Quechua air frame tent

[djdest]

I’ve spent countless hours trying to find what I consider the ideal tent for what I want, and after near giving up managed to find the “Quechua air seconds 4.2 XL fresh and black”, rather a mouthful
It looks pretty impressive for the money, and the majority of reviewers are all excellent, I just wondered if anyone had experience of them?

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/air-seconds-family-42-...

[Gary29]

£300 for a tent?

Is that the going rate these days?!

Truly fk that.

[CaptainSlow]

I have the 6.3 and a buddy has the 5.2. Great tents...I'd go for one of those over the one you linked to though. Takes less than 10 minutes to erect and less than five to pack away.

[bristolracer]

Gary29 said:

£300 for a tent?

Is that the going rate these days?!

Truly fk that.

For a good tent that's not unreasonable

[chrisga]

We have a Quechua air tent. Not the same as the one you linked to (larger i think) but for the money its been fine. Probably wouldn't want to be in it on the side of a mountain in winter but if you're just going away in the summer they are fine. The only downside I can think of on ours is there is a sort of top hat thing over a vent on the roof but if its windy and raining that tends to blow up and let a bit of water splash in through the mesh vent panel, but doesn't look like that one has the same arrangement.

[oblio]

bristolracer said:

Gary29 said:

£300 for a tent?

Is that the going rate these days?!

Truly fk that.

For a good tent that's not unreasonable

The C&CC magazine regularly reviews tents £500,£600 and more...

I'm pretty sure I have seem them in 4 figures too

[mrtwisty]

oblio said:

bristolracer said:

Gary29 said:

£300 for a tent?

Is that the going rate these days?!

Truly fk that.

For a good tent that's not unreasonable

The C&CC magazine regularly reviews tents £500,£600 and more...

I'm pretty sure I have seem them in 4 figures too

Yup, my FIL spent over a grand on a Robens last year. Lovely thing though. Lifetime guarantee too.

[djdest]

It’s only ever going to be for two people, so wouldn’t really need anything bigger, plus there might be times when I use it on my own, so a bigger one would be a bit over the top.
One of the reviews I read about Quechua in general mentioned the roof vent, but I can’t see one on this model so not too bothered.
I love the fresh and black aspect, looking at YouTube reviews it is very dark even on a bright day

[shedweller]

We have the one you are considering for quick weekends away camping when the weather is mostly forecast fine and we wont be needing additional shelter in the tent - we bought it last spring and have used for at least 25 nights last year and every weekend for the last 8wks so far this summer.

I would recommend it for short breaks and weekends but probably wouldn't commit to an autumn fortnight in Snowdonia with it

Pros....

I can put it up in less than 5 mins by myself which always garners attention from other campers and doesn't involve the Mrs which usually leads to tension as my Mrs struggles to follow basic instructions when it comes to dealing with poles..............

The reflective coating and side vents do really help keep it cool even in full hot sun - I had a snooze in ours this weekend at 2pm... no sweat.

massive bedroom/sleeping area

"blackout" lining is very good but not totally black - regardless of that our 4yr old sleeps til 8am when in the tent (never at home or in our big tent)

Cons.....

I have never used it in a force 6+ but I reckon it would lay down flat and then pop up again if it was properly windy (seen this happen to a few higher priced inflatables to be fair)

Front door lower section could do with a fastener to reduce the potential for rain to blow in through front (not happened but it could)

general build quality is cheap compared to our bigger holiday tent (think zips etc, no failures though) And it doesn't like being tensioned up to much with the guy lines as it pulls it out of shape, so when it does get windy It can move about a bit

I am very pleased with ours, the ease of putting it up and taking it down has really changed how often we go camping for short breaks etc as our outwell polycotton bear lake is a bit of a chore for just 2 nights - I would buy another, I think I paid 200 for ours in a sale... money well spent.

