Tent Recommendations needed.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Rip-357]

I have been talking back and forth with Chat GBT and for my yearly use it is telling me to get the gazelle t4 overland exp. They are having a sale right now where you can get it for $600 instead of $800, but still $600 is high in my opinion. I go camping in Daytona 2 times per year, then Tennessee once a year. In total about 20 days per year max. No snow, and no extreme conditions. I recently got a Ford Maverick and the bed of the truck is pretty small compared to my 01 B2500 I had before, so anything would help. I would love to go all out and convert an enclosed trailer, but I have been doing research and that is much more in depth than I realized. I am open to regular ground tents, or if there is any tents that hook to the bed of the truck as like a rooftop configuration I would be open to that as well.

Thank you in advance!

[u/BrickHuge3023]

Go buy an instant up cabin tent at Costco or Sams Club. i've used mine for several years, love it and nowhere near that cost. Only camp 1-4 times a year and expect it to hold up. Been thru 2 big storms no issue. Love the instant up and down; mine is a 10 man tent but just 2 of us use it giving us a great room for bed, walk around space and room for chairs and a table.

[u/HippieHighNoon]

We almost bought a gazelle but went with a kodiak flexbow tent instead. I wanted a tent for all seasons. And I hated the doors on the gazelle. We got our tent at a discount through competitive edge products.

We also had the kodiak truck bed. I sold it because it was too much of a pain to unload everything from the truck, set it up, and then take it down if we needed to use the truck.

[u/Feodar_protar]

Double check the pack length on the gazelle. They are not small packed down. My google search showed 57 inches for the tent and the ford maverick bed at 54 inches.

[u/Fun_Ambassador_8514]

T4 won't fit in the bed of Mav. I suppose could angle it in there however will render a lot of your bed useless. Nice tent though - just long and heavy.

For "festival" or "event" camping I'd probably get the old standby Coleman Sundome 6 person for <$200 and call it a day. Invest in a quality air mattress like a King Koil 20" height. You'll sleep like you're in your bed at home.

[u/screampuff]

That is excessive for that much use. I would start with a Coleman, Core or Walmart brand Instant-up tents. The ones that have this kind of mechanism where they just fold out with the poles already attached and you slide and lock them into place: https://i.imgur.com/wyqdetP.png

Get a $5 spray bottle of Nikwax to improve waterproofing, if there is going to be heavy rain, learn how to string a tarp between 2 trees or something with your tent under it. This can also be done for shade in the campsite. https://i.imgur.com/T1lVHEW.png

For a cool upgrade on any tent, spend $10 on amazon spiral/drill tent pegs and bring a small cordless drill. Staking out the corners as well as the rain fly/poles is important for structure, windflow and waterproofing. Many people just stake the corners and then wonder why their tent leaks when it's raining.

Consider getting a screen house with the same instant mechanism if you need another sheltered space or protection from bugs

[u/davidhally]

Curious how can one talk "back and forth" with an AI?

[u/screampuff → u/davidhally]

You ask it follow up questions, challenge it on things, ask it to play devil's advocate on both things you say and things it says.

I am an Enterprise Architect and I chat with AI for around an hour per day lol. AI is often wrong or useless unless you do these things. It will confidently feed you wrong information, or send you down rabbit holes that are possible, but not practical.