The Ford F150 pickup truck—it’s been the best selling vehicle in America for over 30 years and the best selling pickup for over 40. Due to its sheer popularity and numbers, it makes sense to build a truck camper that can be safely hauled on this truck. It also explains why companies like Lance, Four Wheel Campers, Outfitter, and Hallmark have been willing to do it. When it comes to hauling a truck camper, we actually recommend doing it with a more capable truck like the Ford F250, but this isn’t always practical. Many Ford F150 owners have already paid-off their trucks and don’t want to invest in something bigger, heavier, and more expensive. Not only that, but many Ford F-150s are daily drivers and need to split time between work and play. Fortunately, truck camper manufacturers know this and have done their homework by building a wide variety of campers that are lightweight and easy to store. So without further adieu, let’s take a look at the 10 best truck campers for the Ford F-150 pickup:
1. Lance 650
When it comes to luxury and comfort for today’s Ford F-150, nothing compares with the Lance 650. The camper is also one of Lance’s best selling campers. It’s easy to see why. Not only does the camper provide a north-south queen bed and a full size wet bath with a sink, but it also features a large kitchen and a dinette long enough to sleep an adult. With standard equipment, the Lance 650 weighs just 1,700 pounds dry and 1,903 pounds wet. It has a floor length of 6 feet 10 inches long and offers a spacious 6 feet 9 inches of interior height. The tank sizes of this short-bed camper are excellent with 22 gallons fresh, 15 gallons grey, and 16 gallons black. We’re also big fans of Lance’s new exterior one-piece TPO nose cap, which gives the camper a sleek and aerodynamic look, the on-demand tankless water heater, and Lance’s new Easy Charge exterior charging center for quick battery charging. Versatile enough to fit on both 6.5-foot and 5.5-foot pickup trucks and a great little camper, the Lance 650 offers everything you could possibly want except for the excessive weight. Still, many F-150s will need to have the suspension upgraded and have higher rated wheels and tires installed to haul this luxury hotel around—unless, of course, the truck is already equipped with the heavy-duty payload package. We also recommend getting the 5.0L V8 for extra climbing power up hills and mountains. The base MSRP for the Lance 650 is $49,032. Available at top dealerships nationwide.




2. BundutecUSA Wild
A relatively new design by truck camper guru Rory Willet, the BundutecUSA Wild pushes the truck camper envelope in a big way. The Wild not only comes with a complete wet-bath, but also a large, grey water holding tank that makes using that wet-bath practical. With its gray aluminum exterior and black accents, it’s also a great looking camper. The Wild’s 7-foot floorplan features a kitchen and wet-bath on the driver side, a refrigerator with loads of storage on the front wall, and a full-length dinette on the passenger side. Standard features include a north-south 56×74-inch mattress with lift up under bed storage, a 21-gallon fresh water tank, a 17-gallon grey water holding tank, a NovaKool R3000 compressor refrigerator, a stainless steel sink, and window and door screens fine enough to keep out annoying “no-see-ums” bugs. BundutecUSA’s best options include a Zamp 160 watt solar power system, the BunduAwn wrap-around awning, and the revolutionary Truma Combi water heater furnace that not only saves on weight and space, but is also whisper quiet when in operation. Easily, one of the 10 best campers for the Ford F-150. At 1,610 pounds the BundutecUSA Wild is a bit on the heavy side with its rugged, all-wood construction, but it’s hard to downgrade a camper as well-equipped as the Wild, which is why it’s ranked so high. The list price for the BundutecUSA Wild is only $26,593, a real bargain when you consider all that you get for the money.
3. OEV Back Country 6.85
4. nuCamp Cirrus 620
5. Four Wheel Camper Hawk
With a floor length of 6.5 feet and a dry weight of only 1,075 pounds, the Four Wheel Camper Hawk is a perfect match for today’s Ford F-150 pickup truck. The Hawk features a 20-gallon fresh water tank, a fully equipped kitchenette, an east-west queen bed, a three-way 1.7-cubic foot reefer, and attractive yet durable interior woodwork. Customers can choose from one of three floorplans when ordering a Hawk—a roll-over side couch, side dinette, or a front dinette. For those want a more amenities, a cassette toilet and an outside shower can both be added as options. Interested in extending your time off-grid? Four Wheel Campers has that covered, too, by offering a 160 watt roof-mounted solar system, a dual battery setup, an 85-liter DC compressor refrigerator, and two 10-pound propane tanks. Four Wheel Campers uses a proprietary tie-down system consisting of four, zinc-coated eye bolts reinforced with steel backing plates that are mounted to the bed of the pickup. The advantage of having a hidden system like this is that it not only presents a clean look on the outside of the camper, but it also works great for driving off-road. Another Truck Camper Adventure favorite, the FWC Hawk lists for only $25,625, but don’t let the price fool you. This rugged, well-made camper can take you almost anywhere you want, and with its welded aluminum frame and aluminum exterior, will last for decades.




