Coleman Evolva Tent Reviews and Details

Tent Reviews: Coleman Evolva

Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Coleman > Evolva Reviews

Current Model?
Berths:
Weight:
RRP on date added:
Bedroom inners:
Living area groundsheet:
Pitching Style:

Yes
3 (more 3 berth tents)
29.70 KG

1
Fully Sewn-in
Fly first

Average User Rating:

8.59/10 from 22 reviews

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22 Reviews of the Evolva Showing 01 to 10 Page: 1 2 3

By: PPreston Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 9 from 10

Excellent tent all round. Flexible sleeping kitchen arrangment. Nice high sleeping pods so you can stand to get changed etc. Relatively easy to assemble with colour coded poles and looks the business once erected. Kitchen and living area is a good size and very light and airy. Looking for an additional sleep annex if anyone has one?

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By: 0987 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 7 from 10

I mostly agree with all of the comments about the Evolva being good. However, took it out for it's third outing last week. The blue roof pole elastic snapped. Four grey poles split as we were putting the tent up. Thank heavens for tape. We have always found putting the poles into the bottom lock bits really hard. There's no way we could leave it to one person. It's a real strength-effort battle sometimes. And I guess the poles refused to play ball this time. Really disappointing. Now trying to find somewhere to replace the poles at an affordable price. Concerned that more will break next time. How many poles should I buy to cover myself? just discovered references to the long and short roof poles and feeling rather miffed. The experience has put me off camping for a while in case something else goes wrong with the tent.

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By: Debs2000 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 10 from 10

I just want to add to the fantastic comments, that my husband and I are extremely pleased with this tent, we went for an extra sleep annex and chef annex. Like everyone says it is very large, especially for just two of us, but you do have great flexibility with the modules and I think it is very well made and I would highly recommend it.

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By: Kellytrev Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 9 from 10

We brought the evolva in early may and have used it all over the spring/summer and will continue to use it until mid november, its a great tent it suits every need, large bedrooms with clear windows that can be covered at night, kitchen room with opening or mesh window for ventilation, SIG, EHU access, excellent height, strong poles [not had one snap and have been away in strong winds], water tight now that the issue with my roof poles have been sorted [please see below], light and airy, warm, strong zips, loads of windows, plus the excellent option of having the choice of how many bedrooms/links/chef annexes to add.

Yes there are a few things that I have knocked one point off for but these are not a real problem and can be simply solved: the guys are not visible at night [change or add a strip of glow in the dark tape], the door zip catches in the fabric [sticky back velcro], the height of the sky light can not be reached to open [single out the string pulls that are already on.

Pitching is easy and can be done in stages if you wish, the main dome can be up in 20 minutes, the annexes which are so simple can be added one at a time 10 minutes each. Its all colour coded. Although it is a large tall tent putting the poles in are easy as the poles do not go straight through from one side to the other there is a cluster that the poles slot into so when you push the pole up to put the poles in you are pushing against a solid unit and not pushing it through to the other end/side.

We did find that we got alot of condensation, we now leave a blow heater on low through the night on a timer switch it comes on every hour for 15 minutes its bone dry in the morning that way.

We also have the link annexe which gives us alot more options, the minnesota 6 carpet which is a good fit [it does leave a gap near the front door but this is a great place to put your shoes], coleman platinum windshield is realy good and does stay up without guys being on the inside of it [it does have 12 pre attached on the outside though!] its a perfect match, vango dart 200 pop up tent to use inside the main tent if we have extra people come to stay and it works great [not to big] and also a good colour match which is a bonus LOL.

THE POLE PROBLEM: these are the first green and blue roof poles from the front, they were made that the green pole is to short and the blue pole is to long, this causes the front cluster to sit against the tent and makes a well when it rains heavy the rain sits and makes its way in and travels down the hanging point, it is being looked into by colemans but if you have purchased your tent second hand it can be sorted, search for evolva pole in the forum and its all covered there.

We always use the tent in a diffent way, somethimes having the chef and two bedrooms, or just having one bedroom and chef with the link being used as the main doorway [we close the main door up and do not use it] this is great as we have all the floor space of the main tent we put our table and chairs in the main doorway with all the windows then use the link to enter and put our shoes and stuff on the link floor [we move the door mat to the front of the link], we have also used the tent with the two bedroom annexes and the chef attached but when there is only three of us we take the inner tent out of one of the bedrooms to make it a dining room.

We have put thin black elastic across the center of our windows we just drop the fabric behind them at night now this saves us fastening them all.

We have been away about 10 times weekends and long holidays, and I must say that we have never had a problem with the evolva, I would highly recommend this tent.

