Help! good budget hiking tent advice

[savenger]

So I've noticed that most of the heavily reviewed gear seems to fall into a pretty high price bracket.

Of course you get what you pay for, but surely there are some decent tents under $200 that'll hold their own for most uses.

I'm a uni student so I'm on a pretty tight budget (under $150 if possible), and I need a decent 2-3 man tent for hiking, cycling and general camping. Choosing one is like stabbing in the dark... there's a serious lack of third party info on tents in this price bracket.

My basic requirements are:
- under 3kg's (as light as possible though)
- 3 season-ish (won't be camping in snow, but will be camping in tassie and below zero occasionally)
- comfortably fits two people + gear and maybe 3 people in a pinch
- will keep the weather on the outside
- reasonable durable
- packs up small
- reasonable setup time

I'm considering this http://www.campingcentral.com.au/produc ... 7D2kg.html ... but it would be nice to hear from people who've owned one first as nobody locally seems to stock them.
Another option is the black wolf stealth mesh, but the weight seems high for the size of the tent, and people have told me they're on the small side, fiddly to put up and unsuitable for cold weather.

Are there any obvious options I'm overlooking?

[baronessbunyip]

My only advice would be to advise against oz trail. A couple of years ago I used a little oztrail similar if not the same as the one you linked and the rain consistently came through it - made for some miserable nights I can tell you (even in summer, Tassie can be brutal). I'm not sure about the black wolf one, but perhaps the brand is better???? My brother has one of their larger backpacks and finds it quite comfortable and well-made.

Maybe keep an eye on the classifieds section here and on other similar forums. Or put a wanted ad in the market place part of thisforum? It seems there are plenty of gear hoarders around who may be willing to off-load something older but of reasonable quality in order to justify (to themselves) yet another gear purchase . Someone had a WE first arrow on here reduced down to $300, dont know if they would take less - although it is heavier than the specs you listed.

Probably no point looking overseas (where you can often get better value), postage for tents can be prohibitive especially if your budget is $200.

Good luck with it and I hope you find something!

[baronessbunyip]

Actually, i just looked at that site again and the one I used appears to be the 2 person dome for about 40 bucks - complete waste of a measley $40 though. So the one you're interested in may well be better, and ought to be for the extra price. But I have also used an oztrail 3 man tent for car camping and that one was nearly tall enough to stand in. That too leaked, was notoriously difficult to set up and just wouldn't pitch taut at the back (where most of the rain came in). Based on experience I really don't like oztrail!

[Dale]

Hi Scavenger

I can't comment on the Oz Trail tent in the link - no experience with them.

If you want a good tent at a reasonable price and want something new, then I would recommend shopping online. A couple of sites to consider:

http://www.moontrail.com
http://www.campsaver.com
http://www.backcountry.com
http://www.rei.com

On Campsaver there is a Big Agnes tent on sale which fits your requirements:

http://www.campsaver.com/bigagnes-burnridge2-tent

Moontrail have several tents in their 3 season section discounted - there are some cheap Eureka tents, although I haven't hear great things about those. They also have a couple of Mountain Hardwear tents. When you see a tent you like just do a search for reviews - even though you're not focusing on something ultrlight there may be discussion on backpackinglight.com depending on the tent.

Another idea is to scour the backpacking light gear swap thread:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... l?forum=19

Bear in mind postage can bump up the price so you'll have to watch that, however you will be able to pick up tents of good quality considerably cheaper than buying locally.

Happy hunting !

Cheers

Dale,

[buggeriamold]

Hi savenger,

I can’t comment on that particular OZtrail model, but we do have other OZtrail models that our Scouts use.

They seem to be pretty good value for money & ok in general NSW conditions.

I personally wouldn’t head out in one if there was the chance of rough weather .

But then again, I am old,soft & dont like running around in storms trying to keep the tent together.

Mark.

[Capt DropBear]

HA! I've been using that exact tent for a few years now - and contrary to what others are saying, I've never had any issues with it. Braved some pretty severe winds recently without failure. Can't comment in snow conditions, but I've never had a problem with it in rain, no leakage to report.

It's easier and faster to set up than my Scarp 1. It's floor is quite durable, as is the fly. The "tub" is high enough to keep the water out too. All mesh inner ventilates well, but I have noticed condensation inside on occasion.

My main gripe with it is that with two people in it, it's alittle too cosy, and you'll be guaranteed of touching the inner, and with the fly being difficult to keep off the inner = wet sleeping bag in the morning. The vestibule at the front can fit a big hiking pack (think Cascade 75), or two smaller daypacks - but not much more.

Honestly, minor niggles aside, for $100,and 2.2kg, it's pretty good deal.

