RTT Advice...?!

[Rorywg]

I know this is opening a can of worms, but I will be grateful for thoughs on something that I struggle to understand.

I want to buy a RTT to put on a bed rack on my Raptor, and to alternate onto my wife's LX570. (We do a lot of desert trips and am planning a long overland route from the UAE either through E Africa or through Iran and the Stans... More to follow, perhaps!).

While we are a family of 5, I don't see a RTT that looks a sensible buy for this many of us, so am happy to buy a tent for 2/3 people on the assumption that we will use a ground tent for anyone who doesn't fit up top, and that any long trips will probably involve leaving one or more of the kids at home to look after the cats and goldfish.

As I understand it, we can buy one of the following-

--Heavy duty soft shell 'expedition' tent- I like the Eezi-Awn

--Hard shell - I like the James Baroud XXL tents

--Latest generation soft shell- the JB Horizon and Nomad look great

Ignoring cost (!), is there any reason to go for the Eezi-Awn over the James Baroud soft shell tents? Eezi-Awn look much more robust, but there is an impressive JB warranty which underlines their confidence in their product. I REALLY like what I have read about the JB ease of opening and closing, and it seems to weigh about half the E-A alternative, and much less than a JB hardshell.

Can someone who has been through a similar buying decision offer any guidance? Or should I just bite the bullet and get a JB hardshell??

I know these things often boil down to personal preference etc etc- I haven't owned a RTT before so don't want to make an expensive mistake. It does feel as though, with softshell tents at least, there ought to be a pretty clear objective difference between, for example, the JB and E-A alternatives given the weight difference, the opening/closing and the durability.

Please feel free to share your thoughts- and apologies if this is a well-worn topic. Most of what I have been able to find is simply listing product characteristics rather than selecting preferences (including the otherwise excellent summary on this site a month or two ago of the various soft variants in the US market).

Thanks for any help!

Rory

 

[gaap master]

For your family size, a soft shell RTT with annex might suffice. Another alternative to a conventional ground tent is an ARB awning with their awning room.

I have both styles of RTT. The soft shell (Tepui Autana) I originally had on my lifted Land Cruiser, but it can be a hassle to climb around the truck when unpacking and repacking the tent. Not a deal killer, certainly, but a hassle. That RTT style still has lots of advantages over a ground tent. I later moved that tent to my offroad trailer with a height adjustable rack so I could lift the tent up high enough to still use the annex.

For trips when I'm not taking the trailer, I bought a hard shell (JB Explorer). MUCH easier to deploy and stow, but no annex option which is a bummer. Also, only feasible for 1 or 2 people (cozy).

One other thought regarding alternating the tent between vehicles...I know lots of people do it, but it's not something I would want to do frequently. I took the soft shell off the truck and moved it to the trailer just once, and installed the hard shell on the truck just once, and both events were a PITA. It would probably be easier if you had a lift mechanism in the garage or something similar (which I don't have).


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