30 second tent

Johno my wife and I used an Oztent known as the 30 second tent on a trip down the Canning a couple of years ago. It has an aluminum frame built within the tent and it indeed only takes 30 seconds to erect and a few second longer to put down and pack in the bag.

It is about 2 metres long when packed which could be a game stopper for some. I put it on the roof rack with a couple of straps and it never moved.

I highly recommend it. There are several sizes now and if you want to use a stretcher in it just check not only the floor space, but the end wall comes in at an angle and will meet the stretcher if you buy the smallest one.How ever I am not sure if that is what you are looking at at Rays tent city.

Have seen many types / brands in use, and sure, they are fast for basic setup.
Anything more like awnings, extensions, side walls, flys, etc takes a bit of time like a normal tent.
The other trade off is these tents are usually bulky (long) and heavy, but if you can get around this, you might really get some good use from such a tent.

Hi Johno

If you are talking about the OzTent, then yes they are fantastic.mwe have had the RV4 for nearly 10 years is the best ever tent we have ever owned.


Cheers


Stephen

Have a look at Darche Airvolution tents .AT4 and AT6.I highly recommend.Lots of room ventilation strong floor heavy duty pvc and very quick to erect..I got talked out of buying those other tents by a camping shop.cheers

Oztent R5 for us - to old to play games with cheap imitations.

Cheers

dad

Look at Black Wolf - good quality, easy as the OzTent to set up, but you don't have such a long package to store on the roof - can fit inside your wagon.
Cheers

It sounds like one of those ultra light tents similar to the all in one shower tents. The poles are sort of coil sprung into the fabric. Probably not that good in wind and rain, fine for nice weather. The fun comes when you try to pack them up again, it's like herding cats getting those coils back together. :-)

How about a link to what you are talking about.

We just bought an RV-3 Oztent last week, for our upcoming trips. Had seen one in use previously so knew what we were getting. Having a ute, with a canopy, it should fit???

One feature that I like is the ability to slot the awning into the sailtrack(with optional $70 adaptor) of our canopy, giving us some shade, weather protection and privacy for the Cook.

Of course, after purchasing this item, we now can't afford fuel to go anywhere to set the tent up. :-)

Bob

Don't know if you can still get these, have had ours for nearly 30 years, is a Coleman, excellent product which erects in about 2 minutes, putting pegs in takes the most time, 10'x10' with almost vertical walls so maximises the available room inside the tent, also very quick to pull down and is fairly light and weatherproof and can take wind. When they were first released there was one erected on the back of a truck and driven from Sydney to Brisbane with out blowing apart.

You are getting a lot of opinions from owners who, of course, all own the best there is. However no one has considered what you are going to do with your tent and you certainly have not provided much to go on.

From you very basic brief, a Coleman instant up would be the.best thing you could buy.
Extremely quick to put up, super light weight, heaps of room & cheap. However its nylon so put it away wet and it'll stay wet.

Are you just doing weekenders or expeditions?
Going somewhere for a week or daily up & down?

I have a Coleman Instant Up and love it however its pretty useless for anything beyond weekends. Did two weeks in the Vic High Country where we had two days without rain. Packing up the tent wet meant it leaked continuously for the duration of the trip.

The Oztents have a sloped roof with the highest point at the door. For me this means there is nowhere to stand unless you are short. When packed, its too long for most roof racks and didn't give us much usable internal room. However it is waterproof.

The Black Wolf is only waterproof when you put the fly up which most don't seem to do. Its a conventional tent so it has standing room in the middle.

My choice is the Darche Airvolution. This has inflatable air poles and takes under 60 secs to put (pump) up. The poles curve outwards like a ball so there is a huge amount of internal space. I'm 6ft 3" and can stand easily. Its canvas so never leaks. The kevlar inflatable poles are pretty much indestructible and Darche have videos showing fully laden 4x4s driving over them whilst inflated. Used one the Cape for 6 weeks with a daily up/down and simply love it.
Only draw back is if the pump fails you will be screwed but we take a spare just in case.

You also fail to give us a price guide. The Coleman will be cheapest at around $225, Darche around $850, then Oztent around $1000 and Black Wolf around $1300.

http://www.kmart.com.au/product/folding-instant-tent---4-person/731491

This is a cheapie , but interesting , and if it breaks -well you just buy another.

When I saw this thread the question that went to my mind was why the need for a tent that erects in 30 seconds.?

Now don’t get me wrong, if that is what people want that is fine. Hey, I owned three Landrover Defenders and never felt the need to justify that to anyone other than Mrs Landy…but that is another story!

But is the fact it is billed as 30-seconds to erect appealing because it suggests it is simple to erect, or is it that that some are that time poor to need such a set-up?

I’m sure there are quick to erect tents that are far superior to others, but usually there is a compromise somewhere. And when you consider that bedding needs to be considered part of the set-up does 30-seconds really equate to something meaningful when determining how long it takes to have your camp ready?

As highlighted in one of the preceding responses, one should consider what use you will put it to as part of the assessment to see if it is suitable.

We have three alternatives when we are Out and About, TVAN, swag, or for something in between we use a Southern Cross centre-pole, 4 peg tent.

The Southern Cross tent, usually takes us no more than a few minutes to set-up, let’s call it 5-minutes on a quick day, and a couple of extra when we are dawdling (code for first beer and wine in hand!). My point is that it is not much time in the scheme of things.

So I am interested to hear, what is the appeal or motivator to have a 30-second set-up?

Otherwise, good weekend to all…and remember “Laughter is an instant holiday”.


Baz –The Landy