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Hi all

Been using UK campsite now for the last 4 years, great for advice etc.  But first time with a post.  Just purchased the Khyam Frontier Excelsior from Outdoor Megastore, I know it's an older model, but the extra headroom and it being a Khyam (easier to setup) sold it to me.

Set it up in the garden earlier in the week, managed to set it up on my own and without intructions in an hour.  Should be quicker next time!

Anybody out there had one of these? 

Cheers

Mad as a camper!

Cheers

Hi Skinflint

I took just one photo last week, but I am camping week after next (barring a typhoon) and will take plenty to upload.  It withstood a few good downpours and wind last week in the garden with no problems.

I have been searching all over the web, little or no info or feedback, considering Outdoor Megastore say this was a once best selling tent!

That said I am very impressed with the Frontier, it does have bags of room, and the 1 meter porches at both ends, well one will make a handy kitchen area for sure. If your tall and don't like walking on all fours, or stooping in a tent the frontier is a must, plenty of headroom.

It was made in December 2001, but the ridgepole system has not changed, and your right it also has the 4oz fabric.  I was considering the new XXL Excelsior which Kyham have been promising since the beginning of the year, and I was going to buy the extra porch for that, so the Frontier is a saving.

Hope that helps.

Mad as a camper!

Blimey Stu.. that must be one serious garden to fit an Exelsior !! I bet you can see it from the space shuttle !!

We've often drooled over the Khyam 'Big Boys', the Exelsior, Espace, Ultimate etc. but where's only two of us and an '02 vintage 4oz. XXL with just one inner leaves plenty of room for us. The headroom at each end of the tent is what I'd buy one for but the XXL is fine in every other respect, Rapidex.. what a system ! I'll never go back to threading glass fibre poles through flysheet sleeves again.

The video on Khyam's site, of the bloke putting up the new model doesn't half show how much lighter the fabric is on the latest versions of Ridgidomes though. Ours is 4 years old now with a couple of patches where someone fell near it and showered it with sparks from a lit fag we reckon.. oh and a tiny tear in the 'J' door window that we fixed with a couple of car stickers, one on the inside and one on the outside.. worked a treat. It's been lashed with rain and hail and Lord knows what, we've always been warm and dry inside (if not a bit deafened by the noise of a serious hail storm !!) 

Hi Barry,

Lol, your right tis big enough to be seen in outer space for sure, there wasn't much garden left once it's put up.  I was thinking of applying for retrospective planning permission from the council when it was up! 

Your right about the XXL it's a good tent saw one on display at Camperlands last week and surprised how much headroom was.  The Rapidex system is very good, and I am now a Kyham convert!

They'll be 3 of us camping this year me and my 2 boys, still can't get the OH to give it a go!   

Glad to hear yours is still going strong, with regards the 4oz v 2oz and having seen both there does not seem a great deal of difference. The guy in the video is speeded up a bit I'm sure.

Mad as a camper

We bought ours from Camperlands.. management loves going there, we always come away wit summat... last time it was a wardrobe and pantry ! They're great, heavy canvas, floor level shelf, rail, an upper shelf and cool chrome poles. Ali has them up in a heartbeat and our stuff gets hung up !! Civilised or what ?? The pantry is dead handy too, they stand either side of the inner and we have a table and chairs over where the other inner would go and a three burner cooker just by the 'J' door. All this and a fully fitted groundsheet.. we love our old XXL !  

We're thinking of going to the Aussie Christmas do in July, maybe see you there..

We have looked at the Frontier deal at Outdoor Megastore vs the Ridgipod Excelsior deal at Aspinalls, vs the Cabanon Biscaya, and still can't make our minds up! It seems they all have plus and minus points and, being ditherers, we can't decide which is right for us!

It is interesting that Stuw says the Frontier was made in Dec '01 as we were a bit worried they might date from '03 (advised by campers on this site that the year Khyam used the wrong sized needle).

We have been doing the 'ol 4oz x 2oz debate, wondering if the Ridgipod would offer more flexibility, then asking if the Frontier meant less poles etc etc. Then we saw the Biscaya, which seemed fab until we went inside on a warm day and nearly melted! Then there is the bedroom configuration; we much prefer the separate bedrooms afforded by the Ridgipod, but then worry it will not be light and airy enough!

Oh my gawd, will it never end?

So, questions to Stuw and Skinflint, please: what made you take the plunge with the particular models you purchased, and do you feel that you made the right choice?

(By the time we make our minds up, the offers will surely have sold out!)

its funny how you don't see them trying to put all the foot poles into one anchor hole on the dvd eh skintflint!!

i can probably put my roma 6 up about the same time as i can with the ridgipod,but its the sheer ease with which i can erect the ridgipod that makes it head and shoulders over the likes of the pole threading tents on the market and the fact that not once did i have to get on my hands and knees and break out into a sweat like i normally would have trying to erect a family tent.

my missus came with me last time i erected it on a field,she asked if she could help but i wanted to do it all on my own again as thats the whole point of buying it.shes can nip to the shops or take our daughter to the park whilst i put the whole lot up which serves many bonus factors for us such as trying to keep an eye on our daugher while trying to erect something that needs the strength of an army to lift into position,avoids the heated swearing match that usually accompanies the task above,and means i can play around with the doors etc etc without the missus saying,"for gods sake,its only a tent!!"

i opted for this model for its sheer flexibility.i can take just the porch inner tent for a quick weekender,or i can take along a pod for a long bankholiday weekend for some extra storage space,or i can take along the pod bedrooms to add even more living,storage and sleeping space and can even accomadate the occasional visit from the outlaws/other members of the clan/family.

not only that,some sites will not tolerate a tent above a 6 man size,so i have the option to go small for these sites,then go large for the sites that allow whatever goes up.

i haven't used mine on a trip yet,our first will be this weekend if all goes to plan,but so long as it doesn't leak or anything fall off it or break i'll be as happy as a pig in mud with mine.

oh,and it looks the dogs back undercarrige too!

I've just had a glimpse at the Outdoor Megastore site and a penny change from 500 beer vouchers is a damned good price for a dancehall sized Frontier ! There's only two of us but you know what.. if we were buying I think we'd go for this bad boy !

As it is, we're happy with our old XXL and we'll be upgrading it with one o' them there Classic Annexes .. the colours won't match our '02 40z maroon but what the hell.. 9 sq metres of extra living space and 3 extra windows for a oner is a no brainer we reckon. Sling it over while the tent's "on it's knees" and the job's a good 'un.

Hi all

Went camping for 3 nights, first use of the Frontier and impressed, bags of room.  I will get round to uploading some pics.  The main bedroom has a divider curtain, which is easily folded up to make a much larger bedroom, 3 of us in there with more than enough room.

The second bedroom we used as a storeroom, come changing room, but you could sleep another 3 in there quite easily.  You could eaven un hook this other room and have an even bigger living area!

We found having the 1 meter annexe at each side usefull as well, we could stick the cooking table at either end more than easily if the weather turned nasty and still have more than a decent living area. 

There is also good headroom in the bedroom's, I'm 5'10 and this was one of my main reasons for getting the Frontier, I don't like stooping (it does my back in).

In the Kyham it tells you near the door the year and month of manufacturer hence knowing the date of Dec 01.       

Hope that helps

mad as a camper