Quick Set-Up tents

I had my first look at them both on the weekend at the Perth show and the Black Wolf wins. The fly only took an extra 5 minutes to put on but I reckon the benefits such as cooler interior and extra waterproofing would sway me.

Hi Robjo,

They are both great tents, but I have the OzTent as it is more rugged.

When I was doing the comparison bit I found out that you can buy replacement hinges for the Black Wolf so that told me they break.

The awning on the Black Wolf also is a weird shape and a little to small.

But as you pointed out you do have to top load the OzTent.

Regards,

Matt

I own a Turbo 300.

Erection, and packing is easy, as long as you have a helper. You wouldn't use this tent on your own anyway.

Knuckles have been a problem in the past, and all new Turbo's have aluminium knuckles, and if you have the older tents, the kits are free, and take an hour to retrofit.

Good head height all around in the Turbo, and even close to the walls, you still stand up straight.

The bag it comes in is smaller, but make sure you have rolled the tent up properly, or it wont go in.

The only modification I have done, is to make all the pegs from 12 mm. diameter mild steel rod, with chain welded to each, then springs and carabiners, this makes life a whole lot easier, and allows the tent to give in hot or cold weather, without undue strain on the system.

I cannot give a comparison to an Oztent RV, as I have never used one. I am guessing, that the Oztent is probably more suited to touring, whereby the Turbo is more suited for hanging out in one spot for a few days.

Build quality on both seems comparable, so I guess it's all down to your perceived ideas as to how you want to travel.

Wolfie

Hello we have a oz tent and oh do I love it, quick and easy to erect. Has never given us any problems in the 2 years in using it. Also on ebay there is a 2 tent oz pod. Cheers Marion

Hi Robjo
We have had an OzTent Discovery (30 second tent) for many years. It has been to the Kimberly, Cape Yorke and most places in between the two. In general they are a great tent. It has been in high winds and driving rain and done really well. By the way you can break the hinges. This normally happens when you don't peg it down. This seems pretty elimentry but it is very easy to do as it does not require any pegs to remain upright under normal conditions. We got caught by a sudden rain squall at Katherine NT and the tent went for a short flight into a tree where the hinge was broken. Interestingly we taped up the hinge and used it for another 8 weeks with no drama.

Pro
Quick to set up. We usually had our camp set up and were parked in a chair with a beer in 10 - 15 minutes. Pack up is just as fast though it takes a bit of practice.

The bag it goes in is well designed and not so tight that it is impossible to get the tent out or in.

Strong. We have had a few tents over the years but the OzTent has done better in strong wiinds and heavy rains than any of the others. The heavy canvas deals with the inevitable rubbing on the roof racks.

Con
The length means they have to be on the roof. This is not much of a hardship until it is pouring with rain (where you will get wet and steps etc on most cars get very slippery when wet.) or you have been driving through bull dust for hours where you tend to get covered in dust.

Parts (hinges) are difficult to get outside of big cities. For example we went to every camping shop iin Darwin without luck.

Steve

I have a couple of mates with OzTents.

They often have them open and having a beer before anyone can even unpack a dome tent , let alone anything else.

The one downside I'm told of , is , once setup , they are great in high winds etc , but , getting caught while putting them up , or not pegging down properly , can break hinges etc.

We have one of the big touring tents with the extension out the back. My father has one of the big oztents (4, I think). We are up in the same amount of time it takes him, if he pegs it down, and we have more room inside than he does! Touring tent was heaps cheaper, than 2 Oztents! - Jo

G'day Robjo,
We had an Oztent Ranger. Was heavy to put back in the bag and could only go on the roof. Too heavy for me with a crook back I'm afraid. Now have a Tourer 9 Plus. More room inside and doesn't take long to get the basic tent up. I will say though, that the Oztent was very well made and designed.
Regards
Chris

Going thru the same process here , as gearing up for Hay river track
amongst others soon and this will see many 1 night stops.

Oz Tent looked good to us, but the dependance on pole folding up mechanism
hinges was a little worrying and it folded up long, but could be fitted inside the
Patrol just. Black Wolf seemed to us to be even more likely to have issues
when going got tough.

So in a break from tradition we are trying a cheap pyramid style tent.
The sloping sides on this style is both its strength and weakness.
Intrinsically better in the wind and easier to erect as the erecting
action is simply to raise the centre pole but the sloping sides
mean less internal room.