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By: Camp Run-a-muk Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 7 from 10

PROS:

Spacious (great party tent)

Adaptable (how many shapes can you make? You'll need a few link annexes)

Good Quality (bullet proof and very high spec. Water proofing)

Modular (use as much or as little as you need)

CONS:

Doesn't like strong wind (pitch somewhere sheltered unless you like being buffeted)

Heavy And Bulky (We're gonna need a bigger truck, and biceps)

Huge Dimensions (a 6x6m pitch won't cut the mustard unless your neighbours don't mind tripping over your guy lines)

Coleman say that production has been halted because of complaints from campsites due to it's immense size. I personally have had no problem finding a suitable pitch. Whether they make a smaller version isn't currently imminent. I'd take 25percent off the dimensions and get the seamstresses back to work. Although I do agree that it's a bit of a leviathan, I do so love the aspect of modularity (is that a word) and still miss my Lego, Meccano,and all the other modular toys that I thought 'When I grow up, I'm gonna have a shed load of this' I now own one hundred and nine Scalextric cars, a childhood dream come true. Pamela Anderson will have to wait.

If you fancy a modular tent, I think it's the only one available, (Can't count the modulus etc. Due to availability of ancillaries) unless of course. YOU KNOW DIFFERENT!

Anybody fancy an 'EVOLVA-FEST' to see how many we can link together. I've got two 'Link Annexes' but we'd need a lot more. Do the living areas zip directly together? We could make some wicked shapes. A veritable IN-DOOR MAZE. Might even loose the bloomin' kids for a Pimms or two.

7/10 Marked down for Weight, bulk, and aerodynamics.

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By: Fathe Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 8 from 10

I used the Evolva for the first time at the end of August in France during a trip to Lower Normandy.

I had a couple practice pitches before we left so on the day we arrived I had it up and ready in about 45 minutes. Good job I packed a set of rock pegs as the ground was about 90% rock! The pegs that came with the tent went in about 2mm before going out of shape. Without the rock pegs it would have been a disaster! Due to this I couldn�t peg out all the guy ropes but had to make do. Even with this in mind the tent performed well.

Pitching is easy now. After the 2nd pitch the poles are so much more flexible and easier to work with. I lay the tent out, put the roof poles in and the back ones then work my way forwards. I am just over 6 foot tall so this does help.

The zips are well made and boy to you do a lot of zipping so just as well. I think half it comes down to knack. Once up the space inside is huge and the versatility of the tent is well documented.

Granted the other well documented issue in the length of the front set of poles. I have included plenty of pictures of this issue from my drying out pitch once back home. Typically bone dry all week until the morning we left. So had to re-pitch in the garden at home which was a tight squeeze to dry it out. I am sure we can get this issue sorted then the tent will get 9/10 for me.

The tent is very light and airy. However in hot weather it gets oven hot inside. The best way to get air in was having the chef window down with fly screen up and same at the front. If the bedrooms had windows that opened in the same way then I would give it 10/10 (If the poles were all correct too). For a family of 5 the tent is perfect. The chef was used as a dressing room, the 3 boys went in one sleep annex and me and Mrs Fathe went in the other. I could always buy a 3rd sleep annex and put the chef on the link for the perfect cook setup. (The Link on its own is pretty good)

All in all I am very happy with the way it performs. I wouldn�t like to pitch it in heavy rain and driving winds without serious help but that is the same for all big tents. I had to take it down in rain and a bit of wind. I found the easy way was to drop all the 'legs' by one pole section first.

Would I recommend an Evolva to a friend? Definitely! It�s all the tent a family needs.

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By: Dazzle69 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 9 from 10

My wife and I always look around the new tents on display when we go round the camping and caravan centre in Taunton; usually criticising nearly all of the tents on show. When we had a look at the Evolva, with both bedroom annexes and chefs annexe, we were immediately impressed and started comparing it to our Wynnster Mercury 9 Excel, which we found to be perfect for our circumstances at the time. The Evolva ticked all of our boxes and was so much lighter and airy inside. And the price was a snip. We hummed and arred about it and left to take home our restless toddler. The following day while my wife was at work,I and our toddler went back to have a closer look at the Evolva, zipping annexes off and on, checking out the quality of the zips, how well it sealed out the wind and rain, and all but took it down and re-pitched it. I was sold. Paid for one there and then and we have never regretted it. We now have enough tentage to accommodate 21 persons!

The Evolva, as I have already said is such a light and airy tent that even spending a wet day inside isn't a gloomy affair. The sleep annexe sleeps the 3 of us, and our bags comfortably. The chef annexe houses our cooking table and stoves, kitchen utensils, food, water and all the bits and bobs we have. The second sleep annexe (without inner) houses our dining table and benches, leaving the main area of the tent clutter free.

The pitching is pretty straight forward, with colour coded poles fitting into corresponding sleeves and the ends of the poles either fitting into an apex socket or into an eyelet at ground level. I have even managed to erect it single handed in our garden to dry it out after a wet weekend away. The Annexes then simply zip onto the main section, allowing you to choose your own layout, or saving space if needed.

