Eezi-Awn Blade 40th Edition vs Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up

The Eezi-Awn Blade 40th Edition and the Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up are both hardshell tents in the same part of the market, which makes them a genuine head-to-head rather than a comparison across categories. Eezi-Awn and Smittybilt take noticeably different approaches to the same problem.

By the numbers, the Eezi-Awn Blade 40th Edition brings 82 kg, 140 cm of headroom and sleeps 2. The Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up counters with 3.02 m² of floor, 114.05 cm of headroom and sleeps 3.

Headroom separates them further: 140 cm in the Blade 40th Edition against 114.05 cm, which is the difference between sitting up to dress and doing it lying down. Their list prices are within a few percent of each other, so price is unlikely to decide this one.

They open differently: the Blade 40th Edition is a clamshell and the Aluminum Pop-up a pop-up. That is not cosmetic — it decides whether headroom is even across the tent or tapers towards one end, and how much of the roof the tent occupies when closed. The Blade 40th Edition uses aluminium (extruded base with two 8mm accessory slots); the Aluminum Pop-up uses aluminum. Closed, the Aluminum Pop-up sits 13.969999999999999 cm lower on the roof — 18.03 cm against 32 cm — which is drag you carry on every mile you are not camping.