tents

frogandtoad · Member

tents

coyotte · Veteran Member

Blackwolf is a top brand in tents --- Anaconda often have them on special during their sales.
tried the Oztent RV1 several years ago and as you said they are just to heavy and difficult to transport --- if you go Oztent you must also buy a fly --- good idea with any tent anyhow

cheers
Coyotte

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Oztent is as quick to put up as they say, but we werent impressed by the difficulty in carrying them on the roof... you can buy a "pod" for quite a few extra $. Some people who own them just love them, its an individual thing.

We are very happy with our Coleman, never got wet inside, a few minutes to put up/take down but my back's not real happy about tenting in general.

Theres zillions of tents available, take your time and check out as many as you can.

Welcome to the forum Frog! And good luck with your choices!

GrumpyOne · Senior Member

got an RV2 with all the bits here and am using it for the 1st time tonight, I bought the Rhino Rack wire mesh roof basket designed for the OzTent it's about 2.2m long and just a bit wider than the RV2 bag, it sits over 3 roof bars on the dual cab....yes they are heavy 27kg to be exact so that is a point that does need to be considered.

Give me a week or so and I will let you know what I think of the tent, have had a few and this is the most expensive one I have ever owned....I will post some piccies in the next day or so...

Hoo Roo Happy Days
Grumps

frogandtoad · Member

thanks for your help you guys are great we have a caravan and only want the tent for short stays when we want to see something interesting offroad but you still need to get away from flies when you eat so we would have to buy all the extras with the oz tent and also store them while travelling so think we have to go for the lighter type, gerty dancer how easy is your coleman to put up argumentwise?

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Well, that depends on how many chocolates you share while you are putting up/down your tent!!! biggrin

Ours in an Overlander4, maybe 10 minutes, but it was longer at first.

We only use it to sleep/get dressed etc in, and always cooked/ate outside. My partner uses a fly veil when the flies drive him crazy, and it cracks me up to see him try to put a sandwich in his mouth without lifting the veil biggrin

!

You can get little tents that basically just pop up, and we had been considering one of those for the purpose you gave, as they are so light and easy, although they are pretty flimsy. We have an awning that goes onto the back of the Prado, and if we put it under there, it would work fine, but the problem with that is the awning itself is heavy and takes quite a few minutes to erect. Decisions decisions! confuse

Lets know what you decide.. good luck! smile

Ron and Shirley · Senior Member

When I travel on my own I love my OzTent (http://www.ronshirl.net/OzTent.htm) which I have had for over 10 years. The weight in particular, plus the size of the folded tent, when lifting onto a roof rack, certainly needs to be considered if you are short in stature or have a "bad back"

Total setup time for me from taking down from the roof of the vehicle is something like 30mins.
Yes once out of the bag and on the ground like the demos at the shows, it is only 30sec to erect the tent, which is very easy for one person and its main selling point. Then, like all tents, there is the pegging out the tent, the awning (and side panel if wanted), setting up your kitchen/eating area, setting up the camp stretcher and sleeping bag, etc etc.

I have used my Oztent in the heat of mid summer and in -5C weather in winter, at times it has withstood very strong winds, and always been very comfortable.

Black Wolf Tents were not around when I purchased but they have gained a good reputation with the 4WD set. Only negative comments I recall is that it can take a while to get the hang of packing them back into the bag, with the canvas models being rather heavy and bulky.

GrumpyOne · Senior Member

Hey smee again,

I have now been using the OzTent for a good few days and am happy as a the proverbial Pig in $h1t...have been on Lorne for three days and it has blown and drizzled most of the time, some wing gusts strong enough to take the top off a custard tart at 60 paces.

The etent is awesome, i have a single burner butane stovethat I use for the billy and simple cooking and it is enough to warm the tent up at the sam time.

I agree with the 30min to set up, but that is at a real leisurely pace for me as well.....
JMHO

Hoo Roo Happy Days
Grumps

Cruising Granny · Guru

I have a camp stretcher with a closed tent over the top which has fly screens on all sides/ends.
I then bought a gazebo tent with floor and full walls on all sides which can be zipped up and rolled to fly screens or propped out with poles for flys. Compact, light, easy to carry and probably easy to erect, but I haven't done it yet. If I go camping I'm well-equipped, and no flies (or mozzies) on me.
It's all about size, space and cost. The size of the tent and it's size when packed up, the space if provides and the space it takes up in the tug, and the bottom line is cost.
To each his/her own.
I've seen the Oztent and I'm not impressed.
Too long, too heavy to lift to the roof rack, and not very roomy, then very expensive.

frogandtoad · Member

Thanks everyone for your advice re tents, have decided spacewise and weightwise the blackwolf is the the more suitable for us height challanged people who have a older toyota landcruiser which is taller than me so roof racks are out to carry anything.Cheers for now ,