[dannnnn]

i have one of these and would recommend it for your requirements

http://www.campsaver.com/kelty-salida-2-tent

reasonably well made, super light weight, well priced.

[bushwalker zane]

I had a little Oz Trail tent back from when I was 9 and it was great. Took it on a few walks, but it was pretty big when packed. Like Dale said those sites are great and the Big Agnes is well worth a look. It'd go into a few of your local shops and see if they can do you a deal, I got a bit off my tent just by asking so you never know your luck!

Happy shopping!

[savenger]

thanks for the recommendations. I'm using an old falling apart EPE speedie tent at the moment and as clever as the design is, it's a real pain for anything except basic car camping... plus one of the zippers broke last week :/

On closer inspection it looks like the oztrail is actually a rebranded 'outer limits' tent. They seem to specialise in budget hiking tents http://www.outer-limits.com.au/tentsand ... /tents.php does anyone have experience with any of the other models?

The big agnes looks great, but I'm having trouble seeing the advantage over the oztrail backpacker for my purposes considering the fabric is not as waterproof, slightly heavier and 50% more expensive. Is there any significant reason why it's better?

Capt Drop Bear does your oztrail have a fabric sleeve or a clip-up type design for the pole? how long does it take you to put up? How is the overall durability, especially zippers, poles, etc? is the condensation bad to the point where it drips?

It's advertised as having a floorspace of 230x160 which on paper seems ok for 2 people... is this a deceiving spec?

[savenger]

also... does anyone have experience with the black wolf stealth mesh, paricularly with set-up, all-season use and durability?? it's actually a bit cheaper than even the oztrail, and slightly roomier... it's tempting.

[bushwalker zane]

also... does anyone have experience with the black wolf stealth mesh, paricularly with set-up, all-season use and durability?? it's actually a bit cheaper than even the oztrail, and slightly roomier... it's tempting.

I haven't had any experience myself, but this seems to be a good review! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2FHAXV3ZrE

[Bluegum Mic]

I knew I'd read something on this before. I'm unfortunately on tapatalk on my phone so I can link the topic but if you search the forum for - outer limits vortex, one of the other members reviewed this tent. Another member who worked in an outdoor store in QLD gave a glowing report for the outer limits backpacker.

In regards to the black wolf stealth it's only listed for a two season use (ie summer weight). There's a lot of mesh on it so it really won't be great for colder weather use. They have a couple of tents in their range that are supposed to be for '4 season' use however from memory they are a little on the heavy side.

Good luck with your purchasing. It's always exciting getting new gear. Another brand I'd check out for budget conscious but sturdy is Coleman. I used to have a great tent with fabric inner, door panels unziped for mesh and rock solid tent. Two huge vestibules, dome. Heaps of space. Shame as I sold it to a mate 6 months ago in mint condition for $40. I think it was a duo deluxe if you stumble across one second hand.

[Dale]

Hi Savenger

Here is a review from a forum member on an Outer Limits tent:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3683&p=60671&hilit=outer+limits#p60671

For the price it's not bad at all.

In your post you mention the desire to use the tent in 3 season weather in Tasmania. I've not camped in Tassie (hope to remedy that one soon...) but it has the reputation for extreme changeable weather, so a tent isn't a piece of gear I'd be rolling the dice on. The specs may be fine on the Oztrail but it all comes down to how it performs in the field, and if the stakes are high you want to minimise your risk. If you were just using the tent in 3 season nsw I'd say go for it - if it packed it in you've got less downside. Anyway perhaps the Taswegians can chime in and clarify things for you ?

Good luck with the decision making !

Cheers

Dale.

[savenger]

It would be nice to have a tent I could use in tassie as I go there often, but not essential as I'll be doing the vast majority of camping in NSW and I have friends/family down there with plenty of gear.

I do need something that at the very least will be comfortable for winter use in inland NSW (canberra, blue mountains, riverina, etc). I have decent winter sleeping gear (marmot helium bag, exped synmat basic) so I'm not too worried but it would be nice to have a tent that'll stay a bit warmer than the outside on cold nights or at least keep the breeze out. I'm thinking that due to the amount of mesh on both the stealth mesh and the backpacker neither would be ideal... camping in NSW though it seems the main task of a tent is to keep water and bugs out and that's probably all I can ask for on my budget.

[roba9988]

Scavenger,

This tent should be available in Australia soon if it isn't already:
http://www.vango.co.uk/tents/banshee-200.html

it should retail for about 150 ish and is 2kg and is reasonable durable, packs up small, reasonable setup time it is duke of edinburgh approved also.

here some more reviews
http://www.wildcampinguk.com/Gear-Reviews/Tents/Vango-Banshee-200-Tent-Review.html
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Vango-Banshee-200/589

[savenger]

I found a good price from a local retailer and I need it for the weekend so I ended up going for the Oztrail/Outer Limits Backpacker.