[djdest]

Excellent, thanks for the detailed reply.
I will only be using it for occasional weekends away, and only during warmer weather.
I would love to get something a bit higher up the quality range, but wouldn't be able to justify the cost for how much it will be used.
One review I read said they had stitched some velcro on the groundsheet at the entrance to over come the problem you mention.
I will be using whatever I get for 4-5 days in Cornwall for the first week of September, so am trying to hold out for further discounts towards the end of the season

[chrisga]

shedweller said:

I am very pleased with ours, the ease of putting it up and taking it down has really changed how often we go camping for short breaks etc as our outwell polycotton bear lake is a bit of a chore for just 2 nights - I would buy another, I think I paid 200 for ours in a sale... money well spent.

Snap, we have the quechua air tent for quick trips and a polycotton bear lake 6 for longer camping jaunts. The bear lake 6 is amazing. We have the older one with the horizontal poles spanning between the frames, thought he new ones appear to have lost these. It's stood up to some serious Snowdonia breeze in autumn/winter.

[shedweller]

chrisga said:

Snap, we have the quechua air tent for quick trips and a polycotton bear lake 6 for longer camping jaunts. The bear lake 6 is amazing. We have the older one with the horizontal poles spanning between the frames, thought he new ones appear to have lost these. It's stood up to some serious Snowdonia breeze in autumn/winter.

we love our bear lake dearly and are looking forward to 3 weeks in it in august
Ours is the older flat fronted one too but with the front extension it has stood up to 62mph winds in Snowdonia (august 16) which is when I saw every inflatable tent on the site lay down flat and either roll over and fk off into the distance or pop up again.

You can get a good poled tent tight as a drum and properly nailed down with delta ground anchors and they wont go anywhere.....

[HardtopManual]

Gary29 said:

£300 for a tent?

Is that the going rate these days?!

Truly fk that.

I paid £700 for a Vango polycotton tent last year - the RRP was over a grand IIRC. It'll last forever. When you consider that renting a nice house for a week in, I dunno, Devon, costs similar money, the tent starts to look like good value...

[sleepezy]

HardtopManual said:

I paid £700 for a Vango polycotton tent last year - the RRP was over a grand IIRC. It'll last forever. When you consider that renting a nice house for a week in, I dunno, Devon, costs similar money, the tent starts to look like good value...

This was exactly the basis on which we bought a tent last year. 2 out of 3 of the children had been 'pestering' us to get a tent and even though we got the biggest inflatable tent we could find plus all the bits and bobs (OK, some of them, we all know it's a slippery slope) we figured the cost would be the same after year 1 even if we ditched the idea and literally threw everything away so nothing to lose.

In the end we spent slightly more than the house but had great fun and this year will be much cheaper obviously.

[louiebaby]

CaptainSlow said:

I have the 6.3 and a buddy has the 5.2. Great tents...I'd go for one of those over the one you linked to though. Takes less than 10 minutes to erect and less than five to pack away.

5.2 Looks like the right one for us, we have two kids who will be 6 and 4 next summer, so probably about right for a few nights away.

Airbed for us in the smaller room, fold out beds for them in the larger room with a gap between, I think.

(And the dog in the porch...)

[Bonefish Blues]

Not sure you are going for the right model. We went for this one, and it's usefully cheaper:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/air-seconds-family-41-...

Larger single bedroom, much more headroom. Shame it's not blackout, but we can live with that.

[djdest]

I definitely am going for the right one, the one I posted has more headroom in the central area, which is where I’d want it most, I want opposite bedrooms and black out too.
I did look at the other, but discounted it for the above reasons

[Bonefish Blues]

Fair enough

[djdest]

Just been to Milton Keynes Decathlon where they have them all set up. I was very impressed with how dark it is inside, it was also bigger than I expected.
Purchase made!

[louiebaby]

djdest said:

Just been to Milton Keynes Decathlon where they have them all set up. I was very impressed with how dark it is inside, it was also bigger than I expected. Purchase made!

Was that the 4.2?

I'd be interested to know how wide the sleeping compartments are. (Internet says 140cm.) If you get a chance to put a tape measure on it, I'd be grateful, as I'm an internet buyer...