It's common for outdoor enthusiasts to believe that the best way to camp is with an RV or camper. However, an even easier way to camp and go wherever you want is to get a truck tent.

Trucks are incredibly versatile vehicles and truck tents take advantage of this versatility by providing a convenient way to camp without having to tow or haul something.

When you have a truck and a truck tent, you're only limited by where your truck can reach. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for fun camping trips.

Types of Truck Tents

There are several different types of truck tents for sale, including roof top tents, pop up tents for trucks, and truck bed tents. When considering the type of pickup truck tent that best fits your needs, you'll also want to consider various truck accessories for camping.

Items like truck bed air mattresses, awnings, portable refrigerators, and anti-condensation mats can all make your life easier on the road. For roof top tents, you will likely need an aftermarket roof rack or bed rack to hold the weight of the tent.

Roof Top Tents

Roof top tents are more or less what they sound like--a tent that is perched on the roof of your truck or SUV or on a truck rack attached to your truck bed. These tents are probably the most visible and popular type of truck tents for camping right now, and there several reasons for that.

Roof top tents look cool, they're very comfortable for sleeping, and they provide RV-style utility without the huge price tag of an RV. Let's take a look at some benefits and drawbacks.

Pros and Cons of Roof Top Tents

Roof top tents tend to be safer than ground tents since they're perched up high and out of the way of most wildlife. They also do a good job of keeping bugs, scorpions, or snakes from finding their way into your tent.

Roof top tents are durable and feature waterproof dense canvas construction and heavy-duty aluminum supports. These tents tend to be very comfortable and often come with a thick foam mattress to provide a good night's sleep.

When it comes to drawbacks compared to other truck tents, roof top tents are the most expensive. They also take some time to break down and are integrated with your vehicle, which can make it hard to go exploring after you set up camp. The high position of these tents can cause them to be buffeted by wind and rain during the night and disrupt your sleep.

SUV Tents

SUV tents are tents that instantly pop into shape via spring-loaded supports. This is different than setting up a traditional tent with separate tent poles. SUV tents are available as ground tents and connect to the rear cargo area of an SUV. SUV tents are light and very popular with the backpacking set.

The main drawback of SUV tents is that they typically have limited room and may still require you to camp on the ground, but they do leave your vehicle free to explore.

Truck Bed Tents

Next to roof top tents, truck bed tents are the second-most popular style of tent for camping with just your pickup. These tents take advantage of the space in your truck bed and can include extensions to extend the living and sleeping space beyond your truck bed.

Compared to roof top tents, they are typically much cheaper and easier to set up. Truck bed tents also don't necessarily require a totally level surface, only your vehicle needs to be level.

Truck bed tents do have a few drawbacks, however. Unlike roof top tents, truck bed tents don't generally come with a ladder or additional accessory to help you climb into your truck bed. You may need to buy a step or stool to make this easier.

Truck bed tents are obviously limited in space based on the size of your truck bed.

Popular Brands of Truck Tents

There are many different outdoor and truck or off-road-oriented brands that make truck tents. We want to highlight a few top brands available on the Action Trucks site and that are also available at most of our Action Truck locations.

Enthuze

Enthuze is one of the top brands in Canada for truck accessories and offers two styles of roof top tents for two or four people. Both styles of tents can also be augmented with an available annex that installs below the main roof top tent to provide some extra room.

These tents come with a foam mattress for sleeping purposes and are easy to set up with just one person.

The tents are constructed of reinforced polyester and cotton for a rip-proof design and polyurethane waterproof coating. Enthuze also makes portable refrigerators, which are great accessories to have on any long camping trip.

Thule

Thule is a popular and recognizable outdoor brand with a varied selection of tents for trucks and SUVs. One such tent is the Thule QuickFit tent. This tent is compact and sets up super fast by easily sliding into the caravan rail of your vehicle.

Thule also makes the Thule Approach roof top tents with universal fitment for your truck or SUV. You can augment any of your camping equipment choices with a Thule awning to provide more cover for your setup.

Napier

Napier makes a selection of different tents and accessories, including the Napier Sportz air mattress, the Sportz Cove SUV tent, and the Sportz Link ground tent. The lightweight Sportz Cove SUV tent is available in small/medium and large sizes.

This is a perfect tent for SUVs, crossovers, and minivans. The tent installs over the back hatch to give you additional covered space beyond the rear cargo area of your SUV.

Backroadz

Napier Backroadz truck bed tents were created with the camping truck owner in mind. These tents are simple to set up and are very inexpensive as well. Using your truck bed as the floor, these tents comfortably sleep two adults and provide five feet of headroom.

Backroadz also makes an SUV tent that combines the rear space of your SUV with a ground tent setup.

Sportz

Sportz truck tents by Napier include tents for full-size truck beds, compact truck beds, and super crew truck beds. Sportz also makes an SUV tent and various accessories. The truck bed tents come with a full floor to keep you separated from your truck bed without adding an extra accessory.

Action can professionally install any of these tents and accessories like roof racks or truck racks at any Action location. Look for the wrench icon to get professional-grade installation. You can find a wide selection of truck accessories for camping on the Action Trucks site or in-store. We stock all types of truck tents as well as additional accessories like air mattresses.