Pop up styles: straight up, vs wedge, vs flip?

[Wrathchild]

The dreaded RTT tuck was one of the reasons I sold mine.

There's plenty of headroom to sit in a wedge if you do it at the correct end. ?‍♀️

Especially when the vinyl cover is cold and have an uncooperative zipper. So glad to be done with that!

I guess for my truck (Sierra 1500 5’8” bed) the wedge options weren’t what we were looking for would be more accurate. Have several nights in the OVRLND now and really don’t think we’d be as happy with anything else.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Best wind protection
Aerodynamic
Fastest set up
You can stand on top
You can load the top.
All bedding stays in place
Heated
Little risk of trail damage
Light weight

 

[plh]

The wedge is simple but definitely expensive unless it is a home build.

A well built home build wedge isn't cheap. Aluminum sheets are expensive, I don't sew, so that is expensive. And I've found that my personal time is expensive. Looking back I probably should have bought a GFC or similar. Probably not much difference in cost, and for sure less if my time is included. Prototypes (essentially a one off) are not cheap.

 

[kalieaire]

Best wind protection
Aerodynamic
Fastest set up
You can stand on top
You can load the top.
All bedding stays in place
Heated
Little risk of trail damage
Light weight

TBH the aerodynamic wind protection thing is negated for pop tops in places like Death Valley or Black Rock Desert. These locations routine change wind directions 180 degrees. They are however fan-****************-tastic in terms of wind blocking performance along the coast where offshore winds typically run a single direction from morning through night.

Being a Habitat owner, the main cons are carrying boats and stuff like that, but I don't anyway so it's not a concern. Realistically I would switch over to a pop to because we go on a lot of "chasing the sunlight" trips rolling into camp well past sunset.

Having a pop top would allow us to quickly setup the bed right after dinner.

For example, our eclipse trip in 2017, we drove 3600 miles in 8 days.


We saw many sights and visited so many places, but a pop top would've saved 20 minutes of setup and 20 minutes of teardown daily. People assume things are one and done when you put up a tent, but that's really the beginning. I have to setup sleeping bags, electric blankets, propane heaters, then unpack the cooking kit. If I'm camping in below freezing weather every night in august at 10,000+, I want things to be as simple as possible.

1,800 miles in I just want to relax and have a beer.

If and when I find a buyer for the Habitat, I'll be moving over to a Summit.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

TBH the aerodynamic wind protection thing is negated for pop tops in places like Death Valley or Black Rock Desert. These locations routine change wind directions 180 degrees. They are however fan-****************-tastic in terms of wind blocking performance along the coast where offshore winds typically run a single direction from morning through night.

Being a Habitat owner, the main cons are carrying boats and stuff like that, but I don't anyway so it's not a concern. Realistically I would switch over to a pop to because we go on a lot of "chasing the sunlight" trips rolling into camp well past sunset.

Having a pop top would allow us to quickly setup the bed right after dinner.

For example, our eclipse trip in 2017, we drove 3600 miles in 8 days.


We saw many sights and visited so many places, but a pop top would've saved 20 minutes of setup and 20 minutes of teardown daily. People assume things are one and done when you put up a tent, but that's really the beginning. I have to setup sleeping bags, electric blankets, propane heaters, then unpack the cooking kit. If I'm camping in below freezing weather every night in august at 10,000+, I want things to be as simple as possible.

1,800 miles in I just want to relax and have a beer.

If and when I find a buyer for the Habitat, I'll be moving over to a Summit.

just spent 2 weeks in DV with zero wind issues mostly because my poptop only goes 42” up. Aerodynamic going down the highway at speed.