This really is a great tent. If you arrive on site in the rain, you can pitch the main section and wait for it to stop, or pitch the annexes, and with a quick unzip of the side panel and zip up of the annexe mating zips, hey presto, somewhere to sleep/ cook, without the inside of the tent getting soaked.

We have re-arranged the bags so that the two sleep annexe outers and their poles/ pegs are in the black bag that attaches to the main tent bag. The Sleep annexe inners are rolled individually and packed into the soft stuff sack that the extar sleep annexe came in. The Chef's annexe is still in its original soft bag. This allows us to make sure the inners always stay dry whilst setting up and striking camp.

The only problems we have encountered are the guys/ bowsies are too tight and will not run freely to allow you to tension the guys. I've overcome this by inserting a spare peg between the guy and bowsie, creating a round surface for the guy to run over and making it easier to tension. The other is that the two weather flaps that cover the main porch/ doorway zips always seem to catch in the zip pull, meaning you have to undo the zip to free it and sods law says, the worse the rain, the more often it gets caught.

Other than that, it really is an excellent tent, with great flexibility, a very high standard of materials and construction and a reassuring Hydrostatic head measurement of 6000mm (6metres), double most of the other tents we own or have looked at; it is well capable of standing upto the great british summer. And for us to replace our trusty Mercury 9 is no mean feat.

Pitching time is around an hour for the full setup with both sleep annexes and chef annexe, including me pegging and guying while the wife sorts out the inners and gets the kettle/ dinner on.

We used to use our Royal Nevada 4 as an overnight stop quick pitch tent and then the Mercury 9 Excel as our destination accomodation. The Evolva has replaced both these tents as it is easy to pitch in simple 1 bedroom form for the overnight stop and spacious enough for our destination luxury accomodation with kitchen, dining room comfortable bedroom and at a price tomake you think twice about buying any other tent.

I think we paid around �250 for ours, complete with 2 sleep annexes, chefs' annexe and coleman coolbag, that zips to the side wall of the chefs' annexe making sure it stays upright and preventing spillages from untightened drinks bottles replaced by the kids.

We also found that should the water container leak in the chefs' annexe(oh yes, it did), the ability to completely unzip the ground sheet from the annexe, move it away from the tent, pour the water off and wipe it dry was a blessing. Also I have had friends complain about not being able to get water out of a sealed in groundsheet when the kids have been in and out in the wet weather. With the Evolva, it is not a problem as you can create a drain point and dispell the water.

All in all a brilliant tent, and once I have replaced our guys with dayglow ones that run through the bowsies easier, I think I can safely say we need never buy another tent again.

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By: Dracoerus Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

Got the evolva last year and have used it only twice so far, though in varying weather conditions. What an amazing tent this is. As I described to a friend, 'its like camping. Only with style'.

As many people have described this tent can be used as a family tent or for weekend use. The way in which the tent is packed shows this. In that the main tent and one sleep annex fit into the tent bag. With the other annex being in their own separate bags.

The central section of the tent was put up in about 30 to 45 mins of 'great' British weather. It only takes about 15 mins to put up each annex and I can say that the inside of the tent stayed dry, other than where we had walked inside.

The size of this tent gives that extra bit of comfort that I have never known when camping. The size was important as we wanted a good area in which my daughter could play in during bad weather.

The built-in ground sheet adds to the comfort and prevents all kinds of beasts entering the tent as well as water. Which means that if the only available pitch is at the foot of a hill the inside of the tent is going to remain water free, other than what you bring in with you.

The coleman fan was supplied with the tent package and as mentioned by MRSGRUMPY it really seems to be of little use. I use 2 sleep annex and the chef annex when camping and find that you can get ample air through the tent on hot days by opening the chef window and the front of the tent.

To help give a rough guide to the size of this tent we had a 70cm by 70cm table in the centre section of the tent, with 4 fold down camping chairs around it and there was still enough room to get round the sides without disturbing anyone. As for the sleep annex I managed to fit a double airbed along with a graco travel cot for the little one in 1 annex. You would not be able to get 2 double air beds in, but 3 singles or a double and a single, as is your want.

In all this is a great tent, perfect for big family holidays or those lazy weekends away. It will suit whatever type of camping holiday you have. Save maybe trying to conquer Mt. Everest!

The only problem I have had, and would love to know if anyone has had the same problem, is that the poles that make up the back end of the porch section touch on the material of the tent. It seems that either the green pole is too long, or that maybe the area where the blue pole cross in the main part of the tent are the wrong way around. I will try and get in touch with Coleman too see if maybe the tent I have could have had a manufacturing fault.

