Montana 6 or not???

[Andie20521]

After our faithful Nevada L sprunk leaks last weekend, we have decided that she should retire gracefully.

We've been drooling over tent porn since we got back on Tuesday, and are almost decided on the Montana 6 or 6p.

Love the height, SIG and living space etc All which come in handy in British summers (And proved by our experience last week!)

However it is a bit of a beast, and I'm worried about standard pitches, and vaguely recall a bit of a hoo-haa over the camping and caravan club.

So would we have problems getting sites to accept it?

Mostly its just DH, me 18mo DD and 2 hairy pooches. Occasionally my neice and nephew tag along - but last weekend we let them stay in the pop up, which they found much more exciting!

Has anyone got one? or decided against a Monty?

I've got one and rarely use it. We usually use our smaller wild country/ terra nova tent. Monty is just so bulky ... Plus dont need such a large living space.
Terra nova tent has steel poles ... But not as many.
We are 2 adults and a 9 and 15 year old.The terra nova is actually taller head room but smaller living space but with integral porch. It works better somehow ... Is cooler in the heat too.
That said... We haven't had a prob using the monty on sites... Coz it's essentially a straight up tunnel isn't it?... Doesnt have pods at odd angles or anything.
Are you stuck on outwell or are you looking elsewhere also?

I think the 6p looks lovely.

I don't think you would have any problems on c&cc sites, there are always loads of montana's when we have been on their sites. I've seen lots with porches n the front making them even longer!

I went in the 6p at Go Outdoors yesterday, it's really light and airy, I got tent envy

We have a Kampa Filey 6 which has 5 poles rather than 4 so bigger and longer to pitch. We've just bought a weekend tent after deciding it just takes toomlong to pitch for 2 nights. It's fabulous for longer trips though.

I helped pitch and strike one of these recently. I thought it looked lovely but was a real bugger to manage. I am used to putting up a variety of tents but found the poles on this one really tight to put together and general fitting through the tent. Nice when it was up but out of 8 tents we helped pitch (different makes and models) the Montana was the hardest by far. Completely put me off buying one even though they look great.

We nearly bought one but decided it was just too huge for the 2 of us! Instead we got an Oakland XL with a porch which is plenty big enough, roomy and dead easy to put up. We are down to 35 mins (inner, carpet etc) and its only 4 poles.

Did love love the Montana...just a bit too big!

Food for thought! I wish we could have a go at putting one up, we are pretty experienced, and until the baby we camped all year round (New Year, in snow in The Lakes was fantastic!) now DH wont consider anything smaller than current set up (Nevada L with side bit)

DH has admired them from afar for a while now, we do like outwell but would definately look at something else if it had the headroom.

Which GoOutdoors was it that had them on display?

Go Outdoors Thurrock Andie. It's a fabulous store I nearly wet myself with excitement at all the outdoor clothing and camping chairs on display

We saw some people pitching the Montana last weekend and whilst it did seem to take them a long time, they didn't move quickly I like to get the tent up and get in as quickly as possible but some people seem to take their time.

Thurrock is a little to far...I'm in Liverpool!

Will call the nearest ones tomorrow to see if we should make a trip. It would be worth getting the discount card which costs £5 as they give 10% off all prices.

I'm all for down sizing, to make it more practical to fling stuff in the car and go on a whim, but DH says it only would save half hour or so setting up...I think his biggest concern is the head room...

I'm so torn, but realistically we'll mostly use it as a long weekend tent.

LOL, yep Liverpool is a fair way from Thurrock

Well I love a big tent, I really do but you just need to have more patience than I've got with the pitching! I think if you are prepared to take time with the pitching, then a big tent brings a sense of luxury a smaller tent doesn't IMO. It's all about compromise though isn't it!

I don't think the monty is hard to put up ... Dh does it by himself now. When I said bulky... I meant size of pack .
Dh can put it up by himself in 18 mins ( I timed him once) ... Believe me... It's either that or we kill each other.

Montara 6p gets my vote

However, if you think it a bit big, why not try the Outwell Oakland XL and perhaps add a side or front awning

OR

Outwell Salinas L which is a bit bigger than the Oakland.

