review Hands on with the Napier Backroadz truck bed tent

Zane · September 17, 2015

The Merva Brothers

GM-Trucks.com

9/17/15

If you’re a fan of camping like us, you’ve probably wondered how awesome it would be to turn your truck’s bed into a huge tent. The days of using your imagination are over. We take a look at the Napier Truck tent!

Product Reviewed & Cost

Napier Backroadz Truck Tent (13022) : $189.99

Editor's Note: This product was provided at no cost for the purposes of a review. We only publish our honest opinions and give no consideration for the gratis product.

What is it?

A large full featured weather proof tent that securely sets up in the bed of your truck.

Tested On

2011 GMC Sierra All Terrain Extended Cab SLT

What’s in the box?

A rolled up and neatly packaged tent, canopy, collapsible pole set, and carrying bag about the size of a large duffel bag.

Setup and Installation

Make no mistake about it, setting up any tent is an interesting experience and is easier the more you do it. We recommend trying out your Backroadz tent before going out and using it. If you’ve set up a normal tent, this won’t be much different. However, there are a few specific steps that are unique to a truck bed fitting tent that you should be familiar with before needing to do them on site or in the dark.

The process of assembling this tent is fairly straightforward.

We first unrolled and laid out the main tent portion in the bed of our pickup with the opening facing the rear. Following the instructions, we attached the tent to the body and tailgate of the Sierra using nine individual straps.

We then assembled the three color coded poles that make up the Backroadz tent frame. They are inserted in a specific order, so it’s worth being familiar with the process.

We can then raise the frame of the tent to give it structure. We also took a moment to push out the floor of the tent into all four corners of the bed.

The last step is to attach the waterproof fly over the frame to keep the rain out.

The end result is a sturdy, well manufactured, high quality tent that has a lot of room and fits perfectly. We think with some practice, an experienced Backroadz user can set up the tent in under 10 minutes and break it down in under 5. We appriciated that Napier left some room in the front of the tent that was flexible in space. This left room for our Retrax Pro to stay on and the two never interfered.

Our impressions

A tent that fits in the bed of your pickup presents some interesting benefits. Anyone that has camped before knows setting up your tent on a flat surface is key to being comfortable and safe. An elevated platform for tents is usually a feature you’ll find at some campsites and for good reason.

Being up and off the ground is a godsend while out camping. Isolating your tent and body away from bugs, dirt, moisture, and running water can be a life saving decision.

The Napier Backroadz pickup bed tent takes the benefits of a platform one step further. Now, anywhere we can park our truck, we can set up shop for the night in our tent. We’ll have access to power, close proximity to an enclosed structure, and the ability to move our camping quarters at a moment's notice.

Of course, the biggest drawback of a truck based tent is that by camping in the bed you eliminate it as a storage space. To set up your tent, you must unload everything first. While the tent is setup you have effectively immobilized your vehicle. You can move slowly but going on any roads is out of the question. Depending on your individual situation, that’s an inconvenience that may or may not outweigh the benefits of using your truck as a camping platform.

The Napier Backroadz truck tent offers an affordable way to securely camp anywhere you can park your Silverado, Sierra, Colorado, Canyon, or any pickup truck with a bed.

rvsixer · September 22, 2015

Great review, thanks for taking the time to test it and write it up!

Regarding the observation that one must unload the bed to set up the tent, be aware that Napier is the only manufacturer (that I know of) that has the built-in floor. Competitor designs do not have a floor, and therefore unloading then reloading the bed is not required. Load up the bed configured how you want (including the unrolled sleeping bag) at home, throw in the tent, close the bed cover (I use a lockable tri-fold), drive to destination, remove the bed cover (stow in cab), set up the tent, go to sleep.

calvic · September 22, 2015

Is that a short bed or long bed? DO they make one for the long bed?

oldmann · September 22, 2015

Not sureiwmant straps on my paint. Ugh.

Wolverine350R · September 22, 2015

Is that a short bed or long bed? DO they make one for the long bed?

They make them for most bed sizes, I would check their website to be sure. it looks like there are 7 versions of the 57 series available https://us.napieroutdoors.com/store/catalogue/details/1/1/product_id:19/

As for the straps on paint, I know that at least for the Avalanche version they sell a padded strap.

I bought a used shortbed one for my step side many years ago, it works, but the narrow bed makes it harder to setup.

[email protected] · September 23, 2015

First - many thanks for the Review.

After trying to find good reviews of Truck Bed Tents on the Web… I settled on Ridgeline’s offering. I specifically did not want a full floor in the tent - because I could see no reason to have it - and I did not want empty the bed in order to install the tent.

Purchased it through Amazon - as it seemed to be the same price everywhere. $179.95. In my opinion, that makes it a very expensive tent by todays standards. Given the quality of it - you can buy the same size on ground tent for around $30.00 everywhere. So adding the straps and special attachments for a truck bed - might have added $10.00 to the cost.. Nonetheless, I bought it because I could not find another truck bed tent that didn’t have a full sewn in floor.

