My partner and I spent a year sleeping in our Howling Moon 1.6m Deluxe Rooftop tent as we travelled through Europe, the Middle East and onto Australia during a career break about 3 years ago. Having carefully examined all the rival brands of roof tents available in the UK, we felt that the Howling Moon best met our requirements and that the features and quality of the fit and finish was better than the more established brands.
It never let us down despite having to cope with sub-zero to 30+ centigrade temperatures as well as torrential rain and howling gales, and was our sanctuary from the incessant dust of the Australia outback that covered everything inside the vehicle (a non-air conditioned Land Rover Defender 110), but each night the tent was dust free (the cover kept everything out - rain and dust). It was even field repairable after forgetting how tall the vehicle was! The hinge brackets bent after an overhead collision, but after a few minutes of muscle and hammer power, I had the brackets straightened and bolted back on.
The only modification we made was to use a couple of closed cell foam matts under the mattress to stop condensation forming between the composite base board and the mattress during the night – this also added to the comfort.
We chose the Deluxe rather than the Tourer as liked having two large door openings either end for the better view and ventilation they provided compared to the covered entrance, and also didn’t need the annex tent. The current Tourer design is a little different to the one available at the time, with a mesh window in the annex roof, and the Stargazer wasn’t available when we bought.
Highly recommended if you want a quality product that’s going to last you years, and if you value a good night’s sleep.
Mike.