I'll receive it within the next couple of days so I'll post my initial thoughts on its quality.

[savenger]

so I got it. Obviously haven't had a chance to see how it performs in the field yet, but it seems to be well made.

so far I've noticed:
- fully taped seams
- extremely fine mesh, seems durable
- excellent dry-sack style ripstop nylon compression bag with two cinch straps and buckle clips
- very quick, simple setup - peg in minimum 4 places, single pole slides through a fabric sleeve in a few seconds, clip the fly sheet on, peg if you want. done.
- reasonable zips with hi-vis tags, though hard to tell if they will last
- plenty of ventilation (two ports on the fly with flexible arches) combined with all mesh inner tent and adjustable gap under fly
- quality velcro and buckle clips to hold the fly sheet on
- high-quality looking alloy pole with durable looking shock cord (looks like it could be replaced easily if damaged). Seems much better than fiberglass poles I've had on other tents already, but time will tell
- 4x mesh corner pockets plus 1x removable mesh pocket that hangs from the roof
- fly sheet and ground sheet seem exceptionally waterproof under the hose test, water just beads off even when touching the underside with my hand.
- decent square/wedge/hook style aluminium pegs
- everything packs back into the bag effortlessly, even with my lousy folding job.
- has a single sleek, small, barely visible modern looking 'outer limits' screen printed logo, not the ugly old "extreme" style one that was reminiscent of a badly designed kmart tshirt brand... one on the fly and one on the bag
- neutral olive colour with a slight reflective sheen, blends in to the bush well which is nice. Reasonably light-proof, seems like it might reflect a bit of heat too despite the dark colour
- 3-way zipper on front entry, plus D shaped side entry, plus a 2-way zipper window at the rear - all with correlating fully covered velcro secured zips on the fly

complaints:
- the fabric sleeve which the pole slides through doesn't seem particularly durable. I can see myself poking a hole through it easily, though I doubt it will effect functionality much if that does happen as it is reinforced at intervals with heavy duty velcro for attaching the fly sheet
- not free standing, although I knew this before I bought it
- has an unpleasant smell typical of chinese nylon... no big deal and I suspect it'll go away with a bit of airing, though I hope it isn't the type of nylon which stinks if it gets packed up damp.
- although it seems relatively durable, the floor does not have a ripstop pattern like the rest of the nylon on the tent

[savenger]

Just for the sake of anyone thinking of buying the outer limits backpacker...

I've used it a number of times now - coastal walk in RNP near sydney, a few campsites around NSW, once in bad weather, and most recently I used it for an overnight backcountry trip in southwest tassie with a foot or two of snow on the ground. Min temperature was -5 and the weather was clear

While it probably wouldn't be ideal in the tassie backcountry if there were any possibility of a serious storm rolling through, it was certainly adequate for my purposes. In retrospect I did a lousy job of clearing snow from around the bottom of the fly, and due to the lack of suitable pegs for deep snow I didn't peg down the fly very well - but there were definitely some condensation issues. By morning the inside of the fly was fairly wet and the mesh was dripping a bit... Probably would of been alright if there weren't 2 of us in there and I wasn't touching the side, but my sleeping bag did get a bit wet. I guess I put it down to the combo of the amount of moisture generated by the snow under the tent melted from body heat, frost coating on the fly, and the lack of ventilation under the fly due to the snow. I'm actually pretty surprised by how reasonably it performed on snow, considering it isn't actually designed for it...

In stormy weather in NSW it held up extremely well in the wind, but a bit of moisture did leak a little around the zippers under continuous downpour for several hours, but that was on the first use so maybe the thread has expanded now. If it happens again I'm gonna have a crack at it with some seamseal.

The floor is quite durable but does absorb some moisture from prolonged exposure to dampness I've noticed, but it's not too bad... it would be much better with a groundsheet though I can't really afford the extra weight on hiking trips.

anyway, it seems to me like $100 buys a very versatile tent that can be used in pretty much any situation. Owning this has squashed any notion that I might need to fork out $500 to do overnight/multi-day hikes comfortably.

[pazzar]

Check out the Eureka range. They are not a bad budget tent. The Spitfire Duo probably fits your budget and needs. It will perform 3 season perfectly fine, weighs 2.5kg and packs fairly small once you take the poles out, and it has a whopping 4.6sq metres of floor space. A pretty roomy 2 man!

https://www.taigaworks.ca/cart.php?m=pr ... tail&p=268

Cheers,

Jared