Black Wolf Turbo tent & accessories
Submitted: Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 08:02
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54065
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Member - Drew T (Melbourne)
No question .. just thought i'd give an update on my experiences with a turbo 240 tent & accessories over the last year. i used it again on the weekend & tried out the screen tent for the first time.
Turbo 240 tent: when i'm touring i just put up the tent itself with no fly & find it an excellent tent. I only add the fly if rain is likely, more because it offers a small overhang over the door which keeps the tent a bit drier when entering/exiting the tent. it would be nice if you could close the windows from inside the tent. the original tent bag was way too small & i had a larger one made & use a number of loops/straps to aid in packing the tent up nice & tight
Deluxe fly: the extra 2 metres (approx) offers good shade but without sides it is too small to offer much in the way of rain protection. the pole system is poorly designed, fiddly, & time consuming to put together
Deluxe fly side & front panels: these offer good rain/wind protection but they are bulky, fiddly & time consuming to erect. in hindsight i should never have bought them! my next project is to get some simple side panels made out of ripstop/proofed nylon that attach simply to the fly
Screen tent: easy to put up but does need an additional 4 pegs to stake it out when they could have added some elastic straps which used the existing fly tent pegs (mmm .. another modification coming up :--). the screen tent sides go out on an angle beyond the roofline of the fly so without the side panels any rain just rolls off the fly & straight down onto the screen tent sides & into
the tub floor of the screen tent ... another bad design feature
anyway, just some background info for anyone thinking of buying one of these tents or accessories. i would definitely buy the tent again .. not convinced the accessories are anywhere as
well designed
Reply By: Member - Franga (QLD) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 08:16
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 08:16
G'day Drew, Thanks for putting that info together, very helpful.
We have a Turbo 300 without any of the accessaries and often thought about getting them. Don't think we will bother now, like you we are more than happy with the tent, we still use the same bag and find there is plenty of room.
Have you considered sending the above info to Black Wolf as feed back?
Happy camping from a happy camper.
Franga
AnswerID:
284656
Reply By: Member - cuffs (SA) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 08:59
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 08:59
Thanks for the review, I have a 210 Turbo and was thinking of upgrading to 240 just for the accessories but have heard the same problems from others, so they don't put them up.
I saw a 210 with a
home made ripstop front panels and it looked great including fly screen, valcron stiched in, the way to go.
AnswerID:
284662
Reply By: Kiwi & "Mahindra" - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 09:55
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 09:55
We dont like the idea of accessorising so have never worried....originally had the turbo 300 but bub number 3 has caused us to sell it and get the lite plus turbo 300.....not much longer to put up and is just as durable.....
good on ya!!
Laura
AnswerID:
284678
Reply By: Member - Mark E (VIC) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 13:10
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 13:10
Drew,
We have the Turbo 300 and love it. When I went into the
shop to sus it out, I asked the guy there if he could help me put the tent up and down a couple of times to find out the best way to do it. No worries with the tent.........but all those poles and bits and pieces for the 'extra fly'....even he couldn't put it up. Between us it took about 20 mins to get it all up. I then decided that for the extra cost, a tarp, few pegs and poles would be easier.......
Happy turbo camping.
Cheers,
Mark
AnswerID:
284712
Follow Up By: Member - Drew T (Melbourne) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 14:38
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 14:38
yes totally agree. the blackwolf tent and a separate screen tent that can be butted up next to the tent would be the best combination ... aaah hindsight is a wonderful thing :--)
FollowupID:
549485
Reply By: Member - Tony W (VIC) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 13:13
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 13:13
That's the exact reason I went for the turbo plus light. You can leave the rear section closed if you are in a hurry but it is quick ( Minute or 2).
AnswerID:
284715
Reply By: Member - Ian H (NSW) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 19:23
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 19:23
Hi Drew, good report on the Turbo Temt. We have a 240 and love it but want to put infill panels in the fly for those wet days. We thought of getting the same ripstop fabric the tent is made from and having a open ended zip fitted so they could be simply zipped on when necessary. If you have and luck finding the stuff please put up a post and I will do the same if I find it first.
AnswerID:
284785
Follow Up By: Member - Drew T (Melbourne) - Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 19:49
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 at 19:49
Ian, i am going to put up the tent again in the backyard again sometime & think through a better design for side/front panels. i'm thinking of something that can both be flush up against the frame for really bad weather or pegged out on an angle on those hotter days to both protect from rain and capture any breeze.
Once i have a rough design i was going to get Infront Camping Gear (
http://www.infrontcampinggear.com.au/) to quote on making it up for me. They have made a number of canvas/nylon bags etc for me (including a bigger tent bag for the turbo240) & are pretty good & cost-competitive. I'll let you know what they quote & it may be a bit cheaper if a few of us put in a bulk order?
anyway i'll let you know
cheers
FollowupID:
549551
Reply By: karicher - Friday, Feb 01, 2008 at 22:41
Friday, Feb 01, 2008 at 22:41
Hi,
We have the Turbo Twin Lite 300.
I also dislike how the windows do not close inside the tent. We went in April where it was really windy and I froze all night as it came underneath. It needs to velcro all the way along the bottom to stop the wind. There is only a small amount of velcro for a big window.
I dislike the awning on the fly. You really dont have any option to have it up. You can not roll it up. So again, on our windy trip it flapped and was a pain in the ass.
I agree bag is too small when packing it up. We can never fit our fly in it and now have to take a seperate bag for it to store in.
On our last trip away with it, it was hot and sunny and the tent was great. But I hated it on our trip where it was cold and windy.
I also dislike how the zip only is one way. I used to like my old tent when I could zip it up the top and kids could not reach it to open it and escape!
Anyway, thats my gripe. I'm dissapointed in my $1000 tent. We have used it twice and now looking at a Camper trailer again. Still trying to decide on which one to get.
AnswerID:
285027
Follow Up By: Member - Mark E (VIC) - Saturday, Feb 02, 2008 at 11:57
Saturday, Feb 02, 2008 at 11:57
Karicher,
Some help for you....don't give up, it's great tent, compared to the rest. I have a camper trailer also, but use the tent in
places where the trailer would be a hassle to tow.
When talking about the awning, do you mean the fly? The additional extended 'awnings' that were an accessory with the turbo tents were hopeless and fiddly to erect.
In relation to the fly, I never put it on except if poor weather forecast. I'ts much quicker to just put the tent up on it's own. That being said the flapping that you get may be the lighter material....I have the canvas model. I also don't get the breeze under the window flaps as the tent goes up fairly tight and tends to stop this....may be another problem with the lighter material. Or is your's a different design?
Yes the bag is a little small for the tent, though I have found that a couple of extra straps with buckles and a particular method of rolling it all up makes it a much better fit...takes an extra 30 sec to do, but saves the swearing. I may get another bag made when the existing one falls to bits...I feel the sip may fail first.
You have only used the tent twice..........give it a little time. I used
mine for every night over a 2 month trip last year and in comparison to other tents I have had it is fantastic! No condensation (but I like VENTILATION - you can't have it both ways!)
When I looked at tents and spoke to people who have used them the turbo tent was the one with the least criticism.
I am very happy with
mine.
Cheers,
Mark
FollowupID:
549892
Reply By: Member - LOS BUSH - Friday, Feb 01, 2008 at 23:17
Friday, Feb 01, 2008 at 23:17
G'day tenters has ayone any information on the FS270 Blackwolf tent that BCF has on special this week
Thank you for any replies LOS
AnswerID:
285036