This Groundbreaking Camper Turns Ford and Toyota Pickups into Off-Road Mansions

Car camping in your pickup truck poses some unique spatial issues. You’re either limited by the space your vehicle offers or your setup spills out into the surrounding area.

While you could get a camping trailer, a slide-in camper or a rooftop tent, that leads to other downsides, including potentially increasing your vehicle’s footprint either horizontally or vertically and adding a ton of extra weight.

The cleverly engineered, high-tech Cinch Outdoors Wingman seems to offer the best of both worlds. This relatively lightweight car camper keeps the travel footprint to a minimum while increasing your usable space significantly once you’re at the campsite.

Cinch Outdoors

Mobile mansion

There’s not really a clean way to explain what the Wingman is, as it’s something I’ve personally never seen before. It’s not quite a rooftop tent, but it’s also not explicitly a slide-in camper, and it definitely isn’t a trailer.

What it is, however, is pretty damn impressive. It mounts atop your existing pickup truck’s bed and expands into a two-story camping structure, with a work area and storage at the bottom and a tent up above with space for up to three people.

Cinch Outdoors

It’s also compatible with over 80 percent of the pickup trucks on the road today (including the Ford Ranger, Raptor and F-150; Toyota Tundra, Tacoma and Hilux; Jeep Gladiator; Ram 1500 and more). But even more importantly, it’s exceptionally easy to use.

In transit, this camper sits nearly flush with your truck’s roof and doesn’t extend beyond the length of its bed, limiting wind resistance and vehicle length compared to other campers. Plus, it weighs just 551 pounds total.

But that’s merely the beginning of everything it has to offer.

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Automated basecamp

Once at your campsite, the Wingman’s setup is as simple as pushing a button, either on the included remote or in the brand’s mobile app. Then, all you need to do is sit back and watch as the tent scissor-lifts itself into open position.

The three-person upper sleep floor has a “skin-friendly,” “peach velvel” covered high-density foam mattress, wraparound mesh windows (which can be zippered closed for privacy and warmth), storage pouches, ambient LED lighting, Bluetooth audio and a skylight that opens to grant access to the roof deck. It can also collapse independently of the lower floor.

Cinch Outdoors

The lower workspace has some additional vertical clearance, courtesy of your truck’s bed. It also gets built-in MOLLE mounting panels for modular attachments, a fold-down bamboo utility table and magnetic lighting.

Outside, the tent can also be fitted with an additional integrated awning system, allowing you to sit in the shade outside of your sleep and work space. And there’s an additional automated, powered mount, so you can attach and remove your Wingman at will, without any additional assistance.

All told, this might just be the most innovative car camping solution in decades.

Cinch Outdoors

Availability and pricing

The Cinch Outdoors Wingman is available for $7,999. However, it is currently sold out. That said, you can sign up for priority access to the next batch on the brand’s site right now, with no obligation.

Cinch Outdoors

Cinch Outdoors Wingman

• $7,999 at Cinch Outdoors

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