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We are looking for a new bigger tent, one we can all sit down in when it's raining. we have got it down to the above tents we have like the nebraska xl since i first saw it months ago. but the montana is growing on me lots!!!!! i like the 12 hubbie likes 6. we are a family of 5 (kids aged 1 4 &5) we could also have my mum with us but could use our small secound tent for her. I would like know how people have found all of these tents. piching, size ect: and ny one know chepest place to get any of them? 

p.s. on the montana 12 how are bedrooms at each end sparated are they diffrent rooms or could we have one big room at one end and two smaller ones at other? 

sorry another note: i noticed on past post about the montana that you can use the big front door with pole to make a sort of canopy, does the the 12 still have the big fron dorr or is it the side door you can put up and do the tents come with the poles. i like the sound of this as we had it with other tent and used it to cook under in the rain.

 

Post last edited on 24/05/2006 12:08:36

We have just ordered the nebraska XL and we are on waiting list until middle of june...the thing that swung it for us is going too see tents in the rain....you need a decent size porch for the muddy pushchair....and thats something the montana 12 does not have.....

There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these.  First of all, for a family of 5 I would probably rule out the Montana 6.  There would be next to no space left in the bedrooms to store anything and 3 single air beds wouldn't fit in one pod ( If you chose to use air beds that is ).  The 12 would have plenty of bedroom space but not quite as much living space.  The Monty 12 doesn't have an end door, but there is a side canopy available for it that acts like an open porch ( also available with the 6 along with an end canopy ).

The Nebraska XL seems to do what you want.  It has a porch to sit in, a fair amount of bedroom and living space.  But it is a lot heavier and would need two people to errect it ( The Montanas can be errected, with a bit of effort, with one person ).

The Montana 12 2006 has two large bedroom pods with dividers, so you could have one big sleeping compartment at one end and a divided one at the other. As I understand it the Nebraska XL doesn't have dividable bedroom pods (from what I can see on the website), limiting you to 3 compartments. We liked the fact that we could use one half of a pod as the toilet with our portapotty.

Where the Nebraska scores is having the big porch. There is a side canopy that can be bought for the Montana 12, but the Montana's own porch is not large enough to cook in. Having said that, we have cooked quite happily inside the tent.

The Nebraska XL has dividers on both sides. It can be used as 4 x 2 berth pods or 2 x 4 berth pods.  Although, on one side it would leave a lip as it is like a zipped door.  The other side, the divider comes completely up so it, in essence, one big 4 berth pod.  The Montana 12 is exactly the same with a zipped divder on one side and a full divider on the other.  The Montana 6 only has the zipped divider so there will always be a lip in the middle for the zip.

On the Montana 12, we use the small porch as a toilet tent and have the side canopy as a small porch ( or canopy ).  On both the 6 and 12, the porch/canopies cannot be zipped up so they are always open.  Basicaly, nothing could be left in them that you didn't want anyone else to see.

The Nebraska XL doesn't have slopey bedrooms - you can stand up in them, which is why we bought one.  (The XXL is slightly different)  Plus it has the huge porch which we thought would be good for leaving all the wet stuff in if necessary or sitting in with the door open in the summer with a glass of wine or two....  but you can still keep the rest of the tent zipped up.  Also the bedrooms are 4 even sized whereas in the Monty 12 you get a large pod divided into a 60/40 split. 

The Monty 6 I would have thought would be a bit small for you - but I did like the big end door that you could use with the canopy.

Have you been and seen them at a display somewhere? It really helps you to make up your mind!

 No you can not pole out either door on a monty 12 one side has a small open porch the other just zips or rolls up but you can buy a side porch which is quite a size.

It goes over the top of the tent to the other side to guy it out. the porch bit clips to the poles and guy out at the front it gives more room to cook under or sit out under (where going to try and make some sort of front door to clip on and peg out so we can leave shoes out there with out geting wet)

The monty 12 weighs in at 38 kg and has a great inner height of 205 cm

The nebraska xl is over 50kg and the xxl 52kg inner height 195cm

We found the footprint of the monty easier to pitch and the head height and weight a point of consideration before making our choice, with a 30 minute pitch time and rigid external frame it suited us, but best advice is to have a look and see what suits you