Buying a cheap rooftop tent? How to get a sharp price ánd top quality
Type “rooftop tent” into any marketplace and you'll find tents from a few hundred euros. Tempting — but anyone who clicks through to the reviews often reads the same story: leaks at the first rain, a broken hinge after three trips, and a seller who's unreachable. Does that mean cheap is always a false economy? No. It means you need to know where budget tents cut corners — and what to check.
Where do cheap rooftop tents cut corners?
1. Waterproofing
Waterproofing is measured in millimetres of water column. Below 2,000 mm things get dicey in a proper downpour; quality tents sit at 3,000–5,000 mm. Many budget sellers simply don't state a figure at all — rarely a good sign. Our LCM hardshell rooftop tents are waterproof to 5,000 mm.
2. The shell: aluminium or plastic?
Cheap hardshells often have a shell of thin ABS plastic. It goes brittle in UV light and can crack under hail or a branch. An aluminium shell is lighter ánd stronger — and lasts decades.
3. Hinges and gas struts
The wear point of every rooftop tent. Budget tents use thin hinges and weak gas struts that no longer open smoothly after one season. Always ask what material is used and whether spare parts are available.
4. The mattress
A thin 3 cm mattress on a cold aluminium floor: that won't be a good night. Quality tents have a proper mattress — ours with memory foam and optionally an anti-condensation topper.
5. The mounting hardware
Few buyers check it, but the supplied mounting bolts of many budget tents (and to be fair: of decent tents too) are mediocre. That's exactly why we fit every tent collected from us with stronger, better-quality bolts than the ones in the package — as standard.
6. Service and warranty
The biggest saving of budget webshops isn't in the tent, but in everything around it: no showroom, no fitting help, no parts, no point of contact. The moment something goes wrong, you're on your own.
How it cán be done: sharp price ánd quality
Why are our rooftop tents sharply priced while the quality is high? Simple: we work directly with manufacturer SAN HIMA, without middlemen. And we sell nothing we haven't tested ourselves — our tents came along on a five-week expedition through Mauritania and across the Tunisian desert. Whatever broke or disappointed on those trips, we don't sell.
Add to that the service you miss at a budget webshop: personal advice (come by for a “test lie-down”), fitting help at collection including those better bolts, winter storage and maintenance, and the option to rent first before you buy — with a good chunk of the rental fee deducted from the purchase price.
Checklist: buying a cheap rooftop tent without regret
- Waterproofing of at least 3,000 mm, in black and white
- Aluminium shell instead of plastic
- Sturdy hinges and gas struts, spare parts available
- A proper mattress (and consider an anti-condensation topper)
- Good mounting bolts — or a seller who upgrades them as standard
- A real point of contact: showroom, phone number, warranty
Unsure about a specific tent you saw somewhere? Send us the link — we'll tell you honestly what we think, even if it's not one of ours. Browse our hardshell rooftop tents or first read which type of rooftop tent suits you.
