I have a conundrum. Hoping people here have some good suggestions. 🙂
Single parent with teenage son. Went to France touring with tent last summer holiday. All good but setup was a compromise (deliberate). Looking to repeat this year but want to change-up the kit to make it a bit easier/more comfortable.
I have a huge Outwell 6 berth tent that is complete overkill for the two of us and like to move camp to camp every couple of days. For this reason I decided to go bare minimum kit last year and take my Vango Tempest 300:
This was obvs just for sleeping in but has a small porch that is handy for keeping a small electric cooler, some basic food and dirty footwear. For shelter, I rigged up a tarp off the car roof bars with poles and guy ropes and we sat under that on dumpy chairs and a small table.
It all went well and there weren't any major issues with this setup (I'm ok with bare bones basic) but this year considering a new tent; which is where I'm after some advice from the collective experience here.
Looking for the following:
1. 2 person sleeping compartment
2. Small living area with sheltered porch (big enough for two small chairs, very small table, cool box, single burner stove
3. Blackout bedroom
4. Inflatable or pop-up with minimal setup and pack-ip time. My son was grumbling about this by the time we got back (setting up etc.). Looking for ultra quick one man setup.
I've seen the Coleman Meadowood 4 Air Blackout while searching today. This is almost exactly what I want but the porch doesn't wrap all the way around the front opening (doesn't extend down to the ground). Ideally I want this to be a full length porch, even if it's very small, so that I can leave the door open if it rains. Link to Meadowood 4:
Also, this tent possibly a bit big. I kind of want the smallest possible tent but with a convenient living space. Probably asking for too much? 😂..... Your thoughts? 🤷🏻♂️
take a look on decathlons website, plenty in there suitable and not huge amounts of money, please avoid that easycamp one the quality is terrible more for festivals/one use type tents
I am a tent camper and often look at other tents just to see what I am missing. I really don/t think what you want exits. Maybe I would look at tents with bedrooms at oposite ends and remove one of the bedroom inners? Good luck with your search.
Thanks. Yeah I kind of thought as much but always worth asking opinions in places like this as you never know.
While searching, I've come across the Quechua 2 Seconds Easy which looks interesting! Albeit not ticking all of the above boxes but ultra quick setup/pack-up.
I think that Coleman Meadow one looks really good. Millets have the poled version reduced.
I am a 169Cm woman and can get a 4 person full height poled tent like that up in 15 mins on my own. My son and I had our 4 person poled tent up in 8 minutes.
I think it has a nice size living area that you could sit in with the door open in the rain?
For modest sized tents I am not convinced that air is quicker than poled, especially when striking / packing down. Though being tall enough helps.
I get your point but in the end I bought the Quechua 2 Seconds Easy, 3 person. I've opted for this for the exact reason that you state about air tents which I have ended up feeling the same about the amount of saving that they give in reality. 🙂
I pitched this tent in my living room to test it out, and for me at least, it's mind blowing. 😂 This is going to be out of bag, popped up and pegged down in less than two minutes! Highly recommend if you intend to move around a lot when touring!
After driving to the port, overnight ferry, then driving at least 300 miles south towards Spain and arriving in 30 + degrees heat, this is going to be a godsend. I have devised an awning that is attached to the roof bars on the car that can be set up in two mins so I am all set now, can sit under that if it rains (or for shade). 🙂
Haha, against the advice of my sensible teen I set up my “2 seconds” 3 person tent in our spare room, which is small. Took much wrestling in too small a space which was filled with Aura of Teen Smugness to get it back in the bag.
Sounds as if you have found your ideal set up. Great adventures ahead!