centre pole tents whats best

Easiest BY far, is 1 pole tents like Southern Cross ones.

lay tent on ground. 1 peg in each corner, stand center pole up. DONE.

You can also get a 2 pole 'kit' for them so you dont have 1 pole in the center of your tent.
www.southerncrosscanvas.com.au

Theres one forsale in Trader section. The seller is a good bloke too, so you would have no problems withit.

Hilux,
I agree 200% with truckster. 2 mins to put up , that includes pulling it out of the car. I have a freedom tent. much the same as the southern ones,it has the steel tube frame. they have been around for years also. I recently bought the optional outer pole setup, that adds about 30 second to putting up the tent. I very highly recoment that type of tent.

hope it helps.
Daren

I have a Freedom Camping Outback Tourer center pole tent. The way that it is made it will literally last me "a life time". (same as the Southern Cross but I think it is heavier canvass) It is easy to put up - unfold, peg four corners and put pole up. Done!. Not as easy to store as the hoop tent, but it's just a matter of working out your storage system in the vehicle to carry it. You can stand up in it - not sure about the hoop tent (I guess depends on size) Much more expensive than any other tent - but I think worth it especially on trips where you are striking camp each day and it gets a lot of folding and unfolding. This is where I think the cheaper nylon dome tents pack it in after a short while. But then on the other hand my friends who have them say that they can buy three or four dome tents, keep upto date with the latest fashion and still be ahead compared to the outlay of the Freedom tent.

Regarding the umbrella type - I am guessing that it may not be as sturdy as the single pole with the small (very strong) tubular frame around the top. With the Freedom, you can actually fall on the tent from the side and it will spring back up.

Peter

G'day all. In my line of work (tours) I've used alot of single and twin pole tents. The single pole tents win hands down for reliability. The twin pole version is great for snugling BUT the frame causes the canvas to rip in the corners regularly. also take longer to put up especially when you are alone. It may just be the Blue mountains wind and snow, but the single pole tents don't move around as much in gale force wind either. The main thing is make sure it is dry when stored. Whatever you decide ...enjoy

Vote One . . . . Southern Cross

I have a Southern Cross tent. Absolutely awesome - best in the business by far IMHO.

Mine is an Adelaide made single pole. HD floor. Pole pops into a receiver in the center of the canvas roof. Metal frame around the roof. This is a simple and very effective as tent as others have mentioned. The centre pole is good for pulling yourself upon if the back is playing up and as mentioned elsewhere, it doesn't
rub on any canvas. Just sit the pole on a jam tin lid or wad of newspaper and the floor is safe.There is plenty of room for two to sleep alongside the pole. Ground sheet down, four corner pegs, pole in - done.
We took our camper trailer into the center for 2 weeks, but the weather was so good that we threw the single pole up each night for the whole trip (we take it as a spare/option). I think the center pole canvas tent is a classic, simple and very practical tent. Make sure you have the flyscreen door and window for flow through air.Gotta have red sand on those boots !

Just another option if you want top quality canvas, a bit more room and no poles in the centre of the tent:

Halls Canvas Goods in Adelaide have a 12x9ft dual centre pole tent called the Breezeway, which goes up just as quick as any of the others, but has two centre poles which swing outboard so you get an uncluttered floor area. Costs under $800. I've had mine for 12 years and not so much as a thread loose - only tent to stay up in a gale at Coober Pedy last year. Lots of people at the club with the centre pole tents who wouldn't mind the extra space of the breezeway.

Hilux,

Canvas center pole tents are FANTASTIC!!! I wouldn't recommend anything else!! As for brands, I currently use a C.O.I Lighting center pole tent. It has proven to be as tough as nails, and very easy to erect. I have probably now set it up 50 or more times, and it has become second nature, only takes 2-3 minutes. The best thing about the C.O.I's is the price. For an 8'x8' tent, your looking at around $500!!! thats almost half the price of an equivelant Southern Cross. While I don't doubt that they are great tents, with the years of loyal service I have enjoyed out of the COI, I would recomend it over the Southern Cross. The change would buy you a good esky, or a couple of sleeping bags, etc, etc.

One things for sure, once you try a center pole, there will be no going back!!

Tristjo.

I also have COI Lightning for when we can't take the camper trailer or just for overnighters when we are 4WDing with the club. It is very solidly made, has good heavy canvas, 10oz and a solid vinyl floor, also have both the standard center pole as well as the side pole kit so depending on who's sleeping in it you can chose which way you want it. Have had many other styles of tents, Cabins, Pup, Domes and none of them are worth Pi$$ing on., they all leak like sieves when you have wind driven rain and a few of them have even ripped apart. The COI Lightning is really worth a look.

Regards,
Mark

I have the COI tent, it's fantastic to set up, a little bit of a pain to pack up. I have the version that has an extended rear & if you don't fold it right it's a tight fit to get back in the bag.

I bought it because of the price saving compared to the Southern Cross version.

What I found is that the fastening rings (the bits that the tent pegs fit through) started rusting after the first night out in the rain. I think the Souther Cross version has stainless steel fastening rings, also the Southern Cross has a spring loaded centre pole where the COI is adjustable with a butterfly type screw.

We have had a Freedom Family Minit Tourer for over 10 years - and it has stood up to the worse conditions that one could imagine. In 95 we were in the Simpson and had what could only be described as a mini cyclone - with heavy rain etc. Two other families in other style tents had them colapse, but the Freedom just bounced on the spring. The others spent 2 nights in their vehicles, while we were dry-s-bone in ours.
The floor on the Freedom is also better than others that I have looked at, and we have had situations where the floor was floating - but not leaking.

Great stuff.

Hi all.

We (the wife) have a COI Lightning Extender Centre Pole tent, best thing since sliced bread. I can have it out of the forby and erected in approx 4 minutes, great.

However getting it back into the vehicle can take up to 20 minutes, what are we doing wrong?

JDLife is to good to be dead.

Re center pole tents:

on a scale of 1 to 10

freedom or southern cross center pole 10

COI center pole 7 (poorer constructiion, lighter weight canvas, less durable floor tub)

Igloo/dome tents 4 (slow to erect, not tough, last only a few short years when "really" camping)

I only know couse I learnt the hard way - some may say: is there any other way? LOL

At a tour I led last week of 20 vehicles & 73 bods, we were the only ones with a center pole tent. Set up time = one third of the other troops. Therefore center pole= less hassle; more time to relax, and while it's not a race, it sure is less stressful. IMHO there will be more centre poles once people have seriously considered them.

Concur with wind resistance remarks already made( sometimes after camp cooking it gets windy in the tent, too!)

BUT, how can ya beat a swag? On this scale a swag = 11

CheersRick (S.A.) - ' It is better to travel hopefully than arrive'

To all the guys/gals that answerd my question thanks for all the suggestions. It seems the centre pole wins hands down.

Happy camping

Steve

Not sure where you are Steve, but Great Outdoors do a single pole tourer as well - I picked a 9x9 up from Cargill's in Burswood (Perth) for under $500 on special.

Check out http://www.greatoutdoors.com.au

Cheers,
Pete