Spice Up Your Extended Weekends With a Galileo Skybox Rooftop Tent for Under $4K

Here you have nothing more than a structure that you can throw onto any vehicle with a fitting roof rack. Yes, it is a rooftop tent, the most basic of mobile homes you can get your hands on, aside from just sleeping in your car. After all, the goal here is to explore and enjoy the outdoors, not sleep with a steering wheel in your lap.

With that said, the team over at Hero Camper has the Galileo Skybox available. For folks who just need the most basic need covered, sleep, a rooftop tent is a valid solution. Then again, once you see how Galileo is constructed, you too may agree that it can offer a bit more than that.

What makes the Galileo so attractive isn't the price tag of just 3,194 EUR (3,595 USD at current exchange rates), but rather how the whole thing works for you on your outdoor adventures.

Like other campers in its category, Galileo is designed to be as aerodynamic as possible. But to also be a breeze to set up once you're ready to camp for the night. To achieve these two goals, Hero Camper is using a gel-coated fiberglass shell that's set up on air springs, helping the camper pop into view with as little effort as possible.

Closed, this camper is only 20 cm (7.87 in) high, and with a tuned aerodynamic roof, you won't be affecting your car's fuel efficiency very much. With a weight of just 63 kg (139 lbs) with a mattress and all, it shouldn't be too big a load for your car to handle unless you mount it on backward. As small and as light as it may seem, this puppy can handle 300 kg (661 lbs) of load. That's enough for three folks to climb aboard with gear.

Open, Galileo is 211 cm (73 in) long, 138 cm (54 in) wide, and 100 cm tall (39.3 in), so it won't be enough for your stand tall in, but to roam around on the memory foam mattress Hero Camper provides, it will do. Speaking of roaming around, one feature which I found rather neat is that each wall of Galileo features a window or viewing space. No matter where you lay your head or where you wake up, you'll easily be able to get a view of the world around you no matter what.

As for the tent fabric itself, Hero Camper uses all-weather fabric. No mention of what sort of material it may be completed from, but "all-weather" tells you everything you need to know. Sure, you shouldn't go camping during winter, but if rogue snow hits, you should be fine, as long as you keep the interior warm.

The final features that should even help you enjoy rainy days are the awnings found above each window. Just prop them up and have a look at the world around, all the while staying dry and cozy under a blanket.

Sure, there's no bathroom or toilet, but a portable toilet and exterior shower shouldn't cost you too much to add to your setup. With food in a cooler and water in some 20-gallon (75-liter) tank, you can still enjoy that three-day weekend like never before.

Now, I'm not saying the Galileo Skybox will be the definitive mobile home you should go out and buy now, but it is a low-cost solution to get you living outdoors ASAP. Something to think about, especially since Christmas is coming up.