Hoping to go camping in your pickup truck sometime soon? It’s never too early to start planning your sleeping arrangements, especially if you wish to stay comfortable. One of the options we’d recommend is buying a truck bed tent. These accessories can allow you to comfortable sleep in your truck bed, protected against the elements in a high-quality tent. There are quite a few different styles of truck tents available, so the process of finding one can get a little complicated. You’ll have to find a tent that fits your truck bed, fits you as a person (plus whoever you’re camping with), and offers the right level of comfort and protection for your needs.

If you’re at a loss or could at least use a little bit of guidance to find a high-quality tent for your truck, you’re in the right place. At Ultimate Rides, we have tons of experience in buying and installing accessories for any pickup truck. Take a look at the tents below to see if they seem like the best fit for you and your truck. We hope that you can pick out a suitable tent, but don’t give up if you don’t see the perfect option just yet. After our list, our buying guide will offer additional advice for both finding the right tent as well as actually using it. Stick around to learn more and make sure to let us know if Ultimate Rides can help in any way, from installation to providing you with an amazing custom truck.

1. Rightline Gear Truck Bed Tent, Long Bed Full Size (8′)

The best tent we can recommend for your pickup truck is this option from Rightline Gear. It’s a large tent designed for long truck beds, and it should offer a good amount of space inside for you to stretch out. If you’re planning on bringing someone along with you, the extra size of this tent should be quite beneficial, giving you both enough room. The tent features a floorless design, so you’ll want to pick up either an air mattress or some kind of padding to lay down. However, the trade-off there is that it will be a lot easier to set this tent up compared to other options. An added benefit of this tent is that the poles are color-coded, another design choice that will help with the installation process. As long as you look at the measurements and find this tent is the right fit for your Ford truck, you should feel comfortable and confident choosing it for future trips to the great outdoors.

2. Napier Backroadz Truck Tent – Full Size Short Bed (5.5′-5.8′), Camo

This next tent from Napier is for a short bed and comes in an appealing camo design that is great for hunting trips. Napier is one of the top providers of truck tents, and you’ll see them appear more than once on our list, including the Backroadz tent seen here. Despite being designed for the shorter type of beds, you’ll be able to get some extra space by folding down the tailgate, and the text extends all the way out. It’s an excellent choice for the F150, as long as you’re confident it’s the right fit for your truck. The tent features windows for reliable ventilation, as well as a rainfly and plenty of space inside. If you like the camo look, you can bet that this tent is a strong choice for your truck, and with it you won’t have to try and sleep in the cab.

3. Kodiak Canvas Truck Bed Tent 5.5′-6.5′

If you have room in your budget to spend a little bit more on your truck tent, this option from Kodiak could be the one for you. The tent is made from a durable yet lightweight cotton duck fabric, and will provide plenty of headroom while you’re inside as well as extending all the way down to the edge of the truck tailgate. These accessories feature a steel tube frame that you can count on to hold up even against windy conditions, and there are five separate windows to ensure you have plenty of ventilation while inside the tent. It’s an excellent addition to any camping collection if you’re the owner of a Ford truck. Just be sure the tent is the right size before buying!

4. ArcadiVille Truck Tents for Camping 6.5′

Our next truck tent is currently available at a fantastic price, and fits a wide range of Ford truck models and beyond. This tent designed to fit up to two people, as well as some basic camping equipment and supplies. It also comes with an optional waterproof floor mat for the bed of the truck, which you can decide to set up with the tent or ignore if you have any other accessories you’d prefer to use. The tent includes a waterproof rainfly as well, made from high-quality fabric that holds up over time against the elements. There’s a lot to enjoy here, so be sure to consider this for your truck.

5. Napier Full Size Long Bed 8′ Truck Tent

The next tent from Napier on our list is designed for a long bed, with the truck tent measuring out to eight feet in length. The floor is sewn straight into the tent, so you won’t have to worry about carrying around an unnecessary attachment. There’s an overhang that stretches out away from the tent itself to protect from rain, and of course a rainfly that keeps you defended from wet weather during the night. It won’t take long to get it set up on your truck, and you’ll have a comfortable time ahead of you with this truck tent.

6. Napier Backroadz Truck Tent Full Size Regular Bed 6.5′

If you were a fan of the previous Napier Backroadz truck tent featured on our list, but found the size wasn’t quite right, this is the option for you. It’s a tent that can be found at a great price, and features lightweight polyester that is easy to transport yet still keeps you protected overnight. It won’t be difficult to install for your truck, and even works with models that include additions like a toolbox or bed liner. The tent includes plenty of headroom too, so you shouldn’t have to crouch in order to move around inside. With the right accessories, you should have no problem finding comfort in the bed of any truck.

