Tents | Cotswold Outdoor

Customer Review

Wild Country Tents

Etesian 4 Tent

RRP: £330.00

NOW: £275.00

Overall Rating (5 out of 5)

Reviewed By David, 21 May 2012

Superb 3-4 man lightweight tent

In short, a reasonably spacious 3-4 man tent with some nice little innovations.

When looking for a tent recently, I conducted some online research with the primary criteria of decent headroom in the porch area, no more than 4 people, not too large a footprint, and not too heavy - and my attention was quickly drawn to Terra Nova's Etesian 4, which ticked all my boxes. I was slightly hesitant because of its unusual look but decided to go for it because it seemed to offer all I wanted, and I was not disappointed - it's a brilliant tent.

The tent has a pretty compact footprint, measuring 380cm (12'5") by 240cm (7'9"), so it occupies a relatively small area for the number it sleeps.. The side wall guy lines are placed quite close to the tent so you don't need much space to either side, and the front and rear ones don't stick out too far either. The guy lines, and the tent itself, have reflective sections, so they are visible on a moonlit night.

The headroom in the porch area is a generous 195cm (6'4") at the highest point, and a pretty good 180cm (5'9") at the door, so there is plenty of space for all but the tallest of people to stand in. There is a sewn-in groundsheet for the whole of the porch, which is separate from the inner tent groundsheet but underlaps it by a few cm so you are protected from the ground throughout. Looking at the photo of the tent, I was a little concerned at the sloping nature of the door, thinking of rain ingress onto the porch groundsheet when entering and exiting, but those nice people at Terra Nova have thought of that. First, there is a small awning that juts out over the doorway, offering some rain cover, but - and here's where they have a nice little innovation - the front half of the porch groundsheet has a zip around the edge, so it can be undone and peeled back. This means you can go in and out of the tent without stepping on the internal groundsheet, zipping it back into place at night so you have full protection all round. I recently used this at a wet camp over a long weekend and did not once get any water or mud anywhere inside. If so inclined, you could also use this piece of ground to safely use stoves whilst being protected from the elements. This section also has two windows, one on each wall either side of the doorway, with detachable (toggle) curtains, and two detachable (also toggle) two-pocket accessory hangers (so four pockets in all).

The removable (toggles) inner tent has its own sewn-in ground sheet and is, again, of reasonably generous proportions. At 218cm (7'2") deep by 225cm (7'4") wide, it is long enough for anyone to sleep full-length, and wide enough to accommodate a very comfortable 3 or slightly tight 4 people, with enough head room at either end of the compartment to comfortably sit up in, even at the edges where the wall angle is so steep that it doesn't cut in very much until higher up. The compartment also has two accessory pockets attached to the wall on either side, so four in total for the inner tent, making eight for the tent as a whole. Here is where there is one slight niggle: the tent does not come with a divider, so you will have to purchase this separately if you want to break up the sleeping area into two sections. If you sleep fewer people, then there's plenty of storage space for rucksacks etc. in the inner tent but, if you are at full complement, there is ample space in the fully-protected porch area anyway. The sleeping compartment and the porch area both have good ventilation so there is low risk of condensation or, if cooking in the porch, dangerous build-up of carbon monoxide.

The Etesian 4 takes around 10-15 minutes to erect by one person (even if you've never pitched it before), and even less with two. It is easy to erect, with a simple colour-coded 4-pole system. The poles are alloy rather than carbon-fibre, and the pegs are also of robust alloy 'v'-shape so don't bend easily. It is equally easy to take down and packs into a small 55x17cm (1'8"x6"), with an incredibly light packed weight of just 6kg (just over 13 pounds).

I am very pleased with this tent, and struggled to find any criticism of it apart from not having a divider for the sleeping compartment. It was exactly what I wanted and, in fact, exceeded my expectations - the zip-up porch groundsheet is a great little innovation that, in wet weather, you'll be really appreciative of.

Nice one, Terra Nova.

In short, a reasonably spacious 3-4 man tent with some nice little innovations.

When looking for a tent recently, I conducted some online r...

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Customer Review

Vango

Icarus 500 2012 Tent

RRP: £260.00

NOW: £199.00

Overall Rating (5 out of 5)

Reviewed By Katarzyna, 14 May 2012

Fantastic tent!

