Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up vs Wild Land OrthFrame

The Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up and the Wild Land OrthFrame 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. Smittybilt and Wild Land take noticeably different approaches to the same problem.

By the numbers, the Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up brings 3.02 m² of floor, 114.05 cm of headroom and sleeps 3. The Wild Land OrthFrame counters with 56 kg, 2.6 m² of floor, 114 cm of headroom and sleeps 2.

Inside, the Aluminum Pop-up gives 3.02 m² of sleeping floor against 2.6 m², about 16 percent more, and it sleeps 3 to the OrthFrame's 2. Their list prices are within a few percent of each other, so price is unlikely to decide this one.

They open differently: the Aluminum Pop-up is a pop-up and the OrthFrame a fold-out. 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 Aluminum Pop-up uses aluminum; the OrthFrame uses aluminium frame. Closed, the Aluminum Pop-up sits 14.969999999999999 cm lower on the roof — 18.03 cm against 33 cm — which is drag you carry on every mile you are not camping.