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Quote: Originally posted by Jim1977 on 13/9/2023

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The “Lakes” tents, at least when we got ours, were 80% cotton, 20% polyester. The next range down were the “River” tents (Yukon River etc). These were brown polycotton, but the mix was 65% cotton. Over the years Outwell reduced the mix. The ZIG in later years was also not as thick a material. 2012 and earlier were the best ones and the ones to seek out used.

Only thing I can think of new that would be higher quality than a Trout Lake 4 and about the same size would be a Karsten 260 pod with comfort awning and front wall.

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Quote: Originally posted by dk168 on 08/9/2023

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My last two tents before I switched unit to a PVC were cotton canvas Dutch pyramid tents.

I loved the smell of cotton canvas and their ease of putting up.

I chose pyramids as they were supposed to offer better wind resistance when pitched with their slopping side to the wind.

They were also quieter in the wind, cosier as they had ZIP/SIP and less draughty compared with modern nylon/polyester tents.

Not quite sure if they were more comfortable in the heat though.

DK

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Quote: Originally posted by mjnewton on 04/9/2023

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Leaving aside childhood holidays my wife and I first started camping around 2008, quickly going from small tents to an Outwell Montana 6P in 2012. It seemed a popular choice - a cliche purchase even given how many campsites seemed half full of them wherever we went! The reasons for their popularity were many though and so I am not surprised they sold so many, and similarly not surprised to find so many glowing reviews for them on this site both at the time and since.

Following a several-year hiatus from camping we've got a 6yr old daughter now and have recently got back into it having done three trips away this year. Our daughter loves it and we've really caught the bug again. Only saw one other Monty on a site though but I guess those that continued to use them year-on-year have now worn them out and nothing lasts forever! Ours still looks like new though and as we still love it there's no pressure to replace (the recent addition of a roof protector might well be mitigating any waterproofing issues that might've emerged for all we know!) but of course even when not on the market you can't help look around to what other options there are!

There weren't any obvious commonplace models though, indeed it seemed there was just one of every model and size out there, and nothing jumped out that piqued our interest. We visited a camp shop at the weekend (Attwools in Gloucestershire - a great shop with a massive array of tents) and we were quite surprised how underwhelmed we were with what's on offer.

Sure, there is only so much innovation possible when it comes to tent design and it was nice to see things like silent-opening doors and.... well, aside from air tents becoming mainstream, nothing else has seemingly changed. Nothing apart from cost of course but we didn't dwell too much on that as it could just be down to inflation and us looking at non-discounted current-year models (we paid £350 for the Montana 6P though and the current figures were nowhere near this I must say!).

Perhaps despite the massive range on display we just didn't see 'the one' for us and as a result everything else fell short in some way. It was even the colours though that all seemed so dark and cold looking (that reminds me - more blackout inners have also appeared!) and everything felt so 'utilitarian' for want of a better way of putting it. Perhaps being displayed under cover might not have helped?

Does this experience chime with anyone else? We felt quite deflated to be honest as whilst we're not looking to replace our tent just yet it's always nice to build the next 'dream' purchase - just as we did with the Montana all those years ago. The experience has instead made us mindful that we'd best make sure we take particularly good care of the Montana to make sure it lasts us as it is far from obvious what we'd replace it with.

I looked on the review pages here to see what other people have since flocked to. There are 226 reviews for the Montana 6P and what felt like less than that for all other tents combined! What's happened?! Where's all the excitement gone? Camping is clearly still very popular - our sites were all full - but has the significance of the choice of tent just, well, gone? If so, howcome?


Post last edited on 04/09/2023 14:01:52

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