Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We recently replaced our 15 plus year old “Roof Top Tent” with a Smittybilt Overlander roof tent. We promptly took off on an eleven day wander of Wyoming’s back roads and National Forests. As we are on a budget we opted for the Smittybilt. At under $900 for the tent it was hard to justify the additional money of an ARB or Tepui. I am sure there are quality differences but when comparing online it is hard to see those differences. From the start I wasn’t expecting the thickness of the fabric or the features at this price. Not only is the rainfly waterproof but the tent itself is treated and would do well in a light rain or drizzle by itself. One of the nicest features of the Smittybilt is the “sunroof” openings the tent has. With the rainfly removed this gives real ventilation and a view of the stars. We used it with the rainfly attached and the roof open with the screen in place for great ventilation. The tent never felt ‘stuffy’ even when we had everything closed up during a rainy night. Two things about the rainfly. The first I noticed right when I opened the tent up and installed the poles for the awnings over the openings; I could see it was going to pool water on the rainfly. I know that other makers use two sets of poles to keep this from happening. The other thing is the removal of the rain fly. It is possible and relatively easy, if the tent wasn’t sitting over six and a half feet off of the ground. For desert travelers it would easy enough to remove the fly before setting out, but it is not a thing that you want to remove or attach at camp as it involves getting the support poles into pockets and then snapping down the buckles. Easy enough on a car, but when it sits on top of a mildly lifted Jeep that is another thing altogether. Again, the material of the tent itself should be enough ward off up to a moderate rain. Having slept in wet tents before, I don’t really care to find out. Setting up is easy: Remove the cover which has hook and loop to secure it, undo the hook and loop straps that hold the tent together, all six of them, loosen the double D strap that secures the ladder, pull the ladder out to use as a lever and pop the tent up. Adjust the ladder so it is stable on the ground, there are spring loaded pegs that lock into holes in the frame of the ladders, and insert the poles that hold open the awnings. We found a few problems with the above mentioned straps. Right out of the box we had to repair one of the straps as the thread was pulling free. The straps that hold the tent closed at the opening and thus receiving the most pressure are doubled. Nice touch, maybe a bit of overkill, but better safe than sorry. As I mentioned, we had to repair one strap right right away and I have a feeling it won’t be the last one. The material and the stitching just don’t feel that strong. The cover is the other weak point. On our sixth night out I found the stitching on one of the corners giving way. The hook and loop that surrounds the bottom of the cover and attaches to the base of the tent provided a fairly good shield against the Wyoming backroad dust. Fairly good as the hook and loop doesn’t go around the base 360 degrees. There is a gap at two corners that allow a small amount of dust to ingress. Entry into the tent is easy as the ladder has wide rungs and is very stable. When the “weather flap” is down it does make it feel like you are going in and out of a pet door, but it does give one more barrier for flying pests to get through. Smittybilt does include two “ grab handle” straps to make getting in and out even easier. The big industrial zippers on every opening operate smoothly and they are on every opening in the tent. When inside the height of the tent is great enough at 51 inches (130cm) is tall enough to make changing clothing easy for being in a tent. The two inch thick mattress is fairly firm, but we noticed by morning we could feel the base of the tent. A thicker or more dense foam would be appreciated. The mattress is covered with a water resistant covering that can be removed for laundering. The tent is wide enough (51 inches - 129 cm) for two people to sleep comfortable, and maybe a small child. It is plenty long enough at 95 inches (241cm) for even my long body. The tent has a hook and loop strip that secures a multi LED light strip. This lit the tent up like a dance hall but made reading in the waning evening light a joy. No more trying to focus head lamps or balance flashlights. There are four pockets inside the tent, well five, but one is for the light cord. So for two people there is ample storage room. There are also some plastic “O” rings that hang on the side walls. I think they maybe for elastic shock cords to help pull in the sides when collapsing the tent, but it didn’t come with any and there were no instructions as to their use, so they make a great place to hang glasses. Smittybilt includes an outside storage envelope. I call it an envelope because that is exactly what it looks like. It hangs just outside the door and is really handy to put shoes in. However, it really isn’t shaped to hold shoes, We used it and will in the future but it isn’t the best design, almost like an afterthought with leftover material. Getting the tent ready to mount to our rack was a bit of a challenge as it did not include instructions. There are great instructions online but absolutely no mention of that anywhere in the packaging. Once everything is mounted attaching to your rack system is very easy and very secure. At 118 lbs (53 kilograms) the tent isn’t light enough for one person to heft overhead but for two it isn’t bad at all. Even if we still had the plastic rails on our Jeep the low weight of the tent would have not exceeded the recommended weight. At the below $900 price tag I feel that the price overcame the drawbacks. I have written Smittybilt to see what they will do about the cover. It will be interesting to see about their customer service. If you are on a budget like we are, or only intend to use your tent a handful of days per year, the Smittybilt Overlander is a great buy. If you are spending months on the road the Overlander might work for you but be aware that you will probable be making repairs along the way. Update 9/2017 Smittybilt did replace the cover with no questions. My concerns about the rain buildup on the fly are real. We camped in two heavy rains, not a drop inside the tent, but the rainfly did hold a large amount of water over the door that needed to be dumped before exiting the tent. The second storm we went through we got smart and closed those two openings, the one over the ladder and the one directly opposite, before the rain hit. The awnings over the windows do not seem to have the same problem. Even with the awnings closed down and in a heavy summer rain the tent was very well ventilated because of the ability to open the "moon roof" under the rainfly. All and all a great tent for the price and we are still very happy with the purchase.