The cheapie ($199 from Aussie disposals) have the poly floor which
always gives trouble in the long term, and front flap doesn't protect from
wind blown rain as good as dome, but we thought we would use this
as an experiment and sus out any issues before making a more expensive
long term descision.

Certainly a lot faster to put up than our various dome tents and 1 person
can do it. Deliberately got 1 centre pole version only. This
needs to be offset a little if sleeping double, but is really useful
for steadying yourself and put a small hook point in pole so light
could be hung off it.

Used it a couple of times now and carefully observed what really takes
the time with this style. The most difficult part of all was to put it
back in its bag. Fine when all new and doing it in back yard, but when
its wet/muddy whatever - you need things that are simple and effective.
When its laying on the ground ready to be packed up, you just fold each
side at a time into the centre. This exposes a flat section of flooring and
can be easily swept with brush to remove dirt etc.

We added a gusset into the bag and a simple handle onto the top and
this made the packing up process a lot easier and now can be done by 1 person.

We round edges of tent pegs both top and bottom, added a few bits of Velcro
etc so windows could be deployed quickly, and left rolled up.

Ours had back and front entrances with flaps that could be pegged out
on poles but we feel this is an overkill and adds to bulk and weight.
We will remove the inner door on one side.

These tents pack up into a square about 1m and take up more volume than
dome, but we pack it vertical and hence takes up unused space inside car.

Making a choice to get a cheapie also means that you get lighter weight
canvas and whole unit weighs not quite 15kg making it a lot lighter and
taking less real volumne than Black Wolf/Oz etc.

Robin Miller

We have had a Turbo Tent for 18 months & it was used extensively on a trip to Cape York for 7 weeks plus smaller trips. As far as we are concerned the Turbo is great. Ours is the 240 which is ideal for 2 people.

It is very easy to erect & on some occasions has been through howling winds (eg at Captain Bill's Landing & Chilli Beach).

We did consider an Oztent but I was not prepared to carry it on the roof. The turbo fits across our vehicle (Jackaroo) behind our front seats.

I have heard that some of the plastic joints in the early models were subject to breaking, however, ours are plastic & we haven't had any problems.

We are going on a 4 month outback trip this year & Black Wolf have supplied us with all new alloy fittings at no cost to ensure we have no problems whilst away.

We would highly recommend the Turbo Tent.

Willy

We faced the same choice and went for Black Wolf Turbo 300.

Agree generally with the positive comments from other Black Wolf owners, Ray, Lone Wolf and Willykj.

The difference in set up time (Oztent v Black Wolf) is pretty marginal - especially if you just set up the tent itself. (In fact we find setting up other gear like bedding, chairs, cooking equipment etc is more time-consuming than the tent anyway.)

But unless you are setting up after dark and are desperate to get to bed, it is worth setting up the fly on the Black Wolf Turbo. It only takes a few minutes: the legs of the fly clip onto the tent; attach with velcro tabs, put up awning poles and two guys and that's it. We put colour-coded tape on the fly so we can easily tell which is the front and which is the back. The awning provides useful space for leaving boots etc under cover. (We put down some shadecloth as a floor for the awning.)

The Black Wolf has lots of usable space all round. It is very well made with high-quality materials (e.g strong fine mesh, excellent seam seals, heavy duty floor). Anyone with reservations about their durability hasn't used one.

We haven't had a problem getting ours back in the bag. In fact the bag is a sufficiently generous size to take other things!

My only minor criticism is that you can't open/close the side windows from inside the tent.

Oztents are good tents too, but the main things that sold us on the Black Wolf were value for money and ability to store in the vehicle. The Oztent RV-4 is equivalent to Turbo 240 (2.4m x 2.4m) but costs about $1000 as against about $750. The Turbo 300 (3m x 3m) gives a lot more space for $100 or so less than the cost of the Oztent RV4. And that's not counting the possible need for the Oztent roof pod ($500).

Black Wolf are also bringing out a screen dome for their tents this year, for use with the deluxe fly. But both Black Wolf and Oztent setups get pretty expensive (and bulky) when you add extra panels, deluxe fly etc. For the present, we use a cheap stand-alone screen room instead for longer stays.

Search the archives too - there is more info about both tents. There is high praise for after-sales service on the Black Wolf.

Happy camping.

Just bought a Turbo 300 from Aussie Disposals for $849. I also notice that www.gotyatackle.com is selling them for $848 + postage