Tundra Tents? (Rebel Sports)

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garvani

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#744657 14-Jan-2013 16:40

I have the 8 man Tundra. Ive had the tent 3 years and have used it a dozen times, its a good tent and i havn't had any real problems with the exception of some MAJOR wind on new years 2012. I was in the Marlborough sounds, the wind picked up something fierce in the night and the tent was folding in on itself, as soon as the monster gales subsided the tent would be fine but it couldn't stand up to the pressure of the wind (not sure what speed the gales were but i haven't experienced wind like that before!). So its not your usual situation and i was quite impressed by the strength of the poles, i was worried they would snap but all was good..

Ive read the one review on the website that says the waterproofing is rubbish, i had a similar problem on one of my first occasions of setting it up. Had the fly too close to the inner tent and my son had his stretcher pushed into the sideof the tent which then lead to a minor flood in the small room, lesson learned and it hasn't happened since, decent amount of space in my model as well. Overall in the 3 years ive had it apart from one noob mistake and one act of god i havn't had any problems with the brand and would buy again.

alasta

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#744738 14-Jan-2013 19:32

I have a small dome Tundra tent which I bought five years ago. Admittedly I only use it once or twice a year but it's not showing any signs of giving up yet, and it held up well in some very strong wind gusts that we had in the Wairarapa this new year's eve.

To be honest when I eventually have to replace it I'll probably spend a little more because I can afford the extra quality now, but for the $150 or so that I paid for this tent the value for money has been excellent. The only problem I had is that the instructions were missing when I first got it and not being a well known brand it was hard to find anything online, but the staff at Rebel Sport were really helpful with that.

tchart

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#744749 14-Jan-2013 19:48

Thanks guys.

Garvani, the one we went for was the next one up from yours. The wife wanted seperate rooms for the kids.

Alasta, thanks for your feedback. Good to hear yours has lasted.

After talking to the guy at Rebel (who seemed to know what he was talking about) he said I could return it if its not suitable. Will get the fly out tonight and check it out.

Elpie

1304 posts

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#744828 14-Jan-2013 23:53

At New Year we had 100mm rain overnight and some strong wind gusts. Our Exped tent (Venus III DLX Plus http://www.campsaver.com/venus-iii-dlx-plus-3-person-3-season) was just fine. Most of the other campers in our campground had problems. Several tents came down and everyone around us was wet. None of the Kathmandu tents around us stood up to the conditions. However, the Kathmandu Retreat Compass we were using for extra shelter remained standing and only let a little water in on the sides (we knew bad weather was coming through and had guyed the shelter out really well).

I can't recommend Exped tents highly enough. Exped don't make family tents though. Mine was landed for just under NZD$900 after I bought it from the link above.

I also purchased Exped mats - the top of the range DownMat 9. OMG, this mat is incredible! It is so darned comfortable that I hate my bed at home now.

I'm a sucker for comfort when I'm camping and want gear to last for years as well as to cope with all kinds of weather conditions so spending on quality makes sense to me.

amsimes

7 posts

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#745591 16-Jan-2013 11:27

I'm Quartermaster (as in Bond's "Q") for the local scout Group.

We have a large Tundra tent that's a few years old. It's not a high quality product though perfectly adequate for a typical NZ family using it for a couple of times a year for a typical 5year period provided it's looked after, kept dry and not exposed to Cyclone conditions.

They're cheap as they use cost price engineering and off-shoring to reduce costs.

tchart

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#749363 23-Jan-2013 10:10

amsimes: I'm Quartermaster (as in Bond's "Q") for the local scout Group.

We have a large Tundra tent that's a few years old. It's not a high quality product though perfectly adequate for a typical NZ family using it for a couple of times a year for a typical 5year period provided it's looked after, kept dry and not exposed to Cyclone conditions.

They're cheap as they use cost price engineering and off-shoring to reduce costs.

Thanks amsimes.

We (initially) got the tent (Tundra Extreme Rover). Quality looked okay when we inspected the fly. The problem I can see with this tent is the entrance (top of the T if you will) is not sealed. The fly covers the entrance but only with mesh. I'd imagine this wouldn't suffice in Wellington style sideways rain. Luckily I did query this with the guy at Rebel sport and he thought the fly might've been rolled up behind the pillars and he said I could bring it back if it wasn't. Unfortunately it wasn't so we've returned it. Now looking at Kathmandu tents.

