The all-new Mohab Altus is a vehicle rooftop shelter series like nothing we've covered before. Using an electric-lift system, it rises into a boxy cabin that lives atop your vehicle. With four hard walls of solid weather protection and available heating and air conditioning, the Altus blurs the line between tent and RV, turning any pickup truck or 4x4 into a comfy camping rig with rock-solid all-season protection.
When we first rolled across the name "Mohab," we assumed it was a play on Moab, the all-off-road red rock paradise of Southern Utah that's pronounced in two syllables: Mo-Ab (rhymes with Slow Cab). Upon a couple seconds more reflection, "Mohab" struck us as a cross between Moab and Ahab, the wayfaring sea captain of "Moby Dick" fame – off-road camping equipment for vehicle commanders, of landlubbing orientation, with minds fixated on a singular objective?
Not exactly. As it turns out, the phonic proximity to "Moab" seems but a happy bonus, as the name was really crafted as a portmanteau of Mobile Habitat. And "mobile habitat" is an excellent way to describe the boxy, hard-walled Altus shelter that overmatches the average vehicle roof, designed to be mounted exclusively to rugged trucks and 4x4s with special hardware. So forget "rooftop tent (RTT)" and consider the Altus a mobile habitat.
Based in Denver, Mohab is the latest American brand incarnation for a Chinese manufacturer that previously went by "IIM Camper" and called Sacramento its US home. We were vaguely familiar with IIM Camper thanks to its presence at SEMA for the past few years and the YouTube videos it published during that same time period that highlight its unique hard-wall shelters. Mohab announced its own presence at last month's Overland Expo SoCal show, where it served as a sponsor.
Chinese brands may still have the hard-to-shake reputation for selling cut-rate copycat camping and overlanding gear, but they've also been innovating in the space. We have not seen a mobile habitat quite like the Altus developed by any brand outside of China.
Wild Land and Topoak are two other Chinese brands building thoughtful, high-quality gear.
We have seen some slow, steady growth in US-designed hard-walled rooftop tents in recent years, but they've all been wedge-style tents that often cost double or more what a high-end fabric RTT would cost. We haven't previously seen a space-maximizing hard-sided roof cube like the Altus, outside of Alibaba and the videos IIM Camper and a few other Chinese manufacturers have published.
It's not hard to see the big advantage in developing a full-length lifting roof in place of a hinged wedge: a doubling of interior volume and full headroom throughout the entirety of the interior. The Altus features an electric roof-lift system designed to open in 60 seconds at the push of a button. The side walls are split into two hinged panels that unfold into form as the roof rises, while the front and rear walls are single-panel designs that swing manually into place. A manual override system lets users set the cabin up without power.
The Altus exterior measures in at 93 x 54 in (236 x 137 cm), clearing plenty of space for a double mattress inside. It's also available in XL size, with a body that measures 101 x 54 in (257 x 137 cm). Mohab rates both for two adults and a single child or pet, though that might very well entail someone sleeping crossways at the head or foot of the bed since a ~50-in-wide (127-cm) mattress might prove too narrow to fit three people comfortably side-by-side. Both standard and XL roofs open to a height just under 45 in (114 cm) and close to a drive height of 8.7 in (22 cm).
The Altus series is crafted from aluminum alloy framing and PET panels. Those materials help to keep weight down, but the sheer size of the thing makes it heavier than most: the Altus weighs in at 265 lb (120 kg), the Altus XL at 276 lb (125 kg). While that's more than the average two-person rooftop tent, it's not the heaviest we've seen listed, especially when looking at other hard-walled designs, a couple of which have hit or neared 300 lb.
Other Altus and Altus XL features include slider windows on each side, a lift-up hatch door at the rear-end, an HVAC port for running in air conditioning or heating, and a hinged roof that lets you poke your head outside for panoramic views of your surroundings.
The Altus cabin has been designed to work exclusively with Mohab's Fortis rack systems. These include midsize/full-size pickup bed racks, pickup bed caps, and reinforced-cage racks for select 4x4s like Jeep Wranglers and Ford Broncos. That might sound like the company is setting up buyers for extraneous extras at a huge double-price tag, but the entire system is actually quite reasonable at US$5,139 for the Altus cabin with pickup bed rack and $6,049 for the Altus with truck cap. The Altus with 4x4 rack prices in at $4,869.
The Altus XL is currently only advertised for over-bed pickup truck mounting, pricing in at $5,449 with rack and $6,449 with cap.
Those prices may very well change, as Mohab is still in the process of setting up a dealership network ahead of an official US hard launch later this spring. Beyond the actual mobile habitats, it plans to offer a variety of overlanding gear and accessories, including water tank/shower systems, vehicle-mounted awnings, and portable kitchen boxes.
We'll keep an eye out for Mohab's official launch and retail partner network as we get deeper into spring, particularly once Overland Expo West gets underway in mid May.
Source: Mohab
