Decathlon lightweight tents

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nsew
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by nsew »

Ditto. I use an Unna and calculate that I’m currently at around one thousand nights (50p a night) after 6 years of which 98% wild camping. On one occasion in Estonia I was rained out for three days in the centre of a farmers field - it was the highest point. Three days of torrential rain in a tent is a good measure of its “liveability” and whether you actually like your purchase. Measure that against a Terra Nova Competition II that started to fail miserably four months into a trip and cost half of the Unna. All because I thought saving weight and £s was what it was all about. It’s your home, you’re going to spend 35-40% of your trip in it. The Unna currently looks like I’ll get it down to costing pennies a night before I’m done with it.
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tatanab
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by tatanab »

Likewise. I used an Unna for about 7 years, again because it is essentially freestanding. I bought it after a tour where I'd struggled to peg out my single pole tent and had to tie it to bushes and trap guys under rocks etc. It served me very well, in some very extreme storms (by European standards) one year. 2 years ago I replaced it with the new 3 season version, the Niak. It too has shown its worth. This is what puts me off tepee type tents and so on - the sheer number of pegs needed.
nsew
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by nsew »

Ive spied the Niak, very nice. We should form a club. The option to unhook a few pegs (four commonly) and walk it off someplace else and peg out again in a matter of seconds. Just everything about the design is right for someone on the move. Super quick to set up and take down, loads of space for yourself and panniers (230cm x 112cm rectangle), small footprint for tight spots, bombproof when pegged out, use of inner or outer alone, full mesh option, full side opening.
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Gattonero
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Gattonero »

pjclinch wrote:
Gattonero wrote:The use of 15 (fifteen!) pegs tells me that is not a good product. You will be severely limited in camping when you fin hard ground or many stones under the soil.


Here is a Kaitum 3, with one of it's 18 (eighteen!) pegging possibilities...

Pete.


We're comparing oranges to apples with this.
18 pegs for a 3 person tent with -gasp- 5.1sqm of floor space is not that bad. But 15 pegs for a small single-person tent tells me that it's not a good design as it does not put the fabric in tension, so a lot of pegs are required.

If you look at the work of Henry Shires, the marker of the brand TarpTent, he makes some very clever designs that would need only a few pegs for reliable designs.
The less pegs you need, the less you need to fiddle with hard ground or need to find rocks to replace pegs that become useless in the sand, etc.
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
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Gattonero
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Gattonero »

Warin61 wrote:
Gattonero wrote:The use of 15 (fifteen!) pegs tells me that is not a good product. You will be severely limited in camping when you fin hard ground or many stones under the soil.
Once you put on the scales the pegs and pole, you may have less weight with other tents that may actually be cheaper


The weight includes the pegs + pole + rope + etc...
Pegs .. 15 ... probably includes a spare? And the rope is probably longer than needed too. I am certain that I could peg it out with less pegs than 'normally' used. For example the peg loops used on the inner could have rope to extend then to the pegs used by the outer fly in some locations...

It is a cheap light weight tent... if that is not what you want ... look elsewhere.


It's not that cheap, about £100.
For £113 you can still get a discounted SMD Lunar Solo: more space, good materials, good proven design, made in US, needs 6 pegs only

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/collecti ... ar-solo-le
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It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
Aushiker
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Aushiker »

Gattonero wrote:If you look at the work of Henry Shires, the marker of the brand TarpTent, he makes some very clever designs that would need only a few pegs for reliable designs.


+ 1 My Tarptent Double Rainbow has four pegs [additional pegs are required if tie-outs are used]. Four pegs (not sand pegs) where used to pitch it here on the beach in strong winds which blew through the night. No issues were had.

