Cycling UK Forum

Has anyone taken a punt on one of these ?

https://www.aldi.co.uk/adventuridge-2-m ... 1580104800

I hefted the packed tent in store and thought it felt quite light.

I thought they looked OK, just don't need another tent

Inner height is 85 cm according to the blurb so I for one would not be able to sit up in it.

rotavator wrote: ↑22 May 2022, 10:32am Inner height is 85 cm according to the blurb so I for one would not be able to sit up in it.

I agree. It's clear how low it is from the photo with the girl sitting in the entry. Her shoulders are level with the top of the ridge.

OTOH the packed tent is small and light enough to be strapped to the outside of a saddlebag and that low height and subdued
colours mean it might be a reasonable option for stealth camping.

Also, being allegedly a two person tent, there should be enough room for one person + luggage, all under cover.
Maybe best thought of as an XXL bivi bag.

This stuff often gets reduced in price after a week or so. May give it a go if the price comes down to, say £20

it doesn't look bad even weight wise unlike the Ultra Light Camping Table https://www.aldi.co.uk/ultra-light-camp ... 3576743300 which weighs in at 2.3kg!

I once bought a cheap and lightweight argos tent. Not on a punt but because I failed to pack my tent. I was there for the weekend and my options were under my mate's van or in this tent m on clearance for £10. I was probably as wet the next day as I'd have been under his van. It was still better than under the van but it could not manage the condensat caused by one person in the 2 man tent.

You can get cheap tents that are good, I think the argos was it tiger paws tent got a his rep that resulted in them selling second hand for a lot more than they cost. However such tents are the in the minority. If you buy one be prepared for it to be wasted money but you might still be surprised by it being better than it should be.

Of course if you get one please feedback here. These tents need just one or two guinea-pigs to feed back with their opinions to save others money or confirm if its a good deal.

PS two man tents are often in real use just one man with a little bit more width. Also weight is often saved by making the tent smaller. For example not very long or very low. OK if you're not very tall.

As to sitting up in tents, I don't think I've been able to fully sit up in anything that's not a family tent. I remember being hunched over sitting out a storm in a mate's quasar fully geodesic 4 seasons mountain tent and that's designed I be big enough for two to sit out a storm.

Tangled Metal wrote: ↑22 May 2022, 9:55pm Of course if you get one please feedback here.

If I do buy it, I certainly will.

The spec. is pretty sparse...
I'd want to know whether it has two entrances; I doubt it, but it's a nuisance if one has to climb over ones sleeping partner to get out.
I don't like the look of those enormous vents. Get the rain coming from the wrong direction and I suspect it will come right into the tent.
The inner is probably mesh and the outer doesn't seem to come right to the ground. So it's likely pretty breezy in there.
But it does have an alloy pole.

Alloy pole means nothing. How it's made is important. Crimped in connection inserts and you've got stress points from which cracks propagate suddenly.

I had a wild country hoolie 3xt that failed on the first week of use. Nothing caused it such as a knock or force applied other than the force due to the bend when in place holding the tent up. Wild country tents were once the ones to have in the UK before they got bought out by terra nova. Certainly supposed to be better quality.

Tangled Metal wrote: ↑23 May 2022, 6:42am Wild country tents were once the ones to have in the UK before they got bought out by terra nova. Certainly supposed to be better quality.

My memory (which isn't infallible!) suggests that Wild Country was primarily a climbing hardware firm (purveyors of e.g. Friends and Rocks climbing protection, harnesses etc.) that also made other outdoor gear including tents, and the tent arm was spun off and was renamed Terra Nova (I don't know if it's all part of the same corporate entity). Later on, TN reintroduced the WC name for their budget line of tents, though the climbing hardware is still a separate thing.
If my memory is on point that would mean WC weren't "bought out" by TN, and you'd expect a current WC tent to be lower (relative) quality than the originals because the originals were what became TN brand. The WC Zephyros, for example, is a de-tuned TN Laser using cheaper materials.
(There's also the "Wintergear" sub-brand to throw in to the mix, which was WC stuff aimed particularly at winter mountaineers, so the WG Quasar has snow valances where the WC one didn't, and so on. I assume WG disappeared when TN started.)

But, like I say, memory is far from perfect!

Pete.

Really cheap tents are aimed at Glastonbury revellers. Use once, get wet , leave behind!

Not my review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXjet5bCeUE

WC was a competitor to TN. Both existed at the same time but separate companies aiui. I certainly remember hiking magazines reporting the merger / acquisition by TN. After that WC got positioned as a more budget brand.

I remember getting free Ellis Brigham, Field and Trek and cotswolds catalogues as a kid. Read them and picked the things I would get if money no object. I often couldn't decide whether i preferred TN or WC top end then. Now I wouldn't touch WC..

WC made climbing kit, clothes, camping kit and tents. Good quality until the take over when they died off a bit then came back as a lower standard of tents.

According to the TN website...
They started off as Wintergear in 1980
Quasar introduced 1983
Bought out by Wild Country 1986
De-merged from Wild Country 1993 as Terra Nova, acquired Extremities
Wild Country tent range introduced by Terra Nova 1999 as a budget brand (relatively speaking)

Wild Country still exist as a climbing hardware/clothing company, owned by the Oberalp group (webshop closed to UK orders, 'cos Brexit)

Aldi (and Lidl) have a good returns policy. So generally if you have an issue with it then they will give you your money back.