Lets Go Aero MoonUnit Tailgate Tent - 10' x 8' x 7' 4" - Overland Edition

Video Transcript for In-Depth Review of the Lets Go Aero MoonUnit Tailgate Tent

Hey, everyone. Today we're gonna be taking a look at something pretty fun. I'm Evangeline, here at etrailer, and today we have the Lets Go Aero MoonUnit. This is gonna be a large shelter awning, add-on room, that you can use with either your vans, or your trailers, or your overlanding vehicles. This is gonna give you a lot of space, a lot of shade, and a lot of shelter. So we'll take a look at some of the different features of the MoonUnit, I've been working with this for a couple days now, I've also worked with Lets Go Aero's older and smaller ArcHaus house shelter, so we're gonna talk about how they've really improved on some of their features with the MoonUnit.

So I have some tips and tricks that we're gonna talk about, we're also gonna go into different features of this, and we'll also explain how to use this for your different adventures. Let's get started. The MoonUnit is gonna give you 80 feet of usable space, but what does that actually mean Well, I have a camping chair and a bench set out here just to give you some perspective or some scale of what that might look like. And here's some measurements. If you measure from one end of the shelter, and then you go back to where it either connects to the vehicle, or stands on its own, that's gonna be eight feet of depth, but you can adjust the width, so we're maxed that right now at 10 feet, we fully extended our straps and that will make sure that while the roof is still tall, it's at its shortest point.

So you can bring this in, and then your roof can go higher. So the reason you might wanna make those adjustments, is if you have a tent that takes up a lot of space in here, you'll want more space to the side. If you're carrying, let's say, you have a small bike loaded in here, or you have something a little bit taller, or maybe you have tall friends, you might want a little bit more height for more comfort. So it's really nice to have that very easy adjustability available to you. Adjustments can be made very easily here at the strap, you get two straps where you can adjust the length of your shelter.

This is also gonna be where you can zip your attachments. You have three different attachment options included with your shelter. So you can either attach your overlanding or your van connector. You can attach a wall with a door, or you can attach a wall with a window. Let's talk about the material of the MoonUnit, and it talks about how it gives you shelter, protects you from the rain, but also keeps things cool inside.

