling with the shipping costs.... anyone want to deliver one from Expo for me?