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Tent Reviews: Outwell Montana Lake
Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Outwell > Montana Lake Reviews
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Current Model?
Berths:
Weight:
RRP on date added:
Bedroom inners:
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Pitching Style:
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Discontinued
6 (more 6 berth tents)
58.60 KG
£1,349.90
2
Bathtub
In one
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Average User Rating:8.6/10 from 15 reviews
Viewed: 46014 times
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15 Reviews of the Montana Lake
Showing 01 to 10 Page:
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By: PandMRobinson Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2011 Rating: 
This is a superb tent. The polycotton and the rigid poles make it rock solid in all weathers. We have survived several gale force storms on the Cornish coast without a hitch. We have pitched it now for three to four weeks for each of the last five summers and there has been not a single leak. The zip in ground sheet is genius - hard wearing and convenient for pitching. We have the awning too which makes a brilliant outdoor kitchen. It does take two to pitch it just because of weight of the fabric but it is more than worth the effort. I love how taut the fabric gets once all pegs and guy ropes are in. It is incredibly roomy - I have standing room throughout at 6'3'. We expect to enjoy it for many years to come.
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By: Jneil Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2013 Rating:
**CHECKED NOT A REVIEW
Does any one know if you can get a front awning for the Montana lake we have seen the porch but are sold on the awning with it being closable, if not does the Montana 6p awning fit, I know there is a difference in material but that's not an issue. Why do some have only porches and some have only awnings?
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By: The Morts Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2012 Rating: 
We bought a Montana Lake last year after falling in love with a polycotton on display at a nearby Outdoor superstore. We spent hours upon hours researching tents online before deciding to purchase the Montana Lake. We have not looked back since. It is a sturdy tent which we have survived a thunderstorm in with no trouble. It is simple and quick to put up but it does take two people purely down to its weight. It has a great head-height, my husband is 6ft 2inches tall and can stand up with ease. We do have the Front Extension but don't always use it if we are only going away for the weekend. The zip in groundsheet is brilliant, it keeps the bugs out and the dog in! The only downside for us is the 'rain entrance' it is far too small to be practical for its designed use, I would struggle to stand in it and remove my wellies and waterproofs, let alone my husband. We use ours for storage mainly, it is a great idea though.
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By: Kayak Jim Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2012 Rating: 
So why only 3 star?. Well to be fair this could be a very good tent and certainly the design is good. However, Outwells quality control and indeed the customer support from Go Outdoors let it down. We first purchased this tent and extension early in 2012, but after pitching it for the fist time in Wales at Easter we found that we had been supplied with an ex display tent with a number of fault including nails left in the peg loops. Not really Outwells fault, but Go Outdoors. We were prepared to give it another go so received a replacement, although the replacement came with a ripped pole bag and we had to wait another 4 weeks for a replacement from Go Outdoors. Customer service was very poor but we eventually got our pole bag. It is worth noting, at this point that the tent bags are in our opinion not strong enough to cope with the weight of this heavy polycotton tent and steel poles. The material is only single thickness with poor stitching. Anyway we were not too worried about this, just keen to get out in the tent.
We pitched the replacement for the first time in June (Jubilee week) in the New Forest. As recommended we hosed it down first to assist with the 'weathering' process, which all Polycotton tents must go through to enable them to be water tight in driving rain. This process allows the seams and polycotton material to swell naturally and form the waterproof barrier needed. I was familiar with this process having used Vango Force 10 tents for the last 30 years, so was not worried by initial leaking. However there was a problem with the stitching on the groundsheet zip the zip track on the tent did not align correctly with its partner on the groundsheet so some stretching was required to get it to meet. Close inspection revelled that it had been badly stitched when made and had obviously been missed in what ever QA process Outwell use. Having had poor experience to date with Go Outdoors customer service, we decided to live with this fault as basically the tent seemed perfect for us. However, I was still a little concerned after 4 nights of rain that there was still leaking on the seams around the rain entrance and at the rear of the tent as well as under one of the windows. Again being familiar with weathering we decided to give it a further chance on our next 2 week trip to Cornwall in August. This proved to be a mistake!
The August trip came along with the wettest summer for 100 years. No sooner had we pitched the Montana Lake and extension on the site in Cornwall the heavens opened and followed 5 days or persistent wind and rain and 5 days of leaking and mopping up with beach towels. It became clear that we had once again received a faulty tent. Inspection of the seams that leaked revelled daylight showing through even when the material was waterlogged so they had clearly not been stitched to a high enough standard. I also found poor stitching in other areas of the tent including guy rope attachments and the Velcro that held the extension to the main tent poles soon came away again as a result of poor single stitching. Finally I noticed that the bolts that hold the rain entrance porch poles together were rusting! Enough was enough and we returned the tent to Go Outdoors for a refund. Again we suffered at the hand of exceptionally poor customer service and it took several trips to the store and e-mails to the Store Manager before they would accept the tent was faulty and issue a refund. They have a tent returns process, but this is clearly flawed and not understood by their staff.