But the actual measurements or specs are worth looking at. So it does well in three areas. The first is gonna be your thickness of the fabric or your Denier rating. Second is gonna be your UV rating, and your third is gonna be your waterproofness or PU rating. So for the Denier, this sits at 185 D, which is very impressive. To compare, my personal four-season tent sits at 75 D. So this gives almost two times thickness or durability compared to my personal tent, which is great, because if you are connecting it to a trailer or to a vehicle that has sharp edges, you wanna make sure it's not puncturing the material, you also wanna make sure that it is opaque or thick enough to keep the sun out. Speaking of that, UV rating is 50, which is really high up, compare that to SPF for your skin, UV rating is very similar, and 50 is a really good spot to be at. Finally, we have our waterproofness for our polyurethane rating, PU, which sits at 2000. Very high-end. So if a heavy storm comes through, you have your tent on the inside of this shelter, you know that you're staying nice and dry inside compared to the storm that's outside. This material is also supported by good quality construction. Now I sew in my own personal time, so I like to look at the seams and the hems to make sure they're done well. You can see on the inside, the seams are taped to help maintain that waterproofness. We have multiple support poles, really maintaining the structure of the shelter even in the strongest wind. And when you look around at the hems and the stitching, I haven't seen a stray thread yet. All the hems are reinforced or double-stitched. It all really looks great, but feels great as well. Now it's been a very warm summer day here at etrailer, we've had this tent up here all day yesterday and today. So Lets Go Aero markets the MoonUnit as the fabric is breathable, but also blocks out 98% of the sun's rays. Well, does that actually make it a cool awning Let's take some temperatures. The wind feels really nice right now, and I can feel the wind blowing behind me. But if I walk into the shelter, the wind is blocked. So while the fabric is technically breathable, I'm not getting that wind unless it was blowing straight at me. I kind of lose out on that experience, so it is a bit warmer right in here. However, because it does provide that protection from the sun, if I took a temperature reading of the ground outside the awning, I'm at 106 degrees. Compare that to the ground within the shade of the awning, where we sit at 91 degrees. So it technically is cooler in here, but that's also where having the different add-ons that are included with the MoonUnit come in handy. If I wanted to have more wind, I'd go ahead and lift this away from our camper so that I have that full wind-tunnel effect on the inside. But if it suddenly started raining, I'd then zip on our different walls to make sure all that water is kept out. If you looked at other brands with their awnings, you'll find that a lot of these walls and rooms are extra purchases. So while the MoonUnit might feel a little pricey at first, if you like, calculated all the add-ons plus the base price of a different awning, you might find it comes out a bit higher than what the MoonUnit goes for, all included. The main thing you are gonna have to decide between though, is if you want the overlanding edition or the sprinter van edition, just because that that single panel is gonna be the only main difference. So how did we get this all put together Well, it was a pretty simple process, once you know what you're doing. And there are step-by-step instructions available with the shelter, but I found that switching some of them around makes it a little bit easier, especially if you're all by yourself, so we're gonna start with the blue bag, which has the tent poles. So first we set up the frame poles, and that's what we attach our floor straps to. Those clip into the ends. Then you attach the long saddle poles. Those are put together and fit into those ends of the frame poles. While there are three of those saddle pools, that middle pole actually clips into the middle of the frame pole, and then you attach to spanner poles which go across. Now if you struggle with making sure everything stays in place, I do recommend using the bungees as you attach those spanner poles. And that will help keep that middle frame pole in place. With all the poles secure, you can then put the cover on. I have a friend help out here as we get it diagonally, then up and over the frame, and then center it out. To secure that cover, we first start with the corners, and then with the corners in, we then connect that corner ring and the hook. And the middle side flaps, those go under the poles, we have a buckle that goes together and tightens down. When you attach your panels, we'll start with a tailgate connector panel, which zips up and secures. In our case, we're securing it onto a hatch of a teardrop camper, we lift the whole structure up and over. This is gonna be similar, so if you have a truck or a vehicle with a hatch. The top corners of the tailgate connector will have a buckle, which we're gonna tighten down to our roof rack. And finally, there's the included floor, which is optional to use. If you do want to use it, there are some hook-and-loop strips which fit perfectly into the straps of your shelter. These will also fit around the corner poles and the floor straps. And finally, please make sure to stake everything down, especially on windy days, stakes and guidelines are included. But also everything packs up into this bag. Now the pack up process isn't awful, meaning everything does fit back even if you don't fold it perfectly. But it is very tedious since you have to unclip a lot of things, and undo a lot of straps. So that is gonna be the main downside of the MoonUnit. It is a shelter that takes some time to set up and take apart, compared to permanent mounted awnings on campers or vehicles, or things that you can put on your roof, which just roll out usually, and then you zip the panels onto those. This will take up more time, but it is still on the compact side so you can store it in your vehicle and camper. All in all, the MoonUnit has impressed me as a shelter, especially when compared to the smaller and older ArcHaus. You really see how they've upgraded things from the design to the material, to the whole look of everything. And while I did mention that I like how everything is included with the MoonUnit and you don't have to purchase extra accessories like you would have to do with other awnings, something else that adds to that investment worth investing in, is its versatility. Being able to use this both as a standalone shelter, let's say wanna park your motorcycle, or your smaller vehicle underneath it during the night, or if you wanna attach it to your camper, or to your overlanding vehicle, those are options for you. There's a lot of adjustability and versatility with this, but along with those different factors, knowing that it's made of a good material and it performs well, it's totally a bonus to the MoonUnit. So I would recommend really looking into this if you're planning on whether a weekend adventure or a longer trip, this is something that's worth adding to your current setup, and hopefully, this video helped explain how to use it and why it's worth considering. What you saw today was the Lets Go Aero MoonUnit shelter here at etrailer.com. My name is Evangeline, and I hope you enjoy the journey.