Updated on December 28, 2020
Adventure Kings Roof Top Tent Review
It is quite common to see rooftop tents (RTT’s) on vehicles in Australia, having a pop-up rooftop tent for weekend camping trips or extended journeys around Australia is an easy option and a quick way to set up your camp.
Kings RTT’s, one of the most popular brands and an affordable price of under $800 Aus.
The Adventure Kings RTT is ideal as a 4wd roof tent and can also be mounted on regular cars. We saw a tiny little Wicked Camper hire car with a car roof tent during our Melbourne to Uluru/Alice Springs trip a few years ago. Personally, I would not advise having one on a really small car but Wicked Campers must know what they are doing, presumably.
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We recently bought a second-hand Toyota Landcruiser Prado off Gumtree, a fab vehicle for towing horses, camping, and getting out and about on unsealed roads. It was a fair price and also came with everything needed for a camping adventure. The extras included a near new Kings Roof Top Tent with annex and an Adventure Kings awning.
I was keen to set the RTT (rooftop tent) up and plan some trips away, especially as we like to take horses, so having the tent on top made sense when towing a horse float.
Read on to hear about our first experience with set up and how I overcame the need for some extra height as I’m only 5’2″ / 157cm…
We often take our little instant pop-up tents camping when doing a really quick camping trip with a basic set-up.
Pros of Roof Top Tents (RTT) What we like about them
- The best advantage of using a roof rack tent is the fact that everything is on top including bedding, leaving so much extra space in the car. The roof top tent mattress is usually quite comfortable or a memory foam topper can be added for a bit of luxury.
- Setting up is fairly quick, once you have a couple of practice runs and know what you are doing.
- The views! Being up high can be wonderful when you get amazing views across other campers and can catch any small breezes on hot summer nights.
- Beach camping is awesome, no need for pegs, though sandbags to weigh down the 2 guy rope will be required (use a couple of shopping bags, no need to worry about added expenses).
- Being up high and away from the possibility of creatures entering your tent when out in the bush is a bonus. Apart from the predictable annoyance of mozzies and flies!
- The advantage of not having to worry about setting up a traditional tent on hard or rocky ground is a bonus or when it is raining – no puddles to contend with.
- Roof top campers can be set up on, slightly, uneven ground, the roof top tent ladder can be adjusted a bit to allow for some clever thinking when on this type of terrain.
- The Kings awning tent annex can be bought to zip on to provide extra sleeping area, storage, porta-potti…
- RTT’s can be used on ute trays or on bars above the tray.
Cons of Roof Top Tents (RTT)
- Having to pack-up the tent if you want to move the vehicle to go day-tripping or grab supplies.
- Nighttime excursions to the loo. That must be near the top of the list of any inconveniences to being up in your rooftop perch. But that is not a deal-breaker as it is not difficult to descend the ladder, from my own experience.
- Fuel economy can be reduced a bit, it totally depends on your vehicle, driving conditions and how you drive the vehicle.
- Attaching to the vehicle and removal. This all depends on the user. The RTT weighs about 60kg, not a featherweight camping accessory, but not too difficult for two people to do. However, it is not the 10-second task that so many youtube videos show. I used 2 pine fence logs under ours to then ‘roll’ it to the side of the rack and we took an end each to lift it down. The same would go for putting it back on.
- Packing up when wet. This can be a pain with any tent, it is easy enough to quickly set up to dry though.
Roof Top Tent Setup
Most videos on Youtube make it look really simple and really fast to set up a tent on your car roof. It is easy and the job can be done quickly, once you have practice.
- I am not tall, 5’2″ / 157cm. From the ground, I can reach the corners to undo the velcro on the cover. From the side step on the Prado, I can reach the start of the zip to undo the cover. That’s about it.
- However… I bought two SUV Doorstep units. Awesome Australian design, clever idea and well made – these handy little accessories hook onto the door latch of any car and provide a step that makes it easy to reach everything. They are handy even if you are just loading things onto a roof rack or to access a car rooftop storage pod even.
- eBay Australia has more designs of the SUV style doorstep at various price points.
How long did it take for my first solo RTT setup?
- About 30 minutes. It took a couple of minutes to undo the main straps holding the cover on, they are a daft velcro design pulled through two ‘D’ rings and the extra velcro kept getting stuck on itself, plus I could only reach onehanded unless I had got our big ladder – and that is not something one carries when out camping. A taller person could easily reach the straps from the ground. This design flaw could easily be improved by the manufacturers though.
- Nearly 10 minutes were wasted to unzip the cover as, when packed up by the previous owner, the tent section had been caught in the zip and took a while to get free. A simple flap behind the zip to prevent this would be an easy design change.
On the second setup, it took about 20 minutes as I was still deciding whether to attach the flexible rods, that hold the windows awnings out, from the outside or inside the tent. They are easy to do and all can be done from outside the tent apart from one which is easily done from inside the tent.
Packing down the tent took less than 20 minutes on the second go, both these time frames could be reduced by half with a couple more goes as it is a simple process once you know what to do.
Final thoughts on the Adventure Kings RTT
- Setting up and packing up is not hard and the stability of the tent is good.
- The mattress in the Kings Rooftop Tent is not brilliant. It is ok, but a thin memory foam topper would take it up a comfort level or two.
- It is good value for money and an economical camping item to have that should provide years of fun camping memories.
Where to buy a Roof Top Tent?
Amazon Australia offers some competitive deals on RTT’s as well as a variety of other car tent designs.
eBay is another good place to find one at a competitive price and also Gumtree is another excellent marketplace to find new and used tents.
If you have never camped before maybe buy a minimum of gear to try it out before committing too much money. Read our guide on a basic camping gear set up for an easy getaway.