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By: Mibster Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

Well what a weekend away, so much rain over 12 hours in total and the wind was 30-40mph gusts. Now to the most important issue 'Leaking' Well I have to be honest we did have a small leak, where about a thimble full of water spotted the floor. Now this was under the large half moon shaped vent. Now at first I thought the vent was to blame and I was cursing a design fault, however on closer inspection in the light of day I could see the leak was due to us pitching the tent incorrectly. In the pictures I will post later you can see where we didnt fully zip the spare pod entrance and secured the velcro. So water was in high wind able to get to the large zip we left exposed, water soaked through the zip, ran down to the 'SIG' seam and flowed down under the fan vent, then onto floor. However again the amount of water was minuscule, its a lesson for us to learn.

We arrived at the campsite (Anitas Touring Park, Banbury)

At 8:45pm, traffic was awful, M1 a disaster zone. This only gave us about 45 minutes to pitch, some how we managed 30 minutes, quick for a first pitch but badly rushed, hence the leak. On the first night (Friday) it started raining at about 10pm which lasted for about 4 hours, at times it was torrential but winds were light and no leak occurred even by the fan vent. Rained a bit Saturday morning, from about 8-10 am, after that though it was very sunny and hot all the way until wrath God time 6pm. The heavens opened and the wind howled, the rain was now coming in sideways and blasting at the un-used pod entrance, and into the zip we left exposed. In the wind the tent was not in the slightest bit affected, despite us not pegging 2 guys at the wrong angle, on inspection in the morning both had pulled out of the ground.

With reference to problems with leaking in the roof vent, we had no water coming through at all, even with torrential rain and that was also with the tension straps left loose, which was another daft mistake we made in rushing.

All in all a great tent, obscene amount of space Taj Mahal, Cathedral like. Bedroom pod (we only pitched the bedroom, no time for the other or chef pod)was huge large enough for a double airbed, with enough space left over for another single if required. Living area again is huge and easily accommodates a folding table, chairs, kitchen stand etc. The windows are excellent and upon opening all of the blinds the tent seems twice its size, on a hot sunny day these would need to be lowered, as we found it melting hot inside on Saturday afternoon.

Condensation was minimal, only truly evident on the clear windows, quick wipe with a tea towel and all was bright again, certainly none in the sleepeing area which is enclosed within a secondary fly sheet and is elasticated away from the outer skin of the tent. Ventilation is excellent, through the lower fan vent and roof vent although both must be sealed in the event of extreme wet weather.

Thoroughly looking forward to our next trip away, confident that our Evolva can stand up to some pretty nasty weather and once correctly setup will not leak.

Loses 1 point for one minor reason, we managed to break one of the elastic loops for holding up the door, easily fixed and discovered not sewn in correctly.

Will upload my pics asap

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By: Mrsgrumpy Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

I purchased this in June 2009, previously owning a caravan, I wanted something big that could fit in the kids and my 'luxuries'.

It was quick to erect, however the guylines and pegging seemed to take longer. The poles are all colour coded with the tent and are easy to put together.

The annexes are easy to put up and zip into the main tent. Lots of chunky zips and flyscreens.

Only gripe is that the windows aren't 'openable' and the sun can beat through them causing lots of heat! Don't bother buying the 'coleman' fan which fits into the venting area, it doesn't seem to have any effect.

I broke a pole trying to take it out of the plastic frame at the top, but they do supply extra poles.

The groundsheet can be quite noisy/papery either use a carpet or we used a picnic blanket and you can stick it down with velcro spots.

Overall this is excellent value for money (I paid �289 for the main tent, 1 bedroom and 1 chef annex) from Somerset Leisure, Taunton.

I'm also a pessimist and so the above are just my observations . Believe me there are plenty of good bits. Can't wait until my next jolly!

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22 User Reviews of the Evolva - Showing 01 to 10 Page: 1 2 3

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Manufacturer's Description

Specious tent including central shelter and a separate inner room for 3 persons. Modularity is key on this tent as the inner room can be zipped on any of the 3 vertical sides ; Ideal for a week end or short stay camping stay, no sites are a problem for this tent since you can set it up according to your needs. Central shelter can be used by itself (without inner room) as a summer configuration. Fully insect proof thanks to the mesh doors.

� Flysheet fabric: Polyester, 6 000 mm PU coated, taped seams
� Inner tent fabric: Polyester breathable and no-see-um mesh
� Inner room groundsheet: PE 110 g/m�, welded
� Living area groundsheet: PE 140 g/m�, welded fully integrated
� Poles: Wrapflex�
� Carry bag type: Modular carry bag
� Carry bag dimensions: 65 x 50 x 45 cm
� Headroom: 235 cm
� Cool Air� Port
� Entrance mat and wings
� 1 set of awning poles included

... there may be more info on their website

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