Outwell Hartford XL?? Talk me out of it.

[geordieminx]

Ok. So we started to think about going camping. We started to look at small tents, then medium ones... you know how it is.

Dh has know got his heart set on this its huge. Massive infact. Especially since there are only 3 of us we are a small family.

Its nice, but will we regret buying such a beast? Will we have problems finding a football pitch to errect it or is it a good un?

Any wise words would be appreciated.

ummm

Do you want my nice captain sensible reply or do you want to hear what I really think ?

The honest one .

We are complete camping virgins

I thought you'd won a tent Geordie?

That thing is bloody enormous! Still, you'll have room for mountains of Louis Vuitton luggage - you could have your own dressing room, even

He wouldnt post it to me, and then said he had lsot some of the poles so am looking for another.

I would be quite happy with a 5/6 berth but, well you know men and their "size is everything" mantra

. If you make putting it up his sole responsibility (well, someone's got to look after DS) perhaps he'll reconsider?

Make sure it will be accepted on the sort of sites where you want to camp. Most sites have rules on the size of tent you can pitch and may charge you for two (or even four!) pitches.

okey dokey

here we go

Why in the name of chuffington-arse-head would you want to buy such a ginormo tent when there are only three of you?

It's madness

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADNESS

You really really REALLY REALLY do not need a tent that big for 3 of you.

I'm not a fan of multipods, just don't like the style tbh but I know they work for plenty of folk, folk with lots of older kids who need their own space.

Get something smaller (a 4 or 5 man would be fine) that will be much quicker and easier to pitch and strike, and dry when you get it home sopping wet.

Spend your money on other decent kit like airmats, sleeping bags, stoves and lighting.

We have one and have just purchased a smaller one as the Outwell is way too big for short breaks.

It is classed as oversized on lots of sites. Although it is massive, we did manage to fill it easily

After taking our smaller tent away over half term, I honestly can't see us using the Outwell again.

at Slubber

You don't even need a 6 man for 3 of you.

We are 4 and have a 4 man and do just fine.

Seriously.

There is not an increase in the camping pleasure graph dependent on how many 'mans' your tent is.

There you go

exactly Wilts

A tent can get so big that you can't even be arsed to go camping, such is the ginormousness of it.

Would it make any difference if I told you I could get it for £250 inc carpet and canopy?

That was how I was suckered into buying mine. It was on offer at gooutdoors for £100- big tent for small price thought I.
Not the most sensible decision on my part

No it would make no difference at all.

and

Why does your dh think you need this tent?

This is our new tent : much smaller

Just to show how much smaller we have gone. Honestly it was fab, pitched in about 15 mins, easy to pack away and enough room for all four of us.

His reasoning behind it is that we stay quite a distance from friends/family, so we will be able to camp near them, and they can come and stay in our tent too it'll never happen

Awh I thought everyone was gonna say "yey fab tent go go go"

ok, what about this?

awww geordie

You sound like you like it too.

If you like it then go for it. Horses for courses innit.

Wilts new tent looks very nice though, and much more practical.

TBH I am non commital on the whole thing.

The problem is I have spent the past 10 days on ebay, looking at, comparing, bidding, etc etc etc, the big one was easy as its near(ish) us, and has a good buy it now price on.

The search continues... will have a look at wilts link.

Thank you.

geordiemix- the outwell hartford has excellent reviews and we have never had any trouble with it. It was just to big for us most of the time.

If you have the room in the car and the patience to pitch it (pitching is divorce territory in our house) then I am sure you would not be disappointed with it.

If you were near me, I would say borrow mine and have a test run!

too big not to.

geordie, I'd be very wary of buying tents on ebay. If there is a problem (ie they leak) you can always take them back if you buy them new.

If you are new to camping then ease of pitching/striking is a factor to consider when buying a new tent.

Spending over an hour in the pissing rain with the wind blowing and your dc moaning and whining while you try to work out where the bleeding hell to thread this pole does not a happy camper make.

Slubber- were you spying on us pitching the outwell the first time?

At one point Dh actually screwed it up and chucked it back into the car, yelling ' that is it, we are hiring a caravan'

Er thats the other problem... we have a renault megane hatch

Am starting to think about buying the one wilts linked to.

Tbh, we are lucky in the respect that if we buy a smaller tent, decide we love camping then we are in a position to be able to afford a bigger one, this is probably a better idea then rushing in to buy one on ebay, getting a beast and it completly putting us off camping forever.

LOLOLOL

oh dear