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As someone who has benefited from reading the many and varied posts of other Camplet owners over recent months, I felt I ought to contribute a few thoughts of my own.

We (two adults and two teenagers) are just back from 12 nights in France. 3 nights at Lac de Chalain, in the Jura, 4 nights at Le Grand Bornand in the French Alps and 5 in Burgundy, about 25 miles west of Dijon. Glorious weather (25-30 degrees) except for two terrific thunderstorms

So this was our first real use of our Camplet Concorde. (The only other being a one night trial in Yorkshire). Prior to investing in the Camplet we used a Khyam “Quick Erect" Tent and would describe ourselves as fairly experienced campers (even to the point of having had a cycling-camping honeymoon in France some 25 years ago!!

Cutting to the chase scene, here are the main plusses and minuses as we found them :

• Overall quality
• Roomy and light inside
• Very easy to tow and manoeuvre
• Great for carrying bikes (and luggage) on rack
• Quick to erect main structure

• Overall pitch time slower than expected (levelling, pegging, internal poles, fitting skirt etc. all take time)
• Everything has to be “just right” before closing the lid (particularly if you use the storage space on the base side of the Camplet as we do).

I should also add that the two teenage lads slept in a separate tent.

I guess the “acid test” question would be with the benefit of two weeks experience are we glad we bought the Camplet? The answer is Yes – but strangely, not totally for the reasons we made our initial purchase. The biggest pre-sale reason for buying was speed of set-up. Yes it’s quick – but we found we were still talking an hour or so (at least!)

The reasons we’re glad we made our purchase are the fact that the Camplet does really ooze quality, it’s a dream to tow (even at speeds of up to 80mph where legal!) and you can get the main structure up quickly.

Hope this helps some of you pondering whether to invest several thousand.

Finally I’ve posted a few pictures here: http://marnita.info/camplet.htm

Thanks for posting your honest review of the camplet. Great pictures, by the way!

We saw a camplet (a Concorde) recently on a campsite in Dorset and were really taken with it. Like you, we have camped for  many years and we too have a Khyam quick erect (in fact we are now on our second Khyam)

The main things that attracted me to the camplet were the (1). possibility of leaving a good proportion of the camping gear packed in the TT  and hence being able to make a quick getaway for weekend jaunts, and (2). the ever increasing difficulty of getting up off the airbed!

We've been looking out for an older camplet, just in case it doesn't really suit us as much as I imagine(fantasize). Interestingly your comment about it not being as quick to erect as described confirms my suspicions, though doesn't actually put me off

So far haven't been succesful in finding an older model and I'm now wondering if we should look at newer models, which are much more expensive than we had planned to spend! Your post has helped to convince me that, if we don't find an older one, we should push  the boat out and treat ourselves to the best that we can afford

So the hunt for the camplet continues!

Hi,

We take our new camplet savanne to France for 4 weeks next Saturday. We've had a week in Devon in it so far & it took us longer to put up than we had hoped but feel that with practice that will change! I was also disappointed with the amount we were able to get inside but we put it up in the garden & packed it carefully & I'm much happier with it. Having the travel cover has also given us much more confidence to load up the luggage rack, so all our chairs, a table & bedding are carried there. Roll on next Saturday!

Fiona