Hi Skinflint, I'm not a tent designer so I have no idea why you had condensation problems and I didn't. Also, sun was a bit lacking on Dartmoor this weekend so your experience of that would be more relevant than mine. Yes, the tent was OK in the wind but there were trees along one side of the tent and I had the narrow back of the tent pointing into the wind with the car parked immediately behind it. I don't know how it would perform anywhere more exposed or in very gusty conditions - after all I don't think that's what its designed for. I couldn't seem to get the roof tensioned right until I ran out an additional guy tied round the midpoint the rear pole, but then I worried I was putting too much strain on that pole. I think I will email ORev with that question
Jean, I didn't time putting up the Starcamper 3 so all I can say is very quick and very easy. Three prebent poles to thread through roof sleeves only, the poles clip down the side of the tent. Very easy to ring and pin with adjustable tension straps. Very light to pull up to standing height, especially with the inner left out. As I said before, its not a Cabanon so you can't expect that level of quality or strength but for £70 its a tent which I found comfortable in bad weather. MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
How was the weight and packsize? Thinking of whether it would be easy to carry on public transport. Along with all the other stuff plus a 5 year old obviously.
Quote: Originally posted by whiskydry on 14/5/2007
How was the weight and packsize? Thinking of whether it would be easy to carry on public transport. Along with all the other stuff plus a 5 year old obviously.
The tent weighs just ver 7 kilos and is a neat squareish rather than longish packsize!http://www.outdoor-revolution.com/StarCamper3.php
You could easily fit it inside a rucksack or strap it to a trolley. As to whether you could manage it on public transport with a five year old to manage as well, well that would depend on how much other bits and bobs you had to carry as well, how far you had to walk, etc etc etc.
The Khyam Sherpa 3 is another low tunnel tent with a similar size footprint but a kilo lighter - because its 20cms lower and doesn't have a SIG. Somehow to me that 20cms differene between 130 cms high and 150 cms high tent makes a lot of difference (I can almost stand up in 150 cms high!) but if you've got younger knees it might not matter so much to you! MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
I think we got ours up in about 10 minutes - with around another 15 for me to peg the rings and guys. That's while we were working out what went where, like you do with any new tent - but to be honest there wasn't really anything to work out, it's that simple. The short pole sleeves make a big difference - I avoid anything with "continuous sleeves" because in my experience all they cause are frayed tempers and arguments (especially when taking down)!
Breaking camp was just as easy - we had the tent emptied and everything packed away in just 30 minutes.
My (re)packed tent is about 27 x 9 inches, though you could make it shorter and fatter depending on how you folded it. As for weight, the bag says 8.2kg, and my bathroom scales say 1st 2lb 2oz, so I guess that's about right. So perhaps a bit heavy for backpacking. The bag does have two strong nylon webbing handles though which make carrying easier. The straps also go all the way round the bag so you know it's not going to split. I guess you could manage a short walk with a toddler in one hand, rucksack on your back, and the tent in the other - as long as the bus stop wasn't too far away!
Quote: Originally posted by Merry Terrier on 14/5/2007
...... I couldn't seem to get the roof tensioned right until I ran out an additional guy tied round the midpoint the rear pole, but then I worried I was putting too much strain on that pole. I think I will email ORev with that question......
I did email ORev but couldn't have expressed myself very clearly as the answer didn't quite match my question. So I have tried again. On the plus side, the Managing Director tells me I have the same name as his mother! MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
Quote: Originally posted by whiskydry on 15/5/2007
The MD of OR has a mother called Merry Terrier?
Yes, funny that!
Anyway, just heard back from ORev again and they reckon there's no need to tie an additional guyrope to the midpoint rear pole to be able to tension the tent properly, but it shouldn't do any harm either. MT
I
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
Quote: Originally posted by Skinflint on 13/5/2007 .....The condensation was worse than any other tent I've had - but then they've either been bigger to allow more air movement or have not had a SIG. I did note that the only ventilation points are the slight gaps at the bottoms of the doors, which are more or less sealed when closed, and the narrow slot vent at the back of the bedroom......
I've had another think as to how you could increase the ventilation if you need to - there is a double zip on the J door which means you could do it up down the side but leave it unzipped across the top to create a third source of airflow. Other ways would be the obvious things you've probably already thought of eg don't do up the toggles at the bottom of the doors, peg the rear vent flap as far out from the vent as possible, peg the front of the fly as far away from the groundsheet as you can, only zip up the mesh bugscreen door on the inner at night ... MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
MT - we did this in the morning when the temperature went through the roof. But didn't want to at night in case it let the rain in!
Can't say we had any real problems tensioning the tent. Where was yours slack? One thing I did notice is that the back part of the roof is fairly flat - enough for a 6" diameter puddle of water to form. Wasn't causing any serious sagging or problem though. Was that what you were trying to get rid of?
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes