Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Camping It Up => Topic started by: SpaceBadger on 10 May, 2010, 07:06:02 pm
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I've got a few races coming up where camping the night before is required and possibly afterwards too. Whilst I like my current 3-man tent, it's a bit of a faff to put it up for just one night and I'm tempted by the pop-up tents. The 2 man version seems sensible, and I've just seen it in Mountain Warehouse for £30. Seems like a bargain.
But are they worth it/any good? I've seen them from many different manufacturers, but I can't believe there are that many pop up tent factories in the world? Has anyone found any differences between them?
Any thoughts/advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.
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They are useless for carrying other than in a car. I bought one from Decathlon which came with rucksack type straps on its bag. I put it on my back and cycled home. Passing a family I heard the father say to the little girl "You're right, he does look like a tortoise".
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Don't bother. You can get a decent enough lightweight tent for a handful of notes, which would be better in a zillion ways. Not least condensation.
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They are useless for carrying other than in a car. I bought one from Decathlon which came with rucksack type straps on its bag. I put it on my back and cycled home. Passing a family I heard the father say to the little girl "You're right, he does look like a tortoise".
Are you sure it was the tent and not the speed?
;D
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Both, thanks
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Thanks for the thoughts.
What makes a lightweight better than a pop-up? I'm not intending to carry it on my back or bike as I'm driving to the races so portability isn't a consideration. I'm attracted by the ease of putting up and taking down, but if they're crap e.g. they leak, collapse or other similarly unwanted "feature" of a tent, then I'll avoid.
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Just about every aspect of good tent design, i.e. shape, stability, wind resistance, breathability are sacrificed for the sake of the pop up feature. It's a gimmick. It take Gill and I about five minutes to pitch our tent and it will be standing long after the pop up jobs have blown away.
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I'm a great fan of the pop-up. Our £30 Decathlon pop-up has survived full on Hebredian gales and the heaviest rain that the Highlands can throw at it.
Our kids sleep in it when we go away in the camper and we can arrive at a site late at night and they can pitch it themselves in the dark in about 90 seconds.
Taking it down requires a bit of practice, best done in the garden before you go so as not to make a fool of yourself in front of other campers (dont ask me how I know this).
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I'm a great fan of the pop-up. Our £30 Decathlon pop-up has survived full on Hebredian gales and the heaviest rain that the Highlands can throw at it.
Our kids sleep in it when we go away in the camper and we can arrive at a site late at night and they can pitch it themselves in the dark in about 90 seconds.
Taking it down requires a bit of practice, best done in the garden before you go so as not to make a fool of yourself in front of other campers (dont ask me how I know this).
So much for theory then. I bow to your real life experience Chris. I still wouldn't buy one though. ;)
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I was on a trip with seven others, four tents, 11 o'clock at night, only one headtorch. Only one other person had ever put up the tent they had with them, and most hadn't ever put up a tent. It was raining. I was 'designated' to put up the tents, three of which I'd never seen before.
One of the tents was a Khyam. I had seen these but never used one. I held the 'rose' at the top of the dome and gave it a shake. The whole thing just clicked into place. All it needed was pegging.
Given expectation, I was pleasantly surprised with the overall quality. It was a single skin but waterproof, reasonably heavy weight, pegged and guyed well, and had reasonable vent-a-bility.
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We've got two of them. Our first was a two-man effort from Millets and it's been brilliant. As others have noted, if you arrive somewhere late they're so easy to pitch, it's brilliant. Once you've got the knack, they're a doddle to take down too.
We got an Outwell version recently which is much bigger and has a door at each side and porch space. We'll be taking that to France in July where we are following the Tour de France and will be in a different campsite every day for a week.
The Milletts popup is for sale, if anyone's interested.
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The Milletts popup is for sale, if anyone's interested.
What size is it? And how much you looking for?
I am quite interested in getting a pop up to go with the other tents...
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The Milletts popup is for sale, if anyone's interested.
What size is it? And how much you looking for?
I am quite interested in getting a pop up to go with the other tents...
Two man - perfect for you. ;D
A tenner.
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The Milletts popup is for sale, if anyone's interested.
What size is it? And how much you looking for?
I am quite interested in getting a pop up to go with the other tents...
Two man - perfect for you. ;D
A tenner.
Bargain!
Can I have first dibs please?
If you were able to bring it up to teh AGM this weekend, we could do the deed.
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We've got a small-ish one (Outwell two man?). My wife uses it on cub camps when the big tent is overkill. It's been used in snow, wind and rain. I've used it for camping at the start of the Irish Mail audax.
The only real problems are that you cannot sensibly carry it on a bike, and packing it up takes practice to do the fold-and-twist. I wouldn't take it if I knew that torrential rain and gale force winds are expected, but by nature of being bendy and foldable it bounces back from strong gusts rather than bending and snapping.
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The Milletts popup is for sale, if anyone's interested.
What size is it? And how much you looking for?
I am quite interested in getting a pop up to go with the other tents...
Two man - perfect for you. ;D
A tenner.
Bargain!
Can I have first dibs please?
If you were able to bring it up to teh AGM this weekend, we could do the deed.
Aye, no problem.
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Thanks everyone. I think I'll be investing. :thumbsup:
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Make sure that it's long enough inside - if I remember, you're quite a tall Space Badger?
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Make sure that it's long enough inside - if I remember, you're quite a tall Space Badger?
I'm 6'2" and can manage a good night's sleep in the smaller of our tents - the one Regulator's buying. I just encroach on Mrs JT's space a bit as she's a foot shorter than me.
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Make sure that it's long enough inside - if I remember, you're quite a tall Space Badger?
Well remembered, Butterfly! http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17.msg371910#msg371910 (http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17.msg371910#msg371910)
I recall the two-man versions being around 205cm-210 cm long, so I reckon I'll just about be ok. I'm just under 6'5". I may have to lay corner to corner to be on the safe side ;D
Unless it turns out to be a particularly eventful race, I'll be alone in there ;)
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We have two Decathlon pop-ups, a two and three man jobbie. They are excellent if you have a car. Ours are the versions with side ears that open up to give additional ventilation. We use them for overnighting in order to avoid putting up our massive circus tent.
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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.
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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 ;D).
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I saw someone getting folding tuition for one of the bigger ones in Decathlon a couple of hours ago. I had visions of it pinging open and throwing him across the shop but alas not.
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Once I went (car) camping with an old work colleague of mine who used to be in the US military. His pop-up tent was really quite remarkable! Unfortunately I doubt very much they're available in the shops! It was way cool.....
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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 ;D).
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).
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. 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.
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. 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. ;D
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The kiddy pop-up tent I had folded similarly to a tyre; fold the sides in with a twist, fold the top down. Simples...
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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 :thumbsup:
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Youtube has videos ahowing how to fold them.
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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.
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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.