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Tent Reviews: Quechua Seconds Family 4.2 XL

Tent and Awning Reviews Index  >  Quechua  >  Seconds Family 4.2 XL Reviews

Current Model?
Berths:
Weight:
RRP on date added:
Bedroom inners:
Living area groundsheet:
Pitching Style:
Yes
4  (more 4 berth tents)
14.00 KG
£159.99
2
Bathtub
Pop up
Average User Rating:
8.25/10 from 24 reviews

Viewed: 129806 times

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24 Reviews of the Seconds Family 4.2 XL         Showing 11 to 20          Page:   1   2   3  

By: Claire and Paul  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2011   Rating: 

We are delighted with our pop up tent. It is now in its 3rd season and starting to show some wear round front zip, but it has withstood much more than you'd expect for a cheap tent. Extremely easy and quick to erect - it literally is seconds. Taking it down was more time-consuming. However, after much practice we now find it takes 5 or so mins, but two people are needed : one to hold it steady whilst the other folds it up. It is more spacious than expected - you can stand up easily and the living section is quite roomy. Each bedroom will fit a double mattress, but height in bedrooms is low at far end, which gets annoying if you are camping for more than 2 nights. A great weekend/festival tent.
1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Jual  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2013   Rating: 

There is now a newer model of this tent for £269 which we have just bought and tried out.

The main differences are the height - it is now just over 2m high in the centre, and it has a lot more windows and mesh panels. The best being a lovely big clear window in the front door. It also has two smaller plastic windows, a big mesh panel in the back and two smaller mesh panels. All the mesh panels and windows have coverings.

We took it away for the first time over half term and are very pleased with it.

The bedrooms are big enough to fit a double Coleman comfort airbed with just enough space at the bottom for two small holdalls.

The living area is spacious with enough room to comfortably fit a table and four chairs along with our dishes and boxes for food etc.

The living area part of the groundsheet has raised sides to keep rain out but the front can be laid flat for easy access.

We managed to go away for the three rainiest days and put it up in pouring rain. It went up very quickly indeed and we also found it surprisingly easy to put away, they now have straps for you to clip together which holds it in shape for folding. It went backj into the bag quite easily.
2 from 2 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Tgloss  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2011   Rating: 

We absolutely love our pop up its been to 5 festivals,many weekends and even 2 week holidays.We've extended ours by linking one of the separate pods on to make a kitchen sitting area.The middle part of main tent is then easily big enough to take all our bags and stuff. We even found a way to attach the pod using the porch guys,sounds dodgy but its stood up to a few gales and downpours. We've got some of the small pop ups which fit under the hoods on the extra pod to further extend sleeping area for extra kids. Overall its had some hard use over the 3 years and nothings gone wrong so far ,will

Definitely buy another when it does eventually wear out
1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Riddle Box  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2012   Rating: 

I purchased this tent as a step up from the Quechua 2 Seconds XXL IIII, after trying the kids camping for a few days in west wales last year.

We needed a bigger tent with a nice living area and 2 bedrooms.

We purchased the tent in March 2012 and once got it home used 5ltr of nikwax on it as we do with all tents we own, and is something we do once a year, as part of general tent maintenance.

Overall we are happy with the tent, nicer big living room and bedrooms are just big enough for a double mattress and 2 people.

It stood up to the wind very very well as it rained and was blowing a gale all week.

No water got in it and no rips or tears from the wind like a lot of others on the campsite.

It would be better if the ends were a little bit larger so no part of the mattress is pressed up on the waterproof sheet.

The dark rooms are a nice touch and do block some light which with 2 hyper kids who don't seam to need sleep this was a good thing.

It was very easy to put up and put down and just fits in the front garden to air out.

Because of the sections of the tent you can also air out indoors by doing a section at a time i.E left hand bedroom extended rest of tent compressed, left hand bedroom compressed middle extended right hand bedroom compressed.

The pegs you get with it are bunk so all these were replaced with Delta Ground Anchors.

All in all a good buy cheap waterproof and easy to pitch and put down. And only minimal upgrades of pegs and a treatment of nikwax once a year needed.

Also if you want a carpet for this tent you can get picnic blankets from various sources to make one really cheap.

8 out of 10 --- Because there is nothing you can use for a porch with this tent unlike other Quechua tents where you can use the base seconds.
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By: River-view  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2012   Rating: 

I did a lot of research for a tent, and almost purchased a pop-up Colman tent, but read bad reviews for that tent. I was in Decathlon, and saw the Seconds Family 4.2 XL erected, and thought it would be good enough (I wanted a tent I could eat in, and had room for hiking and climbing gear for two people), and purchased the Illumin model (has battery powered lights). I didn't get to do a dry run before pitching the tent in south Wales at the end of August, but wished I had. In terms of erecting the tent, I had no problems laying out the ground sheet - very simple, and putting up the tent was fairly simple, though really required two people, though could be done with one at a stretch. After spending two nights in the tent though, I realised that the tent I had, had a number of problems, which were:

1. It wasn't 1.80m high as stated on the tent bag - I am 1.69 tall, and it was a full 20cm below my head. I tried a number of times to make it taller, but nothing I could do helped, including completely re-pitching the tent.