We are couple and this was our first camping trip. Tent is amazing! Soo much space, we had bigger room for ourselves and smaller room could fit another 2 adults but we used it as spare room in which I could get change, hang our clothes. Tent has big porch, we had 2 high back chairs and table, stove, umbrellas could easily dry when open and there was plenty of space for our walking boots. We were really relaxed and comfortable, my boyfriend is very tall and he had no problems with standing up in the tent!!! We had privacy in buy camp site thanks to our amazing tent! Best camping buy ever!

We are couple and this was our first camping trip. Tent is amazing! Soo much space, we had bigger room for ourselves and smaller room could fit anothe...

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Vango

Mirage 300 Tent

RRP: £180.00

NOW: £150.00

Overall Rating (5 out of 5)

Reviewed By William, 27 Apr 2012

great value tent

just bought 3 for D of E

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Outwell

Oakland XL 2011 Tent

RRP: £449.00

NOW: £320.00

Overall Rating (4.7 out of 5)

Reviewed By stephen, 16 Mar 2012

excellent family tent

this tent is fantastic, bought last year and had several camping holidays with my family , very pleased with the size and space inside, kept all rain out and easy to erect

this tent is fantastic, bought last year and had several camping holidays with my family , very pleased with the size and space inside, kept all rain ...

Reviewed By , 29 May 2011

Spacious and Comfortable camping

I have found this tent to provide excellent space and a comfortable camping experience, the storage pockets are very useful and it appears to be well made,
However I would recommend that you buy a decent set of pegs with this tent as the ones provided are very short! This resulted in out tent taking off down Langdale campsite in strong wind! It rolled twice, travelled 20M (with us and the dog in it) but the tent came out with only minor damage! very robust!

Reviewed By Scott, 18 May 2011

Fantastic car camping tent for a couple...

We picked this tent for for car camping as it was big enough for us (a couple and a dog). We did initially think was it too big for just the two of us but having used it a few times now its a perfect size to sleep in, store our gear and have a table and chairs in for the rainy days.

I've been so impressed with it. It's really easy to pitch (even with one person). Really solidly built (I'm sure we'll get years of use from it and its holds up better than most in a wind).

What makes this tent stand out from the competitors other than the above I'd say is the design. It's much taller than most and having the 'flat roof' instead of a standard tunnel. It feels cavernous inside.

If you're looking for a car camping tent for a couple or small family I really can't rate this enough.

All I would say is invest in the carpet and footprint. The footprint makes life MUCH easier when you get home and the carpet means you can go barefoot inside without getting cold feet, not having to wear footwear after a long days walking or climbing is immense (if you're car camping, you might as well do it in a bit of luxury!)

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Customer Review

Vango

Icarus 500 (2011) 5 Man Tent

RRP: £220.00

NOW: £170.00

Overall Rating (4.3 out of 5)

Reviewed By Paul, 08 May 2012

Great Tent

I bought this last week and took it away on my first camping trip for many years. Easy to pitch and put away. Plenty of space in the bedroom and in the sitting area.

I bought this last week and took it away on my first camping trip for many years. Easy to pitch and put away. Plenty of space in the bedroom and in ...

Reviewed By Nathan, 19 Aug 2011

Third time lucky...

I purchased this tent to take my wife and 2 year old son camping. The first tent I was given had faults, so did the replacement. Cotswold's exchanged them both with little hassle.
The 3rd one was tested at the last opportunity and was A OK.
I would say this is a 4 man tent, max. Pulling back the sleeping pod divide really doesn't add that much space, it would just be really snug.
There's good ventilation with the vents above the front door, side window, rear vent and additional door.
The tent looks like it has plenty of room when you put it up, but once you've got all your gear, food and luggage in there really isn't much space left for living.
Definitely get the fitted tent carpet, it's good if you and your kids are stuck inside because of bad weather.
I'd recommend this tent and have done to a colleague, but if you're serious about space then go for the Icarus 500 XL. I'm looking into a forward extension for some extra space, in hindsight I'd have paid the extra as it's a cheaper option to the extension and less hassle.
Don't forget to check dimensions and weight when picking your tent...

Reviewed By , 07 Jun 2011

Superb tent

It's really easy to erect and well made . It's marketed as a 5 man tent but i think someone would have to sleep in living area to achieve this . i find it great for 2 of us plus dog for long weekend stays . you see plenty of icarus 500's on campsites which proves it's popularity.

