After years of watching highway-touring RVs and off-road expedition vehicles get more and more expensive to the point of rivaling a lifetime’s worth of luxury resort vacations, the past few years have seen a concerted effort to roll back pricing and unnecessary features. Joining some of the barebones teardrop-size trailers that have led the trend, the new M1 Lite camping topper maintains some of the best attributes of Tune Outdoors’ popular M1 topper while shaving off unnecessary bulk and expense to create a smart, fast and light Toyota Tacoma-ready truck camping solution with eyes on the backcountry.
With its roomy, flared-out build, east/west queen and king bed options, and long, sleek tempered glass windows, the original Tune M1 really set itself apart from the competition when it debuted in 2023. As nice as it looks on paper, though, it also starts between 400 and 500 lb (181 and 227 kg) before options, depending on the base pickup truck and bed size, approaching the weight of a couple fully enclosed ultralight pickup campers. And given that toppers were developed specifically as a lighter, simpler alternative to full-bodied campers, designed to fit within limited midsize truck payloads, that extra beef is a definite problem for some shoppers.
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Then there’s the price. While the M1’s US$12,999 base price certainly is low for the camper market at large, it is at the higher end of the topper market. And it doesn’t include all of Tune’s best features as standard – that panoramic array of flush smoked-glass windows will cost you an extra $1,650, for instance. Mattress? Also optional.
With the all-new M1 Lite, Tune dives down into the heart of the topper market at a time when US consumers are looking to scale back on big purchases and vacations. Noting the growing overland community, Tune points out that overlanding and other forms of motor vehicle travel serve as attractive budget-friendly alternatives to higher cost vacation options, and dispersed camping, often available for free, serves as a desirable means of escaping crowds at major parks and organized campgrounds.
Long story short, Tune has identified a healthy, active market of folks looking for lightweight, off-road-ready camping solutions that don’t cost an arm and a leg. And it wants a shot at some of those up-and-coming adventurers who won’t even consider the original M1 due to weight, price or a combination.
“With the M1 Lite, we set out to capture the core benefits of the M1 in a more compact, accessible form, without compromising on quality or experience,” sums up Tune cofounder and president Sean Kepler. “It’s designed for people who want to move faster, travel lighter, and spend less, so they can adventure more.”
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Tune accomplishes those objectives by pulling in the M1’s flared-out sides to a more traditional form that closely matches the width of the base truck’s pickup box. That cuts about 20 percent of the Lite’s interior volume in comparison to the original M1, a tradeoff that results in a 20-percent reduction in base weight, down to 322 lb (146 kg).
Beyond being a much lighter weight for a Tune topper, the M1 Lite is much more competitive within the greater topper market, notably lighter than a number of existing models, including the 360-lb (163-kg) AT Overland Atlas and 350-lb (159-kg) Packout. It’s still not the lightest out there, undercut by models like Harker’s 300-lb (136-kg) EDC, but it frees Tune from confinement to the upper end of the weight spectrum.
The narrower body of the Lite means Tune has to swing the bed around 90 degrees into a longitudinal 72 x 60-in (183 x 152-cm) double. The above-cab alcove also gets shortened down to 45 inches (114 cm) in length over top the base truck roof. For an extra $1,000, Tune offers the full 57-in-long (145-cm) alcove that’s standard on the original M1.
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The M1 Lite still includes a full-length pop-up roof that provides more interior space than the wedge tops featured on many other topper designs. That gives it a full 6.5 feet (198 cm) of standing height from the pickup bed floor, convenient for getting changed and moving around inside. It also offers a full 360-degree window array around the fabric pop-up walls.
There’s no word yet on whether Tune will offer those slick, signature smoked-glass “architectural windows” optionally for the M1 Lite, but it doesn’t show the photogenic glass on the pictured prototype, which it’s debuting at Overland Expo PNW this weekend in Oregon. It hasn’t released a full options list as of yet.
Tune Outdoors
As standard, the M1 Lite loses the interior lighting of the M1 but still packs on loads of external T-track for mounting accessories like awnings and showers. The Lite starts at a competitive $8,999 with free installation at Tune’s Colorado headquarters. Tune won’t begin those installations until December 2025, but those who are already sold on the new topper can put down a $500 deposit to reserve their place in line.
All specs are based on an M1 Lite built for a Toyota Tacoma with 5-ft short bed; specs and pricing will vary for other trucks.
Source: Tune Outdoors
