Thule Outset folding towbar tent – 12 ½ roof top tents in direct comparison

Igloo tents on cold, wet grass are a thing of the past! And so is the limited mobility of roof tents! Is Thule’s € 4,000 Outset towbar tent the perfect symbiosis between roof top tents and classic camping tents? What are the pros, why did we take it with us on our epic road trip, and why are we still struggling? Read on; it’s exciting!

We tested 12 ½ of the most exciting roof top tents in a direct comparison and took along 20 roof tent newbies and experts, 2 small kids, 2 dogs and 1 giant teddy bear on an epic road trip – here for our buying advice, and an overview of all the roof tents we tested.

What does a folding towbar tent do in a roof top tent comparison test? While at first glance it might look completely out of place here, the Thule Outset totally deserves our attention. On one hand, it avoids having to cram a big tent into your car boot, leaving more room for your luggage. On the other, the unusual tow-bar attachment makes it a particularly interesting option and gives roof tent critics some serious food for thought:

• No annoying, time consuming assembly
• No cold, wet ground
• No ladders or aerial antics required
• Less air resistance than a roof tent (which is a major problem with electric cars)

While the Thule Outset might not place you in the same dominant position as a roof top tent, at least it wants to offer some of their advantages – but more on that later! The outdoor community is definitely getting more and more interested in Thule’s new tent concept, with keyword search volumes averaging around one thousand per month. However, € 4,000 is a big chunk of money for a tent on stilts. Are the advantages compared to a normal tent big enough to justify the price?

Thule Outset: preparation and installation

The Thule Outset impresses above all with its ease of assembly. In a nutshell, it requires hardly any pre-assembly; you just have to roll the tent to your car using the wheels, attach it to the tow bar, and clip on the licence plate. The plate holder is already attached to the back of the tent case and securing the number plate is perhaps the fiddliest part of the entire assembly. If you need at least two people to lift a tent on a car roof and secure it to the bars (4 people with alloy hardshell tents like the Intrepid GEO 3.0 and Naturbummler’s Kraftkiste), the Thule Outset is easily installed by just one person in virtually no time: secure the the tent’s coupling system to the towbar and job done! And all by yourself – zero effort and no need to ask your friends for help. The biggest disadvantage is that you’ll have to drink all of the celebratory, post-assembly beer on your own 😉 Oh no!

Assembly and disassembly of the Thule Outset for the trailer coupling

With the Thule Outset, both assembly and disassembly are just as easy as the initial towbar installation. Compared with roof top tents, which require a rather complex procedure, forcing you to climb onto the roof and move around it, the Outset is just a few inches from the floor and all assembly stages are carried out at knee height. However, the assembly of the Outset isn’t quite as effortless and super-fast as with the hard-shell roof tents in this comparison test, the Vickywood, Naturbummler and Intrepid. You’ll have to get familiar with the system and the assembly, as this involves many small steps and isn’t exactly intuitive: for example, how do you position the support legs and cross braces?

Depending on your dexterity, it takes between 5 and 10 minutes to set up the Thule Outset. This includes hooking in the two outer poles that stretch the flysheet over the back window. Dismantling requires more logic and spatial awareness than most roof tents. First you’ll have to understand how and in which direction the poles fold in. The final dismantling step, stowing the tent in the travel cover, can be nerve-wracking, because the cover’s fabric has very little give, making it hard to stretch over all four corners – it’s a real struggle!

The Thule Outset in action

Even if you’re a big fan of rooftop tents, you’ll have to admit one thing: the Outset has several advantages over roof tents, starting with the low access height, which is practical in many ways. Firstly, kids (or even adults) can’t fall off the roof with the Outset, and even party animals who had one or two too many drinks, will find it easier to climb into bed. The Outset is also the ideal choice for people with restricted mobility who can’t climb ladders. Plus, the edge of the tent has an ideal sitting height, so you can enjoy your morning coffee (or nightcap) half in the tent and half outside.

That said, with its low height, the Thule Outset doesn’t inspire the same level of security as a roof tent. For solo female travellers, the raised entrance of a roof tent can be very reassuring, especially if the ladder can be removed and stored inside the tent – which is the case with the Arcta Vento, the Naturbummler Kraftkiste and Vickywood Cumaru. Needless to say, this provides a higher level of protection against unwanted night-time visitors, which isn’t the case with ground- or knee-level tents. Another drawback of the low height is that you lose all the perks of the dominant position, which ensures a unique experience and breath-taking views with roof tents.

Nevertheless, a towbar tent still has a big advantage over roof top tents: maximum flexibility when organising your holiday. Once a roof top tent is up, your car is out of action until you pack it up again, meaning that you can’t just pop to the shops to get fresh bread in the morning, or drive to another place for the day (unless you take a bike!). With the Thule Outset, on the other hand, you can simply detach the tent from the towbar and drive off.

