hello were looking into buying a tent for next year, new to camping we are a family of 4 with 2 young children, we are quite keen on the monttana 6 birth and was buy the additional canopy. We read recently about tent poles breaking and are quite concerned any info on this tent, and on where to start caming would be great.
Welcome to the site - and careful, it's addictive!!
Got a Monty 6 this year. Haven't used it in anger but looks fine when put up in the garden. Great design and was persuaded to buy one even though our old tent is quite adequate.
Where to camp - the world's your oyster!
You could try a weekend not too far from home to kick off with - in case you forget something vital - like the wife!
I must have missed the poles breaking messages! I've never seen any regarding the Monty's.
We're like yourselves. 4 of us including 2 5yr olds and have a monty 4. We've used it in strong winds and the tent is as solid as a rock. I highly recommend it.
Have you been to a camping store and seen any erected? They're very impressive.
------------- Proud Mommy of a Vango DD360, Outwell Montana 4, Quechua 3 second air, Quechua 2 second air.... oh... twin daughters too!
We got the Monty at the beginning of the year, also have 2 small children . We use to have a dome tent and then decided we needed to upgrade. Got sick of having to get up at the crack of dawn to entertain the kids as there was no space inside our old tent. However the Montana 6 is perfect for those that have small kids, loads of room for them to play inside, whilst you wake up. If the weather is bad then the SIG keeps you warm and dry. We have used our tent in all weather and it has been great each time. We love it. Also have the front canopy and have had no problems with poles.
There was a bit of an issue earlier last year with the 2005 Montanas, with a few people experiencing problems with the poles splitting. Outwell were very quick to respond and replaced the whole set for everyone who contacted them, as far as I know. I never had any problems with mine but still had my poles replaced, free of charge - excellent customer service IMO :-) I haven't heard of any such issues with this year's model. By the way I have the Montana 6, and both canopies; the front one is great, although I never got on very well with the side one and only used it once :-/ most people seem to love it though so it must be just me!
p.s. forgot to say that it is a fabulous tent... I had another large tent before, but bought the Montana 6 for the space, especially the great living area with windows on three sides, really bright even on dull days - my previous tent only had one window and one very wet holiday made buying the Monty a very attractive idea! Then there's the spacious feel of the bedrooms, the snug feel of the SIG, ease of pitching, great ventilation for those hot days (had one or two, honest) - I could go on and on... I'd definitely go for it as a family tent :-)
Thanks for all replies, We were keen before now just cant wait toget one and try it out, start looking in the sales if not get it early next year, i wonder if their will release a 2007 model?. Thanks again for clearing the pole issue up it was a concern.. this forum site seems great.
I doubt they'll release yet another model for next year... this year's had several modifications, chiefly the rainsave door became a rainsave porch (good idea, some folk here seem to use it for storage, I've even read of someone using it for the porta-potti!), the bedroom pod is one large one with a zipped divider rather than two separate pods, there's a place to thread the EHU cable through, the tent tidy thing... nothing that made me too envious when the new one came out ;-)
We bought our montana 4 last year and as mentioned above got a new set of poles even though we hadn't used the tent. Might need them though as on our last trip away we encountered a split pole where the roof pole fits into the upright. This was on the newer, heavier set of poles.
To be fair it was probably our fault as it would appear the poles weren't fully connected together and this put undue strain on the upright.
Another vote for the monty...i absolutely love it...for all of the reasons mentioned previously
oh and it's got it's own little tent tidy with lots of handy pockets...did anyone mention that?...oh and no bugs..none...not even in a weeks worth of camping...oh and a zip for your ehu (if you have one) and excellent vents and a little window which you can unzip from the bedroom and check what the weather is like without getting out of your sleeping bag.... <<babbles on and on deliriously>>
we've only had one trip out so far and found it quite easy to put up, bags of space inside (and all useable), good head room in the bedrooms and a perfect layout for us (we also have two small children). It's nice and bright inside thanks to all the windows and doors and it's great having the SIG. Really like the fact that whilst having masses of space inside the tent has quite a modest footprint.
I've also read some of the bad reports re: quality control but I haven't personally experienced this. It's a bit more expensive than some but it's certainly worth it.