I’ve had a fascination with rooftop tents ever since I first saw one years ago, probably perched up on some overlander SUV with knobby tires and a pristine shovel strapped on the side. Something about the idea of motoring off to some remote place, flipping open the tent, and watching the stars overhead seemed like my idea of one heck of an adventure.

So when an opportunity presented itself to spend a weekend with a 2022 Kia Sorento X-Line with a Roofnest Condor bolted on the rack, I jumped at it. After all, it was going to take some serious convincing for me to think about dropping $3,395 for one of these things. That’s an awful lot of camping.

The Condor tent is midrange in terms of size and pricing among the 12 models that Roofnest currently offers. It sleeps two to three people and measures 60×83 inches (1,524×2,108 mm) when opened.