Most hardshell RTTs take up a ton of space atop your vehicle and aren’t lightweight. Softshell, fold-open RTTs can be a pain to set up and aren’t very aerodynamic.
Enter the iKamper Skycamp Mini. With it, the South Korean company targets the best of both worlds.
At only 125 pounds, the Skycamp Mini finds itself on the lighter side of the RTT spectrum. And, compared to other RTTs, it requires very little room atop your vehicle. It measures 57.1 inches long and 54.3 inches wide. Closed, the aerodynamically shaped hardshell case spans a mere 12.5 inches thick.
It wasn’t all that long ago my young family of four fit in a roof top tent. We played games and read bedtime stories, blissfully falling asleep with everyone safe and snug. And then our two toddlers grew. I still remember the first time I got kicked out of our roof top tent, but can’t recall if it was an elbow to the face or a knee to the groin that did it. I spent the next year in a bivy at the base of the ladder as my wife and kids enjoyed their penthouse loft. Eventually we were all back on the ground and our roof top tent went away.
Just a little over a year ago I saw an iKamper Skycamp prototype and began eagerly awaiting its production release. The next evolution of roof top tents, it has enough interior space to accommodate a family of four with two rapidly growing kids.
As the roof tent market continues to evolve, there has developed a clear differentiation between the companies that innovate, and those that seem to just copy other designs. iKamper is one of the innovators, creating unique, quality roof tents for the overland and camping customer like their new Skycamp Mini.
We have several years of experience with their tents, including a full-size Skycamp that has been used by our staff for over two years. Their unique and quick set-up X-Cover won our Overland Journal Editor’s Choice Award.
If you have young kids and want a rooftop tent (RTT) to share, options are limited.Because larger tents tend to weigh more, the lion’s share of RTTs is built for two to three people.
But there’s a market for larger options, and iKamperhas been filling that niche since it burst onto the RTT scene last year. The South Korean brand’s originalSkycampfour-person model raised $2.3 million, making it the most successful tent project in Kickstarter history.
In short:At $3,600, this hardshell RTT is pricey. But it’s a premium product for a reason. The sleek Skycamp’s weight-conscious aerodynamics coupled with simple setup and spacious design might just be worth it for your family.
As a mom, I wanted to see why families were geeking out about this newcomer.
We tested iKamper’s Skycamp on a family trip to Alta Lakes near Telluride. I expected this Alps-like area of Colorado to blow my kids’ minds. I also pictured an RTT experience taking this adventure to galactic levels of fun.
The new Skycamp Mini bolts to the cross bars as a 57-in (145-cm)-long, near-square box that fits comfortably over a 5-foot (1.5-m) pickup bed. With a length of nearly 86 inches (218 cm), the original Skycamp would be hanging off the end of a short-bed pickup, stretching over top the roof or a little of both, while the Mini fits like a glove. Alternatively, it can mount over the cab and leave the bed open. The smaller sizing also makes it a viable choice for those rolling the streets in one of the new small SUVs that have been popping up like prairie dogs ... or even a Mini Cooper.
The problem with hard-shell roof-top tents in general is that their floor space is typically limited to what can fit between the sides of the vehicle, whereas fabric fold-out tents expand at camp. With the Skycamp's expansion system, iKamper gets around this hard-shell tent limitation, offering a rugged, aerodynamic box that folds out into a family-size tent for three adults, or two adults and two children.
iKamper says the tent takes less than a minute to set up. You start by unlatching it and popping the clamshell top open, before pulling the telescoping ladder out and dropping the fold-out extension down. Then, well, that's it. You can get to relaxing around the campsite.
When Korean camping/overland outfitter iKamper ventured out onto the US market, it didn't just bring a "me too" roof-top tent (RTT) with it. Instead, it refined an expandable hardshell design, the likes of which the market had not seen. Now it's back innovating RTTs once again, this time with a soft-shell, fold-out RTT that looks to eliminate a big disadvantage of soft-shell, fold-out RTTs – the weatherproof cover. The new X-cover features an integrated hardtop cover with built-in roof bars, providing fast, simple overnight shelter and cargo hauling for your next big adventure.
Whether you’re on the road for months at a time or only heading out for the weekend, a reliable tent can spell the difference between an enjoyable time away from life’s distractions or a burdensome night in the unknown. Thanks to iKamper, the makers of this incredibly modular SkyCamp rooftop tent, it’s all about where the road leads next, not whether your tent will make it through the night.
iKamper came to market last year with the four-person Skycamp, the most successful tent project in Kickstarter history. The X-Cover will debut the same way, with preordering through the platform by the end of 2018.
The self-contained X-Cover has all the stuff travelers liked about the Skycamp — sleek look, sturdy yet lightweight design, instant pop-up feature, and a king-sized bed.
But it’s a new inverted platform design, which creates a solid space for a top-loading gear rack, that makes iKamper’s X-Cover so sexy. Oh, and that “coverless” feature is nice, too. No more rooftop wrestling sessions between you and your soft-side tent. This one just zips around itself.
In short, the X-Cover is pretty seamless. You get the benefits of a family-friendly packed hardshell with an integrated rack system at a lower price than the original Skycamp.
While iKamper started by making four-person hardshell tents, this downsized model fits better on smaller cars, and at 125 pounds, it isn’t much heavier than softshell models (though it is more expensive). Advantages include a sleeker design and quick setup, and if you’re not running it on a compact car, more remaining roof real estate than other hardshell models allow. Also, a clamshell opening allows for a higher peak roof height of 45 inches.
In the past, iKamper has released a handful of camping’s most lauded rooftop tents, adorning vehicles of every size and stature in an attempt to get more people out of the house, and into the wild. Now, the company has announced its most intuitive, and accessible system ever — the Skycamp Mini.
While Italian design genius brought us the Ferrari, domed architecture and, yes, the rooftop tent, it is Kickstarter that often brings truly new designs to modern consumers. iKamper emerged from the online crowd-sourcing investment phenomenon when, in 2017, it promised investors a re-envisioned RTT.
