Is the iKamper Skycamp DLX the Ultimate Rooftop Tent?

I love camping. Living in Los Angeles, I'm constantly awash in noise, light, and the thundering horde of the 10.4 million people that live in the greater L.A. area. Being in nature allows me to enjoy silence, dark, star-strewn skies, and unspoiled landscapes.

But there are trade-offs.

As one of my more eloquent friends recently said, “I'm 40 years old. I don’t want to sleep on the ground anymore!”

And you know what, I have to agree with him. I've done my fair share of tent camping, and it can be a bear. Stuff like searching for that perfect, level, rock-free spot. Or battling with the long aluminum poles that always seem to have a mind of their own as the elastic cords running through the center try to whip them around like 8-foot-long nunchucks. Then there’s the teardown process: desperately trying to repack your damp, dirty tent in just the right order to origami it back into an impossibly small stuff sack. No thank you.

So when it came time to prepare for my recent 18-day adventure to Alaska in MotorTrend’s long-term 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser, one in which I would be camping extensively, I knew the last thing I'd want to do at the beginning and end of each long day was to deal with a traditional tent. To me, the best solution was a rooftop tent.

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I've used a number of rooftop tents in the past, and with the prolonged nature of this trip, I was thrilled when iKamper agreed to loan me its top-of-the-line Skycamp DLX model for my journey.

The Skycamp DLX, which will sleep up to four people, sits at the pinnacle of iKamper’s lineup. With a price tag of $5,395, it also sits on the premium side of the market.

Luckily, with the premium price comes a premium experience. Compared to the less expensive Skycamp 3.0, the DLX version features added luxuries like built-in dimmable LED lighting both inside and under the foldout section (which also lights up the ladder). iKamper also lines the floor sections of the DLX with cork, which adds a layer of insulation and sound deadening to the aluminum honeycomb floor panels. Skycamp’s most premium model also ships with its most premium air mattress, a two-piece, 4-inch-thick insulated unit that can be quickly inflated or deflated with the included 12-volt pump.

Over the course of my 18-day, 8,412-mile trip in the Land Cruiser, I spent 15 of those nights sleeping in my home away from home.

Did the Premium Features Lead to a Premium Adventure?

The short answer is a resounding yes.

Setting up the tent when I arrived at a campsite was a relatively quick process. After unhitching the locking cable latches, the top half of the clamshell cover hinges up with the help of gas struts.

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The next step is to extend the ladder horizontally, using it as a lever to unfold the floor extension to its full width. Unfolding the floor also deploys a central metal hoop that completes the basic structure of the tent, with the attached canvas and rainfly being stretched into place. Six flexible metal rods can be slipped into place to support the door and window awnings, although most of the time I chose to install only the ones for the main entrance.

After completing the tent setup, the next step was the only one I think could be improved. While the insulated air mattress is advertised as self-inflating, it’s a somewhat laborious process. iKamper includes a 12-volt inflator pump, but using it involved running its long cord from the 12-volt outlet in the Land Cruiser up and into the tent. It also meant I had to leave the Land Cruiser’s ignition on, with either a door or window open. A battery-powered, cordless inflator would greatly improve the efficiency of the setup process.

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Once inflated, the mattress was incredibly comfortable and, as a luxury, I brought my own pillows. The Skycamp offers enough extra room when closed that I could store my two king-sized pillows, two down sleeping bags, and the deflated air mattress folded in the tent. Not only did that free up valuable space inside the Land Cruiser’s cab, but it made the setup process even quicker.

The process of stowing the tent—essentially the setup process in reverse—is even quicker. The tent features a main strap to pull the clamshell shut (the final step), and more important, two straps attached to the sides that cinch the tent material toward the center as it closes. Keeping tension on those straps means when the clamshell finally closes, you don’t have to go around and tuck loose pieces of tent material back underneath the plastic shell, as I’ve experienced with other rooftop tents. It’s a truly appreciated feature.

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How Was It to Sleep In?

Excellent! As I mentioned before, the insulated air mattress was very comfortable. Combine that with the extremely long travel days, and I slept very well.

Was it overkill to have a tent designed to fit up to four people for just my wife and me? Yes, especially when you consider that for the first eight days I was driving and camping solo. Like I said, overkill. But honestly, I loved having the extra room. Unfolded, the Skycamp DLX has 44.3 square feet of sleeping area. After spending 10 to 14 hours a day on the road, I relished the chance to stretch out.

One thing I’d been concerned about prior to leaving on my trip was the midnight sun. My adventure took me well past the Arctic Circle, and that meant that for a chunk of the journey, it never really got dark. Luckily, the Skycamp series of tents features a 300gsm thick blackout canvas that did a fantastic job keeping it dark inside. The material is somewhat breathable, and while that was nice on the warmer nights and helped it dry quickly (a common rooftop tent problem), it also meant it didn’t hold onto heat as well as I wished on colder, windy nights.

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The built-in LED lighting, one of the features exclusive to the DLX version, was greatly appreciated. I found myself having to choose between using the interior lights or the exterior lights under the floor fold. Each set of dimmable lights requires its own USB battery source, and I only had one that was easily portable. The exterior lights, which illuminate the ladder, were useful, but if I was leaving the tent, I usually had my headlamp on anyway. I opted for using the interior lights, which made changing, reading, and packing up in the morning significantly easier.

The last thing I’ll say about the Skycamp DLX isn’t exclusive to iKamper products, but there’s absolutely peace of mind in knowing you’re sleeping 8 feet off the ground. My journey took me along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, through Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska. I saw bears, bison, and big cats. Can some of those climb ladders in search of food (which I kept out of the tent—I’m not an idiot)? Sure, but that's way more work than just harassing the poor suckers in the tents on the ground. I'm obviously joking, but that added distance between you, the wet ground, and wildlife adds a level of comfort to being outdoors.

Do I Miss It?

I wasn’t joking when I called the Skycamp DLX my home away from home. iKamper has an awesome showroom and distribution center in Kent, Washington. This proved to be a convenient place to return my loaner tent. Not only was it on my route home from Alaska, but they had a forklift, which made removing the 190-pound tent from the top of the Land Cruiser a lot easier.

As I exited the parking lot, now tentless, I immediately had strong feelings of loss. Not only was I coming to the end of my adventure, but now the Land Cruiser looked and felt incomplete. For those 18 days, the iKamper Skycamp DLX was my sanctuary at the end of each day. You better believe I miss it.