August 29, 2026
Radica STARGATE: A First Look at the New Hard-Sided Pop-Top Canopy Camper (2026)
Radica's first pop-top canopy camper telescopes a second rigid shell up on guide rails via electric actuators. What it is, where the design comes from, and how it compares to Hiatus in the hard-sided pop-top class.
The Short Version
- What it is: the STARGATE is Radica's first pop-top canopy camper. The whole upper half is a second rigid shell that telescopes straight up on guide rails, driven by electric actuators, so setup is a button press. Pre-orders are open at $16,899 to $18,099 depending on bed length, at 500 to 575 lbs, with 6 feet 8 inches to a full 7 feet of standing height.
- What we think: a genuinely different answer to a problem this category has solved three other ways, and it looks like nothing else on a truck bed, which we mean as a compliment. It also lands almost exactly on top of the Hiatus on price and standing height, so the mid-size hard-sided pop-top class just became a real fight. Nobody has taken delivery yet, so treat this as a first look rather than a verdict.
Radica has spent the last few years making aluminium truck toppers in Denver: the MoonLander, the taller MoonLander X, and this spring the lower, work-friendly ROVER. All of them are fixed shells. The STARGATE is the first time the company has built something that goes up, and rather than copy how anyone else does it they appear to have reached back sixty years for the mechanism and then styled it like it came off a concept stand.
The whole upper half is a second shell. You can see it sitting proud of the lower body here, windows and all. Image: Radica Products
Radica's own pitch for it is characteristically unfussy:
STARGATE is our first ever pop-top, hard shell truck camper that offers a list of advantages with its unique design. This is the camper that can take you anywhere, forever.
Radica's launch clip, the only STARGATE footage that currently exists
A third way to raise a hard-sided roof
Hard-sided pop-tops are a crowded shelf now, and until this week they came in two flavours. Wedges hinge a rigid lid up at the back, which is simple and light but leaves you stooping at the front. Folding-wall designs like the Hiatus unfold rigid composite panels outward into place, which buys you genuine standing height at the cost of a more involved mechanism.
The STARGATE does neither. The entire upper half is a second complete shell that slides vertically on stationary guide rails set between the two halves, so the walls overlap as it rises and the whole thing stays square. It is a telescope rather than a hinge or a fold, and Radica is refreshingly blunt about where the idea came from:
StarGate pop design was inspired by the iPhone box. Seriously. Everyone knows how simple and satisfying that box is. We engineered the top section to slide on stationary guide rails between the two shells. This means less parts to break, inherently weather tight, and incredibly easy to use.
Pair that with electric lift actuators and the setup routine becomes a button press. Radica's claim is that you can "pop it up or down in seconds, no matter the weather outside." No struts to fight, no latches to walk around, no getting out in the rain to make camp. The claimed payoff is 6 feet 8 inches of standing height on a mid-size truck and a full 7 feet on an HD, from something that only sits 43 to 47 inches above your bed rail on the highway.
Inside it
The interior is where Radica gets most enthusiastic, and on the evidence of their own photography they have a case. There are 35 inches between the bed panels and the roof, which is enough to sit up properly rather than the propped-on-one-elbow position most toppers leave you in.
Panoramic windows, tons of space for activities. Lean your head against the front slant and look at the stars, read a book, or play cards. You have a panoramic lookout in every direction. Fold the bed away to access your entire truck bed during the day.
Master bed with panoramic glass on three sides and skylights overhead. Image: Radica Products
The bed panels lift away to open the truck bed back up, which is the part that makes it liveable rather than just sleepable. Gear mounts to L-Track running through the upper and mid sections, so a snowboard or a set of rods can live on the wall whether the top is up or down.
L-Track down the walls, roof fan overhead, bed panel folded up out of the way. Image: Radica Products
Panel up, and you get the whole truck bed back for boxes, water and a power station. Image: Radica Products
Add the optional lower panels and it becomes a four-berth. Radica's phrasing, which we are not going to improve on: "Wanna bring the family? Throw in two panels and have another queen bed below the master bedroom. Hotel StarGate."
Where the design comes from
The overlapping hard wall is not a new idea. Alaskan Campers have been building exactly that in Winlock, Washington since 1958: rigid aluminium walls that telescope up at the flip of a switch, full standing height at camp, low profile on the road. Alaskan invented this category and has quietly owned it ever since, which is why their campers still cost $44,950 to $55,850 and still sell.