2. The bands of the tent poles holding up each side did not lie flat on the floor, but pushed either forward or backwards into the living area, or up (with some connivence), making it impossible to attach the ground-sheet to either side of the living area (this might have accounted for the lack of height).

3. The ground-sheet had a small - 2p sized hole in it - nothing serious, but I would have expected it to have been identified in a quality control check.

4. The lights only lasted about 2 hours before they flattened the battery - not the 7 hours stated in the instructions. You get a car charger for the battery, but it's a pain to have to do this each day.

5. The bedrooms are small - you have to push a double airbed all the way to one side to let one of the sleepers have much headspace. The zips on the bedroom pod are also very tight, and hard to move.

6. The poles for the awning are very very hard to insert, and I'd expect that most people would not have the strength to do it. I'm a rock-climber with strong arms, and I really struggled, especially in the wet!

7. The ground-sheet also had too few velcro attachments at the back and front of the tent - I don't see why It couldn't have had a continuous strip of velcro - which would have made the ground-sheet as good as a sown-in one.

8. Maybe it was just me, but I never found a way to hold the door open properly - I was expected some velcro straps or something like that - but never found any. Also, the door zip was very hard to fully close, but maybe this was due to the defect, which stop the tent being at full height.

After up-sizing from a Terra Nova Hyperspace tent, the build quality was noticably poorer, and for someone used to a sown-in ground-sheet, this might not be a suitable tent, especially as their are gauze-like strips just where the sleeping pods meet the living area, and the damp field we were staying in, could be felt through this.

Whilst the tent didn't leak - and it did rain quite a lot, I came back to the tent one windy night, to find all the sides flapping in the wind quite badly, even though I had tensioned all the guys. I could have re-tensioned the guys, but I was packing the tent up to leave. There are a lot of guys, which adds quite a lot to the time to erect the tent. Whilst the guys have reflective strips, they are also black, and unless someone is wearing a torch at night, hard to see - I, and my friends kept on walking into them, even when we knew they were around!

Putting away the tent was very difficult. We did get it right after struggling for 15 minutes once the tent was down, and now we know how to do it, would be able to repeat it more quickly, probably in about 15 minutes in all. It does probably take two people to take the tent down, though at a push it could be done with one, unless it was very windy, when two people would be required to manage the ground-sheet.

I returned the tent to Decathlon, and they gave a full refund, when I pointed out the many faults. They said the tent was defective. I didn't choose to get another one though, as even with the tent at full height, the other issues mean that it's not suitable for my purposes - storing lots of luggage for two, having plenty of space to live in, and dealing well with the weather. I'll either risk getting a Coleman pop-up tent, or stick with my Hyperspace!

A good idea, but flawed.
0 from 3 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: JayneJ  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2012   Rating: 

I know all the reviews on this tent are mainly positive, but I've actually returned mine - twice - sorry.

I'm not a camper, but with two boys I wanted them (and me) to experience the whole camping thing. A friend who has the Base Seconds suggested I take a look at this model, as I wanted something that was big enough for four as well as easy to put up/take down.

We had a dry run (or rather a wet run as it turned out) but I have to say that it was unbelievably easy to put up, and always a positive sign when I don't end up falling out with the hubby about it. I did notice that part of the seam on one of the bedroom pods had not been sewn properly. I was going to share a pod with my 8-year old son and my hubby was to share the other pod with my other son. I found the pod a little on the small size even with an 8-year old, so it would be a little on the tight side if two adults were to share. During our dry run, we had an afternoon of heavy showers, and there was a small amount of rain that came through the roof space (I think something similar was referred to in an earlier post).

I am 5' 5' so I was ok to stand up in the main area, but my hubby is 5' 9' and the roof was resting on his head.

As it doesn't have a fitted ground sheet, we woke to a number of slugs making their way across the main living area.

The bedroom pods have only a solid zipped door rather than solid/net door, so I would never be able to see the children in their bedroom if the bedroom door was zipped (which is important to me), yet I couldn't leave the bedroom door unzipped because of the amount of insects due to it not having a fitted ground sheet.

I liked the idea of the internal washing line, and the storage pocket that came as standard.

I phoned Decathlon to explain that I needed to exchange the pod only, but they said that I needed to bring the whole thing back. Not looking forward to the prospect of taking it down, my friend gave me the instructions of the 'meat & two veg' method (but she wasn't as polite). Take the side with the yellow strap and fold it over to form 'the meat', then put one 'veg' over the meat and then the other 'veg' over it. Somehow, I managed to take it down with the help of an 11 year old in next to no time.

