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I have just been looking at sites from Australia ,New Zealand and South Africa where there seems to be a fair number of these roof tents being sold.

Does anyone import or sell these in the U.K? does any one out there own/use one and if so what are their good/bad points etc.

We have a Howling Moon. Worked out in South Africa and originally had a technitop but researched others before we returned and decided the Howling Moon was the best for our needs. Certainly, if the weather is really pleasant you can open up the tent and get lots of ventilation in. We also roll up the fly sheet if it is not heavy driving rain....the tent is waterproof without it we have found unless it is really blowywith driving rain (altho' we have not tested it in these conditions without the flysheet).

Downside of the regular howling moon tent (but not the tourer, I would imagine) is that if you have the flysheet on in the wind it flaps and can be quite irritating. This is why we have generally rolled it up. The flysheet on the Hannibal tent (also South African) seems more sturdy but we still prefer the howling moon tent for ventilation reasons. We thought the pole set up inside the H.M. also gave more room inside than other makes.

We used to camp in a ground tent, but bought a roof tent in South Africa for a few reasons: fun, easy to put up, you have a ready made beds as it unfolds, and you can leave most of your bedding in.. We have never regretted bringing ours back and using it here, but probs would not have necessarily bought one in the UK as they are so expensive and you could probably get much better value for money with a ground tent. If you are rich and carefree, go for it as they are fun : )

Other BIG downside is that they are heavy to put on your roof so we just leave ours on, but then fuel costs are a bit more expensive cos of drag produced...altho' we have not noticed this particularly. And of course you would need to purchase a roof rack that would take the tents weight.

Another downside ...you can not use your car with the tent up : )

Expedition suppliers in UK sell roof tents. I think the ones down south do Ezi Awn and Hannibal. There is one in Yorkshire which sells howling moon but can't remember their name.

These be the peeps for Howling Moon stuff    http://www.trekoverland.com/

Try checking out the website www.autospace.co.uk and have a look at this very innovative new kind of frame tent that stows neatly away beneath the roof rack of a 4x4, van or campervan and slides out rearwards and unfolds very quickly and easily into a large ground based tent. I've got one mounted on a Land Rover and it's unbelievably easy and convenient to use, and very roomy. It's like having a trailer tent without the trailer to tow. You can also still use it with roof tents too provided they open to the side or front of vehicle. The only downside is the wait for delivery as they are all hand built to order in the U.K. and there's a queue of customers waiting to get one at present.

Being from the Landrover world I can say there are loads. I have used Hannibal a couple  of times and found them superb.

Caranex, Autospace, Hannibal, Overlanders, Eezi-Awn to name a few.

My husband and I looked into this last year.......being old age travellers ourselves we wanted the easiest one to put up and put away....After looking at the ones mentioned above, we found the one that came out tops for us was the Italian made Maggiolina roof tent. You can keep all your bedding inside when packing away and everything is protected by the hard outer case. Looks quite snazzy on our LR110...Really nice quality and great service from the people at www.boab.biz. Have a look at their website, it is quite helpful. 

Hi,

We bought a Howling Moon tent (the tourer version + annex) (over £1600) at the Enthusiast show this year after months of deliberation on various makes of roof tent.

We have as yet not actually used it.Merely trial fitted it to the Discovery Expedition Rack.

We agree it is very easy to put up and the system looks good,however we found that when we fitted the waterproof cover for the first time (on the stowed tent) we found small thumbtack size holes about 6" in on the diagonal from each corner.These were on the top surface and all 4 sides.

On the same evening the tent was fitted it  rained.

When we removed the cover we found pools of water on the tent base (underneath where the holes were).Plus on inspecting the inside of the cover we found that the front upper edge seams had leaked leaving water on the tent base area underneath where the ladder stows from the front to the back.

We also own the "Annex" (part of the tourer system).We found that in the rain that the stitching that holds the groundsheet zips in position leaked badly making the groundsheet into a paddling pool !.We found this out because when we first fitted the tent to the rack we did not zip on the annex or have the Awning fitted which we also bought.So when oppertunity arose we put up the tent and zipped on the annex and fitted the awning.Guess what ?..It rained for a couple of hours (typical british weather).It was good that it did rain as we watched  rain water seep through the stitching and zips that hold the groundsheet in place to the point where we had a substantial pool of water in the groundsheet.

We are still awaiting the Manufacturer to address the problems and are not too pleased with their efforts and level of communication.

When we were discussing with the agent prior to committing to the purchase we were told that the tent was suitable for all weathers and then later on speaking to the manufacturer in South Africa because of what we had found ,he has commented that due to the climate in SA they do not get these problems.

Hence we are seriously beginning to doubt the suitability of this tents construction for the UK and European climate.Even though when it was sold to us we were told that it was suitable.Baring in mind that it currently sits in our front room because we cannot leave it on the rack due to the leaks.!

Somehow we are glad it rained on both occasions and we seen the faults  when we were putting the system up at home ,otherwise our first trip away could have been disappointing.

I have tended towards ground based tents for overland trips.  This because of the hassle of needing to strike the tent if you want to use the car and because I have been travelling 4 up.  The high weight issue is also a problem.  In South Africa I used the various canvas dome designs available and they were great - quick to put up and none of that threading the pole nonsense that European plastic dome tents require.

However speed of pitching becomes the key issue if you also have to cook etc and this is where the roof tents really pay off.  That is until I found the Oztent.  Last year we did a 2 week Pyrenees off-road trip.  New campsite every night except two.  Wife and two kids in tow.  I bought an Oztent RV4 complete with flysheet and awning sides/front.  The tent took 4 collapsible campbeds side by side.  The main tent goes up in seconds due to a very fancy hinged interior frame mechanism and the awning design lets you reverse the rear of the car into it creating a completely covered car/ante-room/tent complex.  We had the worst thunderstorms you can imagine and even had to pitch and cook during one. No leaks - awsome.  All the roof tent owners on the trip were complaining of damp mattresses and bedding.   

The downsides (there are always downsides) are the price and the packed size.  The tent was over £700 all in which is cheap in comparison to a rooftop tent but expensive compared to a £200 plastic tent.  After two days using it this downside had evaporated due to the incredible ease of pitching - it was worth £50 every time you pitched it and avoided the 30 minute battle with a conventional tent.  The packed size is awkward in that it packs into a 2.1m long by 30cm diameter roll.  This requires a full length rack or other rooftop stowage solution.  I used the whole side length of  my frontrunner rack.  Stowing it on the roof needs a bit of manhandling.  I managed with a sort of Scottish caber tossing type of method but it was the one part of the process I didn't look forward to.

All in the Oztent is a very good compromise - size for 4 people, speed of pitching, very waterproof and versatile.  I will definately take on my next trip to North Africa or anywhere else.