Outwell Arkansas 5 Tent Reviews and Details

Tent Reviews: Outwell Arkansas 5

Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Outwell > Arkansas 5 Reviews

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

Discontinued
5 (more 5 berth tents)
39.90 KG
Ł799.99
2
Fully Sewn-in
In one

Average User Rating:

9.57/10 from 14 reviews

Viewed: 56370 times

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14 Reviews of the Arkansas 5 Showing 01 to 10 Page: 1 2

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

As I sit here late at night in my cheap Hi-Gear glass fibre poled mediocre tent, how I long for last year, when I was sitting in exactly the same spot, just surrounded by the loveliness that was my Arkansas 5. No more perfect (for me) tent has ever, or will ever be made. It makes no difference to anyone what my review will say because no one will ever have the chance of buying one of these tents ever again. They are too old. Short sighted Outwell didn't make them for more than a year or two and mine was over ten years old when it bit the dust. My family of three used ours for all it's life. It went through gales, thunder storms, all kinds of horrific weather and never leaked, never let us down. It had big windows so we could watch our child play with all his campsite friends through some of the best times of his life. It had enough space we could store all our stuff and play Uno and cook. How I long for last year when I could hang my wetsuits under the front porch to dry. As I sit here late at night in my wibbly wobbly, cheapo Hi-Gear fibre glass poled tent.

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

We recently bought a second hand Arkansas 5. The tent itself is great. Very sturdy, wind and watertight. Loads of windows for light and airy feel. Good size for 2 adults and 2 small dogs. Very good height all through the tent. The middle hanging section outside the bedrooms has lots of storage pockets. Love the porch section for cooking. Only a few minor issues. Getting it up in the wind was difficult. Also getting pins into poles - not easy. And when taking it down we had 2 poles that just wouldn't come apart.

But even with the pole issues one of the best tents we have ever had and we have been camping for 20 years.

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

We have the arky 5, awning and carpets for both, they are a fantastic setup(if you have a pitch big enough) lots of light, lots of options for privacy with zip up curtains at any height in both the tent and awning.

My wife suffers with claustrophobia so the MASSIVE windows keep her calm and the colour is not oppressive if we get any liquid sunshine its not a chore to sit and watch the world go by.

We have had many admiring looks and people comment on how good a set up they are together.

Putting up this tent is relatively easy with two people( but we do have a method which seems to suit us)once up it is rigid (it took the gales on at Pentewen sands, front row, no problem), watertight with no leaks, good head height and lots of space due to flat front to living area all in all the best tent we have used/stayed in(utah4, utah6, Nevada m with awning for weekends, oh and a useless suncamp vario 6) I can't praise it highly enough, so much so that I constantly scour for another one for a full set of spares as I don't know what we'd do if anything happened to it.

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By: Brooksuk Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2011 Rating: 10 from 10

We replaced our Vango Icarus 500 and canopy with the Arkansas 5 this year (with footprint groundsheet and carpet). Although expensive this is by far the best tent we've owned.

Myself and my wife erected the tent in approximately 45 minutes after watching the Yeomans video on YouTube. We had a slight issue with the Outwell plastic pegs as these seem to bend very easily when pegging into hard ground (now replaced these with steel pegs).

We experienced some pretty bad weather on our first trip (very strong gusty winds and rain) which the tent coped with easily! Compared to the Vango Icarus we felt very safe and secure in this tent even in the strongest winds.

The living area is very spacious and light, with plenty of space for all our kit. The best feature of this tent is the fact that it comes with a porch / canopy already attached. This is just about big enough to cook under / sit under and avoids the need to erect a separate canopy / extension.

Bedrooms - with its 3 and 2 berth bedroom combination I think the tent is best suited for a couple with 1 or 2 children maximum.

Packing up the tent was simple - the whole tent packed up and easily back in the bag in 15 minutes! Unlike other reviews we had no trouble at all with separating the curved roof poles - I wonder if Outwell have changed the design for the 2011 model?

The pack size and separate pole bag is heavy and bulky but is 100% worth it for the quality / security / space!

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By: Ciciak Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: 10 from 10

First I want to thanks to all, who made this tent review before me. Because I have read all your review and was helpful for me before buying Arkansas 5 tent.

We were in camp in Croatia in recent days. Also testing our Arkansas 5. Except of nice weather we have experienced heavy rain. At the morning I was wondering how it is possible that no one drop inside the tent.

Until now - very satisfied.

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By: Steve+Tracey Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 10 from 10

We wanted to replace our old tent that only had one window and was dark blue. Viewed the tent at a camping shop and fell in love with the colour and the many windows. Purchased both the tent, awning & carpet. The two of us have just spent a brilliant 2 weeks in it. The tent was very roomy for 2 people. I think it would be a squeeze for 4 people if the weather was not good. We watched the video and had a trial run in the garden. The poles have to be encouraged to go into the pegs! nothing like as easy as the video shows. The main front guide rope is difficult to reach, so undo it before you erect tent. The first week we put the awning on.

The awning comes with bucket ground sheet that covers the the ground up to the porch door. It felt like it doubled the size of the tent. We are glad we bought it.

The weather was so sunny, that it got bright in the bedroom very early in the morning and was soon to hot to stay inside. On the second week we took the awning down, this helped to keep the bedroom a bit cooler. The carpet made the living area very cosy in the evening when the temperature dropped. On the first evening we had a storm like we had never seen before (been camping for over 40 years). The tent felt very strong and waterproof. The awning does press down on the porch but it didn't seem to compromise it's function.