What Radica has done is take that sixty-seven-year-old mechanism, shrink it onto a bed-rail topper instead of a full slide-in, and bring it in at roughly a third of the price. That is a real piece of product thinking, and it is worth saying out loud that the STARGATE is standing on Alaskan's shoulders rather than inventing from nothing.
The styling is doing something else entirely. Flat faceted panels, hard creases, trapezoidal windows, an unpainted metal option and a general refusal to include a single curve. It reads Cybertruck, and on a truck bed it looks like nothing else in the category. Whether that ages into a classic or into a period piece is genuinely hard to call. We like it. We also suspect it is the sort of design people will have strong opinions about, which for a small manufacturer is usually better than being ignored.
The numbers
| Mid-size | Full-size | HD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $16,899 | $17,099 | from $17,399 |
| Weight | 500 lbs | 550 lbs | 575 lbs |
| Standing height | 6' 8" | 6' 10" | 7' 0" |
| Height above bed rail | 43.5" | 45.5" | 47.5" |
| Master bed | 60 x 80" queen | 66 x 80" super queen | 66 x 80" super queen |
Prices run from $16,899 for a 5 foot mid-size bed up to $18,099 for an 8 foot full-size. Standard kit includes the electric actuators, an insulated 1.25 inch honeycomb roof, exterior utility rails, interior L-Track, a locking swing-up door and a HEST mattress. The shell is aluminium skin on a welded aluminium frame, bonded with 3M VHB tape and no rivets at all. Optional lower bunk panels run $200 to $600 and take it to a claimed sleeping capacity of five.
It lands right on top of the Hiatus
The obvious rival is Hiatus, the other hard-sided pop-top in this class, built in Bellingham. The two are closer than we expected.
| Radica STARGATE | Hiatus | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $16,899 mid / $17,099 to $18,099 full | $17,000 mid / $17,950 full |
| Weight | 500 to 575 lbs | 460 to 490 lbs |
| Standing height | 6'8" to 7'0" | 6'8" to 7'0" |
| Sleeping width | 60" to 66" | 50" to 57" |
| How the walls work | Second shell telescopes on guide rails | Patented composite walls fold out |
| Deployment | Electric actuators, button press | Manual, under 15 seconds |
| Built in | Denver, Colorado | Bellingham, Washington |
Same money, same standing height, two completely different answers. Hiatus folds its walls out and is the lighter rig by 40 to 85 lbs, which matters on a mid-size truck where payload is already tight. Radica slides a whole second shell up and gives you a much wider bed, up to 66 inches against Hiatus's 57, plus the only powered setup in the class. If you want the lightest hard-sided pop-top, Hiatus still has it. If you want the roomiest one and you like the idea of pressing a button, the STARGATE is the more interesting machine. Note also that at 500 to 575 lbs it is now the heaviest topper in this category on our directory.
What we like and what we are watching
What we like
- A telescoping shell is mechanically simpler than folding panels or a strut-lifted wedge, which should mean fewer things to fail in five years
- Full standing height across the entire footprint, not just at the tall end, which a wedge cannot give you
- Powered setup is a genuine quality-of-life win in bad weather, and nothing else in the class offers it
- 60 to 66 inches of sleeping width is class-leading, and the optional bunk panels make it a real family option
- It looks like nothing else on a truck bed, and we would rather a small builder swing hard than play it safe
What we are watching
- It is the heaviest thing in its category, and 500 to 575 lbs is a lot before you add gear, water and people
- Electric actuators are a new failure mode. Motors and rails have to survive dust, ice and years of cycling
- Radica's own site carries the line "prototype images do not show electric lift actuators", so the defining feature is not visible in a single published photo, including the ones above
- Both launch prices carry a limited-time label, so expect them to move
- No independent review exists yet, and no owner has taken delivery
Pre-orders are open on a $1,000 production deposit, which Radica says locks your price. Their launch clip states production begins in about a month, and the site quotes completion 8 to 10 weeks after final payment, so the first STARGATEs should be on trucks toward the end of 2026. Everything in this piece comes from Radica's own published material because that is all that exists today. We will update once units ship and independent reviews land.
Radica now sells four things: the ROVER, the MoonLander, the MoonLander X and this. That is a fast-moving lineup for a company that started in a garage, and the STARGATE is by far its most ambitious swing. See the rest of the field in our guide to hard-sided pop-up truck toppers, or browse every builder in the camper directory.
Specifications, pricing and quotes verified against radicaproducts.com on 29 August 2026. Images courtesy of Radica Products. This is a first look based on manufacturer-published information, not a review.
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