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Customer Review

Vango

Equinox 350 2011 Tent

WAS: £320.00

NOW: £220.00

Overall Rating (3 out of 5)

Reviewed By Alex, 07 Apr 2012

Good general camping tent.

Vango have tried to pitch this as a mountain tent due to the TBS system, but it absolutely isn't. It's a great tent for car camping with a huge porch area and good space inside that will fit a double airbed comfortably. The TBS system is poor and shakes itself loose during high winds. It may be worth customising the TBS system with stitching or glue to fix the length of the straps and avoid the above problem. If you limit its use to campsites, it'll serve you well.

Vango have tried to pitch this as a mountain tent due to the TBS system, but it absolutely isn't. It's a great tent for car camping with a huge porch...

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Customer Review

Marmot

Asgard 3P Tent

£350.00

Overall Rating (4 out of 5)

Reviewed By Leslie, 24 Aug 2011

Good Performer, Design Issues

We purchased this tent specifically for car camping, as a base for mountain camping and walking.
It was purchased because we were after a good four season tent to replace a North Face Chattanooga-3v tent purchased from Cotswold Outdoor some ten years ago.
The materials are generally of good quality with all seals well sealed and solid poles and pegs. There is plenty of room in the inner tent, with excellent head room. The coooking area is adequate and there are three doors, allowing good accessing from both ends.
As a base camp tent, carrying it is generaly not a consideration, but if needed three persons would only have an extra couple kg's to carry each, however please see comments at the end of this review.
Stable in poor weather and watertight.
It has to be said, that there are a number of poor design issues with this tent which only strike me as a short cut to make the tent work. Specifically, there are a number of velcro straps which hold the fly sheet to the poles, these are very dificult the get on correctly in the field, and a non-starter in windy weather.
There are also more velcro straps at the cross-overs of each of the main poles, which I have no idea what task they perform.
There are two 5inch foam doughnuts on the outside of the inner tent which stop the fly from flapping against it, there is a short plastic pole with a velcro pad on it to hold one of the vents open, and probably the most irritating of all for the UK is a tent which erects inner tent first. In the uk we do get rain, and this weekend was on exception. If you are going to stay in one place the erection method is not going to be an issue, but everytime you move, you better hope for dry weather. It is not a major undetaking to erect it, with two persons, but will take double the time of a good fly sheet first tent, not a pleasant proposition in poor, windy weather or the dark.
In conclusion; good stable tent if your not moving around alot with stupid design errors. Would I buy it again, sorry probably not!

We purchased this tent specifically for car camping, as a base for mountain camping and walking.
It was purchased because we were after a good fo...

Reviewed By , 23 Jun 2011

Superb brand of tent for 3 persons

Excellent quality and waterproofing allowing this to be used in extreme weather conditions. Can be used as a Base camp if necessary plus light weight and easy to erect.

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Customer Review

Robens

Light Dreamer Tent

£110.00

Overall Rating (4.5 out of 5)

Reviewed By Tony, 22 Jan 2012

Great small tent

We recently went on a cycling holiday with the kids round northern France so we needed something small and light. I bought this tent because of the quality you'd expect from Robens but the storage area was very wet every morning. On my return the guys at Cotswold were surprised with my bad luck and offered me a refund. We really liked the tent and chose to exchange it for another. It's trial run in the garden looked promising. If it wasn't for the need to exchange it I'd give this tent 5 stars. Perfect for cycling holidays.

We recently went on a cycling holiday with the kids round northern France so we needed something small and light. I bought this tent because of the qu...

Reviewed By , 23 Jun 2011

Great tent

Just back from a weekend in our new robens tent. lots of useable space, stable in high winds and kept rain out. bit of condensation inside in morning but it had rained from 2pm saturday til 10am sunday. roll on next trip!

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Tents (36 Products)

Tents (36 Products)

Superb 3-4 man lightweight tent

Fantastic tent!

great value tent

excellent family tent

Spacious and Comfortable camping

Fantastic car camping tent for a couple...

Great Tent

Third time lucky...

Superb tent

Good general camping tent.

Good Performer, Design Issues

Superb brand of tent for 3 persons

Great small tent

Great tent