ARB Earth Camper clocked

We already know a lot about ARB's new $75K-plus off-road Earth camper, since the covers came off in July, including the story behind its design, construction, features, weight, towability and various innovations.

But up until now we've been kept in the dark about how long it actually takes to set it up for both short term and longer term camping stays.

Well, (almost) all has been revealed, with a couple of new 'real time' set-up videos landing online that cover the quickest 'Overnight' camping mode, as well as the 'Holiday Mode' set-up for longer or more comfortable stays.

As can be seen in the Overnight Mode set-up video, the steady lowering of the powered rear lid through pressing the side-mounted switch takes just under one minute, with another 40 seconds or so required to secure some of the tent canvas to the main body and floor, before you can enter the bed area of the camper through the lockable entry door on the rear 'security' wall.

So overall, it takes less than two minutes before you're inside the camper, although ARB hasn't included the time it takes to unhitch the camper, and wind down the jockey wheel and rear stabilisers.

The Holiday Mode video picks up from where the Overnight Mode video finishes, with the second half of the floor unlatched and folded over, before the two rear 'feet' are attached, and the floor fully extended and lowered to the ground.

The top-hinged, hard roof section with attached tent is then unlatched and raised to full height, before some pole extending, adjusting and tensioning takes place inside the rear tent, and the two rear support poles put in place.

That takes around 1 min 10 secs, adding up to somewhere between four and five minutes by our count, from unhitching to 'Holiday Mode', although once again that doesn't include time taken to set up the outside kitchen or erect the freestanding awning.

ARB has replied to a comment on Youtube about the amount of time it takes to lower the electronically dual-actuated rear clamshell door, although it's slow pace is on par with some electrically powered rooftop set-ups.

"It is slow but it's easy. I would suggest grabbing a beer or soft drink and enjoy the view while it's lowering," ARB responded.

ARB also replied to a comment about the Thai-built Earth Camper's premium pricing, with optioned up versions expected to retail for close to $90,000, or similar money to Aussie-built rivals like the Track Trailer Tvan, Patriot X3, AOR Odyssey, and  Ultimate Xscape.

"I am sorry that it is priced out of your budget, there are plenty of cheaper options out there though. We have priced our camper based on the level of quality and engineering that has gone into it," ARB said on its Youtube channel.

caravancampingsales has put in a request to ARB for an Earth camper to review, so hopefully we can provide an independent assessment soon of how it all works in the real-world.