Since the CAMP-HBE is very similar to the CAMP-X my wife and I bought a year ago, I'll try to explain the entire pop-top operation (and with much more detail than you are asking as there may be others that aren't familiar with pop-ups). The CAMP-HBE roof is the same as the CAMP-X except about 1.5 foot longer, which is why they can fit three windows per softside rather than two of the CAMP-X. The strut attachment points are outside the canvas but inside the roof line and so are not visible/exposed with the roof down. I like this very much. Keeps the bugs, dust/mud/road grime and snow/ice off of them and sleeker exterior. When you open or close the roof, you want a door, window or vent open, as with all popup campers, to allow air flow displacement. Otherwise you are working against suction while raising and pressure when lowering (which can actually be a useful tool if you have the roof loaded up and want it to come down a bit slower; don't crack the window or vent and much and the air pressure will cushion the lowering.
There are four roof buckles. They are adjustable to get just the right amount of tension to keep the thick seal compressed but not smashed. The buckles come with pins, though they are very secure and don't move even without the pins in place. One can replace the pin with a small padlock if desired. On the OEV site, I saw they added a roof assist option for the CAMP-HBE but I'm not familiar with that setup. Most are manual. With the strut assist, it's really quite easy to raise. Once all four buckles are opened, typically the rear is raised first. With open door and/or vent and standing inside the camper, simply push up on the rear of the ceiling. The ceiling is one solid panel so no need to worry about hand placement as we did with our previous aluminum framed camper which had styrofoam inserts so one had to push up in very specific places. As the roof rises, one can also push the large folding roof support. That unfolds until upright then snaps past center to lock into place. Once locked into place, move to the front. I've found that crawling up into the cabover on all fours and pushing up the roof with my back uses the least amount of effort, but when I've been in grimy pants, etc. often push up the roof just standing as far forward as I can. Much more effort since you don't have the leverage of pushing at the very front of the roof, but again, once the folding roof support bracket comes up, you can push that forward as you push up on the roof. Slow and steady is the name of the game. The struts assist, but you are moving a lot of air and the softsides have some resistance as they unfold and straighten so as you get to the nearly fully open position, you can pause and let the fabric loosen up a bit if it's been closed for a while and then proceed to open the rest of the way.
Lowering the roof you start with the front. In the cabover, pull the folding roof support front its locking point past center. You don't need to fully lower the front first, but get it at least 1/2 way down, otherwise, as you lower the rear, the front can spring back to the up position. But it's also fine to lower the front all the way. Then lower the rear. Of note is these campers do not have any type of groove that the roof lowers into to position it. The folding roof supports do a decent job of keeping the roof centered left to right, but you'll find that when you get it lowered, the roof may be sitting an 3/4" of an inch or so too far forward. Simple method to wiggle it into position is to grab and wiggle the rear folding roof support up and down an inch or so. This easily wiggles the roof backwards into position without the time and effort of trying to shove it from the outside. Once the roof is down and in a satisfactory position, close all four buckles. As mentioned, the buckles are adjustable so adjust so the closed tension is a happy medium of compressing the thick seal without smashing it.
On our CAMP-X, I often didn't want to climb up into the cabover to pull the folding bracket when it was time to lower the roof. I ended up attaching a strap to the front folding bracket that was long enough to allow allow me to stand down in the camper and pull the strap to fold the front roof support bracket without climbing up into the cabover. Once the front has collapsed about 1/2 way, I can continue to hold tension on the strap and grab the rear folding roof support bracket and fold it to lower the rear of the roof. Holding tension on the strap to the front keeps the front from popping back up as the rear lowers and also has the effect of the front and rear of the roof come down at the same time centering it fairly well front to back and requiring less of the wiggle adjustment. While that sounds like I'm complicating it, it took me much longer to type that than execute a roof closure...and I'm a fast typer! Ha.
I'll get some better images of the struts when I stop up next. In the meantime, there are some images of my CAMP-X in that thread (post #6).
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...p-slide-in-pickup-camper.214329/#post-2766747