6. Scout Olympic 6.5
7. Hallmark Milner Overland
8. Alaskan 6.5 Cabover
Can’t decide between a hard-side or a pop-up? Well, look no further. The good folks at Alaskan make a hybrid camper that’s a little of both. Unlike the traditional pop-up truck camper, which has canvas sides, the patented pop-top on an Alaskan camper features a one-piece, “solid wall” design with a hydraulic mechanism that raises and lowers the entire top of the camper with a simple flip of the switch. First introduced in the 1970s, the Alaskan 6.5 has stood the test of time with a floor length of 6-foot 5-inches and a wet weight of only 1,550 pounds, perfect for short-bed half-ton pickups like the Ford F150, Ram 1500, and Chevy/GMC 1500. The Alaskan 6.5 Cabover’s floorplan is simple yet highly functional with a front dinette and kitchen on the driver side and a refrigerator and optional Thetford cassette toilet on the passenger side. The camper, of course, features Alaskan’s breathtaking birch interior with contrasting leather dinette, and Hehr’s radiused windows. There is no wet-bath, of course, but the camper has everything else needed to camp comfortably including a 20 gallon fresh water holding tank, a Thetford two-burner cooktop, a stainless steel sink, a NovaKool 2600 refrigerator, two 12 volt Maxxair fans, one AGM battery, a Suburban 4-gallon water heater, and a Truma VarioHeat furnace. Options for this classic camper include Zamp 90 watt solar panel, an outdoor shower, a group 31 AGM or lithium battery, a Polar Cub A/C, and a larger NovaKool 3.5 cubic foot refrigerator. Sold direct from Alaskan’s Winlock, Washington factory. Lists for $37,190.
9. Soaring Eagle Adlar 6.5XL
10. Phoenix Level Series
Interested in a semi-custom pop-up to haul on your Ford F-150? Well, the good folks at Phoenix Campers build perhaps the coolest looking truck campers in the industry. Customers start with a base model like the Level 1 and add only the options that they want. The 7-foot floorplan features an east-west 60×80-inch bed, a large dinette forward, a wet-bath on the driver side, and a small kitchenette on the passenger side. With a dry weight of only 1,180 pounds, construction consists an all-aluminum double welded tube cage frame, stuffed with high density foam, and protected by a tough outer shell of pre-laminated thick, one piece Crane fiberglass. Level Series highlights include an 18-gallon fresh water tank, a Thetford cassette toilet, an 8-gallon grey water holding tank, and Dometic 1.9 cubic foot compressor refrigerator. The standard cabinet color is birch with a clear coat finish, but more exotic cabinet materials like bamboo can be ordered. Popular options include integrated power inverters with a built-in transfer relay, solar power systems of various sizes, roof racks, a rear ladder, flood lights, a low profile air conditioner, and Rotopax fuel-water containers. They’re also one of the few companies that can paint your camper a custom color to match your truck. The design is so exquisite it even works well on mid-size trucks albeit with smaller holding tanks. Comes in two versions: the Level 2 version comes with a water heater and shower, while the Level 1 does not. Pricing for the Phoenix Pop Up Camper Level 1 starts at a cool $32,995.
Read This Before You Buy
Before purchasing your camper, make sure your Ford F-150 can handle the extra weight. When it comes to hauling a truck camper, the payload rating trumps all other performance numbers including horsepower, fuel-mileage, and torque. For a Ford F-150 with the heavy-duty payload package, this rating can be a low as 1,844 pounds or as high as 3,270 pounds. This means the camper you buy, plus passengers and gear, must be below this number. Determining the payload rating of your Ford F-150 is easy. It can be found either on the driver side door jamb sticker (pictured here) or can be determined by taking the truck to the scales and subtracting the weight of the truck from the truck’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). You’ll also need to ensure that the wheels and suspension are up to the task of hauling a camper. This is because only a small number of factory F-150s are made to do it. One 4×2 Ford F-150 super crew that we recently looked at illustrates this shortcoming with a mediocre 1,760-pound payload and ill-equipped p-spec (passenger-rated) tires (see photo). In order for this truck to carry more weight, light truck (LT) load range C or D wheels and tires and a set of Hellwig Helper Springs at a minimum will be needed. Aftermarket suspension mods like these won’t officially increase your truck’s payload rating, but they will make hauling your camper easier and a whole lot safer. Of course, some of these changes might not be needed if your F-150 is already equipped with Ford’s “heavy-duty payload package.”
Best In-Class Payload?
Ford is correct when they say that the F-150 offers “the best-in-class payload” with a rating of 3,270 pounds, but that doesn’t mean every cab style and bed-size configuration can get it. The only way you can get that lofty payload rating is by buying a 4×2 F-150 regular cab, long-bed truck, one of the ugliest trucks in the market. Unfortunately, the much better looking 4×2 SuperCrew 6.5 and 4×4 SuperCrew 6.5 styles offer less payload with a maximum of 2,900 and 2,650 pounds respectively (the Raptor is even worse at 1,200 pounds). When it comes to hauling a truck camper, payload is king, which is why you want more of it. This is why we always recommend buying a one-ton truck to start with (most one-ton trucks like the Ford F-350 offer a 4,000-pound payload and that’s optioned out). The simple truth of the matter is that a half-ton truck like the Ford F-150 wasn’t designed and built to haul a large truck camper. Indeed, when it comes to hauling a truck camper, the Ford F-150 is better suited to go small and light, which is why we recommend so many pop-ups in this list.
Kimbo 6 Camper is $19,999 base price.
Hi! I’m so similar in needs, wants and age.! Hoping this camper is what I’ve been looking for. Need more info.
Is there an updated list for the F150?
This one is updated with two new entries.
Actually, looking for an F150 with a full sized truck bed.
greetings…….we are a senior couple in 70s lucky to be healthy and active…we love backroads day trips, and longer trips but often stay in B&Bs as we travel. Our camper needs are more basic: a comfortable, safe refuge to rest or nap; prepare a light lunch or snack, visit out of the way remote areas and over night as needed, and of course, basic washroom needs…and last, a design user friendly for a senior couple. We are searching for a light, quality, easy to use, slide in camper for our Ford F150 with upgraded heavier duty suspension package. We are looking at quality over price