Gazelle Ground Tent

[Climber]

I had both hard and soft shelled RTT’s and although they have advantages, I’ve moved to a Gazelle ground tent and haven’t looked back. Two main reasons:

1) If someone moves in a RTT, the whole vehicle rocks. I wish I slept more soundly, but this can wake me.

2) once setup, the vehicle is immobilized until you pack up. Sometimes, it’s nice to dive away from the site.

What are your experiences? An RTT would be excellent if it was just me, but with another a ground tent is working better for me.

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[Gene Dios]

I feel like people have lost the plot between camping and overlanding. Overlanding has come to mean buying a bunch of accessories and kitting your truck to the nines.

Camping = you set up a camp. Static location that you can leave to go fishing, offroading etc. You're staying in one fixed area. Ditching your gear and being nimble is ideal. For example you go to windrock park with friends for 3 days, you don't want to needlessly lug around a 200 lbs tent on the top of the vehicle.

Overlanding = you're traversing a region and sleeping in new spots each night. You can't abandon your gear and leave it behind because you won't be back. Example, you're traversing the Colorado backcountry discovery route and need to be able to set up shop quickly.

I think people just need to determine if they like camping or overlanding.

 

[Valhalla]

You can overland with a ground tent...

 

[Gene Dios]

You can overland with a ground tent...

Of course. And you can camp in one place for a week with a RTT. I can also cut my steak with the edge of a fork. The point is there are two distinct types of outdoor trip here and optimizing for either one looks different.

 

[Enginerd]

This topic has all the horses beaten to death, and back to life, and to death again. On almost every forum, social, YouTube, etc. you can always steer yourself to your desired answer down those rabbit holes.

Do what makes sense for you, many times folks try something different and find it better, or return to what they had, or discover something new.

Too many personal variables to generalize. Your preferences and desires such as what is enough space to change / move around, where do you prefer to be in bad weather and how much space you would like f had to cozy up for a few hours, more or less stuff to haul during explore sessions while maintaining same camp for multiple nights or not, your companions preferences might overrule all of yours if that is what it takes to get them out with you, having or not having to haul a dog up a ladder to a RTT with two people, getting out at night to pee, a kid or kids, people scared of wildlife or big foot in a ground tent.

Just get out there and see what works best for you and your situation. Go play and enjoy nature is what matters end of the day.

For me, I’m team easy pop up ground tent for my camping style and needs.

 

[broadicustomworks]

We reached the same conclusion in our household. We have a T4 that is set up within 2-3 minutes total including the rain fly. It is a bit bulky and a bit heavy to throw on top. But it makes the most sense for US. Others may vary.
We bought a 2nd larger one like you have and found that while we thought the extra space would be ideal, it proved to be too much of a larger PITA to set up and take down, somewhat heavier to throw up top and deal with. The T4 is the sweet spot for us and I love it.
We aren't interested in pulling anything behind us and also feel the RTT route isn't well-suited for what we historically have done.
The Gazelle setup is leaps and bounds better, faster, easier than your traditional Coleman (or whatever brand). The cons and tradeoffs are the weight and footprint it takes up to store and carry. Looks like a cadaver in a sack on top of the Bronco.

 

[Hummell]

I can also cut my steak with the edge of a fork.

This is a lie.

 

[JediMcMuffin]

We reached the same conclusion in our household. We have a T4 that is set up within 2-3 minutes total including the rain fly. It is a bit bulky and a bit heavy to throw on top. But it makes the most sense for US. Others may vary.
We bought a 2nd larger one like you have and found that while we thought the extra space would be ideal, it proved to be too much of a larger PITA to set up and take down, somewhat heavier to throw up top and deal with. The T4 is the sweet spot for us and I love it.
We aren't interested in pulling anything behind us and also feel the RTT route isn't well-suited for what we historically have done.
The Gazelle setup is leaps and bounds better, faster, easier than your traditional Coleman (or whatever brand). The cons and tradeoffs are the weight and footprint it takes up to store and carry. Looks like a cadaver in a sack on top of the Bronco.

Worth noting for folks not keeping track. They did make an improved version of the T4 with different hub designs, thicker material walls, pass-thru ports for heaters and electric cables, and a roof that can be zipped shut even without the rainfly. It's called the T4 EXP. The bag packed up is a foot shorter, but it gained nearly 10lbs.

They also have the new "backcountry" design that makes it a 5-sided tent that has all of those improvements and provides more room and has options like swapping net windows for clear vinyl and adding on a vestibule of sorts, but they sure did raise the price.

I have the Roam Drifter, which is a clone of the original T4, but has black material which is nice for sleeping in, and has all of the improvements of the T4 EXP minus the extra weight and newer hub design. I find Roam's bag to be much better.

Seems like Gazelle lost an exclusivity contract with a manufacturer. I own three tents, Gazelle T3X for summer camping solo or with just one kid. The Drifter for nearly everything else, and a Kodiak Canvas 10x14 Flex-Bow for when the full family is along.

 

[CitrusBronco]

Here in FL at some (maybe all I’m not sure) of our big forest’s RTT camping is not allowed. I’m sure people get by but it’s intended to keep people from living in vehicles in the forests.
stupid law with no exceptions listed.

I have always ground camped, never considered anything else.

 

[Climber]

Worth noting for folks not keeping track. They did make an improved version of the T4 with different hub designs, thicker material walls, pass-thru ports for heaters and electric cables, and a roof that can be zipped shut even without the rainfly. It's called the T4 EXP. The bag packed up is a foot shorter, but it gained nearly 10lbs.

They also have the new "backcountry" design that makes it a 5-sided tent that has all of those improvements and provides more room and has options like swapping net windows for clear vinyl and adding on a vestibule of sorts, but they sure did raise the price.

I have the Roam Drifter, which is a clone of the original T4, but has black material which is nice for sleeping in, and has all of the improvements of the T4 EXP minus the extra weight and newer hub design. I find Roam's bag to be much better.

Seems like Gazelle lost an exclusivity contract with a manufacturer. I own three tents, Gazelle T3X for summer camping solo or with just one kid. The Drifter for nearly everything else, and a Kodiak Canvas 10x14 Flex-Bow for when the full family is along.

All of the ‘new design’ gazelles are sold out!

 

[broadicustomworks]

Worth noting for folks not keeping track. They did make an improved version of the T4 with different hub designs, thicker material walls, pass-thru ports for heaters and electric cables, and a roof that can be zipped shut even without the rainfly. It's called the T4 EXP. The bag packed up is a foot shorter, but it gained nearly 10lbs.

They also have the new "backcountry" design that makes it a 5-sided tent that has all of those improvements and provides more room and has options like swapping net windows for clear vinyl and adding on a vestibule of sorts, but they sure did raise the price.

I have the Roam Drifter, which is a clone of the original T4, but has black material which is nice for sleeping in, and has all of the improvements of the T4 EXP minus the extra weight and newer hub design. I find Roam's bag to be much better.

Seems like Gazelle lost an exclusivity contract with a manufacturer. I own three tents, Gazelle T3X for summer camping solo or with just one kid. The Drifter for nearly everything else, and a Kodiak Canvas 10x14 Flex-Bow for when the full family is along.

This is good to know!
The pass-though ports is a great revision. I have an ETSY 3D printed puck that goes in the zipper to allow for a diesel heater tube (store the actual heater outside of the tent, obviously).
I'm in no hurry to spend more money but am definitely going to check out that ROAM version for future reference.

 

[CalvinT]

I see a lot of the vendors who camp at Overland Expo using Gazelle tents.

 

[Climber]

Anyone have a Shifpod?

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