Quick erection---------------tent

They are a thing of the past!!..............Oh, sorry I just read on.

I have an OzTent RV5. It is indeed very quick to put up. Other pluses include very high quality materials and manuafacture.

Some negatives though - expensive; RV5, which is I think the biggest, can fit four people at a pinch, but is better for three; No headroom at the back end, but then again not really needed there; bulky to transport, needs to be put on a trailer or roofrack; did I mention expensive?. Heavy to manhandle onto a roofrack.

We found out the hard way that there is a design fault with the annexe (which has been corrected now). To cut a long story short, the inbuilt awning can be used as a roof for a second room if you puchase three sepate draped sides (I mentioned expensive before I think!) . We got caught in a storm in the Grampians with very heavy rain that filled up the "roof" to the point where it almost collapsed the entire tent. In removing the water, the contents of the second room were saturated (including a laptop). The design now includes a peaked roof so that this doesn't occur.

Please note that the basic tent is very quick to put up, but addiing in the sides can be a PITA.

If I was doing it all over again, I would use a swag as much as possible (only because I like it, though not eveyone does) and have two smaller dome tents e.g. Coleman CV3 ($130) for those occasions where it might be really wet, windy etc. The tents are sturdy, light, double skinned, nice quality.

I don't mean to bag what is essentially a very good product, and it's certainly designed to last a long time. Just my two bobs worth.

Cheers

Consider the Blackwolf turbo series. Last year we purchased one to replace our 25 year old coleman tent. The BW has been an excellent replacement. Quick and easy to put up and pull down as well as carry. With the Oztent you are in need of storing it on the roof as it will not fold into lesser space than 2.4m. The BW folds up into a bag around 1.5m long so fits easily in the second storage area which replaces the rear seats when we travel remotely. As well it goes up in the same time as an Oztent as long as you include the pegging out time for the four corners which is mandatory for stability in both cases.

If you do a search you will see that this subject has been discussed on several occassions and as usual everyone has a different view based on their own experiences.

My suggestion is go to a reputable camping store that sells both and compare them against your specific needs back to back.

All the best

Regards

RobAck

What I liked the most about the Oztent (We have an RV-3) was its versatility. When you erect the tent and the front awning, you create a "living area" between the tent and the back of the vehicle. Add the peak side panels (which also puts a peak in the awning roof) and you are as snug as a bug.

Bill.

Hi William

Don't know of any cheap ones of that type.

When that sort of thing is required we rely on the standard Pyramid type touring tents of which there are several sub $200
They work well with the side poles.

However for short duration type trips we have long gone over to
cheap 4-6 person domes.
They are physically easier to put up, but do take longer but trips like this are more sucessful if everyone is involved so we get other family members to erect them and they feel like they are contributing.

Sometimes like on our planned simpson trip next week we go even simpler and it this case we will use the quickest of all tents for my wife and I.
Its a squeezy 4 person dome which was $19 from Anaconda.

This type weighs nothing and only has 2 loop poles and is very quick to erect , but what makes it better is that at that price its throw away after 1 trip and so we don't even bother to lay a ground cover down underneath it to protect the floor.

We have the Oztent RV3 and we also got a little caught with the collection of water on the awning roof, we now have the poles to prevent that happening again. We are very happy with the tent, the only downside if you like is the loading on the roof rack but that isn't so bad either when you are watching someone else do it?????????? LOL.

Cheers

D

We were able to borrow an Oztent when we crossed the Simpson a couple of years ago. The kids loved it as it was so easy to erect.

We found them to be a bit out of our price range, so looked at second hand on ebay, Trading post and local paper.

We were lucky to pick up one locally. As we are down to one child travelling with us we use the Oztent with the swag thrown in, and the one child uses his dome and swag or just the swag.


Mrs S

We have spent over two years in total in our oztent, we are a near original owner and have had nothing but praise for the construction and durablitiy of the tent. We have been washed away in Tassie - still standing, blown away in Cooper Pedy - still standing and in Lake Jindybine when we did not peg down the tent the part was replaced in a week free of charge. Yep we stand by them. We prefer them to take up room on the roof rack than in the car.

We have spent over two years in total in our oztent, we are a near original owner and have had nothing but praise for the construction and durablitiy of the tent. We have been washed away in Tassie - still standing, blown away in Cooper Pedy - still standing and in Lake Jindybine when we did not peg down the tent the part was replaced in a week free of charge. Yep we stand by them. We prefer them to take up room on the roof rack than in the car.

