I can completely understand someone being hesitant to spend ~$1000 and up on a quality RTT. It's not an insignificant purchase. However, in most cases the ones that balk at the price have not seen one of the QUALITY tents up close, let alone use one in the field. The hesitance is still understandable but it shows the importance of seeing one in person, examining the materials and stitching quality, construction of the frame and base, and if you're lucky a friend that lets you borrow his for the weekend. Once that happens, the price point becomes much more understandable. Tents are getting popular enough and with the help of social media its not too difficult to find someone near where you live that has a tent and is willing to let you take a close look.
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The most important thing to know is NOT ALL ROOF TOP TENTS ARE CREATED EQUAL. The brands currently most popular in the US are manufactured in a couple of places, South Africa and China. Even ARB which is an Australian brand is manufactured in China. There is a common misconception that all of the tents coming out of China are manufactured in the same factory on the same assembly lines with the only differing element being the logo printed on the tent and cover. The reality is that there are literally dozens of factories in China that are manufacturing tents and that number is growing. The materials and quality vary greatly from one to the next, even when visually they look identical. Even when several different brands are being made by the same factory, the materials and level of quality control can vary just as dramatically from one brand to the next even though they come from the same place. There have also been cases reported of some brands of tent material not actually being the weight advertised.
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The RTT market has exploded in the last few years and new players in the market are frantically searching for ways to sell for less than their competition to stake their place in the market. Those savings have to come from somewhere and quantity won't always get you there. Most often it comes through lower quality materials and components and a lower level of quality control which can be simply not examining closely every seam and how it's stitched and if the waterproofing is done correctly, or it can be random checks on a handful of tents coming off a line rather than every single tent being checked.
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At the end of the day, it pays to do your homework and the cliché generally holds true that "you get what you pay for" in this case. The good news for all of us is that there are several excellent companies to choose from that have quality products. The last thing I think is worth mentioning is that there may be one buyer looking for a tent that will work for him maybe 6 weekends a year, and there may be another customer that is planning to spend several months straight living out of the tent in remote locations (for example a customer of mine is currently 10 months into a trip that started in the US and is taking them to the southern tip of Argentina). The needs of those two customers obviously are not the same and while the weekend camper may still choose the quality and durability of the tent being used by the long-term adventurer, he may in fact choose one that costs less and maybe doesn't have the same features as the more expensive option. That's just fine in my opinion. There is no single right answer for everyone. Fortunately most of the quality brands have a good selection to choose from that can fit any budget and will satisfy the weekend KOA camper and also the world traveler. The ultimate goal being that we just get out more often and maybe venture a little farther than we did the last time.
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I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them. Drop me a PM. Happy camping.