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Camped at Roses-Quallup Beach by Andrew Priest (Aushiker), on Flickr
nsew
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by nsew »

Sand freaks me out with bikes and tent zips. UV and my tent’s packed up. I know that area, Perth, Margaret River, Albany. Nice life.
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Gattonero
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Gattonero »

UV and sand it's more a concern of that part of the world where I come from, hardly an issue in UK :mrgreen:

The TT Double Rainbow always looks tempting to me, though the new Bowfin is truly freestanding and seems to tick all the boxes for future needs 8)
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
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Gattonero
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Gattonero »

nsew wrote:... It’s your home, you’re going to spend 35-40% of your trip in it...


That depends on the style of camping one has chosen.
I can hardly afford 5 days in a row, and won't use them to stay 1/3 of this time enclosed in a tent/stationary somewhere, nevermind the comfort the tent would offer. My trips are for cycling and see things, if the area is known to have such bad weather then it's a deal breaker for me. After all, I am born and lived most of my life in a place where the sun shines 300 days a year and summer lasts no less than 4 solid months 8)
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
tatanab
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by tatanab »

Gattonero wrote:
nsew wrote:... It’s your home, you’re going to spend 35-40% of your trip in it...


won't use them to stay 1/3 of this time enclosed in a tent/stationary somewhere, nevermind the comfort the tent would offer.
I took that 35-40% of time to be sleeping time plus time faffing about or relaxing after a ride. In which case it is quite reasonable. When on tour I cycle only about 6 hours a day, the rest of the time being spent supporting local bars and shops, sleeping, or doing not much.
nsew
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by nsew »

Of course, depends on the trip, duration, purpose. I always try for 8 hours (33%) sleep when touring. Can get by with 7. Anything less and I’m more obnoxious than I am online. Then there’s that magical time spent before sleep, all nice and cosy, recounting the day, people met, sights seen, trying to make perfect sense of apparent lunacy. Then there’s the time spent in the morning, sorting breakfast, consulting maps, doing nothing at all. All of which is carried out in the comfort of a warm down sleeping bag on a soft air filled mattress. I’d say the art of wild camping is locating a spot, preferably with a pleasing view, that will allow for such a rest period. It doesn’t always work out that way and you then need that time more than ever the next evening.
Last edited by nsew on 24 Dec 2017, 5:27pm, edited 1 time in total.
nsew
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by nsew »

Gattonero wrote:
nsew wrote:... It’s your home, you’re going to spend 35-40% of your trip in it...


That depends on the style of camping one has chosen.
I can hardly afford 5 days in a row, and won't use them to stay 1/3 of this time enclosed in a tent/stationary somewhere, nevermind the comfort the tent would offer. My trips are for cycling and see things, if the area is known to have such bad weather then it's a deal breaker for me. After all, I am born and lived most of my life in a place where the sun shines 300 days a year and summer lasts no less than 4 solid months 8)


Italia. 4 solid months? North? I can see your days are quite busy https://youtu.be/G2tuYjo0CU8
nsew
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by nsew »

Though when it does.....South coast Ireland

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Gattonero
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Gattonero »

nsew wrote:
Gattonero wrote:
nsew wrote:... It’s your home, you’re going to spend 35-40% of your trip in it...


That depends on the style of camping one has chosen.
I can hardly afford 5 days in a row, and won't use them to stay 1/3 of this time enclosed in a tent/stationary somewhere, nevermind the comfort the tent would offer. My trips are for cycling and see things, if the area is known to have such bad weather then it's a deal breaker for me. After all, I am born and lived most of my life in a place where the sun shines 300 days a year and summer lasts no less than 4 solid months 8)


Italia. 4 solid months? North? I can see your days are quite busy https://youtu.be/G2tuYjo0CU8


I'm from the south Italy, summer starts in late May and is up until mid september- Obviously the peak is from mid-June until mid August, but you can soak in 30°c for four months, tipically there's no rain during this months. It gets busy with tourism here, lots of people work for the season only
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
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Gattonero
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Re: Decathlon lightweight tents

Post by Gattonero »

nsew wrote:...I’d say the art of wild camping is locating a spot, preferably with a pleasing view, that will allow for such a rest period. ...


Precisely!
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
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