I exchanged the tent (for the same model) because of the fault in the seam, and then spent the following week wondering if I'd made the right decision on model. In the end I returned it for a refund and opted for one of the Khyam quick erect tents. Although it has cost me a lot more money, I know for me, it was the right decision.
1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Lizlovescamping  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2011   Rating: 

Are we the only people who have problems with this tent? Maybe it is the lack of a 10 year old boy! We purchased this as we are getting older and wanted something quick & easy to erect/dismantle. On first trying to erect the whole tent sprang out into a complete tangle, didn't think we would ever get it straight. My husband gave up but I (the purchaser) persevered, sweating & cursing, nothing like the cool, calm, hideously smug couple in the video and eventually got it sorted. Amazingly, we then managed to fold up easily and put in bag. First use, erection was OK but could we get it back in the bag? No, just could not get the knack of it, ended up restraining it in a duvet cover like a wild beast and piling the rest of our camping stuff on top of it in the car. Made for a good spectator sport - thank you Womaders for not weeping hysterically, fists in mouths, at our antics. The tent is actually a very good size and well proportioned when in use. At home, finally got it back in bag after several attempts. 12 months on, have just had a trial run in the garden. Yet again, couldn't simply walk the tent open. Both of the white sections which separate the bedrooms were completely twisted and needed a lot of force to get right. Having erected the …. Thing, we have just spent a hot, horrible hour trying to get it back in the bag. No success. Maybe I am too weak but it does need a lot of strength to hold and twist the tent. If you see it on eBay, this is why.
1 from 3 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Socksitis  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2012   Rating: 

We have the Ilumin - with lights. How brilliant is this tent. So easy to put up and take down, managed that with my 11 year old son. Read the instructions which are attached on the bag and got the tent wrapped up and in the bag first time. So amazing.

We had this tent up in the wind, it took quite a battering and survived, we did try and give it some protection by parking the vehicle in front of it, but all was well.

The reason it has 9 and not ten is the ground sheet has small aeration holes along two lines, just have to remember not to put anything on there.

The lights bit is awesome. Small rechargeable battery pack sits in a pocket, sufficient lighting that we did not need the lanterns.

Height was fine with us.
3 from 3 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Paulsmum  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2011   Rating: 

We bought this as our family of 4 was a bit squashed in the original base seconds tent.

The tent is still ridiculously easy to put up, although not possible with one person, as the other was. I can do it with the help of my 9 year old son though. The bedrooms do fit two adults in happily and the living space is brilliant - hard to believe it all fits in the little bag!

Ventilation is well thought out and it goes up and comes down very easily. Good value for money and means that I can take the kids away for a weekend without DH.
1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Jrecassel  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2011   Rating: 

As pretty much a first time camper I bought the Quechua family XL for my family (wife+2 young kids) for a short break (2 nights).

It was easy to put up (as I was hoping/expecting)

And the sleeping sections were a good size for 2 adults.

The tent worked well for us but the height of the middle section is just that little bit too low and so both my wife and I had sore backs for walking around with a stoop. We had to read the instructions a couple of times when it came to packing the tent away but it only took about 4 attempts to get it right and it'll be a doddle from now on.

Overall a great tent and easy to put up/pack away, if only they could make it 10cm higher in the middle it would be perfect.

Not sure I would buy it again but we will definitely keep using it for our future camping trips.
1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

24 User Reviews of the Seconds Family 4.2 XL - Showing 11 to 20          Page:   1   2   3  

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Manufacturer's Description

WAS £249.99 NOW £ 159.99

# Dimensions and weight - Spacious living area (5.9m2) with max height of 1.80m. 14.5kg.
# Bedroom - 2 spacious bedrooms for 2 people, comfortable dimensions: 2.10m x 1.60m.

# Living area/storage - With its 5.9m², you can easily seat 4 or even 6 people around the table. Large storage pocket included. The entrance door is protected by a large overhang. The large back window, protected by an overhang, can be left open even in rainy weather. The basin-shaped groundsheet in the living area prevents rainwater runoff into the tent. Large storage pocket in the living area.

# Access - A large door, which can be easily stored in an adjacent pocket for more ease of use, and the advantage of a living area that opens up to the outside in fine weather. The edge of the groundsheet can be flattened at entrance for easier access.

# Pitching/Folding - Innovation: the groundsheet can be positioned and secured before the tent is unfolded. This facilitates the right positioning of the tent, and its accurate set up. Then, you can unfold and set it up in under 2 minutes!

# Waterproofing - Like all Quechua tents, the waterproofing has been particularly well-developed, approved in lab tests (WHOLE TENT in a shower of 200 litres/hr/m2!) and in field tests. (PU coated polyester flysheet, polyethylene groundsheet, thermobonded sealed seams.) A breathable polyester bedroom under the flysheet means you aren''''t in contact with the condensation that forms naturally on the inside of the flysheet.

# Ventilation - 1 large central upper vent in the living area. 1 upper vent in each bedroom. 1 large insect-net window that can be closed. Top of the front door can be opened even when it rains. Everything is designed to maximise ventilation, and reduce natural condensation.

# Poles - Solid fibreglass; highly break resistant.

# Pegs - 5mm galvanised steel for excellent twist-resistance.

# Carry bag - Disc tha

... there may be more info on their website

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