A few words about ALUTOP 3 – Hit the Road.

The days are getting longer and warmer. It’s a pretty good time to sum up our autumn-winter adventure with the Alutop 3 tent by dmtents. The brand has now undergone rebranding and new generations of tents are now available under the OFFLANDER banner. This is our second roof tent – it has a very similar construction to its predecessor, so you will definitely notice some similarities in the solutions used.

The biggest advantage for us is the completely rigid shell of the tent. Many times, while driving through tight, forest paths, we had to break through branches. In the case of the previous tent, the cover of which was made of plastic, the risk of damage was quite likely. Once, even the roof of the tent gave way under the weight of a larger branch and a crack appeared that required repair. In the case of the Alutop 3, all such worries are gone. The strong, aluminum frame and filling made of durable fiberglass allow for much more. Even when we changed cars and went for a weekend in a much more lively Ford Ranger Raptor, we did not worry about damaging our bedroom on the roof. Another thing is that the possibility of entering the tent and admiring the panorama of the place where we are staying from above delights us to this day.

Another plus is the solid fabric. All the seams are carefully sewn, nothing gets stuck when opening, and the material itself is thick enough that after closing all the zippers, practically no outside light gets inside. Which is not a dream situation for Patrycja, who does not feel best in total darkness. Fortunately, a slight „opening” of one of the four windows solves this issue.

The canopies over the main entrances are great in the rain. They keep you from getting wet when you go inside and give you the option of leaving the entrances open for better ventilation – even during the heaviest downpour. However, when there is a strong wind, the aforementioned canopies flap quite loudly, which is especially annoying when sleeping. If we decided to buy this model, I suspect that the apron would quickly end up at the seamstress’. I [Mateusz] would modify these canopies by adding the option of unfastening them at the bottom and rolling them up over the entrance. Thanks to this, nothing would flutter in the wind, and when unfolding in sunny weather, you wouldn’t have to remember to put in the rods. Additionally, in the rain, it’s great to still have the option of covering the entrance!

Interestingly, unfastening the entire material seems very easy, as there are two zippers at the top and bottom. Therefore, taking the fabric out for repairs, alterations and cleaning should not pose many problems.

When I received the test model, I was most worried about its size. I’m 192 cm tall myself, and a two-meter mattress seemed to be just right (our previous tent was 230 cm long). However, in practice, it turned out that two meters is enough even for me. And since we’re on the subject of dimensions, it’s worth mentioning that despite the number 3 in the name, the tent is definitely better suited for two people – three people might be too tight in it.

At the end of the year I installed a car heater powered by fuel from the car tank. The Chinese Webasto set to the lowest level provided complete thermal comfort inside the tent at a time when the outside temperature dropped 10 degrees below zero. Here we also appreciated the canopies over the entrance, because when introducing the hot air pipe into the tent, we had to leave the zipper slightly ajar. The canopy gave us the certainty that falling snow would not get into our cozy bedroom.

But let’s be clear – it’s not so rosy in every respect. A big minus is that a ladder won’t fit into the tent.

The main problem is storing things in the tent. One thin sleeping bag and a pillow inside the tent will allow you to close it, but you have to carry the second sleeping bag in the car.

The fittings in the new batch are much better, but in our copy, opening and closing the tent is not very easy and requires a combination of strength and cunning.

After the tent is set up, the roof doesn’t rise high enough to allow you to sit comfortably inside. This doesn’t bother me much, because I’m used to things in the world not being adapted to people my height, but Patrycja mentioned several times that those few centimeters above your head would definitely make changing inside more comfortable.

The black color looks very elegant – you can’t take that away from it. However, when we delay folding the tent on a hot, sunny day, the tent can get very hot. Inside, it’s not a big problem, because opening all the windows allows you to quickly and effectively lower the temperature. However, problems arise when folding, when, for example, the handle gets so hot that it’s hard to grab it with your bare hand.

In my opinion, the tent is worth every penny spent on it. I don’t know if you can get such a solidly made tent in this budget. Obviously – hard-shell roof tiles are not the cheapest option, but when you plan to go to places with a lot of bushes and branches, there is really no other option.

We have a few weeks of camping ahead of us, where we will check how the tent performs over longer distances, but after all those nights spent on the roof of the Terrano, we are convinced that the Alutop 3 will do the trick!