Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up vs Wild Land SE-180

The Smittybilt Aluminum Pop-up and the Wild Land SE-180 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 SE-180 counters with 75 kg, 3.82 m² of floor, 108 cm of headroom and sleeps 4.

Inside, the SE-180 gives 3.82 m² of sleeping floor against 3.02 m², about 26 percent more, and it sleeps 4 to the Aluminum Pop-up's 3. 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 SE-180 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 SE-180 uses aluminium honeycomb with silver coating. Closed, the Aluminum Pop-up sits 10.969999999999999 cm lower on the roof — 18.03 cm against 29 cm — which is drag you carry on every mile you are not camping.