|
TruckTents.info |
|||||
|
What to consider when picking a truck tent. |
|||||
|
|||||
When you're shopping around for a truck tent here are some basic considerations. Size. Is there a tent to fit your truck? Interior height. Truck tents vary, some are much higher inside allowing you to sort of stand up to get dressed. Some are very short and only good for lying down. Does it go out over the tailgate? This adds substantial interior room. Of course if your truck doesn't have a tailgate or if it fell off, this type of tent won't work for you. Color. Most manufactures offer just one or maybe two color combinations, so you get what you get. The camo truck tents look pretty cool, but unless your truck is camo colored, who you hiding from anyway? "Ooh there's a bright red truck parked in the woods, but I can't see the tent on it. Can you?" The camo truck tents cost a bit more, not because the material is any different, because they have to pay a royalty to the company that created the camo design. Materials. Ask about materials. Most all truck tents are made of fire retardant material. There seems to be quite a difference in the screen mesh material over the doors and windows. Some is quite course while others are fine to keep out most no-see-ums. Polyester is UV resistant which helps prevent fading. While rip stop nylon is strong, nylon fades and eventually rots in the sun. Tent floor or no tent floor that is the question. There seems to be two schools of thought on this one. Most everyone expects a floor when they set up a tent, which is good if you're setting up on the ground or the greasy bed of a truck. But if you have ever swept out a tent, you know it's hard to clean with a sewn in floor. Heck on a truck you're up off the ground and if you do track in dirt, it's easier to clean out a truck bed than it is to clean a tent. Also if your tent has a floor, you should empty out your truck before you set up the tent. Truck tents without floors can be set up with stuff still in the back of your truck. Some times you can get a tent floor option that you can use if you want or leave it off to keep the price down. Setting it up. Some truck tents are a whole lot easier to set up than others. Do they offer assistance like color coded poles and pole pockets? Do they have simple instructions or an entire book? Some tents have multiple pole sleeves so you have to reach into the middle of the truck bed to thread the pole through a second sleeve, which is no problem if your arms are 4 feet long. Some instructions are printed on waterproof durable material and others on paper. Cab access sleeve. Some truck tents offer access to the cab through your slider window with a sleeve of sorts. Some offer skinny sleeves for wires for DC accessories. Some tents have large sleeves you can actually see through, pass items back and forth and can be shut tight with a draw string. Some truck tents don't have this feature. Rain fly. Most all truck tents come with a rain fly. Ask if it comes down all the way around the edges? Does it have windows so you can see out when it's raining? Does it go down all the way over the door? Rain flies seem to vary quite a bit. Some only cover a top portion of the tent others come down and cover the tent entirely and offer nice features like ties to hold open the door flap. Awning. Some tents come with awnings, some do not, some offer it as an option. On a windy day truck tent awnings are a pain. On a hot sunny day they can be a life saver. Check if it has an awning. Does it come off? Can you purchase it as an option? How big is it? Some are tiny others are quite large. How fast can you get it? About half of the Internet stores stock product and others don't stock and some that don't stock take a day or two to get the order to the warehouse. Simply ask when it can get shipped out if you are in a hurry. Some dealers offer overnight shipping.
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
| Car Top Carrier Car Top Carriers Camp-Right truck tent Pack-Right cargo bags |