In summary good design of tent, which did stand up to some strong winds, but let down by poor quality construction and materials. Also if Outwell want to maintain their reputation they should look carefully at how their agents deal with customers complaints. It reflects badly on the manufacturer if faults are not dealt with quickly and effectively. It has put me off buying an Outwell again and certainly will not use Go Outdoors for purchase of major items in the future as their customer service does not give me confidence. We are now looking to purchase a Tentipi Safir 9 CP as an alternative, attracted by the ease of pitching and good reviews elsewhere. Some compromise in the communal living and a little more in terms of cash, but feel it is worth it to insure that future family holidays are enjoyed.
It is worth noting that the size and complexity of this tent means that although providing versitial living space does mean that it take time to pitch (at least an hour and longer to take down if wet as groundsheet takes time to clean) so in our opinion is not suitable as a touring tent but rather a tent you pitch for a stay of 5 nights or more.
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By: Mogadon69 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2011 Rating:
Think this is a 2011 model, but not sure as purchased second hand, (ebay!).
Our tent is slightly longer than shown in the description above at 615cm rather than 585cm, which would go some way to explaining why the carpet and footprint are too short, however the shortfall did come in useful for putting wet boots on.
As soon as the tent is up, it screams quality, with the heavier fabric and extremely thick zip in groundsheet.
We have just returned from our first trip with this tent, a very wet two weeks in a very wet North Wales and the tent outperformed our expectations.
We had three very minor leaks, not bad to say we had 1 months rain in less than 24 hours, impressive to say the least. The pitch was extremely muddy and the heavy duty groundsheet kept everything out.
The space in the tent is fabulous, with plenty of room for four adults to have meals and relax in the evening rain! (Son and Girlfriend were using our other tent to sleep in).
We opened up the curtain in the bedroom pods, this gives a huge area for sleeping and dressing and room to move around the bed.
The porch is useful for keeping wet boots etc but we use it for our loo.
All in all an excellent tent, would highly recommend it to anyone
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By: XJRman Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating:
One of the best tents on the market.
Essentially it is the Montana 6 but made out of poly cotton and with better stronger poles.
OK the thing about Poly Cotton is that you have to weather it. The last reviewer got leaks probably because he did not weather it as the instructions suggest. When it gets wet the cotton and the seams tighten up when it dries out. And trust me it will be waterproof when done, ok if there were manufacturing problems perhaps the owner should take it back to his supplier.
We have the Montana 6 and liked it so much we upgraded to this one because it is warmer in winter and cooler in summer (I know we just had 38 degrees in the south of France.) It is slightly longer than the 6 making the carpet and footprint short by about a foot. The carpet and footprint are actually from the Montana 6. Careful as the Montana 6P this year’s model is a different shape at the front. The side porch makes an ideal “bathroom area for the porta potti or a storm entry. We ran the Montana 6 and the lake back to back on consecutive weekends. The 6 at Lemans (scared to take the lake as it was brand new ) and we can confirm the Lake is vastly superior but strangely familiar. Wind rain come on !
IT MUST BE WEATHERED ! and I am sure it will last for many years. (maybe as long as my Lamont frame tent which did 40 yes 40 years. (That was well weathered)
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By: ShortHamstrings Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2012 Rating: 
Awful. On our first trip away over the Jubilee weekend the tent leaked like a sieve along every major seam and on closer inspection the stitching was all over the place over the entire tent, wandering off the seams to such a degree that in several places you could see daylight where the fabric was stretched by the thread. As you probably know if you are reading these reviews the Lake carpet is 30cm too short - poor. Really disappointed as we had such high hopes for this tent. However, we love Outwell's designs and are not totally put off - we've now got the Monterey 5 and are thinking about getting the Wolf Lake 5 at the end of the season. I hope we were just really unlucky with this tent and have better luck with our next attempt at a polycotton!
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By: Davesaat Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2011 Rating:
Purchased this tent for £599, but paid less as part of a part-ex for my old tent (Outwell Nevada M).
What a great decision! This tent is everything I hoped it would be. The 6 person rating would be a bit of a squeeze, however for the 3 of us, it is great. The living room space is massive and gives plenty of room to spread out, even when a table and 3 chairs are inside it.