But how did the outsider in this test field perform against the competition during our epic trip, both in the day and at night? Spending time inside the tent, sitting upright and changing clothes is no problem thanks to the 115 cm interior height. Thule also came up with a few good solutions to organise and store your belongings: large mesh pockets on the walls make it easy to dry your wet clothes, and can be used to stow away all your smaller objects. The zips work well and, like the rest of the Outset’s material and workmanship, are of very high quality.

At night, there’s one feature that makes the Outset extremely practical: if you need to get out, you can use the side exits without having to climb over your sleeping partner. Then you can climb back onto your mattress, which most of our testers found very comfortable. If you close the mosquito and privacy screens completely, it’s pitch black inside the Outset. Northern Europe, here we come! Who cares about the midnight sun?

The first good news in the morning: there’s no condensation in the tent! This was the case with only a very select few tents in this test, and could be related to the temperature difference between the inside and outside, which is smaller in a tent that’s closer to the ground than in a roof top tent. Even without an anti-condensation mat under the mattress, everything was dry inside the Thule tent, although to be on the safe side, you can get one from Thule for an additional € 159.95.

It’s not just the inside of the tent stays dry at night but also the ground beneath it: as long as you’re not setting it up in a river or on a stormy day, you can stow away items such as shoes and folded camping chairs underneath the tent base, which gives the Outset another advantage over a roof tent. However, Thule don’t offer a complementary storage solution to protect your items against the elements, like a dedicated shoe bag for example.

Who should take a closer look at the Thule Outset?

The Thule Outset towbar tent is a great option if you want the best of both worlds: the protection against crawling insects and soaked ground which you only get with a roof top tent, and the freedom to use your car whenever you want, which is only an option with a conventional camping tent. The Thule Outset is also a suitable choice for 2 (+½) people who have a vehicle with a towbar, and would rather use the space on the roof to store bikes or other things – or for a second tent on the roof if there isn’t enough room for the whole family in the Outset. Thule’s towbar tent is also an attractive option for people with limited mobility and for those who can’t or don’t want to climb a ladder.

However, if you’re on a budget, the € 3,999.95 price tag might be a major setback, so you’re better off looking for alternatives with comfortable knee-height access – you’ll definitely find what you’re looking for online. And if the lack of a towbar attachment isn’t a deal breaker, there’s a decent selection of stilt tents out here, with prices starting at a very reasonable €1,000. There’s some food for thought!

If you want to take your bikes on holiday, the Thule Outset is obviously not the right choice, at least not if you use a towbar bike rack.

For e-cars, on the other hand, the Outset is definitely a great option if you’re worried about a roof tent affecting your battery range. On our rooftop tent road trip, the ID. Buzz and Thule Outset were a pretty good match. Interestingly, our road trip showed that the increased consumption caused by a roof tent can be easily compensated for with a more relaxed driving style – you adjust to the new situation and just drive a little slower. However, if you adopt the same chilled driving style with the Outset on the towbar, the Thule is an even better alternative, reducing energy consumption compared with a roof tent.

Small drawback: if you want to camp in the wild, you should think carefully about getting the Thule Outset. Unless you’re in a designated camping area, you’re already in a legal grey area if you set up a roof tent. With a tent on the towbar, it’s even harder to convince a park ranger not to fine you.

Our conclusions on the Thule Outset tent

This is a hard one! There’s not much the Outset does wrong: in typical Thule fashion, it’s a high-quality product, and also an excellent choice if you want to keep your roof and boot free. Another advantage is that you can use your car at any time. On the other hand, being so close to the ground makes you feel more vulnerable, and makes your camping experience less exciting than with a roof tent. At the end of the day, the Thule Outset is simply a tent on stilts – and you can get one of those for as little as € 200 if the towbar feature isn’t a must.

Tops

• Allows you to detach the tent from the car
• Easy installation compared to roof tents
• Knee-height access
• High-quality workmanship

Flops

• Not entirely foolproof, and not as easy to assemble and dismantle
• Doesn’t feel as safe as a roof tent
• Leaves you in a complicated legal position when standing free
• Lack of a shoe bag or a way to store shoes at night

For more info, visit thule.com

The test field

Click here for our big comparison test – 12 ½ roof top tents in direct comparison

All roof tents in test: Front Runner Feather Lite (Click here) | Decathlon MH 900 (Click here) | Vickywood Cumaru Light 127 ECO (Click here) | Yakima SkyRise HD Tent MD (Click here) | Qeedo Freedom Air 2 (Click here) | Thule Foothill (Click here) | Gentle Tent Sky Loft (Click here) | Arcta Vento (Click here) | Thule Approach M (Click here) | Intrepid Geo 3.0 (Click here) | Naturbummler Alu-Kraftkiste (Click here) | Thule Outset | Naturbummler Flitzer I L (Zum Test)

Words: Felicia Nastal, Julian Schwede Photos: Mike Hunger, Robin Schmitt