BTW in terms of "cost price engineering and off-shoring" don't all of the tent stores do this?

blackjack17

1705 posts

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#749376 23-Jan-2013 10:31

tchart:
amsimes: I'm Quartermaster (as in Bond's "Q") for the local scout Group.

We have a large Tundra tent that's a few years old. It's not a high quality product though perfectly adequate for a typical NZ family using it for a couple of times a year for a typical 5year period provided it's looked after, kept dry and not exposed to Cyclone conditions.

They're cheap as they use cost price engineering and off-shoring to reduce costs.

Thanks amsimes.

We (initially) got the tent (Tundra Extreme Rover). Quality looked okay when we inspected the fly. The problem I can see with this tent is the entrance (top of the T if you will) is not sealed. The fly covers the entrance but only with mesh. I'd imagine this wouldn't suffice in Wellington style sideways rain. Luckily I did query this with the guy at Rebel sport and he thought the fly might've been rolled up behind the pillars and he said I could bring it back if it wasn't. Unfortunately it wasn't so we've returned it. Now looking at Kathmandu tents.

BTW in terms of "cost price engineering and off-shoring" don't all of the tent stores do this?

I have three tents a small hiking/cycling tent from great outdoors, a three man Tundra for small car trips and a two room 30 year old canvas tent for week long trips away that is reaching the end of its life and wouldn't want to rely on it in a storm.

The smaller tents are both fine the Tundra is about 7 years old and has survived a few storms, it isn't great quality but it works and is water tight. The canvas one is good quality, cost $1000 30 years ago and they still cost that much now, but it is heavy, takes up most of the station wagon, takes an age to dry, doesn't take too long to put up but is difficult to do by yourself and isn't as easy as the more modern ones.

If I was to replace it I would get one of these http://www.torpedo7.co.nz/products/BYRTFN0RT/title/beyond-resort-family-tent or these http://www.torpedo7.co.nz/products/BYRTFN0DT/title/beyond-discovery-family-tent

I would stay away from Kathmandu stuff, overpriced, variable quality and personally I can stand their policy of over pricing everything by 100% and then running 50% off sales

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Jaxson

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#750067 24-Jan-2013 11:07

We just spent some time camping in our families twenty year old canvas tent. Observations from the camp ground etc were:

The ground sheeting has let go over time, so we found we needed to lay an additional tarpaulin underneath to sufficient keep out the ground water.

Once you have your poles colour coded i would actually argue that setup and packing away are actually about the same amount of time as a canvas tent. It weighs more obviously, but you have to do a lot of the same stuff be it canvas or lightweight dome tent. eg ground pegs etc. The canvas tents don't have 2 layers and have far less guy ropes etc so we had ours down and packed up very quickly compared to the guys across from us in their Kathmandu tent.

Conceptually I do like the multi room style tents that are common now.. Hopefully the weather is great where and whenever you go.

Bung

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#750084 24-Jan-2013 11:32

mattwnz: If you want a tent to last, a canvas family one maybe the type to go for, as they can be repaired and re waterproofed, and should last for many years.

They can be re waterproofed but can they really be repaired?

I borrowed an old style tent about 5 years ago. The sides were a bit fragile probably because it wasn't completely dry when it was last put away. The inevitable happened and there were several rips. Dwight's Canvas told me at the time that the number of cheaper imported tents had made their repair service uneconomic and they no longer replaced sides or floors.

This year I was able to compare an older nylon tent with the current model and the main difference was that the support poles were heavier and they were arranged in side by side pairs to stop the wind collapsing the tent.

bazzer

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#753640 31-Jan-2013 08:57

I was in a similar situation and was going to buy one of the tents mentioned above from torpedo7. I did end up buying a shelter from there and it is OK. Admittedly, both times it's caused me trouble has been due to high winds and once I had to squeeze it onto a site and wasn't able to guy it out properly. Anyway, for the price it's been good (it's the Corral shelter). They have sales all the time so look for half price if you can.

Anyway, back to tents, I ended up going with Kiwi Camping as they have a good rep and were having a good sale. I got the Supa Nova and it's been great. Easy to put up, and steel poles for the walls make it stronger and straighter. I liked the Beyond Resort tent, but the bedrooms look too sloped to comfortably fit my queen camp stretcher and airbed combo. The only thing it misses is a vestibule, I probably should have gone for the Equinox but it was $200-$300 more and the shelter was less than that so that was the compromise I made.

Some of the new steel pole tents look great but pretty pricey and we don't really camp enough to justify it.

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