The Thule Outset solves the two things that quietly annoy every rooftop tent owner: the ladder you have to descend at 2 a.m., and the fact that wherever you pop that tent open is where your truck is staying for the night.
Thule debuted the Outset at SEMA 2025, and the overlanding community’s reaction was immediate. The concept is simple but genuinely clever: instead of mounting a tent on your roof rack, this one clips onto your 2-inch hitch receiver. It deploys in under a minute, sits roughly two feet off the ground with no ladder required, and critically, it can be left standing at your campsite while you drive away. That last part is the game-changer.
If you’ve ever gone overlanding with a rooftop tent, you know the frustration. You set up in a good spot, crack open a cold one, and realize you forgot the firewood, the headlamps, or in one particularly embarrassing scenario recounted by a Hagerty writer, the hot dogs. With a rooftop tent, that is your problem now. With the Outset, you unclip the tent body from the hitch mount, load up, and go. The mount stays on the vehicle permanently; the tent structure is separate and can be left behind. It weighs 163 pounds and folds to 56.8 by 29 by 35 inches when closed, which fits most standard truck beds for transport or slides easily into a garage corner.
Deployed, the Outset opens to a 104-by-56.7-inch footprint with 70 inches of headroom. The sleeping surface is a full foam mattress measuring 88.6 by 52.8 inches with a 2.7-inch loft, so you are not sleeping on a sleeping pad. The tent fabric is 600D polyester ripstop with a separate rain fly, and the frame is aluminum. Thule rates it for three people, though independent testers who have spent multiple nights in it say it comfortably accommodates two people plus a dog or a small child.
Setup and teardown are genuinely fast. One person can have it deployed in under a minute once the hitch attachment is in place. That hitch mount stays on the receiver permanently, which means your daily driver loses about two inches of rear overhang but otherwise looks stock. The tent body attaches and detaches from that mount, and this is where reviewers have flagged the one legitimate complaint: reattaching the tent to the hitch mount after it has been sitting at camp is genuinely awkward and takes real effort, particularly if you are doing it solo. Getting it off is easy. Getting it back on is less so.
The vehicle requirements are worth noting before you buy. Your rig needs a 2-inch hitch with a tongue weight capacity of at least 163 pounds, a hitch height between 9 and 20.8 inches, and no more than 7.5 feet of distance between the rear wheel axle and the hitch receiver. Most full-size trucks, Jeep Wranglers, and properly equipped midsize trucks will qualify. Many crossovers will not.
The Outset addresses something that the overlanding market has been dancing around for years. Rooftop tents became ubiquitous partly because they keep you off the ground and out of the elements, but also because they feel purpose-built for the lifestyle. The drawbacks, though, have always been real: the ladder is a genuine safety issue, especially on rocky or uneven ground, and the drag penalty on your fuel economy is measurable. The Outset’s hitch-mount position removes both problems. You get elevated, comfortable sleep without touching a ladder, and because nothing sits on your roof, your aerodynamics stay intact.
The price is $4,700, positioning it above entry-level rooftop tents but below premium hardshell options from brands like iKamper or Roofnest. If you are already spending serious money on an overlanding build, the Outset fits the budget tier that serious overlanders work in. For someone just starting out, the cost will sting. For the person who camps a dozen weekends a year and is tired of the ladder ritual, it is a compelling upgrade.
Source: Hagerty