Cycling UK Forum

I bought a Quickhiker 2 for my son to use at festivals instead of his expensive Helsport tent. It is a clearly very well thought out tent without any obvious flaws. My son bent a pole at a recent festival (somebody probably fell into the tent...) but a spare set was supplied at low cost. Out of curiosity I have now also used it a few times myself. So what was there not to like? The poles are a bit hard to insert into the sleeves compared to the more slippery sleeves of our Hilleberg and Helsport tents. It has a fair amount of mesh for ventilation but when I last used it late in the autumn I realized I could not close the vents with a cold night as a result. Finally, the porches are a bit small. And as with all two persons tents, using it with two people would be very tight. I used it as a solo tent, but for two I would prefer the Quickhiker 3. I had no problems with the length and my sleeping bag never touched the foot end of the tent. The other good news apart from the low price is that it was fine in torrential rain and quite heavy winds.
Of course, it is on the heavy side for a solo tent, but I applaud Decathlon for opting for pretty robust strength rather than ultra low weight given the budget constraints. If you want a really light tent, they indeed also have a proper Ultralight series that looks a similarly clever bargain (these tents even have DAC featherlight poles).

Yes I was thinking about the Quickhiker 3.

It's only a little more expensive. I don't think I'd want to share the Quickhiker 2 with another person. But I wouldn't want to carry the Quickhiker 3 on my own.

The Ultralight 2 is lighter and is definitely not suitable for two. I'm not sure how easy it is to remove the inner when it's wet for packing, but probably the Quickhiker 2 wins on that front.

The Ultralight 1 I think you could only use if you had some other shelter available. It might actually be ok for me in that there tends to be a lot of shelter structures like these around.

Perhaps I'll just get the Quickhiker 3 and then see how things go from there

At just over 2kg the Ukralight 2 is way too heavy. A DD Hammocks 3m square tarp and mesh inner come under 900 g and less than the cost of this Decathlon effort. Much more versatile and probably more robust.

If i'm going camping, and there is i need for a 2 person tent ... then we split the tent 2 ways .... so 1kg each .... light enough ???

The Ultralight 2 is not realistically a two person tent unless you are into mountain marathon kind of snug hardship. The ultraligjht 3, however, is quite feasible for two people and at 2750 grams not ridiculously overweight.
So yes, the cheaper of these Quickhiker tents tents are on the heavy side, but as I said they are budget offerings and do not seem to cut any corners on the reliability side. Hammocks and tarps are an altogether different thing. Without trees you have a problem with a hammock and in a crowded campsite a tarp leaves something to be desired on the privacy side.

There don't seem to be any serious advances on the Quickhiker 2/3 without spending 4x as much.

I reckon the Ultralight 3 wouldn't be too good for air circulation in very hot conditions .

Barks wrote:At just over 2kg the Ukralight 2 is way too heavy. A DD Hammocks 3m square tarp and mesh inner come under 900 g and less than the cost of this Decathlon effort. Much more versatile and probably more robust.

mm - 2kg doesn't strike me as too heavy at all for a tent if its on a decent bike rack.
Hardly fair to compare it weightwise to a tarp
And don't you use a bivvy under the tarp?

I use a DD Hammocks mesh inner with bathtub floor, tarp and inner well under 1kg - admittedly on a bike 2kg is less of an issue but I also use mine fir long distance backpacking. Apart from the weight I find the flexibility of the tarp is a great improvement over a tent and if erected low at one end will easily deal with 3 season weather. It also makes an easy rain shelter for lunch or other short stops.

The DD range of kit looks very lightweight and reasonably priced ... especially the sleeping bags .... anyone had much bad weather experience of the mesh inner and tarp combo ?

The ultralight 3 is in fact very well ventilated because you can roll up the entire rear, just like on the Hilleberg Anjan.

landsurfer wrote:The DD range of kit looks very lightweight and reasonably priced ... especially the sleeping bags .... anyone had much bad weather experience of the mesh inner and tarp combo ?

I have used this combo for over two years on a number of long hikes weekly mileage around 100) and a couple of weeks in the Lake District including high level wild camping and near sea coasts which is always pretty breezy especially early and late season (last year end of March to end if Oct). It has proven itself for me - the only caveat is that you must choose your site with a little more care and ensure the tarp is either across the wind or have a low end(as in my previous picture) to prevent a ‘wind tunnel’ effect. Rain in itself has never been a problem. TBH the siting care goes for tents too particular the cheaper less technical versions. I also have used the tarp with a hammock set up, takes some getting used and avoids problems with uneven and sloping ground but needs trees - heavier though by 500g. Once with no trees available I used the hammock as a bivi bag (it is double cloth layer) which was no real problem.

In picture above see trees to the right( a small plantation) and low end towards the wind.

At risk of thread divert, which size of tarp do you use?
Do you carry any poles to help with your pitching, if so how many?

Am planning to head for the woods soon to practice my tarping.

Sweep wrote:At risk of thread divert, which size of tarp do you use?
Do you carry any poles to help with your pitching, if so how many?

Am planning to head for the woods soon to practice my tarping.

My trap is 3m x 2.9m. I use trekking poles when hiking and have a fibreglass ‘hoop’ pole when cycling. The trekking poles actually form an A Frame across the mesh inner and tarp goes over with spare sock to protect the tarp material I also rouintly use random sticks or convenient trees particularly if setting up for more than one night so I can take my trekking poles out in the day.

Practicing different set ups is definitely worth it DD Hammoocks have some good videos and hundreds on You Tube - you’d be amazed just how many different techniques are out there. I use the basic apex mostly and drop one end (as in piccy above) if windy.

thanks barks - off to check out youtube when I have a mo.