The short answer. A hard shell suits you if you move camp often, want to be set up in under a minute, and want power, lighting and an awning that work together as one system. A soft shell suits you if your budget is closer to $2,000 and you are happy to spend five to ten minutes at each end of the day. The honest comparison is not a tent against a tent. It is a wired, fitted touring platform against a canvas fold-out, and the price gap narrows a long way once you count what each one actually includes.
Setup time is the difference you feel every day
A hard shell opens on gas struts. You release the catches, the shell lifts, you position the ladder, and you are done. Our tents take 30 to 60 seconds and one person can do it alone. Pack down is the reverse, with a minute or two spent tucking the canvas in as the shell closes.
A soft shell folds out over the side of the vehicle on a hinge, onto a ladder that also holds the structure up. You then fit a rain fly, thread poles through window awnings, and peg out guy ropes if the weather calls for it. Five to ten minutes is normal. Pack down is slower again, because the canvas has to be folded in cleanly before the cover goes over the top, and doing that in wind or rain is the part people complain about.
If you base camp in one spot for a week, this barely matters. If you are moving most nights, it is the single thing that will shape how you feel about your tent, and it bites hardest in bad weather at the end of a long drive.
The tent is a platform, not just a place to sleep
This is the part that rarely makes it into a comparison, and it is the biggest practical difference between the two types.
Our hard shells have channel nuts down both sides of the shell. An awning bolts straight on in minutes, with no brackets to fabricate and no drilling. Put a 270 degree awning on one side for living space and a shower awning on the other, and the tent becomes the spine of the whole camp rather than one more thing on the roof.
A soft shell cannot easily do this. When it opens it occupies one entire side of the vehicle, along with the ladder holding it up, which is precisely the side an awning wants. The canvas structure also gives you nothing solid to mount to.
Then there is power. Every one of our tents comes pre-wired with 12V and USB points, interior LED lighting and an Anderson plug. Our 270 awning has LED lighting built into the arms. Because the tent is already wired, the awning plugs in and lights up. No light bars strapped to a roof rack, no cables draped over a door, no separate battery box for camp lighting.
That integration is what you are actually buying. A soft shell at $1,999 is canvas and a frame. Lighting, wiring, and a way to mount an awning are all yours to solve.
What comes in the box
Price comparisons between the two types are usually unfair, because they compare a finished setup with a starting point. Every On The Horizon hard shell includes, fitted and ready:
- Load bars across the roof of the tent, fitted, for an awning, Max Trax or a board rack
- Winter insulation, so it holds heat rather than only keeping rain out
- Anti-condensation pad and a moisture barrier through the base
- Upgraded mattress
- Interior LED lighting
- 12V and USB power, with a pre-wired Anderson plug
- 2.3m telescopic ladder
- Channel nuts for awnings and shower awnings on both sides
- 24 month Australian warranty, with claims handled here in Queensland
Price a soft shell, then add a mattress you can sleep on, camp lighting, a way to charge a phone, and brackets to hang an awning. The gap closes considerably, and you finish with parts from five suppliers instead of one system that was designed together.
Weight, and the one question that can rule us out
Hard shells carry an aluminium shell, a heavier frame and gas struts, so they weigh more. Ours run 80kg to 120kg. Soft shells are lighter, and that is a real advantage if your vehicle has a modest roof rating.
Your vehicle has a dynamic roof load that applies while driving and a much higher static figure that applies while parked. The tent and the rack together have to sit inside the dynamic number. We have set the arithmetic out in roof load limits explained.
If your dynamic allowance after the rack is under 80kg, a hard shell is the wrong product for that vehicle and we would rather say so than take the order. That is the one situation where we will point you elsewhere.
Sleeping space
A soft shell folds out beyond the vehicle, so it can offer more floor area for the same packed size. If raw floor space is your first priority and everything else is second, that is a fair argument for one.
What it does not tell you is usable height, which is what you actually notice. Our range covers different shapes rather than pretending one suits everyone:
| Model |
Open dimensions |
Sleeps |
Weight |
Price |
| 1.4 |
210 x 145cm, 150cm peak |
2 adults |
80kg |
$3,290 |
| 1.4X |
210 x 140cm, 150cm peak |
2 adults |
97kg |
$3,490 |
| 1.5 Pro |
210 x 155cm, 140cm internal |
2 adults |
95kg |
$3,690 |
| 1.4Z |
210 x 142cm, 120cm throughout |
2 adults |
107kg |
$3,750 |
| 1.9 |
210 x 190cm, 110cm throughout |
3 to 4 people |
120kg |
$3,990 |
The 1.4 and 1.4X give a 150cm peak in a wedge, tall at the head and tapering to your feet. The 1.4Z and 1.9 give 120cm and 110cm throughout, less at the peak and more everywhere else. If you sit up to read or get changed inside, height throughout is worth more than height above your pillow. That distinction does not show in a photograph and it is the thing most buyers wish they had understood earlier.
