Opus Folding Camper
Discussion
Has anyone got/had one?
https://www.opuscamper.co.uk/
We are a family of 4 (kids aged 2 and 4). We bought a large air tent in the spring and really love camping holidays, but we'd love the option of going away for a weekend at short notice. Although the air tent is easier than a poled tent, I still find it a bit of a faff putting it up and down on my own while the wife watches the kids.
The Opus goes up in about 5 minutes, mostly at the push of a button. For short trips we would use it by itself and for longer trips we would add the awning.
The wife would also like a few more creature comforts. I don't like the idea of towing a caravan, plus I feel that the Opus would give us more of a camping experience.
I've looked at other folding campers and trailer tents but IMO the Opus is miles ahead in both form and function.
Thanks for any tips/advice!
https://www.opuscamper.co.uk/
We are a family of 4 (kids aged 2 and 4). We bought a large air tent in the spring and really love camping holidays, but we'd love the option of going away for a weekend at short notice. Although the air tent is easier than a poled tent, I still find it a bit of a faff putting it up and down on my own while the wife watches the kids.
The Opus goes up in about 5 minutes, mostly at the push of a button. For short trips we would use it by itself and for longer trips we would add the awning.
The wife would also like a few more creature comforts. I don't like the idea of towing a caravan, plus I feel that the Opus would give us more of a camping experience.
I've looked at other folding campers and trailer tents but IMO the Opus is miles ahead in both form and function.
Thanks for any tips/advice!
I looked at one of these when we outgrew our Transporter. The Opus wasn't cheap, it's pretty but if requiring a trailer tent, you're probably better served by the likes of Pennine. They're pretty heavy at over 1000 kilos. In the end we bought a caravan, a Bailey Pursuit. It's under 1400kg fully laden, and we pay £300 a year to store it locally. The good thing about a caravan is weather is not a consideration and van values should remain strong for longer. We've camped from February to November in ours, something I couldn't see us doing in a trailer tent.
Been mildly obsessed with them for years, they don’t come up secondhand much and new is £££. Got to have a good poke around the one in Camping Intl though.
Showing the canvas being up in a few mins is fine but there’s still quite a bit of interior faff after that as anything above lid level needs assembling and all the kitchen bits need hooking up. The extra awning looks at least as much effort as an air tent. There’s not a lot of storage and most is under the lounge seats. My kids are a bit older but you can almost guarantee squabbles if they’re sharing a double with one needing to climb over in the night. Optional toilet has no privacy. Fridge is just a small camping one. And as it’s canvas it needs to be bone dry before packing away.
On the flip side, you are up off the ground, it’s a decent lounge area and kitchen, you can carry bikes etc on top and it’ll fit in a garage for storage. But ultimately it’s still a lot of the camping drawbacks plus the towing/storage bit.
On balance I think I’d rather have a Basecamp 4 and it’ll be much more usable in the feb/oct half terms. Or else if a trailer tent / folding camper really appeals it’s a massive premium over something like a Camp-Let. We just got a smaller bell tent for the odd weekend and take a simpler setup, no cupboards, tables, etc.
If you fancy trying one (and it’s a very good idea before spending so much) there’s someone on Camplify with one in Bicester. You pick a campsite within x miles, they deliver it and pick it up again after. Maybe worth doing a comparison with some alternatives (caravan, campervan, etc) over a few weekends.
Showing the canvas being up in a few mins is fine but there’s still quite a bit of interior faff after that as anything above lid level needs assembling and all the kitchen bits need hooking up. The extra awning looks at least as much effort as an air tent. There’s not a lot of storage and most is under the lounge seats. My kids are a bit older but you can almost guarantee squabbles if they’re sharing a double with one needing to climb over in the night. Optional toilet has no privacy. Fridge is just a small camping one. And as it’s canvas it needs to be bone dry before packing away.
On the flip side, you are up off the ground, it’s a decent lounge area and kitchen, you can carry bikes etc on top and it’ll fit in a garage for storage. But ultimately it’s still a lot of the camping drawbacks plus the towing/storage bit.
On balance I think I’d rather have a Basecamp 4 and it’ll be much more usable in the feb/oct half terms. Or else if a trailer tent / folding camper really appeals it’s a massive premium over something like a Camp-Let. We just got a smaller bell tent for the odd weekend and take a simpler setup, no cupboards, tables, etc.
If you fancy trying one (and it’s a very good idea before spending so much) there’s someone on Camplify with one in Bicester. You pick a campsite within x miles, they deliver it and pick it up again after. Maybe worth doing a comparison with some alternatives (caravan, campervan, etc) over a few weekends.
Edited by sjg on Friday 21st July 00:37
Edited by sjg on Friday 21st July 09:24
Thanks for the replies.
I think if you put tents at one end of the spectrum and caravans at the other, we are more at the tent end of the scale in terms of what we think we like. Our holidays are going to be very much outdoors based, and I'm not sure extending the season is necessarily something we are interested in, although I guess it would be a nice option to have.
