The new Sky Rover rooftop tent from Chinese gear manufacturer Wild Land aims to bring a little more RV comfort to the car top with a slick design like none we've ever seen. In fact, it boasts a few features some small camper vans and trailers don't. The hardshell expander combines a remote-controlled pneumatic lift system, fully transparent roof panel, dual-wing expandable floor, and even a dining table and toilet ... kind of.
The last time we looked at Wild Land, it was to cover the company's outside-the-box (literally and figuratively) Safari Cruiser two-story e-lifted truck camping topper (now called the Wingman), another design like nothing we'd seen before. The Sky Rover rooftop tent (RTT) clearly shares some DNA with the top floor of the Safari cruisin' Wingman but also brings a few changes, evolutions and additions.
Like the Safari Cruiser, the Sky Rover RTT uses an electro-pneumatic scissor lift system controlled by a remote. So push a button and the tent unfurls on its own while you're free to unload and set up other gear. The tent roof lifts directly up, and floor extension panels on either side automatically fold out to expand the sleeping area and give the tent a trapezoidal prism shape in place of the common cube. It's a similar structural concept to the one Korean startup TEDpop introduced in 2021, albeit with the added bonus of automated setup.
The Sky Rover also includes a crank-based manual backup setup system in case the automated system fails.
What initially caught our eye on the Sky Rover design, though, wasn't the electric lift system but the fully transparent cover. It's the second design we've looked at with a transparent hard roof and the first in the expanding hardshell segment. Unlike the wedge-shaped form of the IO transparent-roof tent, the Sky Rover design stretches the full length of the clear polycarbonate roof horizontally above the tent floor, opening up more interior space and longer direct views upward to the starry night sky above. In that way, it's also an evolution of the Safari Cruiser top tent, which had an opaque full-length hard roof with a skylight hatch.
For times you don't want all that rooftop transparency – like every morning, after dawn – the Sky Rover comes with a full headliner blackout shade. Of course, the doorway and all three large side windows also have shades, allowing for 360-degree views during the day/evening and a dark sleeping environment at night.
So what of that limited edition rooftop tent toilet? Well, if you were thinking of some kind of a hole in the floor with a tube running down the side of the vehicle to a holding tank or open ground, you might be disappointed. Or maybe relieved (in mind, if not body).
What Wild Land packages standard with the Sky Rover is the type of simple urinal bag backpackers and other backcountry adventurers often carry. It features a funnel-like upper lip for drip-free unisex use and likely comes with some sort of absorbent powder, gel or material that solidifies the urine for more secure, non-sloshy holding and transport. The top seals closed and you then dispose of the bag in the trash – in the morning after a midnight tinkle, in this case.
It might seem a little gimmicky, but it's actually a pretty smart idea for use in a rooftop tent, saving the genuinely undesirable hassle of climbing down in the cold to relieve oneself in the pitch dark of night. The tent only comes with one disposable urine bag, but it's a good prompt for anyone who likes the idea to order a whole box. And it's a little less heinous than the simpler, cheaper hack: an empty water bottle with a new purpose (i.e. Don't drink that! It's not yellow Gatorade!).
Wild Land's version is labeled quite clearly as a "urine bag," so you shouldn't have to worry about your tentmate popping a squat in the corner as if it's a full WAG (waste alleviation and gelling) bag designed for both urination and defecation. And if that's even a vague worry, make sure to clarify that point ahead of time and maybe leave a porta-potty at the base of the ladder. Or find a less filthy campmate.
Wild Land also packages in a standard folding mini-table that can be used right inside the tent as a low dining table or laptop workstation in conjunction with the folding mat that doubles as a lounge seat, also included standard. Wild Land completes the accessories package with an inflatable pillow and a sleeping bag, and all those accessories are designed to be left inside the tent when it's compacted down for travel, at which point it stands at 12.6 in (32 cm) tall.
Wild Land doesn't currently advertise any of those accessories for sale separately, but given that the Sky Rover is designed for two adults and possibly a small child between them, we think it'd be smart to add them to its lineup in the future. It only includes one set with the tent, and what camper wants to sit there watching their partner enjoy a video and snack in their own personal entertainment lounge without one of their own?
Wild Land introduced the Sky Rover this year and sells it in the US for $4,099. We caught a glimpse of it at this month's Düsseldorf Caravan Salon, where German outfitter Campwerk was showing it as part of its expanded rooftop tent lineup. Wild Land also has distributors around the world, represented on all continents besides Antartica.
Check out one of the Sky Rover's first camping voyages in the video below.
Source: Wild Land