The 1.9 is 190cm wide and sleeps three to four, which is family territory a two person soft shell does not reach at all.
Packed height and where you park
A hard shell is a rigid box on your roof year round, so its packed height is permanent. Ours pack 21cm to 31cm deep. Add your rack and your vehicle height, then check your garage, your carport and any drive-through you use.
Soft shells generally pack taller, because folded canvas takes more room than a moulded shell, and they need a fitted cover, which is one more thing to wrestle in the rain.
The 1.5 Pro packs to 155 x 127 x 29cm, a much shorter footprint than the rest. On a short wheelbase wagon or a tub rack where length is tight, that is the one to look at.
Canvas and weather
Our tents use 350gsm ripstop poly-cotton. A good deal of the soft shell market sits at 260gsm. Heavier canvas is warmer, quieter in wind, and lasts longer against Australian UV, which is what finishes most tents.
Add the winter insulation, the anti-condensation pad and the moisture barrier through the base, and a cold night behaves very differently to a bare canvas fold-out. Both types still need drying properly before storage, and both will sweat on a cold still night if you seal yourself in.
So which one
-
Buy a hard shell if you move camp often, want setup measured in seconds, want power and lighting without building a system yourself, want an awning and shower awning that bolt straight to the tent, and have the roof rating to carry 80kg to 120kg.
-
Buy a soft shell if your budget is firmly around $2,000, or your dynamic roof rating cannot take a hard shell.
If a hard shell is right, the next question is which one, and that comes down to your vehicle and how many are sleeping. Start with the full hard shell range, or go to tents for couples or family tents.
If you want the whole camp in one go, the touring bundles pair a tent with the awning and camp furniture at a saving. And if you would rather check the numbers against your specific vehicle and rack first, send them through and we will work through it with you before you spend anything.
Common questions
Is a hard shell rooftop tent better than a soft shell?
For touring that moves camp often, yes. A hard shell opens in 30 to 60 seconds because gas struts do the lifting, the canvas travels folded inside a closed aluminium lid instead of under a cover collecting dust, and packing up is faster because there is no cover to fight. A soft shell is cheaper and usually lighter. On The Horizon builds hard shells only, from 80kg to 120kg.
Are hard shell rooftop tents worth the extra money?
They are if you camp often and move regularly, because the saving is minutes every single night at the two moments it matters most, arriving in the dark and packing up in the rain. They are poor value if you camp twice a year in one spot. On The Horizon hard shells start at $3,290 and include the ladder, mattress, insulation, lighting and 12V power rather than selling them separately.
Which rooftop tent is fastest to set up?
A hard shell, and the gap is widest when packing up. Every On The Horizon rooftop tent opens in 30 to 60 seconds by one person without leaving the ground. Release the catches and the struts lift the shell. There are no poles to thread and nothing to peg out, and the bedding stays inside between trips.
Which hard shell rooftop tent should I choose?
It comes down to how much room you want against what your rack can carry. The 1.4 is the lightest at 80kg. The 1.4X at 97kg and the 1.4Z at 107kg add headroom and a different fold. The 1.9 Penthouse is the biggest at 120kg and 190cm wide, and packs to a smaller footprint than the 1.4s despite being the largest open.
Related guides
Hard Shell vs Soft Shell Rooftop Tents for Australian Touring
The short answer. A hard shell suits you if you move camp often, want to be set up in under a minute, and want power, lighting and an awning that work together as one system. A soft shell suits you if your budget is closer to $2,000 and you are happy to spend five to ten minutes at each end of the day. The honest comparison is not a tent against a tent. It is a wired, fitted touring platform against a canvas fold-out, and the price gap narrows a long way once you count what each one actually includes.
Setup time is the difference you feel every day
A hard shell opens on gas struts. You release the catches, the shell lifts, you position the ladder, and you are done. Our tents take 30 to 60 seconds and one person can do it alone. Pack down is the reverse, with a minute or two spent tucking the canvas in as the shell closes.
A soft shell folds out over the side of the vehicle on a hinge, onto a ladder that also holds the structure up. You then fit a rain fly, thread poles through window awnings, and peg out guy ropes if the weather calls for it. Five to ten minutes is normal. Pack down is slower again, because the canvas has to be folded in cleanly before the cover goes over the top, and doing that in wind or rain is the part people complain about.
If you base camp in one spot for a week, this barely matters. If you are moving most nights, it is the single thing that will shape how you feel about your tent, and it bites hardest in bad weather at the end of a long drive.
The tent is a platform, not just a place to sleep
This is the part that rarely makes it into a comparison, and it is the biggest practical difference between the two types.
Our hard shells have channel nuts down both sides of the shell. An awning bolts straight on in minutes, with no brackets to fabricate and no drilling. Put a 270 degree awning on one side for living space and a shower awning on the other, and the tent becomes the spine of the whole camp rather than one more thing on the roof.
A soft shell cannot easily do this. When it opens it occupies one entire side of the vehicle, along with the ladder holding it up, which is precisely the side an awning wants. The canvas structure also gives you nothing solid to mount to.
