Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

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pete75
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by pete75 »

Sweep wrote:Many thanks for all your replies tigerbitten.

A great help.

Something struck me as familiar about the design.

Similar to this?

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/quickhiker-ultralight-2-hiking-tent-2-man-grey-id_8245650.html

Heavier but since on a bike not a problem for me.

And i quite like the idea of maybe lower tech tougher bits.

Packs small.

Has a bathtub interior from pics. Read some reviews of the zeph which implied that it hadn't.

Views of you and others welcome.

Many thanks again.


Not a bad tent. My son used one every night on a three month tour of Sweden where he sometimes faced appalling weather conditions. No problems at all.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
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Sweep
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by Sweep »

You mean the decathlon I presume?
Sweep
pete75
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by pete75 »

Sweep wrote:You mean the decathlon I presume?


Yes
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
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Sweep
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by Sweep »

pete75 wrote:
Sweep wrote:You mean the decathlon I presume?


Yes


thanks pete
Sweep
yutkoxpo
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by yutkoxpo »

A significant advantage of Decathlon gear is that the shops are all over Europe in the event of a problem and their return policy (in my experience) has been very good.

Their gear may not be cutting edge, but it is certainly usable, beyond the cheapest price points.
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pjclinch
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by pjclinch »

Regarding occupancy numbers...

Accept no substitute for sucking it and seeing yourself. "Sleeps 2" might be marketing departments with more optimism than sense trying to make something sound better, it might be aimed at gramme-counting mountain marathon runners who can sleep through any discomfort, it might mean will occasioanlyy take an extra body for the odd overnighter without needing another tent, or it might even be a realistic attempt at judging how many campers with equipment can usably live in the available space for a couple of weeks in some degree of comfort. I've seen all of these. Also the case that "a person" might be two meters tall and overweight, or might be 1.50 and made of sticks. Two of the latter can probably take less effective space than one of the former.

So wait until crawling around a pitched example before deciding if it's enough space.

Pete.
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Tangled Metal
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by Tangled Metal »

I've tried enough 1 man tents that don't fit this man.

Seriously, the sprite 1 man tent from a us brand was supposedly long enough on paper but in the hills I was only able to fit in lying with my feet out the door. I'm 196cm and list length read 220cm. Even pushing the fly and inner up at the corners it wasn't 2m.

I ignore the printed internal length and calculate that 220-225cm really = 2m at best. To fit a 2m person in a tent you need 235cm published inner length for most brands if not all. Plus at this size of user it is rare to find tent brands to consider the larger size and larger pack size of such a user when looking at occupancy of tents.
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andrew_s
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by andrew_s »

Tangled Metal wrote:For true wind shedding strength pyramid tents take some beating. It's what artic and Antarctic expeds used to use. The mld trailstar shaped tarp/tarp tent is a good example.

Arctic/Antarctic pyramid tents are nothing like backpacking pyramids. They have 4 single section poles meeting at the apex (think aluminium scaffold poles), and weigh something like 30 kilos. The pole ends dig in about 40 cm, and the tent pegs are about 75 cm of the same tubing as the poles.
They are strong though - I knew someone who'd spent a couple of days in one in winds in excess of 150 mph, with one or the other of the two of them dangling from the apex in a Whillans harness the whole time. The ski-doo blew away, and the two Twin Otters on the runway a few miles off ripped the tie-down points out of the wings and got wrecked..

I've always been a bit cautious about backpacking pyramids myself. It's always seemed to me that they rely completely on decent pegging round the base, and wild locations where you can get all the pegs fully in within a short distance of the location required for a taut pitch without hitting a rock aren't that common.

I use an Akto.
Really strong winds are pretty rare, but what I do like about it is that I can put it up reasonably quickly on my own in "normal" strong winds (25-30 mph) without any difficulty, and that the main load bearing pegs are on guys, so there's a fair bit of flexibility in where they go.
Somewhere on youtube there's a video of someone in one on top of some Lake District fell in 80 mph winds, so I've a reasonable hope that I won't have to bail out even if I don't get any sleep. The bloke's mate's Vango Hurricane (Quasar-alike) broke, so he didn't spend the full night.
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horizon
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by horizon »

Sweep: personally I would browse the Hilleberg catalogue and find the tent that meets your needs and then look for a similar tent at a fifth or less of the price. It won't be as good but it will do the job, especially if properly pitched which I am sure you will. For instance, for me it would be the Nammtj 2GT (without a doubt) for my camping but I've had to settle for a Robens Voyager 2EX. But I'm not going to the Arctic and I don't have the extra £800. :mrgreen:

PS I say this because I'm not sure what type (i.e. format/configuration) of tent you want.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Tangled Metal
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by Tangled Metal »

I didn't mean to imply trailstar was an Arctic strength so I'm clarify my meaning pyramid tents are the best shape for wind shedding. As an example of ultimate need for this look at Arctic tents. However for more normal use the highly regarded trailstar is a good example for UK hill use.

As for the pegging point issue it's no more than other tents. For example have you never pitched on uneven ground and never managed to get the flysheet taut. Indeed one issue I've experienced is the pitch site was not very uneven but it still stopped me pitching a decent tent with a gap between fly and inner at a couple of places.

