Another Khyam owner and as has been said the basic tent shape is gained in minutes and it probably the quickest for that. Plus you are putting up your outer part first rather than doing the internal bedrooms first with the fly sheet later. A big bonus if you have to set up when it's raining.
However, no matter what tent you get, you will always have an hour of so of pegging out and setting up the bedroom area thereafter etc...
And if you are like me, three of four further curcuits redoing the pegging and guy ropes, to get it just perfect.......
And now me another khyam owner!!! I trawled all the big name sites, went to our local camping superstore where they have hundreds up outside and if money allowed I would have bought an Outwell Bear Lake, next best to me was the Khyam 400.
In the end it was'nt erection time that made my mind up, but the best tent I could afford. Whilst the 400 goes up quick I agree with the fact I can spend hours more pegging out, windbreak, cook station, and general setting up. Always with a glass or 2 of wine. Arguments happen then get laughed about later. I now take my time after all its home for the next week or so. Buy the tent that fits your needs, but for quick erection take a look at the QE range at khyam.
------------- Mamfa
It's the wine that makes me say it
i have a pro action (cheapy) 4 berth tent and it takes one hour from arriving at pitch to sitting down with a beer to admire the view. and have only done it a few times, have a big tunnel tent to try out in a few weeks. ...... should be fun,
We (I) brought a Outwell Montana 6 last week, and used it at the weekend.
We were advised to watch a Youtube video of some yorkshire man on speed putting his up ( on his own)...in little over 8 minutes.
We on the otherhand ( 2 of us), took 20. (I was in shock....surely it couldn't be that simple?).
Glad to say that we didn't even row, and the weather was wonderful. I want to do it again...but need a bigger car/top box/trailer.....plus a EHU + carpet + cobb oven + new sleeping bag.......I thought camping was cheap!
We saw quite a few quick-to-put-up tents collapse in the winds on the North Devon coast this half-term, so reckon it's worth checking the poles and how they connect, especially if you plan to do most of your camping in the UK! Some tent poles just snap too easily. Would recommend the Outwell montana - good, stout, steel poles (though heavy). Ours is the montana 12 which takes about 50 minutes to put up (but reckon it can be done faster - we just take our time!). Would also recommend a tent with a SIG (sewn-in groundsheet), as this avoids problems with wind and rain getting in under the sides - bugs, too.
Our 'smaller' if you can call it the Starcamper takes less than 15-30 minutes to pitch and peg... the larger steel tunnel takes about 20 minutes to pitch, and about 40 minutes to get the f'ing footprint groundsheet to fit satisfactorily.
We then spend another hour blowing up airbeds, setting out tables, chairs, cookers, windbreak etc.
For a long holiday it then takes me another hour the next day usually to build the larder cupboards and lay out the 'bits' like food, clothes etc. in an efficient way (don't bother doing this on a weekend just live out the bags).
I think what I am trying to say is that for a "quick erect" tent the main difference is the SIG, and in the grand scheme of things 10-15 mins extra on pitching time isn't worth compromising on the tent you want.
For a comparison - my friend and I pitched the StarCamper and a Khyam 400 QE and they took about the same amount of time to get to the pegging out stage.