Then there is power. Every one of our tents comes pre-wired with 12V and USB points, interior LED lighting and an Anderson plug. Our 270 awning has LED lighting built into the arms. Because the tent is already wired, the awning plugs in and lights up. No light bars strapped to a roof rack, no cables draped over a door, no separate battery box for camp lighting.
That integration is what you are actually buying. A soft shell at $1,999 is canvas and a frame. Lighting, wiring, and a way to mount an awning are all yours to solve.
What comes in the box
Price comparisons between the two types are usually unfair, because they compare a finished setup with a starting point. Every On The Horizon hard shell includes, fitted and ready:
Price a soft shell, then add a mattress you can sleep on, camp lighting, a way to charge a phone, and brackets to hang an awning. The gap closes considerably, and you finish with parts from five suppliers instead of one system that was designed together.
Weight, and the one question that can rule us out
Hard shells carry an aluminium shell, a heavier frame and gas struts, so they weigh more. Ours run 80kg to 120kg. Soft shells are lighter, and that is a real advantage if your vehicle has a modest roof rating.
Your vehicle has a dynamic roof load that applies while driving and a much higher static figure that applies while parked. The tent and the rack together have to sit inside the dynamic number. We have set the arithmetic out in roof load limits explained.
If your dynamic allowance after the rack is under 80kg, a hard shell is the wrong product for that vehicle and we would rather say so than take the order. That is the one situation where we will point you elsewhere.
Sleeping space
A soft shell folds out beyond the vehicle, so it can offer more floor area for the same packed size. If raw floor space is your first priority and everything else is second, that is a fair argument for one.
What it does not tell you is usable height, which is what you actually notice. Our range covers different shapes rather than pretending one suits everyone:
The 1.4 and 1.4X give a 150cm peak in a wedge, tall at the head and tapering to your feet. The 1.4Z and 1.9 give 120cm and 110cm throughout, less at the peak and more everywhere else. If you sit up to read or get changed inside, height throughout is worth more than height above your pillow. That distinction does not show in a photograph and it is the thing most buyers wish they had understood earlier.
The 1.9 is 190cm wide and sleeps three to four, which is family territory a two person soft shell does not reach at all.
Packed height and where you park
A hard shell is a rigid box on your roof year round, so its packed height is permanent. Ours pack 21cm to 31cm deep. Add your rack and your vehicle height, then check your garage, your carport and any drive-through you use.
Soft shells generally pack taller, because folded canvas takes more room than a moulded shell, and they need a fitted cover, which is one more thing to wrestle in the rain.
The 1.5 Pro packs to 155 x 127 x 29cm, a much shorter footprint than the rest. On a short wheelbase wagon or a tub rack where length is tight, that is the one to look at.
Canvas and weather
Our tents use 350gsm ripstop poly-cotton. A good deal of the soft shell market sits at 260gsm. Heavier canvas is warmer, quieter in wind, and lasts longer against Australian UV, which is what finishes most tents.
Add the winter insulation, the anti-condensation pad and the moisture barrier through the base, and a cold night behaves very differently to a bare canvas fold-out. Both types still need drying properly before storage, and both will sweat on a cold still night if you seal yourself in.
So which one
If a hard shell is right, the next question is which one, and that comes down to your vehicle and how many are sleeping. Start with the full hard shell range, or go to tents for couples or family tents.
If you want the whole camp in one go, the touring bundles pair a tent with the awning and camp furniture at a saving. And if you would rather check the numbers against your specific vehicle and rack first, send them through and we will work through it with you before you spend anything.
Common questions
Is a hard shell rooftop tent better than a soft shell?
For touring that moves camp often, yes. A hard shell opens in 30 to 60 seconds because gas struts do the lifting, the canvas travels folded inside a closed aluminium lid instead of under a cover collecting dust, and packing up is faster because there is no cover to fight. A soft shell is cheaper and usually lighter. On The Horizon builds hard shells only, from 80kg to 120kg.
Are hard shell rooftop tents worth the extra money?
They are if you camp often and move regularly, because the saving is minutes every single night at the two moments it matters most, arriving in the dark and packing up in the rain. They are poor value if you camp twice a year in one spot. On The Horizon hard shells start at $3,290 and include the ladder, mattress, insulation, lighting and 12V power rather than selling them separately.
Which rooftop tent is fastest to set up?
A hard shell, and the gap is widest when packing up. Every On The Horizon rooftop tent opens in 30 to 60 seconds by one person without leaving the ground. Release the catches and the struts lift the shell. There are no poles to thread and nothing to peg out, and the bedding stays inside between trips.
Which hard shell rooftop tent should I choose?
It comes down to how much room you want against what your rack can carry. The 1.4 is the lightest at 80kg. The 1.4X at 97kg and the 1.4Z at 107kg add headroom and a different fold. The 1.9 Penthouse is the biggest at 120kg and 190cm wide, and packs to a smaller footprint than the 1.4s despite being the largest open.
Related guides