SkyRise Medium, Red

Context: I've been a happy Yakima customer for 25 years, thanks to the consistent quality and durability of their products; two cross bars and a set of SKS lock cores have already served me well for 25 years over five different vehicles. So of course, after spending 3 years cross-shopping rooftop tents, I was excited (to put it mildly) to see that Yakima finally entered the game. Combined with REI's bulletproof customer service policies, an affordable Yakima-branded tent was too good to pass up for this summer. Unfortunately, the Yakima SkyRise tent has neither the quality nor the durability to be worthy of the Yakima name. It's a decent design on paper, but the workmanship and material selection are WAY below the bar for name brand goods, let alone for a tried and true brand like Yakima. I have a feeling Yakima's product folks were simply too inexperienced with "soft" products to realize they were short-changed by their white label suppliers, and just HAD to put out a product for the season come hell or high water. The engineer in me suspects parts and materials were chosen to handle 1x safety factors rather than the 3-5x a reputable manufacturer would use for products in the USA. This is a rookie mistake, and not befitting the generation-long reputation that Yakima had previously earned. If you buy this product, you have wasted your hard-earned money. Circumstances for this review: I've slept in my 3-person "Medium" SkyRise about ten nights in the two months since I bought it, all "dispersed camping" scenarios in National Forest land in the PNW. I have not yet used it in more than light rain or in temperatures below 40 degrees. I am 5'9" 170lbs and camp with a 45lb dog. The Good: -- It's a rooftop tent for under $, under $ if you use your REI 20%. That's hard to find. It is _awesome_ to pull up to a campsite that sits on lumpy/cluttered ground and know you will have a flat and warm place to sleep. -- It's stable and light (~100lbs for the 3-person), meaning it will fit on more vehicles than a lot of the competition and for the ones Yakima has tested and approved, you know you're golden. -- The 3-person tent is very roomy compared to regular ground tents like the REI Quarter Dome 3. It won't be comfortable for three human beings, but two people and a dog plus a backpack or two will fit easily, even if you're tall. Interior length is very generous for the capacity rating, and peak height is good. The "folding book" design means you get a lot of sleeping space for relatively little roof space. -- Setup is very fast and easy, provided you forego the rain fly. I've got it down to less than 5 minutes without rushing it. -- Mounting was fairly easy. There is a good amount of adjustability and stability in the brackets that attach the tent to the roof rack cross-bars. This is an area where Yakima excels relative to the competition, as one would expect. -- The vinyl weather cover - the one you use when the tent is all folded up and you're driving down the highway - is fairly durable, except for the stitching (see "The Bad" below). I assume this is because Yakima has prior experience with vinyl covers. -- The telescoping ladder is decent. It's stable and plenty strong. You'll have to experiment to see which sections to expand to match with your car's roof height, but once you figure it out you're in good shape. Unfortunately the fittings that attach it to the tent frame are weak and wobbly with a few hollow aluminum rivets that seem to have been chosen for 1x safety factors (again, 3-5x would be typical for applications bearing the weight of human beings). -- There are plenty of windows and vents to give you all the visibility and ventilation you need. Every flap has an eye-and-toggle fastener to keep it open. Like with any double-walled tent, just be sure to use the rain fly if you want to prevent condensation inside the tent on cool nights. -- I was worried my dog would have trouble getting in and out. Your mileage may vary, but my little guy loves being in the tent and cooperates as best he can. He will prop his paws on the first rung of the ladder when he's ready for bedtime. He wears a harness with a "briefcase handle" which allows me to lift him up and down. -- It's a conversation piece. People will ask you about it, want to climb up and look inside, and tell you they've been thinking about getting one for years. it turns out a LOT of people want rooftop tents but are afraid to pull the trigger. If you're into that kind of thing, it's cool. If you don't love the tent yourself, it may be hard to keep the fantasy alive without demurring or lying. I've resorted to telling people "if you need a tent this season and you can't spend over $2k, do it. Otherwise get XYZ or ABC brand, or wait two years until Yakima fixes their mistakes." The Bad: -- Many woven and/or sewn pieces started fraying badly from the moment I started using it. That includes the vinyl weather cover and var...

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