I'm glad you had good success with your Sparrow. I bought one in mid-August 2020 and it has been mounted on my truck for about 370 days and stored inside during winter. I have 60+ nights in it, all in Colorado or SE Utah. In July of this year, I opened it up to camp and everything inside was soaked. I noticed a very small crack at the front driver's side corner and assumed that was the culprit. I contacted Roofnest and they told me to JB Weld it. ...Errr... OK? This past Saturday, after some serious rain over the previous weeks, we opened it up again and everything was once again soaked. This time, I crawled up so I could inspect the entire roof and found over 2 feet of cracks in the plastic, all located around the depressed, "cargo area" at the back of the tent. I'd never used that for cargo, and have never had something heavy fall on the RTT, so I reached out to Roofnest. They notified me that I was about 6 weeks out of warranty, and offered to give me a small refund of $300 and suggested that I use that $ to buy a truck bed sealant and coat the roof myself. I suggested that, when I contacted them in July, the real culprit of my soaked bedding was not the 1.25" crack I had originally seen, but more likely the 2 feet of cracks that I had not noticed back when it was still under warranty. They were not any more accommodating. Subsequent research today yielded a number of Better Business Bureau claims against them for similar cracks and similar lack of customer service. It appears they have also been sued for not standing behind their products, too. I'm a professional guide with over 30 years of experience leading trips around the world, and I have literally thousands of nights worth of camping experience, using dozens of different tents. I'm super disappointed by the lack of customer service and complete lack of ownership Roofnest demonstrated when I reached out to them. The offer of refunding less than 10% of the purchase price and telling me to spend most of that on sealant is pretty pathetic. Buyer beware...
Thank you for your comment. After digging into bbb and Reddit it seems like they have poor customer service and the sparrows are prone to cracking. Glad the op acct that posted it has had great success with his sparrow 🤙
I have the same tent and I ordered the thermal liner, if you haven't yet, I definitely recommend it for cold camping. Keeps it super warm and isn't too hard to setup and take down. It stores in the tent as well.
Love the set up dude. That's the way to design a life of joy. I have a sparrow and it's nice to get some ideas. I have to incorporate the solar so I can run a fridge. You have enough room for what you need and are able to get out an explore wherever you want. Cheers!
Thank you! It’s been a real pleasure using this RTT. Opened a whole new world to us. Super stoked you are rocking the sparrow too! Hope you hate math great adventures with it!
I found this video helpful. I have the sparrow, and am using it to camp in Zion this week, where it's actively snowing, and down to near 0°. The info on how to layer, was the main reason for watching, and yours was the only video of a Roofnest in snow. Thanks!
@@Engearment You are fabulous. I am a 57 year old granny, but my dog weighs 27 kg 59 lb and now needs to sleep in the van below me. I miss her next to me. I can lift her, but I cannot get her up to the tent. Or down. Meanwhile......... I googled lbs to kg. My bull terrier weighs 27 kg. That's 59 lbs. I can lift her and get her across a cattle grid but I cannot lift her and get us up the stairs to the nest.
Great review. I keep going between this and other models. How do you feel about the headroom? Can you change up there comfortably? Also, solar idea is great. Not sure if you have considered a lightweight electric blanket.
This was excellent, Sean! Do you use leveling blocks to make sure you don't slide in the tent? If so, any tricks. Like the overall setup, esp the Solar to power the refrigerator. Look forward to that video. And dogs have no problems getting up the ladder??
Thank you my friend!! We LOVE the setup. I try to just level out on the ground as best as possible. Sometimes I drive up onto a rock, or even a 24kg kettlebell that I keep in the 4 Runner. It’s so nice having the 160 watts of solar too. It’s enough power to charge the 1000 watt battery and keep our food and eve rates cold. I grab the dogs under the torso and carry them up. Tried teaching them ti climb the ladder, but no luck 😆😆
Hi, enjoyed your video. I am exploring beat purchase options for roof top tents. I do have a few questions about dog logistics. How do you get your dogs easily in the roof too tent? Do you have any sort of portable runner that is used? I want to take my 52 pound dog but don’t think I can lug her up the ladder. Also, what is the cooler brand and I am interested in the brand of your side mounted awning. Thanks!
