escadventure
Adventurer
Curious, did you pull the trigger on a purchase? If so, what was your choice?
best pop-up truck camper for offroad exploring
- Thread starter rrliljedahl
- Start date
rrliljedahl
Observer
We have made our camper selection. It has been a long journey for us to come to the decision.
Original priorities were
Pop-up
Flatbed
Passenger side entry
Rear dinette seating
North South sleeping
At least 30 gallons of freshwater
Ability to have canoe and solar on the roof.
Ability to be lived in off the truck
We were in Colorado planning on visiting the Outfitter Camper factory until we were informed that they had no campers in production. Upon further enquiry with others in the camping industry, I heard that Outfitter was having financial issues. We chose to pass on an Outfitter camper.
While in Colorado, we visited the Hallmark Camper factory and were very impressed with the quality and available options of their pop-ups. The roof lift is electric and can take up to 400 pounds. They did quote us a price for a custom camper (they only occasionally build a flatbed side entry) but is was over twice what they normally charge for their standard slide in camper.
We then drove up to the Four Wheel Camper dealer in Jackson Hole Wyoming and who loaned us his new Four Wheel Fleet Ute which is a flatbed side entry for the weekend. Quite spacious and innovative floor plan. Unfortunately, the pop-up roof is manual and my wife had great difficulty lifting it. It has to have a platform support if taken off the truck and lived in.
We visited the Alaskan Camper factory which has an electric roof lift that could handle the solar and canoe. We left having concerns about the flip up sides on the pop-up roof. It would appear that insects and moisture could enter easily.
XP camper presently can not be used when off of the truck. Mark did discuss with me trying to modify the support system so that it can be lived in off of the truck. We decided to pass because of the cost and no North South sleeping arrangement.
My wife also visited the Northstar factory and liked the quality. However the pop-up roof has a hand crank lifting system with a weight limitation of only 100 lbs in the roof. Rex at Northstar also showed my wife their hard side campers which she liked.
After much more soul searching and revisiting our priorities, we have put a hearty deposit down on a
Northstar Escape Pod 900SD
Hard side
Flatbed
Passenger side entry
North South sleeping
9 x 7 Ft floor plan
Rear dinette
2000 dry weight
Northstar builds side entry campers in hardside and pop-up for the overseas market and this camper is used off road in Australia
[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hgdu2xbyc8o&feature=youtube_gdata_player&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dhgdu2xbyc8o%26feature%3 Dyoutube_gdata_player[/video]
. 
We will have 40 gallons of freshwater
300 watts of solar on the roof
Roof rack for the canoe
Dual AGM batteries
Camper will be built in March.
Thank you to all who responded.
I now am in search of a 1 ton, diesel, long bed truck as well as a flatbed.
Original priorities were
Pop-up
Flatbed
Passenger side entry
Rear dinette seating
North South sleeping
At least 30 gallons of freshwater
Ability to have canoe and solar on the roof.
Ability to be lived in off the truck
We were in Colorado planning on visiting the Outfitter Camper factory until we were informed that they had no campers in production. Upon further enquiry with others in the camping industry, I heard that Outfitter was having financial issues. We chose to pass on an Outfitter camper.
While in Colorado, we visited the Hallmark Camper factory and were very impressed with the quality and available options of their pop-ups. The roof lift is electric and can take up to 400 pounds. They did quote us a price for a custom camper (they only occasionally build a flatbed side entry) but is was over twice what they normally charge for their standard slide in camper.
We then drove up to the Four Wheel Camper dealer in Jackson Hole Wyoming and who loaned us his new Four Wheel Fleet Ute which is a flatbed side entry for the weekend. Quite spacious and innovative floor plan. Unfortunately, the pop-up roof is manual and my wife had great difficulty lifting it. It has to have a platform support if taken off the truck and lived in.
We visited the Alaskan Camper factory which has an electric roof lift that could handle the solar and canoe. We left having concerns about the flip up sides on the pop-up roof. It would appear that insects and moisture could enter easily.
XP camper presently can not be used when off of the truck. Mark did discuss with me trying to modify the support system so that it can be lived in off of the truck. We decided to pass because of the cost and no North South sleeping arrangement.
My wife also visited the Northstar factory and liked the quality. However the pop-up roof has a hand crank lifting system with a weight limitation of only 100 lbs in the roof. Rex at Northstar also showed my wife their hard side campers which she liked.
After much more soul searching and revisiting our priorities, we have put a hearty deposit down on a
Northstar Escape Pod 900SD
Hard side
Flatbed
Passenger side entry
North South sleeping
9 x 7 Ft floor plan
Rear dinette
2000 dry weight
Northstar builds side entry campers in hardside and pop-up for the overseas market and this camper is used off road in Australia
[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hgdu2xbyc8o&feature=youtube_gdata_player&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dhgdu2xbyc8o%26feature%3 Dyoutube_gdata_player[/video]
. We will have 40 gallons of freshwater
300 watts of solar on the roof
Roof rack for the canoe
Dual AGM batteries
Camper will be built in March.
Thank you to all who responded.
I now am in search of a 1 ton, diesel, long bed truck as well as a flatbed.
Last edited:
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
You really did your homework. Congratulations on what will be an awesome set-up.
