Tesla, renowned for its groundbreaking electric vehicles, has rolled out its highly-anticipated accessory for the Cybertruck – the Basecamp tent. However, early buyers are feeling let down as the actual product doesn’t match the initial excitement. The Basecamp tent comes with a hefty price tag of $2,975, which is quite a lot for a tent.
Accessories play a big role in enhancing trucks’ usefulness. But because of the Cybertruck’s unique design, regular accessories don’t work well with it. That’s why Tesla decided to create special accessories just for the Cybertruck.
One of these special accessories is the Basecamp tent, which was first shown off when the Cybertruck was unveiled in 2019. It looked really cool back then, fitting in perfectly with the Cybertruck’s futuristic style and making people eager to try it out.
However, the Basecamp tent that’s available now looks quite different from what people were expecting. Instead of the sleek, futuristic design, it looks more like a regular tent that you’d find anywhere, which is disappointing for many.
As reported by Electrek, one of the first Basecamp owners, who goes by the ‘TownBiz’ on Cybertruck Owners Club, shared his experience with the tent system on the forum. He said that “
Although Tesla is requiring SCs to do the initial install, in reality both install and removal of the tent from the bed (aka “vault”) is straightforward as long as you can deadlift 90lbs and/or have a buddy to help lift. Basecamp comes with 6 brackets that attach to the vault’s side rails and have specific spacing. Attaching these brackets is simple: same as how you attach your bottle opener or tie down points that come with Foundation Series trucks. Assuming Tesla is requiring the SC to do it just because of potential liability issues w/ people not putting the brackets in the right positions. That said, the manual provides install instructions for anyone to put these brackets in, so I suspect that one day Tesla may direct ship to customers. The trickiest parts of initial install are setting the stowed Basecamp in the right slot (need to put it in at a slight angle closest to the bed of the truck) and aligning the two T25 bolts that secure Basecamp’s frame to the truck. The manual recommends using a flashlight so you can align the holes and that really does make it pretty easy. Unfortunately the SC installer had some difficulty with this initially and scratched one of my brackets and may have also slightly messed up the threading on that bracket because it’s a little loose – not a show stopper, and theoretically a replaceable part. Once you remove those two T25 bolts, you can take the zipped up Basecamp with frame out of the truck and store it at home. This is welcome news because it definitely cuts into the length of your bed/vault (a bit more than 1/3 closest to the cab of the truck) if you like to transport adult sized mountain bikes using a tailgate pad. Otherwise, as mentioned the design is great because you can store gear under the stowed Basecamp.’
The owner has also mentioned a few issues with the installation, packing, and unpacking process. He is not sure if he can recommend it for $3,000:
Because the rainy weather hasn’t allowed me to do a full setup + takedown more than once, I still can’t definitively say whether or not I recommend the $3K Basecamp. On one hand, I think that much of the thoughtful and unique design elements might warrant the cost: it’s fairly lightweight + easy to install/remove the stowed tent from the truck, stays out of the way (unless you want to transport multiple bikes in the bed), doesn’t reduce range due to decreased aerodynamics, and has intuitive pieces that make setup + takedown a breeze. On the other hand, there are some unpolished areas that stick out because of all those great elements I mentioned already: removing + re-installing the “Aeroflap” and the frustration of fitting and zipping up the stowed Basecamp in softcover after you finish using the tent. The three minor damaged pieces (the scuffed + potentially thread damaged middle bracket where a T25 bolt secures the stowed Basecamp to the bed rail, one of the leg quick release buttons, and the nylon webbing for one of the cobra buckle retainers) that I mentioned might have been better designed and will need to be fixed too, but because they don’t impede the function of the tent they’re not show stoppers. The currently MIA “Tent Mode” is also a bit of a red flag because the rumoured self-levelling element is a pretty big deal for roof-top-tent camping – briefly laying on the sleeping mat while parked in my gently sloped driveway I could feel myself rolling downhill. If Tesla releases Tent Mode to all CT owners or only verified Basecamp owners may be a deciding factor for people buying the Basecamp or waiting for a 3rd party solution (theoretically if a maker creates cross bars for the vault, other folding rooftop tents that are not wider than the vault/bed could work nicely). $3K is a serious chunk of change and you could buy a lot of sweet camping gear with it. However, as I mentioned at the start, evidently $3K for a high quality rooftop tent is not that crazy.
Some people who’ve already got the Basecamp tent have mixed feelings about it. While it’s not too hard to put on and take off, setting it up for the first time can be tricky and might even cause some damage to the truck.
According to autoevolution, “A customer received their Basecamp tent and showed in the video available below that it should take around 15 minutes to unpack everything and install it on the truck. That’s acceptable! The tent has many storage pockets, enough room for two adults, a few openings to let the light in or vent, pathways for charging cables, and is made of a material that ensures breathability without compromising thermal comfort. If you’re done having fun, then putting it all back should take around seven or eight minutes.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t call this product a flop or the outcome of a Tesla-like overpromise and underdeliver strategy. It’s a pricey tent, but it isn’t bad. And I am willing to bet you real money that it will increase the resale value of the Cybertruck.
Aside from its looks, there are also some practical issues with the Basecamp tent. For example, it doesn’t have a feature called “Tent Mode” that helps the truck stay level on uneven ground, which could make camping uncomfortable, and there’s no way to connect the truck’s air conditioning to the tent, which could be a problem in extreme weather. These missing features make some owners question whether the Basecamp tent is worth the money.