Thank you! I have not done a video on the solar panels and set up yet. But sure can! I have the Goal Zero battery and set up in this video : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qh0JqAAtAG8.html
Great question! I pick up the dogs under their torso. That way their legs are kind of limp and they don’t try to jump. I should do a video on it and show my favorite ways to do it. Scooping them up when they are in the tent is the trickiest part.
Hello, I have a similar roof nest tent. I purchased a Cherokee with it already attached. My question is do the inner arms need to be "locked" out or do they go to where they need to be upon raising the tent? Thanks in advance
Hey Andy. Stoked you have a RTT on the new vehicle! The struts (inner arms) will erect to proper height. No need to worry that they will go higher. Hope that helps!
Can anyone comment on the comfort level of the stock mattress in the Sparrow? Has anyone compared it to the RoofNest Feather Bed? Any recommendations for one versus the other?
How do the doggos hold up in the negative temps?! I just got an fsr hard shell rooftop tent and plan on doing a bunch of backcountry splitting in Colorado this winter. Good vid!
Thank you!! The dogs don’t go with me if it’s below 10-15F. But they do well with the set up. We run with a few sleeping bags up there. Lots if cuddling. Enjoy the new tent!!
I made this video on how to get the dogs up and onto the tent. Hope it helps! How to put a dog in a roof top tent, and how to take them back out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lCahSKpU9uw.html
Great video Sean! I am thinking to purchase the same RTT as yours, wondering if you can share what kind of roof rack / loading bar you installed for the RTT and the Awning? Thanks a lot in advance! Jay
I close up the doors almost all the way, if it’s coming down hard. Just like most other tents, wpb cloths and take off the wet gear as you enter the tent.
Thank you for the great question. I carry both up there. I scoop under their belly and carry them up the ladder. They are cool with it. Hope that helps!
Hello James! It is the The North Face Casaval Hoodie. It comes out in the fall of 202. That could be why you could not find it :) Here is the review though! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rBYDzEMBe8g.html
I pick the dogs up by hooking my arms under them. Then I approach the ladder and take use my free hands to hold onto the ladder. I should make a video on this as several people have asked how to get the doggos up there. Hope that helps!
Good video, looks like you are in CO. I am in Ft. Collins. Anyway, I am looking at several rooftop tents along with this one. How easy is it for 1 person to pack it up? Does it close in on itself easily or do you have to keep going around the tent tucking in all of the material? Thanks, Jeff
Hello CO friend! It’s really simple to pack up. There are 2 stretchy straps inside the tent that clip to each wall. This helps pull the material inwards abs makes it more streamlined when packing up. I still find a good once over is best practice to make sure all material is stowed correctly. I would say it’s a 2-3 minute job packing it up. Totally doable by one person. I do it weekly in all conditions. Hope that helps!
@@Engearment Ok thank you for the reply. I see Roofnest is from Boulder so I just emailed them to see if they have any display models I can come look at. Still undecided which tent will work best for me.
@@jrb737 Yep, they are out of Boulder. Great guys. I met Tim (the owner) a few years ago and we chatted about their tents over some chicken tika masala :) I was really impressed with their gear. I hope you get to check one out in person as well. Let us know what you wind up going with and what you like about it as well. We are all learning here!
@@Engearment Sounds good. My possible issue is that I have the SofTopper (also out of Boulder) on my Tacoma and I probably won't want to leave the tent attached during the winter since I still need use of my truck. So maybe they will have some ideas.
Just found cracks.on mine...never buying this one again...roofnest suggest using jb weld...get the warranty I guess...because there service is absolutely horrible...check out the bbb reviews...
Wait a minute... Roofnest sent you a new top? Did they charge you for it? Mine had the same peeling and flaking of the outermost, shiny layer of material. They told me I had not unpacked it correctly, which was inaccurate. It looked like you had one crack. Mine now has literally 3 feet of cracks, some up to 1/16" wide. I explained my cracking/peeling situation as it stood at the time in the thread above, which as only continued to get worse. Do you have a customer service contact that you dealt with that you might share, because the folks I was in touch with were unwilling to take ownership of their product. I was very polite and diplomatic, and that got me $300 with which to purcahse sealant and apply it myself.