Go Campers vs Black Sheep Campers

Go Campers has built and maintained its own vehicles in-house since 2014 and segments the fleet into five categories: compact, medium, large, 4x4/F-road, and a rooftop-tent option. Most of these are enclosed campervans where you sleep inside, while its 4x4/F-road and rooftop-tent segments overlap most closely with what Black Sheep offers. Black Sheep Campers takes a fundamentally different form factor: its entire fleet is 4x4 SUVs, with no built-out campervans. You either sleep in the back of the SUV or in a hard-shell roof-top tent. Its models are the Suzuki Jimny with roof tent (manual, sleeps 2), the Dacia Duster 'sleep in the back' in 2017-2019 and 2023 trims (manual, sleeps 2), a Dacia Duster sleep-in-back plus roof tent (sleeps 2+), the Subaru Legacy Automatic 4x4 (its only automatic and the only model not F-road legal, sleeps 2), and the Ford Explorer sleep-in-back plus roof tent (sleeps 4, the largest). Every Black Sheep model except the Subaru is F-road legal; Go Campers covers the same highland access with a dedicated 4x4/F-road tier, alongside larger enclosed campers that Black Sheep does not offer at all.

The living setup is where the two diverge most sharply. Go Campers's campervans are built out for sleeping inside and, on most models, add an onboard kitchen and power, though sleeping, cooking, and water provisions carry caveats that renters should verify per vehicle. Black Sheep has no built-in kitchen, no toilet, no water tank or sink, and no indoor standing height; all cooking is done outside on a portable camp stove. In return, its all-in EUR price bundles taxes and standard insurances plus a genuinely complete kit: bedding (mattress, two sleeping bags, two pillows, sheets, two towels), a full camp-stove set (stove, kettle, pots, pan, coffee press, cutlery, dishes, washing-up), a passive cooling box rather than a powered fridge, two chairs and a table (removed in winter), unlimited mileage, and 24/7 support. Heating is a notable limitation: Black Sheep supplies a 220V electric heater only from November 1 to April 15, and even then it needs a campsite power hookup -- there is no diesel or parking heater, so there is no heat while driving or parked off-grid. An enclosed Go Campers campervan, by contrast, keeps you inside a closed cabin rather than the open back of an SUV or a roof tent. Wi-Fi hotspot, extra driver, roof box, and a GPS tablet are Black Sheep add-ons.

Both operators run dual, self-service pickup. Go Campers offers 24/7 self-service collection at both Keflavik Airport and Reykjavik and runs a structured sustainability program. Black Sheep uses a self-service lockbox lot next to the BSI Bus Terminal in central Reykjavik plus Keflavik Airport, with a free shuttle from BSI and flexible returns; it requires drivers to be at least 20 with a license held 12+ months and sets a three-day minimum rental. On cancellation, Black Sheep is the more flexible of the two: a free full refund if you cancel more than 48 hours before pickup (within 48 hours or a no-show is charged in full, and early returns are not refunded), with no deposit at booking beyond a card hold at pickup. Go Campers's standard rate is non-refundable, with a refundable rate available at extra cost. Review scores favor Black Sheep on rating if not on volume: it holds 4.9 on Google (148 reviews), 4.5 'Excellent' on Trustpilot (39), and 9.1/10 on the Northbound aggregator (103), praised for responsive staff and included-gear value, with recurring gripes about lockbox pickup confusion, some older Dusters showing warning lights, and cold-weather comfort when sleeping in the back or a roof tent. Go Campers rates 4.7 on Google across a much larger 2,345 reviews and 4.1 on Trustpilot (87).