Smittybilt Inc 2883 Overlander Tent XL

We love our Overland XL. It’s the perfect size for my wife and I and our kids. We sleep up top and have room to stretch out and have our bags up there as well. I’m 6’-04” and she is 5’-10” and it’s perfect. We have been in other RTTs and they would be ok to sleep in but no room for bags. We like that so we don’t have to go back and forth to the car. Our kids sleep downstairs in the annex on two twin air mattresses. They have room for their bags too. It’s a maze to walk through the annex when they are there but it works. This tent is amazing for the price. We eventually want to move to a hard shell RTT but this one has been great and a fourth of the cost of the hard shell we want. We love the Velcro LEDS that come with the tent and the quality is great. The annex was a great buy as it doubles as a changing room/hangout when it’s raining. We set a table up in there when we don’t have the kids for a big free eating and card spot. One thing I wish Smittybilt would do is to put tensioning straps in the inside of the annex so if you put the tent on your vehicle or trailer and it’s not high enough to make the walls taught you could cinch up the walls to tighten them up. I built my trailer so I can raise and lower the tent to the perfect height for the annex. Some people can’t do that. As for the mattress we both sleep great on it. We have a wonderful zero degree double sleeping bag we got here on amazon and it and the mattress is all we need and I’m a big guy at 250 pounds. All in all this is a great and huge RTT for little money. We will eventually sell it and get the iKamper or keep it on the trailer and put the iKamper on the Jeep? Who knows, maybe we will keep it forever? We leave the double sleeping bag in the tent when we pack it up and if fits great.

I've had this tent out a few times now, enough to have a few thoughts on it. Install is super easy. I have the Thule track rack system and the cross bars are much too wide and thick for the bolts and plates that come with the tent, but a quick trip to the fencing section of your local hardware store for some metal strap plates will fix that up, along with some longer stainless bolts. It does make a noticeable dent in mpg's, even on my truck which already gets horrible mileage, so I've taken it off when going on trips where I don't need it. My wife and I can lift it up there and it probably only takes ~20 minutes to re-install, less to get it back off. As for the mattress: I'm a bigger buy, 250#, and a side sleeper, and I have a hard time with this mattress, so I've added a 2" memory foam topper. That helped, but not nearly as much as I was hoping. Last time out I also took a backpacking self-inflating pad (thermarest style), and inflated and put that under the mattress. That is sooooo much better! Takes an extra minute during setup and take down, but is very much worth it! I might just take the memory foam back out and leave the camping pads, open the valves and just fold them up with the tent next time. I also have the annex, which has worked great when the kids and dogs are along, only complaint about that is the door doesn't fully zip (the zipper does not run along the bottom of the door), so my dogs can go sneak out and run about without getting permission. The ladder overhang section is very light, so if you don't use something to hold it down, it will flap about quite a bit in a breeze, and I think in a heavy rain it's likely that water would pool up there. I hate having stake lines running about, so I took the bags which came with some of the tent hardware and put a ziploc full of sand in each that I hang from the corners of that overhang, problem solved. Only real gripe thus far is that there seems to be a nut or a bolt rattle loose from something that falls on the ground nearly every time I open it. I would suggest getting some blue locktite and just going through all of the bolts and fixing that problem. So far I'm super happy with this.

Seller was able to get this tent to me before a trip. Great customer service!! I have no idea how they made it happen so fast but they did and Thank you for doing so!! I mounted it on a factory 1999 Tahoe roof rack. It made it down 86 miles of dirt road with no problems. Set it up just before dark (first time) in about 20 minutes by myself. It rained heavy all night. No leaks what so ever. I will definitely be needing the Annex for this. Slept 2 grown men in it with plenty of room to spare. Mattress is better then expected, comfortable. We were able to sleep with all the sides open for a very welcome breeze in the rain without issues. The led lights that come with it are a nice touch. I do lots of camping so will up date review after a while. I believe there will be enough room for two adults and two young kids. Update as of 12/16/23: This tent is still going strong. I use this thing more then most probably ever will. Cant even count the nights. Been through it all. Thunderstorms with sideways rain, freezing rain and 6 plus inches of snow to the summer heat. Still water and bug tight. 100’s of back road miles and highway. I tell everyone who ask about it they should buy it. You wont regret it!!!

Build quality is good but not excellent. Material is tough. Design is good. I can’t imagine it being able to withstand the stated weight rating, but my family is all on the skinny and short side, so I don’t foresee an issue. Glad I went with the XL. Although I know Smittybilt does not recommend these for vehicle top mount (they say for only trailer use nowadays), it fits great on the top of my LR Discovery 2, and I don’t feel like the added weight up top will be that terrible. My kids and I are pumped and can’t wait to use it. My wife remains a skeptic. Until I have my rack built, I’m using two sets (8 feet, 4 load bars) of Thule 953 super-high gutter mounts. This setup seems adequate for now, but will probably benefit from an air fairing on the front. Will update once I get a few camping trips in!

Actually is waterproof! Very comfortable! I had 4 people sleep comfortably in it. Easy to install and is made with high quality thick materials. Gets great ventilation!

This is a great tent. We use the tent in a week long camping tent in Colorado. A other camping trips in Texas. It has been used in the cold weather, hot weather and during a rain storm and it has held up well. We are a family of 4 with two small children and we all fit and slept comfortably. There is enough space in there. The mattress is a little bit bigger than a king size bed. Make sure you open a window to vent out during the cold weather because the inside makes condensation and some stuff can get wet, but not soak. Other than that I believe it is a good tent and worth the money.

I used this on a custom trailer build. I love it. Quality is great for the price. I see no issues. Time will tell on quality and of comfort of the mattress. Update after one season: Quality is good on the tent. The mattress is too thin. I added a memory foam, king size, but it’s a little small and does make the tent harder to close. Still makes it a ton better, so worth it. Still, it’s a great tent and works great for me.

This tent is huge, I have a 2017 Tacoma long bed and it fits just right on there. If you have the short bed, this will be too big The inside is huge, we have taken it camping several times and I feel like 4 people can easily fit in there. Two adults and a German Shepherd slept in there just fine. The ladder is a little funky, when you open it up the side that sits on the ladder side feels really weak.

Great rooftop tent, I purchased the XL version and it is plenty of room for a family of 4 and the annex is a must. 👍

Arrived fast with free shipping. Install took me a little over 2 hours. Fitted directly on top of my OEM roof Rack. Sturdy and looks amazing. Can't wait to go camping.

Great tent, speedy delivery

The tent took quite a bit longer to arrive than what was stated. I think it sat at customs for a while, so not necessarily the sellers fault but it was difficult to track the shipping. The product seems great. I love the amount of design that went into this tent to make it functional. Installation was very easy, and the instructions were actually super easy to follow. The price point on this tent was really great when shopping around, especially for the size. I really like the LED lighting and the usb extension cord and adapters that came with the tent. Lots of ventilation options to keep the tent nice and cool in the summer. I gave the 4 stars just because of the shipping time and the difficulty tracking the parcel through the carrier.

Exactly what we expected!