GL xx

Love love love the Monty 6p! Went to go outdoors and had a good poke around it, played with the zip up curtains etc and decided that its definately what we want.

The bags it comes in are HUGE though, and our biggest concern is getting the tent back in the trolley bag, as our current tent has an oversized bag which works really well.

Go Outdoors have a policy of beating anyone else by 10% so going to go back this week as we've found it on Allweathers.co.uk for £499 so should get it for £450! It would be rude not too!

Ours is drying in the garden now!

We bought it last week and used it this weekend for the first time, we pitched Friday evening in a gale which it withstood much better than our old Coleman Coastline would have - we snapped a pole in that the last time it was windy. We saw two other tents in various states of collapse on Saturday morning.

Since we really only camp for weekends I wondered whether we shoud get something smaller (e.g. Outwell Nevada) but the space has been a godsend this weekend given the rubbish weather. I can't imagine it exceeds a standard pitch size, unless you have the extension and canopy.

There's me, DH, DS4 and DD2. The tuck away curtains are great, I love the velcro things to control guy ropes and the big windows are lovely.

We can pitch it in under 30 mins already. If you've got space in the car I'd go for it.

I looked at the montana, but plumped for the Bear lake 6 in the end.

Go on torture me when I think i have made my mind up! Why did you go for the Bear Lake insted?

We bought one last year, and I get warm fuzzy feelings thinking about it.

The best packing up tip I found was on UK Campsites, from 'sunvalleysue'. It was for a similar sized tent to the Monty:
1/Fold in half length ways(keeping all the ring and pins to one edge,
2/the half you have left fold into 3 so you still have all the ring and pins to the edge.
3/start rolling from the back keeping it as tight as possible(OH keeps infront of me squashing out all the trapped air as we go along)
4/when you get to the end tie the loose straps round it and then slide it into the bag,then fasten down with the bag straps.Job done.

We camped in the back garden for a few days and used that method (plus opening all doors, and rolling t/w the front) and got the tent AND footprint comfortably in the bag - thanks Sue! Unfortunately, when we actually went camping a month or two later we forgot the folding method ("aaahmm, there was something about thirds" "I think there was a bit about halves...?") and it took a couple of attempts just to get the tent into the bag, zip left open. Although I may not have been quite as enthusiastic with my beached whale roll impersonation with the German caravaner onlookers!

We've only just got into family camping (DH and I's last tent had only ever seen music festivals!), and I can see the appeal for a quick weekender type tent. But then think an extra hour maybe in total at the start and end, for 48-72 hours of luxurious comfort and space (esp if bad weather) is probably worth it. Drying a monstrous wet tent is a bother though

It's polycotton which last longer, is cooler in heat and warmer in the cold.

I didn't like the little porch on the montana. Thought it would be hard to dry.

I love the open front extension on the Bear.

Bear has a side bar making it extremely sturdy.

All outwell tents seem to be very well made and designed.

Downsides of the bear are it's expensive, heavy and I think slightly harder to dry.

Good luck!

Yes to the Montana 6!

There are only 4 of us but you can easily get 8 or more in the living area (which we did last weekend). It has loads of windows, storage pockets and is just fab. We have last year's model so the new one will be even better.

I agree that when you first put it up it can be a bit tricky (and result in an argument with DH) but that was following the Outwell pitching instructions. We are not experts but found it much easier after watching a guy pitch it on Youtube.

We swopped our montana for a nevada it was too big and heavy, hated putting it up, the best bit was the porch once it was up though ! getting it into the bag was also a complete pain... and we weren't novices It was sturdy on high winds but the v square shape it seemed to get cold inside ...

we now have a bear lake - which is fab but no porch............

Just a quick update...Go outdoors are matching Allweather package AND 10% discount on top, which means we'll get the tent, carpet and footprint for £567 insted of £755! Result!

Hubbys Birthday on Tuesday & obviously Fathers Day on Sunday, so picking it up tomorrow morning so he can play with it, as its his present for both (Not just from me, he gets money from my parents and his Mum, which is going towards it too). Thats what I can a win-win! New family tent and a fantastic present!