Getting Back to Camping Basics With iKamper

The camping craze is hot, but more and more, getting out into the natural world involves extravagant van conversions and luxury RVs. That’s fine if you’ve got the time and coin to devote to it, but what about paring it down to a minimal amount of gear to travel light and comfortably, without such a production? That’s the market segment that iKamper fills, and they do it quite elegantly.

- Jim Daws

iKamper builds ingenious tents that truly provide old-school camping enjoyment with a decidedly modern twist.

Take, for instance, their entry-level iKamper, Skycamp. It’s a roof-mounted tent, encased in a hard plastic case that attaches to most small SUVs — or even a sedan — with a roof rack. Open the hydraulically-assisted clamshell-style case and the tent folds out by an extendable ladder and creates enough room to sleep four, in comfort, with lots of room left for gear. It takes just minutes to set up this boondocking paradise, and the unit can be had for a little over $3,000. That’s not a cheap tent, but it’s a small fraction of a van conversion, especially when you add in extra gas, insurance, and maintenance.