Has anyone tried a 2/3/4 man Hoolie tent?

[MrsHJ]

We always have a long debate about how many tents the family needs when cycle touring or doing anything. last time we toured we took a 3 man Coleman cobra tent as there were supposed to be 3 of us. Then himself decided to came along too and used my much loved and used old single man tent. This single which was a vaude scorpion had died by the end of the trip (we were lucky it didn't rain). I loathed the cobra- it had a huge amount of condensation and was a shape I found I didn't enjoy using and wasn't particularly quick to erect as I had to keep the outer and inner separate due to the condensation. It was cheap though so I know we've had our money's worth from it.

We have no 4 man tents despite being a family of 4 (I know!!). We tend to travel singly with the kids with a substantial 3man berghaus tent and the car. The sprogs will be 10 and 12 and we are wusses who only camp June -September and find a hotel if it's nasty weather.

So for our new cycle touring trip to the Netherlands in summer 2016 we are looking for the best combo for us- either a 4 man or put up with the cobra and get a new single tent (maybe my long planned for hilleberg unna ) or maybe 2 X 2 man tents. For either a 4 man or a couple of 2 mans the Hoolie looked like a good shape for us.

Has anyone tried the Hoolie and got any comments? I'd also be interested in how other families deal with the one tent or 2 dilemma as there aren't many backpacking friendly tents over a 3 man. I tend to feel that 2x2 is more flexible and may lead to less conflict!!

[bikepacker]

I have never used a Hoolie but at the York Rally I did have a very close look at one. It looked a nice well made tent but seemed to have much less height than some of it's competitors.

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[pjclinch]

No comment on the Hoolie, but a general thing about tents and projected occupancies.

It is entirely typical for "2 person tent" to mean "you can squeeze two in there", as opposed to "2 people and their equipment can spend a wet day in here in reasonable comfort", and quite a few folk use a modified "n+1" rule: if there are going to be 2 of us, let's get a 3 man tent. Applying this to a family of 4, that means a 5 man ligtweight tent, which are fairly hard to come by, or a 3 man tent for the adults and a 2 for the kids. There are 4 person tents that will genuinely take 4 plus kit (say, a Keron 4GT), but you're still left with issues like different subgroups of the team having different bedtimes, no scope for privacy etc.

We take the 3+2 approach, with a Hille Kaitum 3 as ours and a MSR Hubba Hubba HP or a Spacepacker for the sproggen (ours are now 12 & 13 though they've toured on and off for 4 years). The Kaitum is big enough that we can have everyone in for breakfast/dinner or other social diversions, and we can pack the kids off to their own little ghetto for some relative peace and sanity. Over the course of a week, as opposed to an overnighter, I think we'd start to age rather rapidly in a 4 person tent with all the family, delightfully loveable though we all individually are...

Looking at the Hoolie, the 3 etc might be a good HQ tent at a rather more same price than our Kaitum 3.

Pete.

[hamster]

The solution we used is a Wild Country Monsoon 4. As PJC says, it's definitely snug - 4 adults would be tight, 2+2 kids is fine. Recently No1 son was booted out into a 1-man tent and things are really lovely. The countering advantage to being squeezed together is that it's warm, even with ice forming on the inside of the flysheet and -8C outside. However it's awfully big when packed although not significantly heavier than 2x 2-man tents. The bulk (especially pole length) means it has to go on a trailer. So be very careful about the packed size on the Hoolie.

[MrsHJ]

Interesting thoughts and no I won't be getting a tent with over seventy cm pack size!!

We are quite minimalist but that's more difficult these days with the girth increasing and the hips getting more cranky. I will be obsessively checking the dimensions of the complete tent and pack size obsessively! That's a reasonable point about the height of the Hoolie- I hadn't noticed but it's 10cm shorter than the nallo which might be a more tempting choice without the £££ and the Hoolie is a little smaller and heavier overall (but £500 cheaper and we aren't going to be in an environment that needs a tent able to deal with snow pack).

[pjclinch]

That's a reasonable point about the height of the Hoolie- I hadn't noticed but it's 10cm shorter than the nallo

Don't forget the Nallo slopes down from the front hoop, so you only get the notional full height in a single spot. Depending on how tall everyone is that may not be an issue, but the Hoolie looks same height throughout the volume.

One reason we chose the Kaitum over the Nallo is the inner has considerably more volume, with full sitting height throughout the inner, very useful if there's 4 of you eating breakfast at the same time.

Pete.

[CaptainSlow]

Hi,

I saw your post in another area of the forum - coincidentally we are planning a similar cycling holiday to yourself in August 2016. Our children are also 10 and 12 so we are facing the same challenges gearing up for the trip.

With regard to tents, we already have a recently acquired Vango Zephyr 200 which myself and 12 year old use for weekend cycling breaks. So far it's been spot-on but the lack of storage space when being used for two is a little inconvenient for longer trips. My son is a strong enough rider now that we think he'll be able to carry the reasonably lightweight Zephyr on his rack for himself and his younger sister, which leaves us needing another 2-3 man tent.

I too was looking at a "Hoolie" 2-3 man tent, but eventually plumped for a similarly styled Vango Pulsar 300. The main selling point for us was the good sized "vestibule" for storage/changing etc., and the price - it's currently in the Cotswold Outdoor sale and I can also get a 15% CTC discount on top so its worth a punt. The Pulsar will get a few "shake-down" trials before next summer, so it will be interesting to see how we get on with it. It's a little weighty, but we'll try to split the tent load between myself an my Wife.