Trailstar has a rep for coping very well with uneven ground. Indeed it's designed to allow you to raise or lower any segment as a doorway so that same feature would probably work well to cope with uneven pegging points. Plus there's loads of modifications online for it. A good tent or shaped tarp. Certainly good for the Highlands. Indeed I read about the tgo challenge the year or two after it came out and there were a lot of people doing it with the trailstar. Being april I reckon snow or high winds could always be possible. Either way a decent option for the op.

I did want one once but I'm happy with my tarp. These days I'm doing other things.
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pjclinch
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by pjclinch »

Tangled Metal wrote:
As for the pegging point issue it's no more than other tents.


The devil is typically in the detail, particularly how many pegging points a particular design relies on. The closer a pyramid is to a cone, the more pegging points and the more effect. One that's square, less of an issue, and as with most tents guys allow a lot more variation in pitching than ground loops.

Tangled Metal wrote:Trailstar has a rep for coping very well with uneven ground.


Though according to a test Chris Townsend did the nylon version is rather better in that regard than the cuben one. The moans in another thread about stretchy nylon... turns out a bit of mechanical stretch can be a good thing!

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Sweep
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by Sweep »

horizon wrote:Sweep: personally I would browse the Hilleberg catalogue and find the tent that meets your needs and then look for a similar tent at a fifth or less of the price. It won't be as good but it will do the job, especially if properly pitched which I am sure you will. For instance, for me it would be the Nammtj 2GT (without a doubt) for my camping but I've had to settle for a Robens Voyager 2EX. But I'm not going to the Arctic and I don't have the extra £800. :mrgreen:

PS I say this because I'm not sure what type (i.e. format/configuration) of tent you want.

I know where you are coming from. And have no need to spend the price of a Hille. I won't be looking through their catalogue for copies though :) and is it possible that in any case they copied some stuff/ideas from some others?
For my needs (non bike racing/non mountaineering) I tend to think both bikes and tents are pretty simple things and a bit of extra weight is no bad thing.
The type of tent I am looking for for this is probably the type recommended above - ie the much praised Zeph2 - as that design looks like it will go up quickly in maybe less than perfect conditions and if pitched properly shed wind very well.
That tent kind of looks like the Decathlon as noted above.
And your mention of your Robens got me thinking, for I rate Robens (have a Lodge2 which I love).
On my point (and yours) that a fair few tents look kind of similar, your Robens looks rather like my Vango Spirit 200+ and a look at the Robens page reminded me of a tent I had previously passed on as not for me - The Starlight 2.
https://www.robens.de/en-gb/shop/outdoo ... tarlight-2

which of course looks not dissimilar to the Zeph (given up trying to spell it!) and the Decathlon.
It seems heavier than some but perverse old me sees that as a recommendation - for I will be on a bike and once it's off the bike I am just interested in it bearing up under wind and rain.
And I rate Robens tents - nicely made in my experience - and their mid-price tents (they do more expensive ones of course) seem very good value.

So a useful thread and thanks to you folks we have 3 possibilities.

Leaning towards the Robens when I can get a good price - one for the list for the autumn/spring sales maybe - can use other stuff in the meantime.

I am sure your £800 is well saved - that will buy a lot of tour enabling ferry and train fares - and camspite nibbles and plonk.
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horizon
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by horizon »

I think what doesn't come through always on threads like these is that most tents nowadays fit into one category or another - it's pretty difficult to break the mould (until or unless someone does). The manufacturers don't help as they group their tents by range (i.e. price/quality) rather than by type. So to answer your OP, the right conclusion (perhaps) is that you need a geodesic dome (because of the winds you mentioned) not a tunnel tent. So having clarified the type, the search is then on for the best price/value. Otherwise you end up comparing tarps with tunnels with whatever. The final categorisation is size - one or two man.

I was looking for a two person extended tunnel tent (extended being the porch). Once I had established that, I could compare the various makes - there is incredibly little in it in terms of dimensions or features which means you can set your price point and look at colours and weight differences (again, there's not much in it).

Final question: why don't you take the Lodge?
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
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pjclinch
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Re: Tent for exposed areas maybe highish winds

Post by pjclinch »

horizon wrote:I think what doesn't come through always on threads like these is that most tents nowadays fit into one category or another - it's pretty difficult to break the mould (until or unless someone does). The manufacturers don't help as they group their tents by range (i.e. price/quality) rather than by type. So to answer your OP, the right conclusion (perhaps) is that you need a geodesic dome (because of the winds you mentioned) not a tunnel tent. So having clarified the type, the search is then on for the best price/value. Otherwise you end up comparing tarps with tunnels with whatever. The final categorisation is size - one or two man.


While there are some niche situations which really do benefit from a particular configuration (e.g., a bare slab of rock, you're better off with something fully free-standing), in many (most?) cases you can quite successfully deploy a range of options and have a good camp. So you don't need a geodesic if it's windy, or Kerons wouldn't be a go-to polar expedition tent, and so on.

Much boils down to personal preference, and I'm personally far more interested in interior space and how its laid out than whether the poles cross or not. Our main touring tent is the Kaitum 3, selected with the following wish-list:

No more than 3 Kgs (ours is 3 on the nose, current models weigh a bit more as they use heavier pegs and thicker guys)
At least 1.40 wide inner throughout
sitting height through the whole inner
double doors/porches
porches big enough to cook in without contrivance

Nothing there about whether it needs to be a tunnel or not, that just happened to be what it was.

So my "one category or another" would be...
- tents that fit my personal preferences for the job
- and the rest

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
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