The quality of the tent itself is superb. As soon as you touch the material, it feels so much thicker than a polyester tent (even the groundsheet is better quality), so you know straight away that you have purchased something of quality. The polycotton material makes such a difference - quieter in the wind and rain and the darker colour fabric in the bedrooms helps to block out light. Even the pegs themselves are better quality (though not quite Deltas) - they are perhaps twice as thick as 'standard' pegs, and they are 10x better than the rubbish plastic pegs that come with other Outwell Tents, like my old Nevada M. The addition of solid alloy poles also makes a huge difference to stability in the wind.
A built in porch is also attached to the tent which has it's own separate groundsheet. We found it useful as a wet storage/shoe removing/storage area and there was still plenty of room in it. The porch itself is just about standing height if you are not over 6 feet, however as you always have to bend down to reach the zips at ground level, standing height isn't always required.
All of the doors and windows have nets to prevent insects, and they all have privacy curtains which worked really well. There are also lots of storage pockets (6 total in bedrooms, and 12 total in the living room).
There are some downsides however. The pack size is HUGE. It is at least double the pack size of the Nevada M (and double the weight too). This meant that the tent takes up a large majority of the boot space. In addition, the heavy fabric and heavy poles can make the initial ring and pin stage quite awkward if the other campers are not able to hold up the tent (eg a 3 year old and the wife) while putting the pins into the poles. However, this is not a bog-standard polyester tent with awkward flexi fibreglass poles which have to be bent exactly to fit. Here, the fabric might be stiffer, but the attachments from the flysheet to the pins are long enough if undone to easily allow the pins to fit. Do this before inserting the pins and the job is easy.
The first time we put the tent up, it took us 90 mins. The second time, it took only 45 minutes. We found the easiest way was to:
1 - Spread out the outer flysheet
2 - Make sure the ring/pin attachment points were as loose as possible
3 - Peg down the bedroom end
4 - Insert all poles, bring together and lift at bedroom end
5 - Put all pins into the poles
6 - Pull out tent to full length, then peg at living room end corners. The tent will now support itself.
7 - Finally, as someone zips in the groundsheet, the other person pegs out the guys and all remaining pegging points.
Having a heavy tent does have an advantage however - it's so easy to take down in the wind - simply reverse the above steps, however don't unpeg the guys attached to the poles until after the living room has been unpegged. As soon as the pegs are taken out of the living room, and then the guys for the poles, one by one, the tent will slowly collapse itself - no more blown away tents (even after removing all of the poles, the flysheet is heavy enough not to fly away). The heavyness of the fabric also makes it easier to roll up and put in the bag as it catches the wind less.
I may not have been happy with my previous tents, however in this week's wet and windy weather, this tent was superb and we slept well every night, something that we rarely did in the wind and rain in our previous two polyester tents (Khyam Quebec 8XC and Outwell Nevada M). It was so good, we even had other campers asking about our tent on the site we stayed at.
Overall, this tent has renewed my desire to go camping. I love it, the wife loves it, even my 3 year old loves it (and he was scared of going camping again after the experience in the last tent). I wouldn't swap it for anything else.
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By: Steamjim Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2011 Rating:
We decided to invest in a poly cotton tent with the intention of doing lots of camping over the coming years both at camp sites and at rallies we attend with my steam engine. Well worth the investment, having had normal nylon based tents before which in high winds flapped around this tent was lovely and quiet, guy lines all in the right places, poles all substantial alloy and the build quality made it just feel so much more sturdy. It leaked slightly at a few seams on it's first soaking late last year only drips but this very wet Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend it was completely water tight, all those drips had gone so be prepared on your first wet outing for that but after a full dry out it seems fine, which is exactly what I was told would happen, even though we did soak it last year with a hose pipe before using. The space inside is plenty there is only 3 of us I do think 6 would be a squash but 4 people would be fine. The bedrooms clip in nicely with their own ground sheet on top of the bath ground sheet but a double inflatable does fill one room up completely. The storage envelopes on the front of the bedrooms are very handy, as is the side door with porch which is useful for entry in wet weather if you don't have the front extension. Though the front extenion I think is a must to allow you access via the front sloping door in the rain and gives you extra outside clothes drying space. We use the side entrance porch for the fridge, and other cool storage, and come and go through the front main entrance, with the front extension on. There is one other side door that can be used but we don't generally need to use it. The bath tub ground sheet is nice as you can get the main tent up first then zip that in, although the quality of the cutting of the material around the zip does mean you have to be careful not to get the zip stuck. We also brought a carpet for the main living area which helps keep feet warm. Packing away, we found that the bag was big enough even with our packing ability it goes back into the bag including the internal rooms, and it has substantial straps and clips, note though this is a very heavy tent to put up and my wife and we do struggle a bit, but practice makes perfect. We paid late 2011 £699 for a tent priced at over £1000 so look out for those bargains. Two trips now under our belts in it, two more this year and I would recommend it highly to anyone wanting to look at camping as a medium to long term holiday option, with a small family.
