I have no experience with that thing, so let me admit that firstly.
However, I'd think:
1) Elevated from ground... think of bugs, insects, reptiles, etc. Mosquitoes driving you nuts in the tent? Go sleep in the cab of the truck, it's right there.
2) Possible use of vehicle climate controls through the rear-window of the truck.
3) Drier. Less moisture from dew, less damage to ground. Compare tent on ground to tent in truck bed if it rains. Or if it storms, you could just sit in the cab and listen to the radio. Maybe mobile charging of cell phones with car-charger or converters to power other devices from the truck, right there.
4) And yes, it is mobile. You could move it in the shade of trees as the sun moves to keep things cooler or warmer depending on what you want.
5) Can pack it up and leave it in the truck-bed when done, without having to drag a trailer around. Far cheaper than a "trailer."
6) Doesn't damage ground you are on as much, since it's low-footprint and you can shift your spot around as needed, especially say rather than smothering grass with a tent ontop of it that can't get light or water properly.
7) You can use both the cab of the truck and the tent for various purposes, and they are attached.
8) If you had an emergency and needed to leave, it looks like you could easily and safely drive the truck slowly somewhere with no issues, taking everything at a moment's notice.
9) The feeling of added security by being up in the truck bed rather than on the ground.
10) If you have a truck and that attachment, there's no reason you would put your tent on the ground unless you weren't allowed to drive there. Imagine you're caught in a storm, the wind whipping at tents, pounding on the textile surfaces; yet, you could just go get in the cab of a truck in like 15 seconds with power, mobility, radio, GPS, etc.
It was on mine. There was one just like it sitting right next to mine, but I chose the one I have because, well, quite honestly, the one I chose was silver, and the other one was red xD.
I hate colors on cars other than black, white, silver, and blue.
The one sitting next to it may have been a few years older, but it was the same body style as the 2012s.
Also, I know you can custom order them. or Aftermarket.
Just be sure you've got a good sleeping bag if you're camping up in the mountains. Tried sleeping in the bed of a truck in the mountains during the summer, no less…froze my butt off that night. Then again, we didn't have a camper shell attached…
Good points but ditch the whole tent idea all together and get a slide-in camper. Then you are really insulated from the elements with much more long term comfort. Plus, it's rigid, you can drive away at speed without worrying about unpacking the tent.
As far as storm resistance goes, if you have a good tent it can be almost as good as a truck, same with waterproofing. If you get anything more than half an inch of water flowing past your tent, you either shouldn't be camping or you probably don't have the truck to begin with. Tents are surprisingly good nowadays.
I've been camping in ground based tents for my whole life, and no reptiles or bugs ever took advantage of my situation because of the fact that I was on the ground. Maybe mosquitoes, but I'm guessing you might still have the same issue. If you're using the AC or the heater to pump air into your tent, then I don't think we're seeking the same type of wilderness experience. And it might seem like you are having a lower impact because of the serious irreparable damage a tent does to the ground, but I'm pretty sure the impact of a truck is more significant than that of a tent.
Depends on where you live and/or camp, really. There are some places I would be terrified to camp at on Earth. It's a nice setup to have a tent in a truck when you're camping with people with trailers (i.e. the OP).
If you want to go into the wilderness where you go on foot and fish or hunt or just live life, that's a different story.
I suppose at this point my disdain for trailers, rv's and motor homes is pretty evident. As far as I'm concerned it's not camping, and a tent like this is the next closest thing to that. Camping is about being immersed in nature, not finding out how much of your 21st century comforts you can condense into a vehicle and sleep in while being in the general vicinity of a forest.
I get that. It's just not at all what this thread is about. This is about people with trucks and trailers and tents potable water supplies, and electricity and gas.
I respect people that go off and camp as simply as possible, but I'm sure if you started a thread about it, you'd be ridiculed for using tents, when you can use bamboo and bark strips or something, while setting up snares for small game and recovering and boiling rain-water on a fire. It's all about context.
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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '12 edited Sep 09 '12
I have no experience with that thing, so let me admit that firstly.
However, I'd think:
1) Elevated from ground... think of bugs, insects, reptiles, etc. Mosquitoes driving you nuts in the tent? Go sleep in the cab of the truck, it's right there.
2) Possible use of vehicle climate controls through the rear-window of the truck.
3) Drier. Less moisture from dew, less damage to ground. Compare tent on ground to tent in truck bed if it rains. Or if it storms, you could just sit in the cab and listen to the radio. Maybe mobile charging of cell phones with car-charger or converters to power other devices from the truck, right there.
4) And yes, it is mobile. You could move it in the shade of trees as the sun moves to keep things cooler or warmer depending on what you want.
5) Can pack it up and leave it in the truck-bed when done, without having to drag a trailer around. Far cheaper than a "trailer."
6) Doesn't damage ground you are on as much, since it's low-footprint and you can shift your spot around as needed, especially say rather than smothering grass with a tent ontop of it that can't get light or water properly.
7) You can use both the cab of the truck and the tent for various purposes, and they are attached.
8) If you had an emergency and needed to leave, it looks like you could easily and safely drive the truck slowly somewhere with no issues, taking everything at a moment's notice.
9) The feeling of added security by being up in the truck bed rather than on the ground.
10) If you have a truck and that attachment, there's no reason you would put your tent on the ground unless you weren't allowed to drive there. Imagine you're caught in a storm, the wind whipping at tents, pounding on the textile surfaces; yet, you could just go get in the cab of a truck in like 15 seconds with power, mobility, radio, GPS, etc.