Owning a rooftop tent has always come with a few disadvantages, but the AutoHome Columbus Rooftop Tent has all the pros without the cons.

This past weekend I traded my traditional square, vinyl covered roof top tent for an AutoHome Columbus. I wanted to see if I could notice the difference while traveling down the road and the difference's didn't stop there.

Let's take a step back and go over my truck, that way we have a base to go off. This weekend wouldn't be so eye opening if we didn't compare it to my original tent.

Lets be clear the truck isn't great on gas, given the 33 x 12.5 tires and supercharger hiding under the hood. But, before adding equipment to the roof I averaged around 16-18mpg.

We wont use any names so lets call my original tent the traditional style rooftop tent. I've had my tent for the past 2 years and I've enjoyed it's simple set up and space saving in my truck by running a rooftop tent. But once I added a roof top tent to the truck it's driving characteristics changed pretty dramatically.

After adding an awning and my traditional rooftop tent my miles per gallon dropped to about 12-13mpg. I understood I was going to sacrifice my mpg's by adding an awning and a tent. But I didn't take into consideration the way it would feel traveling down the road.

I've traveled from New Jersey to the Outer Banks in North Carolina so I got used to the feeling of having an anchor on the roof of my truck pretty quick. Lets just say the tent doesn't cut through the wind very well. Although there isn't a lot of wind noise produced you can feel the tent forcing its way down the road. Hence the 13-ish miles per gallon.

So lets try out AutoHome's Columbus rooftop tent. Both tents were equivalent in size, size small, sleeps 2 adults and weighed in close to the same weight. AutoHome 114lbs Vs. my traditional tent at 95 lbs. This will be the only victory for my original rooftop tent. AutoHome offers all of their tents in a carbonfiber version to get the weight down almost 20lbs.

As soon as I hit the first highway I noticed how much nicer my truck traveled down the road. With the slick fiberglass top of the AutoHome I wasn't fighting to keep my truck traveling straight down the road. No more turbulent air which used to make the truck sway or shutter at times. The AutoHome worked more like a spoiler and pushed the air over the truck making for a much smoother ride.

The million dollar question, "Gas Millage?" Call it a small victory but, at the end of my first weekend with the Columbus I was averaging 15.4 miles per gallon. While on a road trip that will be more significant after a few fill ups of premium.

Setup was even simpler than my traditional rooftop tent. The Columbus has a single latch, that a lock can be added to, at the back of the tent. After unlatching and a single push to the top half of the tent, the tent is fully deployed. The shape of the Columbus allows pillows and sleeping bags to be left in the tent.

The sleeping quarters are very well thought out and comfortable. The mattress is 2-5/8" thick and being a person that sleeps on my side I never felt my hip find the bottom, unlike my traditional rooftop tent.

The attic attached to the ceiling of the tent is great. Having a place to put a sweatshirt, book, flashlight, even a back up blanket rather than stuffing everything in a corner is every organized persons dream. There is a built in LED light above the attic that does a great job to brighten up the tent without blinding it's occupants.

By eliminating the fabric on the top of the tent, daylight only enters on the sides of the tent. Keeping that early morning wake up call away for a little while longer. We can all appreciate that.

Closing the tent is as simple as possible. Pulling a nylon rope with a large handle down the tent will slowly return to it's aerodynamic shape. After sliding the ladder into the tent the latch can then be shut and you are back on the road.

After one weekend with the AutoHome Columbus it was an easy decision to keep the Columbus on the roof and post my old tent for sale. With the gain in miles per gallon, the attic space, and road characteristics the Autohome Columbus is a great option when purchasing a rooftop tent. With multiple sizes and styles available find the right AutoHome for you.

We'd love to hear from you!

Get out and experience the outdoors with a great rooftop tent. Contact us or stop buy to shop for your new AutoHome.