Cheers

Paul

[willem jongman]

We have two kids (now 17 and 20) and until recently have always camped with them (on bikes). The first family tent was a Hilleberg Keron 4gt, and it was great. It lasted for 10 years (family tents often get a lot more UV exposure), and for the last two years we brought first one and then two small tents (the kids did not like sleeping in the same tent). After that, we replaced the Keron 4gt with a Nammatj 3gt. We felt the Nallo 3gt was too low. In fact, my wife regrets that we did not get a Keron 3GT because it has more inner space and more luggage space. She may be right: even if the kids sleep in their own tents, much of the joint luggage is still in the big tent. And you may have to eat together in the big tent. So my advice would be to get a spacious tent for the two of you, and think hard about the tent or tents for the kids. Will they want to sleep in the same tent, not only this year but also in a few years' time? Also, count on it that they will want to use their tent on trips with their friends where the tent may be abused. Cheap and sturdy is the way to go, even if it means a bit heavier. Weight is far less of an issue than it was a few years earlier. They can now ride their own bikes, and very soon they can even carry quite a bit of luggage. Allow for the possibility to invite one or two of their friends along - it will be one way to persuade them to come with you when they are a bit older.
I am all in favour of camping ultralight, but with kids it is very nice to have a bit of space, and at this age a few kg extra is no longer the same issue it was a few years ago. There are many other ways to save weight. So maybe if the kids do not yet mind sleeping in the same tent get a 2 person tent for them that is spacious enough to comfortably take all luggage for when they will camp without you. If they then want to sleep separately, you may get an additional solo tent like the Wildcountry Zephyrus. You will always have at least one two person tent for their trips with friends, or if they want to take a friend on the family holiday.

[teamonster]

I've got the hoolie 2 etc, with the extendable porch. I'm sure that you would find it has plenty of space for two and kit. I use it solo and its cavernous, with loads of space both inside and in the porch. The only thing I wish it had was a door both sides. other than that, I've no complaints.

[GnuSongJohn]

We have gone the way of 2 separate tents as a family. Camping usually in Scotland I never fancied the idea of the larger tents in the windy weather we have experienced there from time to time. So once we'd outgrown our 3 man tent we added a 2 man tent. In terms of your children - if your tent lasts a few years will they still want to share a 4 man tent with parents - or vice versa ? Going with 2 tents also does give flexibility if it's not the whole family camping.

We have the Hoolie 2 ETC with the extendable porch. The Hoolie 2 ETC has a very large porch - great for storing stuff in (freeing up space in the main tent). The main tent does have a good amount of floor space for 2 (more than the Terra Nova Voyager it replaced and since it is a tunnel tent it has a bit more room to sit up than the Voyager. It only has very small side pockets, thought that's not a big issue. We've only had it this year so can't give an extended performance review - the only problem we have had was a crack to one of the poles which Wild Country put down to it not being put up correctly (£10 repair). It was very windy (probably >20 mph) during one part of our holiday. The tent does blow around a bit more being a tunnel tent compared with geodesic or semi-geodesic. We also have a Monsoon 4 tent for our children which is a definitely a better quality tent (I think it's no longer available - it was probably more expensive than the Hoolie).

[MrsHJ]

Thanks everyone -good food for thought here. We are totally safe from eating breakfast together though. Some of us don't get up until the tent is being sunk around them and others find most food stuffs too weird to spend time in the same place whilst eating!!

[Tangled Metal]

The potential benefit of the tunnel tent moving around a bit in the wind is the flex takes the.energy out of the wind. I've had friends in a Nallo survive intact but a super quasar snapped a pole. I've slept through storms up in the lakes in a cheap 3 season tunnel tent with 70mph gusts reported in that area. My mate in his quasar geodesic tent had a bad night worrying about me and my tent. Courtesy of ear plugs I never noticed the storm blow over. Apparently my tunnel tent just flexed and took it.

We looked at the hoolie in extended 3 format. Looking around at what's available IMHO it's the cheapest 3+ man tent that's a decent quality and price. Space looked good too. Length inside is critical for me since I'm about 2m tall. Take off 20-40mm of the quoted internal length as being unusable and I'm only just fitting in or too long for a lot of the lighter tents that price/spec.

I've seen the vango epic IIRC a 2 entrance 3 man dome tent cheap and it has fans on the internet. I saw it at a tent show with a retailer on a very wet but not windy day. The fly allowed water to drip right into the inner tent if you even opened the doors to get in. The fly and inner door opened without any fly overlap. Poor design IMHO but it was one option for us. We've yet to decide because our tour fell through.

[willem jongman]

If you are really tall only Keron style designs that have no sloping inner will be long enough. Our Nammatj is only just long enough for me and I am 1.77. Unfortunately there are few budget options in that sort of length. Maybe Fjallraven or Helsport have something that is a bit cheaper than Hilleberg.

[Bmblbzzz]

I've had a Hoolie 2 since spring. I've used it a few times, mostly solo but also with my 11-year old. It's perfectly big enough for an adult who likes to sleep in a non-straight line and a wriggly child! For two adults I think it would be a bit cramped beyond a weekend. I don't have the extended porch version; on my own I just bring some of the luggage into the tent, but even with two of us, we just managed to keep most of our stuff in the porch. Depending on how big your kids are, it would probably be a good choice for their half of the 2+2, but for two adults you'd want the extended porch version.

[Bmblbzzz]

Oh, and I've had no problems with the pack size. Fits on my rear rack very well. Whether the extended version is longer in the pack I don't know. And the build quality and design are pretty good IMO.