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By: Packer Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2011 Rating:
We have just returned from our first trip with this tent and it performed beyond our expectations.
Although the initial price of the tent was high - compared to polyester tents - I had read a lot of reviews and decided to plum for the polycotton version of the Montana. So glad I did. Out of the 6 families that went 3 are now buying polycotton tents! It was lovely and cool during sunny spells, a lot quieter during wet and windy periods and seemed warmer in the evening and plus it looked great up.
The porch area, in my opinion is the best feature. It was super handy and when the weather turned we used this as the entry/exit. You can get inside and remove your wet gear and dry the dog off before stepping into the main tent. This kept the inside of our tent clean and dry when others were really struggling. Although not a large porch (I am 6ft 2') it was perfectly adequate.
The second favourite feature is the zip in bathtub groundsheet. This feels bombproof and if you were setting up in the rain would remain totally dry once the flysheet was up. The ability to remove it also makes it easy to clean or dry off.
I bought the Outwell carpet for the tent and this made a huge difference to the comfort inside the tent and I really would recommend having carpet. However, I feel that at £80-90 it is expensive and could be better quality (I found a small area, where the kitchen unit was stood, had stretched and with a little force you could poke your finger through it). Once this one has gone I will look for an alternative.
We had practised setting up the tent in the garden once prior to leaving and we found it quite easy. I have seen some reviewers saying that they can do it in half an hour - I would be very impressed to see that, fair play to them! It took us about an hour each time from opening the car to unpack it to putting our beds in. Getting the canvas up doesn't take a lot of time but we found pegging all the tie ropes out is time consuming. But it is all part of the fun.
The footprint is well worth the money and keeps the underside of the groundsheet clean. It is also a good template for getting the tent square when pegging out. After quite a bit of rain the only thing we had to to when we got home was to brush the underneath of it.
The bedroom section is very nice with the striped frontage and again the polycotton gave a warmer feel than the our previous tent. The pockets on the front were really useful and there are plenty of pockets in the bedroom pods as well. We unzipped the centre and used it as one big room but it does give you options to separate or even to remove one pod completely.
The living area was very roomy - on the last night there were 10 of us sitting round on the carpet until the wee hours after the fire had gone out and it wasn't cramped. The windows give plently of light and the vents keep it well aired when required.
Over time we may buy the awning (assuming they start selling them) for the tent - as it would be handy to have an area to store bulky equipment such as BBQs etc but for the moment it is fine as it is.
All in all, and this is based on one outing, this tent is brilliant! Although not cheap, in this case you do get what you pay for. We are already planning our next trip for later on this year and are looking forward to many future trips with this tent.
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15 User Reviews of the Montana Lake - Showing 01 to 10 Page:
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Manufacturer's Description
Based on the award-winning Montana 6 from the Premium Collection, the Montana Lake has also been well received since it was introduced in 2011. A three-room tunnel tent capable of accommodating up to six people in its two bedrooms, the Montana Lake has three doorways, including access via a side porch with its own Detachable Bathtub Groundsheet. The main living area has a Zip-out Groundsheet. The climate comfort produced by Outtex® Airtech is among the key features here. Plus, there is the new Tinted Windows for 2012 amongst the usual Outwell DNA: Ring & Pin System, Low Light Window, Heavy Duty Zips etc.
Recommendation: For families up to six who want simply the best in a three-room tunnel tent using superior quality materials.
Type of tent: Three room tunnel tent
Sleeps: 6 people
Rooms: 2 bedrooms, 1 living room
Pitching way: Flysheet first or as one
Flysheet: Outtex® Airtech (65% cotton / 35% polyester)
Floor: Tarpaulin PVC coated 100% polyester,
10,000 mm hydrostatic head
Inner tent: Breathable 100% pongee polyester
Pack size: Tent: 38 x 115 cm / Poles: 30 x 105 cm
Weight: Tent: 29.0 kg / Poles: 29.6 kg
Poles: Alloy poles #6063, 25 mm, 2 upright steel poles
Detachable bathtub groundsheet for porch area
Large tinted windows in living area and porch with polycotton curtains
Organiser pockets
Mesh pockets in the inner tents
Lamp holder and light cable tidies
Reinforcement patch on all stress points
Adjustable pegging points
Pre-attached guylines
Luminous guylines
Heavy duty Outwell zips
Outwell doormat included
Optional extras: Carpet and footpring
... there may be more info on their website
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