Car camping can be an easy and fun way to spend a night in the great outdoors, without the hassle of setting up a tent. One big downside to car camping though is the lack of window screens and the flying insects that inevitably come inside to join you.
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Bugs and Condensation – The Two Big Downsides of Car Camping
With higher gas prices we find that more often, our trusty Subaru Forester Wilderness has become our go-to camping vehicle for quick getaways down some forest roads.
We didn’t always enjoy sleeping in the back of our Forester as much as we do now, even though we carry a comfy 4″ foam mattress for the back. Once settled in, with two adults and two dogs, it doesn’t take long for the inside to get stuffy and damp from condensation, so we began looking for a solution to this problem.
Melissa found the Roadie Overnighter car window screen on Amazon and we decided to buy a set of two bring them along on a late summer camping trip. These clever tent-like window screens attach by draping the pouch at the top of the Roadie over your open car door, then slipping the plastic bands at the bottom around the bottom edges of your door. Total setup time is about two minutes per door.
Key Features of Roadie – The Overnighter car window screens:
- Easy installation and removal
- Can still operate power windows
- Keeps out even tiny mosquitoes and “no-see-ums”
- Fits a number of vehicles
- Offers privacy
What We Like About Roadie – The Overnighter Window Screens
We liked the fact these screens are easy to install, will fit our other vehicles as well as our Subaru Forester and that they offer added privacy for when camping in crowded campgrounds. With a set of two of these we were pleasantly surprised with how much cross ventilation that we got at night. We also placed a small rechargeable camping fan inside one of the openings, for even more cross ventilation.
We had one strong rainstorm come up on us in the middle of the night, and the rain fly kept all but an errant drop or two away from us.
What Could Be Improved
Even though we didn’t have any rain come inside during a fairly heavy downpour, we would like to see the rain fly a bit larger and tilted down a bit more to deflect blowing rain. At around $45 each they seem a bit pricey (for what they are) and it would be nice if that price was for a pair, not just one screen. Still, we’d recommend these for anyone that camps inside their SUV and would also recommend that you pair them with a magnetic screen to cover your open sunroof, for added ventilation. (below)
