If you’ve ever owned a pickup truck, chances are you’ve seen or have considered purchasing a Napier Sportz Truck Tent at some point. I’ve always thought they were a cool concept, but since I don’t own a truck, I’ve always found myself missing a crucial part of the equation.
Luckily for us non pickup truck owners, Napier also makes a tent designed for SUV owners. The Napier Sportz SUV Tent is a 10’x10′ monster with 7′ of headroom that can also be purchased with an optional 6’x7′ fully enclosed “screen room”, and features Napier’s signature “vehicle sleeve”.
Now you’re probably thinking this is a huge tent, and you’re right, this thing is so big I’m pretty sure I can park a Miata inside and still have enough space to sleep a family of 10. The packed size also isn’t too unreasonable, it’s comparable in size to an OzTent Jet Tent and due to the lighter weight material it weighs almost half as much.
What we really care about though is how quick/difficult is it to setup, and if it really is a practical tent for use in the field. With help from my buddy Mark, and no help from our useless dogs Coco and Henry, it took us a little over 15 minutes to setup for the fist time (after reading the instructions). The hardest part of setting up the tent is getting all of the poles to line up correctly, it can probably be done by a single person, but I recommend having a buddy to help speed things up. Now that we know how to do it, I would say someone with a few rounds of practice could easily setup this tent in under 10 minutes.
So how big is 10’x10′? It’s huge, and by huge I mean massive. You really won’t realize how big this tent is until you set it up and and stand inside it. The SUV Tent has more space than most Manhattan apartments, and with a 7′ ceiling everyone but your neighborhood NBA player will have plenty of headroom. Needless to say there is plenty of space in here for at least a family of 4 and all their gear.
Napier’s vehicle sleeve is a pretty ingenious idea, it allows you to connect your tent to your vehicle with relative ease. It features an elastic band around the open end that wraps around your vehicle, and they also provide plenty of tie down straps to make sure you have a secure connection. The whole setup is pretty neat and is relatively water tight. Although in the event of a serious storm you can close the sleeve from the inside to seal the tent.
What? You still think this tent doesn’t have enough bells and whistles? You wish it had a front porch? Well guess what, it does. Our model came with the attached 6’x7′ screened in room, and it has plenty of space for your overlanding rocking chairs. It’s also another place that you can sleep a few people when the weather is warm, and it’ll keep the bugs out if you find yourself in a mosquito infested area i.e. anywhere around DC.
So what’s our verdict? The Napier Sportz SUV Tent has plenty of room for a family, and allows your tent to be an extension of your rig. It has a rain fly that we haven’t tested yet, but over the next few months we’ll be taking it into the field with us to see how it holds up on a real trip. For now you’ll just have to settle for photos taken in the extreme terrain/remote area that is Mark’s driveway.
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