Autohome Airtop 2 Year Review

[395North]

Here is my quick 2 cents...
It has been interesting hearing the multiple experiences with the Airtop and the fantastic service that Mike seems to offer. I have had my black storm Airtop medium for about 2 years and about 8 trips. It is removed from the Jeep, cleaned, and stored between trips. From my perspective the Airtop is amazing!!! I have the black Airtop medium and I absolutely love it, even though it has been a trial of tears and several failures:

- It arrived scratched up, but that was resolved with a little wet sanding and rubbing compound.
- 3 aluminum trim rivets were loose and jiggled around. I don't think it really mattered...just annoying for a $$$ piece of kit
- No mounting hardware was included. Fortunately I'm a product designer and have a lot of junk laying around.
- Yes I have holes from the mechanism, and I made 1/8 neoprene sleeves to sort of address the issue.
- The velcro (hook and loop) on the tent that holds the interior pockets all fell off in the first 2 trips. It was barely sewn on. The same occurred with one of the zippers. Another seemingly easy fix but annoying and time consuming.
- One gas shock went out in the middle of a 4 day trip. A stick fixed this and I sourced new ones so I would have an extra.
- I have the same marking issues from the aluminum, so I scrubbed them and put a light clear coat on them. who knows how long that will last.
- AND...my buckles are showing the same cracking issues. I plan on replacing them with a custom latch of some sort to just eliminate the issue. Any ideas would be well received.

With all of that venting done, I still love the tent and feel it fits my needs perfectly. Our nephews love it, it's is great in the elements, it gets my wife to go camping, I get better MPG with it on, and it saves me a ton of time. I don't bother the manufacturer/reseller because it will take forever to get resolved, and it is a PIA to send something like this back. I approach it like a car. When it breaks, then I fix it so it is better than before and then I know how to take care of it in the field. But for close to $4K.....Hmmmmm They should resolve some of those workmanship issues before the competitors take over their market share.

 

[INSAYN]

I have the Maggi Airtop mounted to a trailer lid since late 2010. I have noticed the same staining on the front fabric, but it doesn't bother me at all.
The only other issue I have had is a few spider cracks in the gel coat, but I'm sure that was my fault applying to much pressure in one spot while closing it.

One thing I would love to have though is the crescent shaped screen window like the back door has, installed in each of the side doors, so I can unzip and look out or have the cross breeze. The current method of use requires me to roll up the outer solid fabric and drop down the screen window. Not that convenient, but works.

Otherwise, this tent is exactly what I needed when I built the trailer and it gets many nights of use during the year.

 

[Utah KJ]

This and engine design is what keeps the Italians from becoming a world power.

 

[Mike S]

Mike do you have patches for the tent fabric on a grand tour? My tent is pretty old now and has seen somewhere near 60K+ miles of travel, most of it is holding up really well but there are a couple spots that are abrading from me not packing it well enough.

YES - we have fabric swatches to do spot repairs. Just let us know the model and color and we'll send them out to you.

 

[cop9980]

Sorry to comment on such an old thread but have some of these issues been addressed and improved on in new airtop tents?

 

[snobud]

Sorry to comment on such an old thread but have some of these issues been addressed and improved on in new airtop tents?

For what it’s worth for anyone stumbling across this thread we have owned our Maggiolina Adventure OG for four or five years second hand and love it without question or issue. However our RTT is a crank opening which I have never experienced, seen or heard any owner complaints on. On the flip side of this story everyone we meet, run into on the trails, or read about online that owns the strap style auto opening tents have complaints and ongoing issues of disliking the opening mechanism. It was for these reasons we chose to buy the crank opening tent as we often hear from people that they wish they had bought the crank style.

I like that when putting the tent away I can slowly lower the lid and take my time securing the fabric so that it doesn’t get caught in the scissor lifts. Some might fear that this takes more time but the entir system makes everything so easy and fast and I don’t have to take time fixing tears in the fabric later from a botched tent closure. I recommend buying the crank style RTT.