James Baroud is showing off its latest, and lowest-priced, rooftop tent at the annual SEMA Show this week. The new tent is codenamed ‘Project Shadow’ and is a traditional wedge-style tent.
It’s going to come in one size, have a bunch of high-quality features including roof bars, and be the most value-priced in James Baroud’s lineup. It is coming to the North American market in early 2025.
“Everyone wants a super durable, lightweight tent that offers flexibility for storage at a reasonable price. We’ve always been known for quality, comfort and a hefty price tag. I wanted to challenge ourselves to build a solid tent that’s worthy of our 5-year warranty and comes within the average price of a mass market tent in the US. I think we surprised ourselves with what we were able to accomplish,” said Bobby Huang (former REI Co-op Strategy Director), James Baroud Chief Commercial Officer.
James Baroud ‘Project Shadow’
This new wedge-style rooftop tent is 80″ L x 57″ W x 10.5″ H, which makes it a medium size that will fit well on most SUVs and crossovers — like the ever-popular 4Runner and Outback models. With an internal dimension of 78″ x 55″ — the same as Baroud’s flagship Odyssey model — it can sleep two adults and a small child.
The major way Baroud was able to bring the price down on this tent is by making the hardshell out of a slimline ABS material versus its normal fiberglass construction. This will no doubt make for an extremely durable tent, but will have a weight penalty. Expect the Shadow to weigh in at 165 pounds — which is 33 pounds heavier than the comparable Discovery model.
Adding to the weight and the utility of this rooftop tent are three anodized aluminum crossbars that come preinstalled. These crossbars on the top of the tent can hold a wide range of bulky gear, rated to 165 pounds of dynamic load.
The design intention of the crossbars is to allow a spare wheel/tire to be mounted on top, plus other gear in the included cargo bags. The two large rigid 36L all-weather cargo bags are designed to be affixed to the crossbars, and can carry 25+ pounds each.
This tent will be offered in black, white, and graphite gray.
Out of the Weather
While wedge-shaped rooftop tents don’t offer up the most interior space, they are great in harsh weather. The design is great at keeping tension in the tent material to keep wind flapping at a minimum. The wedge can also be parked into the wind to deflect the wind from soaking out the fabric walls.
The fabric walls of the Shadow tent are made of aluminized canvas sourced from the Netherlands. The material is synthetic, and micro aluminum is woven into it to provide insulation from temperature, light, and sound.
A new wall design allows you to fully zip down both the aluminized canvas and the mosquito netting layers of the tent, for the ultimate in open-air tenting. This is the first tent in Baroud’s lineup to offer this design, as the mosquito netting does not zip down in any of its other offerings.
An option for the ‘Project Shadow’ tent is a rain shade tunnel. It is an all-new style tunnel into the tent that is made of transparent plastic wrapped around structural aluminum tubing. The design should not only be great at keeping the inside of the tent protected from the weather as you get in and out, but also keep the material from flapping and creating noise in the wind.
Another Baroud Wedge Option
Baroud only has one other normal wedge-style RTT in its lineup, the Discovery. That tent starts at $4,395 and comes in two sizes, the smaller size being very comparable to the Shadow. The big difference between the new Shadow and the Discovery is shell construction. The Discovery’s shell is made of fiberglass versus Shadow’s ABS plastic.
‘Project Shadow’ Pricing & Availability
You should be able to preorder the ‘Project Shadow’ RTT starting in late January 2025 on the company’s website. Preorder pricing will be $3,900, with a normal MSRP of $4,250. While not inexpensive, it is a lot cheaper than Baroud’s other range of top-of-the-line rooftop tents.
Expect the first deliveries of this tent to begin in North America before the end of the first quarter of 2025 — so, around April.
