Pop Up Tents

[Oscar's dad]

French Campsites are full of the Decathlon pop-up tents nowadays.

I think they crossed over the "just a gimmick" threshold a few years ago and seem perfectly suited for "Car-Camping".  I'd certainly get one.  Throw into the air, toss a self-inflating mattress in there and you're done.

Mine worked just great for me. An amusing bit of tent wrestling was required before I realised my folding error, though (closely mirrored by many others also packing up in the same camping field  ).

Folding a pop-up tent is not dissimilar to wrestling (I would imagine as I have never wrestled).  As far as I can see this is their only drawback.  If the tent is wet or it's bottom muddy you will get wet and or muddy folding it up.  If this is likely to be the case I have a clean t-shirt handy to change into once the tent is safely in it's bag.

People do struggle to fold them, we watched a couple take about 10 minutes to fold theirs the other week.  The instructions supplied with Decathlon are excellent (and sewn into the the bag) so rather than struggle (and you don't need two people) simply RTFM (read the f##king manual).

[chris]

.  The instructions supplied with Decathlon are excellent (and sewn into the the bag) so rather than struggle (and you don't need two people) simply RTFM (read the f##king manual).

They must have changed since we got ours as the little cartoons printed on the bag are less use than a concrete parachute. The secret (as I mentioned earlier in the thread) is to practice in private before demonstating your skills (or lack of) in public. The final fold is the bit that took me a while to get as it feels like the fibreglass poles are going to break, but they dont.

[SpaceBadger]

.  The instructions supplied with Decathlon are excellent (and sewn into the the bag) so rather than struggle (and you don't need two people) simply RTFM (read the f##king manual).

They must have changed since we got ours as the little cartoons printed on the bag are less use than a concrete parachute. The secret (as I mentioned earlier in the thread) is to practice in private before demonstating your skills (or lack of) in public. The final fold is the bit that took me a while to get as it feels like the fibreglass poles are going to break, but they dont.

+1

Mine was a Hi Gear model from Go Outdoors and the instructions which were SITFB (sewn into the f**king bag), were also of the concrete parachute variety.  

[hellymedic]

The kiddy pop-up tent I had folded similarly to a tyre; fold the sides in with a twist, fold the top down. Simples...

[Oscar's dad]

For a small fee and a trip to beautifully rural mid-Essex I would be happy to run pop up tent folding workshops for any interested parties 

[LEE]

Youtube has videos ahowing how to fold them.

[Martin]

you have to be a bit brutal with them to get them to the smallest circle; you think they might snap the poles but as long as the circles are roughly the same size they are fine;

best thing about them (which is not their size) is that if they get muddy you can wash them in the garden and then throw them up in the house to dry out.

[Adrian]

you have to be a bit brutal with them to get them to the smallest circle; you think they might snap the poles but as long as the circles are roughly the same size they are fine;

best thing about them (which is not their size) is that if they get muddy you can wash them in the garden and then throw them up in the house to dry out.

Even better, in the scout hut.