One interesting thing that I hadn't previously considered is the idea of lightweight caravans. I had assumed that the challenge of towing was mostly down to the size/shape of a caravan, I hadn't considered that weight is probably a bigger factor.
Thanks for the Camplify suggestion, I hadn't come across this before and definitely keen to hire an Opus to try it out.
ETA: The other appeal of the Opus is that once it's up, it's up. There's no faffing around putting tables down to make beds etc.
I think if you put tents at one end of the spectrum and caravans at the other, we are more at the tent end of the scale in terms of what we think we like. Our holidays are going to be very much outdoors based, and I'm not sure extending the season is necessarily something we are interested in, although I guess it would be a nice option to have.
One interesting thing that I hadn't previously considered is the idea of lightweight caravans. I had assumed that the challenge of towing was mostly down to the size/shape of a caravan, I hadn't considered that weight is probably a bigger factor.
Thanks for the Camplify suggestion, I hadn't come across this before and definitely keen to hire an Opus to try it out.
ETA: The other appeal of the Opus is that once it's up, it's up. There's no faffing around putting tables down to make beds etc.
Edited by XJ75 on Friday 21st July 10:31
We've had an AirOpus since July 2021 and used it for around a hundred nights, in the UK and on the continent. We got as far as Dubrovnik last year. Bought the 'Full Monty' spec, but have since sold the air awning, skirts and microwave and found that the base camper with the air sun canopy is best for us. That's two midde-aged adults and a grandchild every now and again.
Pros - we can store it in the garage, easy to tow, very comfortable for sleeping, lounging and eating inside, good shade and a degree of protection from rain with the sun canopy, less crawling around than setting up a tent.
Cons - more set up than a caravan, minimal storage for clothes, we can't bring ourselves to use the porta potti inside so set up a toilet tent. Some use the air awning for storage/porta potti.
I'd regard a motor mover as essential, especially if maneuvering in confined spaces.
We have a motorhome on order as we want to travel more with one night stopovers, so this will be our last year with the Opus.
HTH!
Pros - we can store it in the garage, easy to tow, very comfortable for sleeping, lounging and eating inside, good shade and a degree of protection from rain with the sun canopy, less crawling around than setting up a tent.
Cons - more set up than a caravan, minimal storage for clothes, we can't bring ourselves to use the porta potti inside so set up a toilet tent. Some use the air awning for storage/porta potti.
I'd regard a motor mover as essential, especially if maneuvering in confined spaces.
We have a motorhome on order as we want to travel more with one night stopovers, so this will be our last year with the Opus.
HTH!
Edited by miconone on Saturday 29th July 12:04
They're 'okay', and do have some nice features - but massively overpriced and some awful design bits that are fashion over function.
Compared to a Pennine (we have had one for a few years now).
Compared to a Pennine (we have had one for a few years now).
- slightly faster to put up, but pennine is up and kettle on in ten minutes so incremental gain.
- less total, and less practical storage.
- Poorer bed pods
- less capable kitchen
- better carrying capacity on the lid when folded
- more modern design
- much better loo/washroom in the pennine (for the equipped models, ours doesn't have one and we've never missed it
We bought the new air opus in Sept last year after looking at many many options. For us its the best of the options and the least compromised. When its up its got great space and comfort, its easy to tow, and can be stored in the garage,
When we go away for short weekends we put up the sun canopy, and longer trips we put up the full awning.
Yes its expensive, but we love it, the kids (6,9) love it, and we're off to France this weekend for 3 weeks and cant wait.
When we go away for short weekends we put up the sun canopy, and longer trips we put up the full awning.
Yes its expensive, but we love it, the kids (6,9) love it, and we're off to France this weekend for 3 weeks and cant wait.
Just back from a weekend in an Opus rented via Camplify (thanks for the suggestion).
It was money well spent because we have decided it's not for us. I can definitely see the appeal of the Opus, the beds were comfy, the sofa area was a nice space and the creature comforts were nice (sink, oven, fridge etc.).
The key thing we didn't like was that as a family of four it felt very cramped. We had the sun canopy rather than the awning, and I'm sure if we had the awning it would have been a nice bit of extra usable space, but I felt that we were always on top of each other. Perhaps if we had gone at the height of summer it would have been better because we would have been outside more.
I think we are going to throw some money at our camping setup to make it a bit more comfortable.
ETA: we also found the storage was very limited (again that wouldn't have been so bad if we had the awning).
It was money well spent because we have decided it's not for us. I can definitely see the appeal of the Opus, the beds were comfy, the sofa area was a nice space and the creature comforts were nice (sink, oven, fridge etc.).
The key thing we didn't like was that as a family of four it felt very cramped. We had the sun canopy rather than the awning, and I'm sure if we had the awning it would have been a nice bit of extra usable space, but I felt that we were always on top of each other. Perhaps if we had gone at the height of summer it would have been better because we would have been outside more.
I think we are going to throw some money at our camping setup to make it a bit more comfortable.
ETA: we also found the storage was very limited (again that wouldn't have been so bad if we had the awning).
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