The Ridgeline tent arrived today. I started the first install/setup… before I even got the support poles in - one of the attachment strap mounting points - improperly sewn in - allowed the tent material to start to tear.. Once you start a tear on this material - it tears like paper. Even though it seems strong as steel when the edge of the fabric is double folded and sewn.

So back in the box it went - requested a replacement for a factory defective product from Amazon. Within minutes I got the shipping notice for the replacement {fee two day}. So it should be here by Thursday.. in time to use this weekend at Daytona Raceway. In this case as in almost every case - I’m glad I purchased it though Amazon - I’ll return the first one in the same box the new on is shipped in with the supplied Amazon Return Label. {completely hassle free}. This took less than 3 minutes on-line at Amazon.

My overall impression - even allowing for a factory defective job of sewing - is that the tent is very well designed - but very very poorly stitched together. This is a real shame - as I am certain that the overall build quality could be greatly enhanced - either by another manufacture - or simply spending another $5.00 on seam and sewing quality. Quality that should be expected and delivered for four times the cost of an on-ground tent made the same way.

I’ll use the tent this weekend and report back.. but looking only at the pictures of the Napier Tent - it looks all but exactly the same as the Ridgeline - minus the floor. The seams on the Napier do look like they are better made - but impossible to tell without close up photos of both sides if the seams - so we could see the stitching and seam taping etc.

Oh BTW - I have a soft Rollup Tonneau - the tent had no problem fitting over it.

In the Picture below - the Seam and Connection to the tie down strap pictured on the Left - seems correctly done. The Seam and Connection to the tie down strap on the Right - was improperly done - result in the material starting to tear away with very little pressure. It tore as I was pulling the tent front, over the tail gate.. Wasn't even trying to tighten it down yet.

FWIW,

Carl B.

rowland76543 · September 25, 2015

I went with the Kodiak Canvas Truck Tent. It seemed to be sturdier than the others. But of course it costs more and is heavier.

Also, twenty years in the Army taught me that you can mend or patch canvas with great success. Rip stop polyester, eh, not so much. I've gone through several polyester tents in the past 10 years, but I still half my Army surplus shelter halves from the 60's and a canvas tarp.

I agree that, at least in my opinion, a floor is not necessary or even desirable. Without a floor you don't have to worry about something damaging the floor. And if you spill food or drink inside, you can wash it out no problem without taking the tent down.

Just my thoughts.

TimmyG · October 3, 2015

Now that you tested it send it to me!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[email protected] · October 29, 2015

Gee.. I thought I had Posted a follow-up to my original Post above. Either I screwed something up - or it somehow got deleted.

Anyway - returned the Ridgeline tent to Amazon, and the replacement arrived in two days. Allowing enough time to take a second try at setting it up -before I had to use it camping. Having Read the Instructions and watched a couple On-line Videos, the initial setup took maybe 40 minutes. Going slow and learning. It was pretty easy - once I found out how to identify the back from the front.. LOL

I had planned on camping out in the Infield at Daytona International Speedway - for the 2015 SCCA Run-Off's {National Championship Races}. I liked the idea of having full use of the truck - until it was time to pitch camp for the night. All while not worrying about leaving a ground tent unattended. In that regard the truck bed tent was great.

I already had LINE-X in the bed - and it was a bit rough for a tent floor. So threw in a BedRug with the BedRug Tail Gate pad. Added a Coleman Air Bed {from WallMart} threw in the Cooler and I was set.

Setup at the Track the first night was very easy. Took less than 15 minutes. However the sky threatened "Rain" so I thought I'd better install the Rain Fly. The wind was blowing mildly - trying to put the Rain Fly on with one person - in the wind proved to be almost impossible. After watching several unsuccessful attempts - as the RainFly blew off one side when I went to the other - a fellow Camper came over and offered some help. Which I was grateful for. Now,knowing what happens in the Wind - next time I'll have some weights added to the Rain Fly.

After finally getting set up - and ready for the evening - I found that adding the Rain Fly cut off about 90% of the air flow though the tent. As a mild wind blew the Rain Fly flat against the generous size tent windows. The good News was it did keep the Rain Out - the Bad News was it was Hot and Muggy in the tent with no breeze blowing though.

The tent did hold up without any tears this time. It did keep the Rain off and Bugs Out. Still this one suffered from the same very low quality materials and assembly as the first one. It may last two more times, or if I'm very very gentile and careful - it might last 10 more times...

Overall - the concept and most of the design work well. The exception being how the RainFly is NOT held off of the tent windows. Because of the low quality to Price ratio - I really could not recommend this tent. For that matter - that is most likely true of all of them made of the same materials. Perhaps someone that sells a Canvas tent or some other higher quality material offering = will make it available without a sown in floor.

FWIW,

Carl B.