After spending most of their lives working hard and providing for their families, it's little wonder that grey nomads are all about making life easier during their retirement years. This yearning for simplicity is never more evident than when they are choosing a caravan to travel in. When it comes to the age-old hard top caravans v pop top caravan conundrum, grey nomads have their minds firmly made up. You only need to visit one of the popular online forums for travelling retirees to find hundreds of comments about pop tops, and why hard tops are better.

Common complaints include things like, "the inconvenience of having to put the top up turns me off them straight away" and you "can’t just duck in the van for a cuppa and sandwich whilst travelling."  But are these objections justified, or based on old-school ideas and experiences with older and inferior models?

According to a spokesperson for JAWA  Caravans Sydney, like all industries, pop top caravan design has come a long way since it first emerged.

“We see plenty of grey nomads, and quite often they're surprised by how easy it is to ‘pop the top’ and, more importantly, how much better the towing experience is.”

Whilst in general on the grey nomad scene, pop tops have had a bad rap for years for being inconvenient, conversely, the opposite is true. In fact, these days there are plenty of reasons why you should invest in pop tops over hard tops.

For starters, standard pop tops have all the amenities of a standard caravan. But they also have an adjustable roof. This makes them easier to take to remote areas.

For nervous towers, and those who spend a lot of time driving along highways where the cross winds from trucks are more prominent, pop tops are a lot more stable.

Considering 91% of caravan accidents in Australia are caused by snaking or swaying, this should be an important consideration.

Compared to hard tops, pop tops are also:

• - Easier to manoeuvre

• - More fuel-efficient (less drag and lighter in weight)

• - Easier to park and store

• - Less expensive than traditional caravans

• - Brighter and airier when open

With grey nomads spending extended periods ranging from months or even years on the road, it’s important that their chosen caravan doesn’t just feel like home. Instead, it must have the potential to become a sanctuary, and there are many pop tops on the market that fit the bill and the budget.

Modern quality pop top come with all the safety features that hard tops have, including security windows and doors. Privacy blinds, double glazed windows, and optional private annexes and screens address former concerns about privacy, and the myth that hard tops have more storage space has been blown wide open. The reality is that pop tops can actually have more storage space (particularly once the top is open).

It’s time for grey nomads to set old prejudices aside, recognise the advancements that have been made, and see pop tops with new eyes. They may just find they like what they see!