FurthurOnTheFly
Glamping Society
So lets begin, at the beginning! (Beware this is a long post!) First of all let me say that the owner of Camping Labs, Fernando, is an awesome guy. He has been nothing but helpful to us since day one, and is not just a business owner but an off-roader himself cruising the Florida coast in his 4 Runner. 
A little background on why we chose this tent. We had been looking at RTT's for months, going back and forth, checking out different models in person, reading and re-reading the tent reviews in Overland Journal. When it came down to it our absolute favorite was the Autohome brand of tents, especially the Columbus and Maggiolina. However, we found that there were two things we just couldn't deal with when it came to the Autohome: losing all of our roof rack space and the price (now over $2k).
When it came right down to it, price was the biggest factor for us. After comparing all the tents and seeing some in person we just couldn't justify spending $1500+ on a tent, and on some of the models we weren't quite understanding what we were getting for that price. After speaking with Fernando and researching his company we felt like we were getting a great deal. We went and checked out a friends similar version of this tent, the "Car-Top-Tent" Mombosa and after seeing theirs in person we pulled the trigger and had Fernando ship us the tent!
It arrived a week later, and as soon as we opened the box we were impressed with the quality. We were pleasantly surprised to find the materials were thicker and the way things are stitched and connected to frame were much more well done than on the Mombosa, so we knew we got our money's worth. We ordered up the ARB Touring rack to mount it to and were ready for our first adventure with it.
One thing we did notice when putting it together was that the ladder had been slightly damaged in transport, and one of the locking holes was drilled off center. We contacted Fernando and he sent us another ladder right away to replace the broken one. Not only that, but when he sent us the tent, he had noticed in pictures of our truck that we had a lift so he sent us the ladder extension at no extra charge. He also sent along a packing blanket to use over the ladder to keep it from damaging the cover. One major complaint with this model of cover that comes on both the Camping Lab and Mombosa is that it is too thin and rips easily. We have not used the packing blanket once, and those who were on the Chiricahua trip know how dense the trees were and we have but one tiny hole in the cover so far.
Fernando has informed us that they will be getting the new and improved covers soon, hopefully within the next month or so.
Set-up of the tent is super easy and takes about 3-5 mins total. You unzip the cover which hangs off the side, pull the ladder down and unfold the tent. You have the option of attaching the hooks for keeping the rainfly and windows open on all sides, one side or not at all if you like. Here are some pictures of our first time using it when we went to the Chiricahuas:
A little background on why we chose this tent. We had been looking at RTT's for months, going back and forth, checking out different models in person, reading and re-reading the tent reviews in Overland Journal. When it came down to it our absolute favorite was the Autohome brand of tents, especially the Columbus and Maggiolina. However, we found that there were two things we just couldn't deal with when it came to the Autohome: losing all of our roof rack space and the price (now over $2k).
When it came right down to it, price was the biggest factor for us. After comparing all the tents and seeing some in person we just couldn't justify spending $1500+ on a tent, and on some of the models we weren't quite understanding what we were getting for that price. After speaking with Fernando and researching his company we felt like we were getting a great deal. We went and checked out a friends similar version of this tent, the "Car-Top-Tent" Mombosa and after seeing theirs in person we pulled the trigger and had Fernando ship us the tent!
It arrived a week later, and as soon as we opened the box we were impressed with the quality. We were pleasantly surprised to find the materials were thicker and the way things are stitched and connected to frame were much more well done than on the Mombosa, so we knew we got our money's worth. We ordered up the ARB Touring rack to mount it to and were ready for our first adventure with it.
One thing we did notice when putting it together was that the ladder had been slightly damaged in transport, and one of the locking holes was drilled off center. We contacted Fernando and he sent us another ladder right away to replace the broken one. Not only that, but when he sent us the tent, he had noticed in pictures of our truck that we had a lift so he sent us the ladder extension at no extra charge. He also sent along a packing blanket to use over the ladder to keep it from damaging the cover. One major complaint with this model of cover that comes on both the Camping Lab and Mombosa is that it is too thin and rips easily. We have not used the packing blanket once, and those who were on the Chiricahua trip know how dense the trees were and we have but one tiny hole in the cover so far.
Fernando has informed us that they will be getting the new and improved covers soon, hopefully within the next month or so.
Set-up of the tent is super easy and takes about 3-5 mins total. You unzip the cover which hangs off the side, pull the ladder down and unfold the tent. You have the option of attaching the hooks for keeping the rainfly and windows open on all sides, one side or not at all if you like. Here are some pictures of our first time using it when we went to the Chiricahuas:
