Your are very right, that is scary. We live in a different world. Never seen such a brazen knock off before. There really are all sorts of AutoHome knock offs out there. Another wierd example, In Korea they have a rooftent called the "Jolina" modeled after the Maggiolina. Only trouble is, whoever designed it never used a roof tent. Has all kinds of great features like "waterproof" fabrics and an electric motor to lift the roof. It is so lame it is humorous. This one is scary cause it kind of looks like a real OverCamp, but isn't $1000 a little pricey for a knock off?
I know Zifer is really concerned about quality. Everything that carries the AutoHome name has to go through their factory in Italy, no exceptions. Gioseppi, the main designer, is really fussy, you may see a seam not quite right or a buckle sewn in backwards but they realize that peoples lives can depend on their product and they really take this seriously.
You may see some tents that look like AutoHome knock offs that are actually designed and made by Zifer. The OverLand is a good example, before the OverLand there was the "Air Camping" tent. It was a Zifer tent, good tent, it was even written up by the guys at the Whole Earth Catalog.
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000146.php
Zifer redesigned the Air Camping tent and then spent three years testing the vastly improved tent in Africa before adding it to the AutoHome line as the OverLand. As far as I can tell, Zifer was never satisfied with the Air Camping design, there were some obvious design flaws. An example, the ladder could slide if it wasn't staked into the ground, no problem for an expedition tent but not what you want for a tent sold for all of us to use.
Back to the knock off OverCamp. They took all the specifications straight from the AutoHome brochure for the current OverCamp. One thing I find very interesting from looking at their pictures, not AutoHome's, is that the knock off appears to be of an old OverCamp, one Autohome made about ten years ago. I'm surprised if they went to all the trouble of making a replica OverCamp, why didn't they use the latest design?
Anyone have thoughts on what AutoHome should do? My concern is safety, a newbie could pick one of these up thinking it is a legitimate OverCamp. I know nothing about "Sun Lion" but know a poorly built rooftent could be hazardous not only to your wallet but to your well being.
Rich H.