Hello William,
Considering your needs and suspecting that your parents might enjoy a bit of privacy, I suggest you look into getting a couple of tourist tents.

My wife and I did The Simpson last year - and will again in August - using a 3m X 3m COI Primus pyramid style tourist tent with the side pole kit option. We had been considering an OzTent.

Some of the COI's features:
* It is quick to erect; about 5-7 minutes.
* It packs away into a flat pack roughly 1 metre square and can be easily carried in the vehicle or on a pack rack.
* It will comfortably accommodate three people and their personal bags.
* You can stand up in it to dress.
* With the side pole kit you can set the bedding aside and set up a table and chairs inside if the weather is unfriendly
* You can hang a light up in it.
* It is about a third lighter in weight than the much more expensive yet similar Australian-made tents. It's about 17kg including the poles.
* Its made in NZ and is a good quality, robust product. The cheaper options have much lighter insect screens and canvas and I have doubts as to their long term durability.
* The tent (and detatchable awning) is well priced. It cost $399 and we paid extra for the side pole kit.

Two tents could be erected facing each other and the awnings and a plastic home-made side panel erected to provide you with additional shelter.

As a point of further interest, friends who travelled with us last year are selling their more expensive BW Turbo tent in favour of a tourist tent, as they had a frame breakage (and collapse) during a bad windstorm.

A cuppla further considerations .......
1) Do your parents snore ? If they do, maybe two tents is the way to go.

2) When our kids reached 10-12 years of age, they preferred to sleep in their own lightweight pup tents. In the event of inclement weather, they joined us in the more substantial canvas tent. Maybe your daughter would prefer this arrangement !

3) How long do you want the tent to last. If it's to be 30 years, by a good quality canvas tent !

Hope this info helps.
Cheers,
Netnut

William.
we have had the blackwolf turbo 300 (used for 6 wks desert trip + heaps of weekers) and now have the turbo lite plus 300 which has an extra room out the back and is only a few minutes quicler to put up.....

they do cost a bit but for a trip like yours and future travels they are seriously worth the $$$$. When your setting up and pulling down everyday or most days, the less you have to do the better.

for the balckwolfs, they are operated by a pull out pin operation on the poles which are constantly attatched to the tent, then push the roof up. we rarely use the fly and the guy ropes are bright orange!! (so good to have a night for those midnight dunny runs!!).....

we have a photos of our one in my profile, but if ya down this way anytime soon we can show you how it works.

oh yeah, weight - i think the turbo lite plus 300 is 19kg, the normal turbo 300 was 25kg???? I can throw the lite plus on the roof (and if you know me thats amazing cos Im a dead set weakling!!)

hope this helps

Laura

Another vote for the blackwolf. We have a turbo lite 300 plus and it is easily big enough for a family of 4 - could probably sleep 6 or 7 at a pinch. If I was putting it up and down every day then I'd probably consider a slightly smaller version (maybe a 240) with just space for sleeping in - but they are great tents. About 5mins to put up once you get the hang of it.
It can probably fit in most cars (1.4m long for the 300 size) which might give it an advantage over the oztent.
Keep an eye on Anaconda sales - can usually get 20 or 25% off.

I have an Oz tent RV 4. Also have the side and front panels, and use the Ozpod to store while travelling. My folks were also looking to buy an OZ tent recently but were a bit put off with the price. Great product, but pricey. Have spent a lot of time in it including some wild weather nights.

We visited Rays Outdoors while in Sydney recently and came across the Autotent. Similar Concept to the Black Wolf turbo tent and just as easy to put up as the turbo tent. Doesn't have some of the add on features of the turbo tent series and probably not the same quality, but at $350 (they have a special on it at the moment, down from $560) the Autotent looks good value. The autotent is a canvas tent and to my suprise I could not find any threads for it on exloreoz. Its main weakness could be that some of the moving parts in the quick fold up mechanism could break with long term use and Iam not sure how you would go getting new parts for it. I know that with the Oz tent the customer support for any quality issues is excellent. The one problem I had with a poorly fiiting side panel on my Oztent they fixed with no fuss at all.

My folks were impressed enough to buy an auto tent, although they havent used it yet. The web site below will get you to Rays outdoors. Just search for auto tent.
www.raysoutdoors.com.au
Enjoy your trip.
Ken