The windows are brilliant for people watching and we were quite happy sitting inside watching the world go by. The height of the the makes it feel light and airy but the height means the door zip is hard to reach (I am 5'7') and to roll the awning door I took two elastics off the side door and attached them to the opening loops so I could tie it up. The poles are heavy when in their bag but this makes for a very quiet tent in the wind. Now back home we are storing the tent in the garage as it is too heavy to lift into the loft. We would recommend this tent and already planning our next trip, the tent made the holiday, the best camping holiday we have ever been on.

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

We brought this tent to replace a much loved Khyam Rigidome, and after a couple of long weekends away and two weeks in France it is now well on the way to achieving the same much loved status.

The principal reasons for buying it were the headroom (6'3' no need to crouch), the canopy/porch (which has given us an area to cook on wet days and a pleasant place to sit in the evenings) and the actual size of the tent (ideal for our family of four).

All of the windows make it nice and light inside, drying poles are useful, as is all of the hanging storage.

Relatively easy to put up with two people, we just walk it out as per the Outwell video. As yet, unable to come up with a plan for putting it up single handed, which was one of the main benefits of the Khyam.

The only downside we've encountered is separating the curved 'roof' poles after you've taken the tent down, which can be pretty tricky.

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By: Currycampers Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: 10 from 10

Great tent. Bought it from Yeomans. Big Big problem with the poles though. Downloaded the Outwell erection video and took it on our camera for our first go at putting it up as no room in our little garden. The arc on the poles nothing like shown in the video and we managed to bend them out of shape struggling to get them in to the foot pegs. Yeomans were great and supplied us with another tent but the poles were the same. Yeomans suggested we took it to one of their shows which we did and they showed us the best way to do it which is not easy! As we haven't read any other reviews with this problem we don't know if it's just us being useless or the poles are a bit rubbish.

The tent itself however is fantastic once up and looks great. The canopy with its hanging rails is a real plus as cooking in all weathers is easy without risking setting the tent alight and saves having to put up an extension. It also means the rain doesn't get in when the main door's open. Huge inside and nice colours. Unashamed Glampers and the Arkansas 5 makes a great portable holiday home. For what it's worth and to restore some camping credibility we also have an Omega 350 for proper camping which is a fabulous tardis of a tent.

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

I must admit it was the colour that caught our eye when we were looking for a bigger tent than our Coleman. Watching the video helped in putting it up. Bags of room which means you can all sit inside on bad weather days or in the evenings. The clothes airer poles are great for tea towels and wet towels. A light airy tent but sometimes a bit too airy. I found it a quite draughty compared to our Coleman as the sides don't zip up completely. Whilst I realise this is to reduce condensation it does make it a little uncomfortable of an evening. We also have the footprint, carpet and matching windbreak. Overall a great tent, if a little more expensive than some of a similar style.

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By: Kerry72 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 9 from 10

We bought this tent as our coleman was a bit cramped for more than a weekend and we wanted space to store our kit and sit inside in bad weather.

It doesn't disappoint. Our first weekend away was accompanied by blustery gales and driving rain. We remained dry as a bone and it stood up to all the buffeting with barely a movement.

Great features are the storage pockets and the drying rails in the porch. There is lots of natural light inside and it has all the usual Outwell feature like the inlet for EHU and low level windows in the bedrooms.

Pitching is relatively straightforward (we watched the video on the Outwell site first) The only problem I had was that the guylines at the top of the front and back poles were too tall for me to reach, luckily my husband is taller but even he had a stretch. I guess that's the downside to having so much headroom. With a bit of practice pitching should get down to about 30 mins from parking to getting the kettle on.

Also the tent looks really good. We were on the receiving end of quite a lot of tent envy and admiring glances.

Our only issue was taking it down. The curved section roof poles had slightly twisted and were really hard to separate. Otherwise we would give it a 10.

Also with 2 bags it is quite bulky and the poles are very heavy, but that's the price you pay for space and strength.

Great tent though, well worth the investment.

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14 User Reviews of the Arkansas 5 - Showing 01 to 10 Page: 1 2

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Manufacturer's Description

With trendy, colour-coordinated features, luxurious quality and straightforward charm, the Arkansas 5 has a charisma all its own. It offers sleeping accommodation for up to 5 persons in a breathable 3 + 2 universal inner, and features large panorama windows with bottom-up curtains in both the main tent and canopy. Interior comfort is maintained at all times by screen-house ventilation and the Outwell Sealed Ground System. Other strong features include the curved steel poles that dramatically improve tent stability, and the canopy with two incredibly handy drying rails for the family’s wet swimwear. The Arkansas 5 will be the right choice for families who want maximum comfort in an up-to-date tent that is not too large.

Specifications:
Flysheet: Outtex® 5000 with taped seams
Hydrostatic Head: 5000 mm
Floor: Double-coated polyethylene
Inner tent: Breathable polyester
Pack size: Tent: 78 x 40 x 42 cm/Poles: 25 x 80 cm
Weight: Tent: 20.8 kg / Poles: 19.1 kg
Poles: Steel poles 19/22 mm, 2 upright steel poles

Features:
• Front canopy
• Mud valance on canopy
• Drying rails at each side of front canopy
• Large panorama windows with roll-up curtains
• Pre-attached and adjustable inner tents
• Organiser pockets
• Mesh pockets in the inner tents
• Lamp holder and light cable tidies
• Fully seam-sealed flysheet for maximum protection
• Reinforcement patch on all stress points
• Adjustable pegging points
• Pre-attached guy ropes
• Luminous guy ropes
• Heavy duty Outwell zips
• Outwell doormat included
• Repair kit included

Optional Extras:
• Carpet
• Footprint

... there may be more info on their website

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