It may be hard to believe right now, but fall is just around the corner — which means, with the scorching ambient temperatures and the soupy humidity of summer begin to subside, we’re about to be in the ideal temperatures for camping season.
While there are a variety of ways to accommodate sleeping arrangements once the fire burns out, the smores supply wanes, and the time to turn in for the night approaches — rooftop tents, regular tents, camping trailers, campers, et cetera — in this case, we’re talking about pop-up tent trailer campers.
Which, of course, may beg the question:
What Exactly Is a Pop-Up
Tent Trailer?
When it comes to camping, you can always go the bougie glamping route with a decked-out motorhome, a camper bus, or even a fancy-schmancy Airstream; yet these are big, cumbersome and pricey compared with the freedom and flexibility of other forms of camping. On the opposite side of the spectrum, one can go back to basics with a simple tent. Even with padding, though, trying to sleep on rough terrain however can be a major turnoff for many. Thankfully, there are plenty of alternative happy mediums in between — one of which is the pop-up tent trailer camper.
Think of it as a basic camping tent—or even, in some cases, a mobile compartmentalized gazebo—mounted permanently atop a small trailer chassis and equipped with onboard amenities. More than that, though, it’s all efficiently bundled together with sleeping arrangements that your back might appreciate — in a package almost any car can tow.
Advantages and Disadvantages
of a Trailer Tent
Pop-up trailer tents often come equipped with items similar those of a much larger camper, but in pint-sized portions. For example, depending on the model, you might find a small cooking station, hardtop and dinette seating surfaces, extra storage spaces, a kitchenette sink, even air conditioning. The standard features list tends to include integrated electronics and plumbing, flexible connectivity options for water, propane, and power hook-ups, and more.
But at the same time, trailer tents are not as cumbersome or expensive as full-sized trailers, which need heavy-duty pickups or beefy SUVs and lots of space to haul. Most pop-up tent trailers weigh less than 3,000 pounds meaning they can be hitched up to most mid-to-full-size vehicles, like your average crossover SUV. Additionally, many pop-up trailer tents collapse into it their chassis for mobility purposes; yet when set up at one’s favorite camping site, they’re screened off to keep nature out.
There are a few disadvantages, though — particularly if you’re a stickler for square footage, or if you have large groups of people with you, as tent trailers are meant to be a compact and efficient way to camp. And you do need a vehicle with some sort of tow hitch to be able to drive off with one. Those without a factory hitch would have to consider aftermarket options.
And then there’s cost. While they are significantly cheaper than a larger camper or “destination” trailer, they still can cost a pretty penny—at least, when compared to your average tent that costs a few hundred bucks. Most brand-new pop-up campers range from as little as $7,000 to over $20,000 for the larger, more lavishly equipped models.
