Tent colour - does it matter?

[Bmblbzzz]

That's not unfortunate, it's fortunate that you've found something which satisfies all your requirements.

It seems they do a grey one as well: https://www.ellis-brigham.com/big-agnes ... ent-646014
though possibly not with the "bikepacking" poles.

[st599_uk]

Having camped in Africa, dark tents are preferred for blending in, but they get super hot if left up during the day.

[Bmblbzzz]

Decathlon have an answer to that, the blackout tent. They call it "fresh and black". EG: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/2-man-dom ... R-p-311346

I'm sure other brands have something similar. I'm told it works very well.

[mattheus]

Having camped in Africa, dark tents are preferred for blending in, but they get super hot if left up during the day.

Based on my experience of sleeping outdoors in UK weather, I'd call that a
3rd World Problem

Dya geddit?!?

[Rob D]

Does it matter? Definitely! It's of note the Lakes and Dartmoor national parks at least advocate tents that blend in. I'd far prefer not to be a blot in someone's landscape view.
Then there's the safety aspect - do you want to advertise your presence? I covered up the reflective tapes on our Hilly, as we've camped in places abroad where being spotted may not be good. We use drab coloured clothing and cover the bikes with a camo tarp.
Also the legality aspect - you may be forced to camp somewhere illegal. Do you want to make your presence obvious? A national park ranger friend said he'd feel more obliged to move an illegal camper if in a bright tent. Those more discreet, he'd be inclined to overlook.

[Rob D]

FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.

[larfingiraffe]

Really like the Hilly sand colour. And in this time of global warming, maybe sand will blend in much more than green.
Love the Enan. However I believe the pole sections are quite long which may not work on my super small bike. Its about double what I'd want to pay, unless one just happened to drop into my lap at a very hard to resist price. Anyone know of

As Bmblzzz says, maybe I should get a tent that does most of what I want to do most of the time which is camping on sites, and not worry too much about the (very) odd wild camp.

[andrew_s]

FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.

"Sand" has become darker of recent years, and would now better be described as "Brown"

It's not gone as dark as the green though, which could be mistaken for black in poor light.

[larfingiraffe]

Have now seen the Naturehike Cloud Up 1 Upgrade on Amazon. Similar design to the BA Fly Creek, far fewer bells and whistles of course and a bit heavier (300g?), not quite as small a pack size and obviously no shortstick option. Being Naturehike & Amazon its a bit difficult to get the exact spec as it seems to vary advert to advert. However, it is about £110 with the groundsheet included, and comes it green.
There's also the Naturehike "cycling" tent also known as the Spider 1, which has slightly shorter pole sections, a centre door, is taller and I suspect slightly heavier than the CloudUp due to 210T material rather than 20D, and also comes in green for the modest sum of £130.

As this is my second tent - my first is the MSR Hubba Hubba - for faster lighter bikepacking with shorter trips, I'm attracted to this but wary of cheap tents. No good if it annoys you more than it pleases you.

Anyone have any experience of the Naturehike tents? Snog/marry/avoid?

[pjclinch]

As this is my second tent - my first is the MSR Hubba Hubba - for faster lighter bikepacking with shorter trips, I'm attracted to this but wary of cheap tents. No good if it annoys you more than it pleases you.

Anyone have any experience of the Naturehike tents? Snog/marry/avoid?

Not seen one in the flesh, but in general my impression is tents are heavily subject to the law of diminishing returns, so if you spend twice as much you won't get twice as good. Thus, in terms of bang/buck the cheaper end of the market has a lot to offer. But if you can justify the money and just want more bangs, you do get more by paying more (just make sure the "more" on offer is what you want, so don't pay lots more for a bunker-class winter mountain tent if you'll only ever use it on sheltered sites in summer).

If you like the Hubba Hubba and want to go lighter, there is always the Hubba, where you'll know the score in materials, layout etc. and gets you a useful bulk/weight saving.

Pete.

[Bmblbzzz]

I don't know about Nature Hike but of the multitude of Chinese brands on Amazon and Ali Express, the one that seems to get good opinions is 3F. I haven't investigated to see how their models compare to what you want in terms of design, price, etc.

[Rob D]

FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.

"Sand" has become darker of recent years, and would now better be described as "Brown"

It's not gone as dark as the green though, which could be mistaken for black in poor light.

Andrew, is this a less-good colour, do you think? I remember camping at Coruisk and Loch Etchachan, where the Nallo was pretty well invisible. At Coruisk, I was actually beginning to think the tent had gone, when we returned to it one day.

[mattheus]

FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.

"Sand" has become darker of recent years, and would now better be described as "Brown"

It's not gone as dark as the green though, which could be mistaken for black in poor light.

That's the colour of wet sand, IMHO

[pjclinch]

FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.

"Sand" has become darker of recent years, and would now better be described as "Brown"

It's not gone as dark as the green though, which could be mistaken for black in poor light.

That's the colour of wet sand, IMHO

"Sand" refers to grain size, not what it's made of. So different sands can be different colours, including not far off black or white. So as a colour they might have found a better descriptor in any case...

Pete.

[andrew_s]

Andrew, is this a less-good colour, do you think? I remember camping at Coruisk and Loch Etchachan, where the Nallo was pretty well invisible. At Coruisk, I was actually beginning to think the tent had gone, when we returned to it one day.

I had been hoping for something more like the original "sand" colour (Nallo photo).
I was after something lighter than the dark green, from the point of view of being inside the tent, but without going to full on red.
As it was, it wasn't worth kicking up a fuss about, though it was before they had started putting the warning about colours on their website (and presumably catalog).