My R1S Camping Review / Suggestion Box

[Supratachophobia]

Initial thoughts, YMMV

Heat pump seems extremely efficient. Only seeing 12 miles total lost between 11pm to 7am, HVAC at 72.

Campsite 50amp 240v did well, but I had no reason to think otherwise. Did not try TT-30 Tesla mobile charger, but was prepared with converter and 14-30 adapter.

Camp Mode instructions not entirely clear. If the camp mode screen is up but you switch to the music screen, are you still camping? It appears so. Maybe it turns off when shifting to park?

Self-leveling worked great but when setting up the camp site, doors needed open and closed constantly so it kept cancelling. No one wants to wait in the driver's seat for it to finish and trying to activate with the window down doesn't work if you have t-rex arms.

**all lighting, both interior and exterior, needs to be exposed in the app, as well as screens-off function**

I had to crawl through the car half a dozen times to adjust parking lights/headlights, accent lighting, dome lighting, puddle lights, charging bar lights, and weirdly enough, brake lights that wouldn't turn off. If you are all tucked in to the air mattress, you should be able to just flip everything off from the comfort of your phone. Also, huge need to be able to activate exterior lights (mirror floods, parking, and rear fog) in case you hear something outside, like the wind tearing down your tarp but you assumed it was a crazed hobo because it's dark and you are alone.

Good fit on the Napier tent. Underneath was a bit loose so had to shove extra tent material in the gap. Also a bit tricky to line up perfectly so the hatch opens unimpeded by the tent poles.

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[DKM_R1S]

very nice! We will be doing the same thing in 3 weeks. Did the AC work well enough to cool the tent? What was the temperature outside?

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

That's awesome ?. Do you have Standard or Max pack?

 

[Riviot]

Only seeing 12 miles total lost between 11pm to 7am, HVAC at 72.

Please use kWh instead, can't really tell what true use is.

I had to crawl through the car half a dozen times to adjust parking lights/headlights, accent lighting, dome lighting, puddle lights, charging bar lights, and weirdly enough, brake lights that wouldn't turn off.

Sounds like you didn't have "Camp Courtesy" turned on, this literally turns off all those external lights.

 

[Supratachophobia]

very nice! We will be doing the same thing in 3 weeks. Did the AC work well enough to cool the tent? What was the temperature outside?

Extremely well. Just like the Tesla did, and I didn't have to rid the trunk latch in the Rivian. The rain fly on the Napier actually traps whatever is in there pretty well; hot or cold.

 

[Supratachophobia]

That's awesome ?. Do you have Standard or Max pack?

Max or fake-Max as I like to call it.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Please use kWh instead, can't really tell what true use is.



Sounds like you didn't have "Camp Courtesy" turned on, this literally turns off all those external lights.

Sorry, 4.5kwh

I'll look for that setting. I'm not sure it turns off all the lights but we'll try it.

 

[NYCR1S]

Sorry, 4.5kwh

I'll look for that setting. I'm not sure it turns off all the lights but we'll try it.

just went camping with my R1S. “Camp Courtesy” works great. Pair that with the low power battery mode, which basically bricks the car so nothing turns on when you open doors.

 

[Supratachophobia]

just went camping with my R1S. “Camp Courtesy” works great. Pair that with the low power battery mode, which basically bricks the car so nothing turns on when you open doors.

Trying this as we speak. For some reason, didn't notice that button. Thank you.

 

[KBabione]

Napier Outdoors had their flagship SUV tent (the 84000) with the attached screened room on sale a couple of weeks ago and I bought one for $239. I haven't set it up yet but can't wait to use it. The one thing that caught me off guard - I think it weighs over 50 pounds!

 

[Supratachophobia]

Courtesy mode seems to have done the trick, thank you. Still want the option to turn on from app AND activate the floods for unwanted guests.

 

[HaveBlue]

I'm not sure the heat pump will cool any more efficiently than the regular AC. Heating yes though.

 

[Supratachophobia]

I'm not sure the heat pump will cool any more efficiently than the regular AC. Heating yes though.

Apparently camp mode has a low power option so maybe it just can't cool as effectively in that mode but uses less electricity. I will also say that it was fairly mild temperatures once the sun set.

 

[cgm9999]

**all lighting, both interior and exterior, needs to be exposed in the app, as well as screens-off function**

Yeah, that's a big one. I got done with my first camping trip in the R1S and overall, it was fantastic. It's obvious that Rivian is likely the first company to really focus on the "car camping" experience.

That said, I found myself with the same frustrations you experienced - once I'm in bed, I really, really don't want to have to contort myself into the front seat to adjust something from the screen. Having full control over all interior/exterior lights from the app would be huge. Bonus points for also triggering the puddle lights upon detection of a person walking nearby the vehicle would be a great option, too.

Given Rivian's constant meaningful updates, I'm sure this will happen in the future, so I'm not terribly worried about it.

 

[feifan]

Self-leveling worked great but when setting up the camp site, doors needed open and closed constantly so it kept cancelling. No one wants to wait in the driver's seat for it to finish and trying to activate with the window down doesn't work if you have t-rex arms.

In my experience, self-leveling just pauses, but doesn't cancel, when you open doors. So just turn on self-leveling, go set up your tent or something else, it should be level by the time you come back.

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