7. Overland Vehicle Systems Nomadic 4 Extended Roof Top Tent

Not all truck tent options come in the typical style. If your truck has a covered bed, you could set up a roof top tent instead of the standard configuration. This option from Overland Vehicle Systems is extended for extra length, perfect for when the standard size tent just doesn’t work for you. The truck tent features 600D rip-stop fabric, and you’ll be able to count on it to protect you even against heavy winds and rain. As long as you’re confident it won’t put too much weight on the roof rack of your truck, this tent will be a fine product to consider for future trips.

8. Guide Gear Truck Tent for Camping Compact Bed

This next truck tent can be found for under $100, and works great as long as you drive a truck with a compact bed. It doesn’t offer the best headroom compared to other options on our list, but it will fit your Ford truck and will prove easy to carry around or fit in your cab without taking up a lot of space. The high-quality polyester tent features mesh windows for ventilation, as well as dual storage pockets that can come in handy. It’s hard to beat this price, so consider it as your truck tent of choice if everything is the right fit.

9. Kodiak Canvas Truck Bed Tent 8′

The last option on today’s list features a canvas fabric that is a little more heavy-duty compared to many of the other choices found recommended here. Though it’s not as lightweight, you should not have trouble getting it to easily fit in the cab of your Ford truck, and setting it up should only take a few minutes. Despite falling to the bottom spot on our list, it’s still one of our favorite accessories to bring along, and could certainly be the right choice depending on your needs. It won’t matter if you drive an extended cab or a crew cab, as long as the bed is the right length you can feel free to utilize one of these canvas tents.

Truck Bed Tent Buying Guide

If none of the tents on our list seem like the right fit, or you can’t choose between them, take a moment to think about what features you’re really looking for in a tent for the bed of your truck. The first thing you need to make sure of is that the tent actually fits your truck. The options provided here should work on Ford trucks, but you’ll need to figure out what bed size you’re working with and choose an appropriate tent. Once you’ve narrowed your options down to a specific size bed, think about the size of the tent itself. Does it offer enough room for you to comfortably sleep? If you’re bringing someone else camping with you, you’ll need to make sure it can fit both of you. Trying to fit any more than two people in the bed of a truck is usually not possible unless it’s a small child.

You are also going to want to ensure the tent is durable enough to protect you from the elements. The right tent will also last quite a long time, so you shouldn’t have to replace it within the next few years. Pay attention to the material the tent is made from and read customer reviews to learn about the quality you can expect. If it matches your standards, you can feel comfortable picking up the tent for future use.

When you’ve found the right size and durability, start thinking about the style of the tent. This matters less than how it functions, but it should still play a role in your decision. If you’re planning on going hunting, a camo tent is probably not a bad idea to help you stay out of sight. On the other hand, you may want a bright tent so that other hunters can clearly see where you are while sleeping.

Using Truck Bed Tents

While these tents can be very useful, they aren’t always easy to get set up. Some tents may only take a few minutes before they’re ready to go. However, some truck tents are harder to install than others, and could cause a lot of frustration. That is why we recommend you practice setting up your tent before heading out to your camp site. Be sure to read carefully through the included instructions and follow each step they lay out. If you run into trouble, see if you can find a tutorial video online that will walk you through the tent installation process. These videos can be incredibly helpful, and once you know the proper way to install the tent, you should be able to complete the process multiple times and much faster.

Truck Bed Air Mattress and Other Accessories

There are a number of accessories that can go great with truck tents. The first option we’d recommend is an air mattress. Nobody is going to want to sleep on the actual surface of their truck bed without some kind of padding, and an air mattress is the perfect solution. Any air mattress could do the trick. You’ll just need to make sure that it’s the right size to fit in the bed. There are also companies out there that make air mattresses specifically designed for the bed of a truck. They can sometimes cost more, but you’ll be able to rely on them fitting without a problem, especially if you buy one for your specific truck model.

In addition to air mattresses, there are other accessories that might be worth considering. If your truck has a power outlet to charge them, a small portable air purifier or air conditioner can make a big difference while you sleep. They’ll help keep you comfortable and usually don’t take up very much space. Moving away from sleep, you should also think about some portable kitchen items to help you prepare meals while out in the wild. Beyond these recommendations, make sure to spend some time thinking about what you’d like to have with you while out camping, and do some research to find the best accessories available to you.