Tent Showcase: Outwell Idaho XL
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Discontinued
8 (more 8 berth tents)
49.60 KG
2
Fully Sewn-in
In one
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Average User Rating:
9.33/10 from 46 reviews
Viewed: 40452 times
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46 Reviews of the Idaho XL Showing 21 to 30 Page:
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By: Liz elliott Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating:  Date: 11/07/2009
Just used this tent for 2 weeks in Cornwall, had sun wind and torrential rain. This tent is amazing, space is unbelievable, there were 4 adults and 1 child and we all had plenty of space. I'd recommend this tent to anyone with a family. It withstood some really high winds for a couple of nights and the rain just poured down for 2 days without so much as a drip inside.
Plenty of pegs with the tent. Light and airy inside when fully closed up. Didn't have the same problem getting it back in the bag this time like we did when put up in the garden. All in all its a great tent and I'm really pleased we bought it. I love it, think it would still be a good sized tent if you used it too with the max with 8 people. Defo got to be my best buy.
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By: Pricey4848 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating:  Date: 31/05/2009
For Michelle10. On our second attempt at packing away the tent we found this way worked really well. Unzip / open both doors.Start by folding in from the end ( short side. Not the side with the doors ) half way (this should take about 5 folds to the middle (forcing the air out as you go).Once one end folded in fold in the other end (again about 5 folds ) until it meets the other folded section.Fold one rolled / folded end onto the other then fold this long section in half. Then in half again. Again forcing air out. Finish off by folding 2 more times. Roll about on it for a few minutes and hey presto. It should fit in your bag. We did it today ( couldn't get it in bag when we went camping in April ! ) and it only took 15-20 mins.
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By: Michele10 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: Date: 23/05/2009
This is a fantastic tent with so much space. We spent many hours researching on the internet and visiting dealers, comparing measurements etc. We fell in love with this tent as it has everything we wanted. Separate bedrooms, plenty of living/play space with a spacious porch for me to cook in and for Daddy to sit in with his coffee when it is wet!
We did a trial run for one night at our local campsite and were very impressed, although having studied the pitching video several times we found this to be pretty useless. As I was on my own with my ten year old son it was hard work. We weren’t strong enough to lift two poles together so ended up pitching it in sections and securing it with a guy rope as we went along. I am sure we will get quicker with practice and is much easier with two adults so any prospective buyer reading this please don’t be deterred. We were not tall enough to reach the roof poles but found a way around this by standing on a camping chair. We were fortunate enough to set up and take down in perfect conditions, so cannot comment on the stability etc for bad weather.
My only grumble is getting it back into the bag. Sadly after a few embarrassing attempts on the campsite we failed to get it back in, and after several more attempts in the local park we have still not managed it, although we have come close. IF SOMEONE COULD WRITE UP SOME INSTRUCTIONS I’M SURE IT WOULD BENEFIT MANY OTHERS ALSO. Until we get this sorted we cannot go away again. We do not have a large car boot and we are bursting at the seams with just the essentials!
I still think this is a brilliant tent and would certainly recommend it.
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By: Pricey4848 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: Date: 07/05/2009
We bought this in FEB 09 as our first ever tent ( virgin campers ) for about £260 from Go Outdoors. We also bought the footprint and carpet ( I believe we are Glampers and not Campers!)
We had our first trip in April this year and the tent was perfect. Loads of space for our 5 year old twins and Harry the dog.Took about an hour and half to put up but Im confident we`ll get this time right down.Think we put it up wrong by putting in the poles one at a time and lifting them as we put them in and then pegged it down when all four were up.However we couldn't fit it into the bag when we were going though.We folded from the ends but I didn't open both doors so I think with all your help I've sussed the problem for our next trip.I would appreciate it if anybody would confirm that I should be folding it from the ends ( ie not the long sides where the doors are )
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By: Sandraj Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: Date: 05/05/2009
We bought this tent at the end of last year, paying just under £300 for it. I have been dying to try it out ever since! Went away for a couple of nights over the Bank holiday and was not disappointed. We had never pitched this tent before, having a tiny garden, but had watched the pitching video. It was extremely easy to erect between the two of us (while the kids entertained themselves!), I would say taking about an hour to pitch fully with OH doing the guy lines whilst I made up the pods(!) and unloaded some equipment. In less than half an hour it was up safely enough for the kids to go in! It is the use of space in the Idaho which sets it apart for me. The bedroom pods are fantastic and the height of all areas is great for those of us who are tall and whose backs suffer if we're hunched up under low ceilings all the time! The 'changing' areas give added space to the living area - we stored a lot of our equpiment here and the boys used the space in front of their pod as an additional play area. I can see this being fab for long stays during the summer. There is plenty of light from the ceiling domed window (lucky I'm tall as you need to reach up to fix the fibre glass cross poles in this) as well as the porch and rear windows. All fitted with mesh, and curtains. We also bought the footprint and carpet which adds a little luxury and is extremely resistant to stains - my children tested it out several times! The boys loved their Outwell kids room which they pestered me to buy, and I have to say I am a little jealous! Taking the tent down was also very straightforward. We did stumble (like many others!)trying to put it back in the bag. We gave up after two embarrassing attempts and stuffed it in the boot of the car! UKcampsite came to the rescue however, and we realised we had folded it lengthways rather than widthways. Had a third attempt in the garden tonight and with the correct technique it fitted in the bag easily! All in all we are all so pleased with this tent and can't wait to use it again.
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By: Wilko31 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: Date: 05/05/2009
We got a real bargain with our Idaho XL and paid just £225 for it early on this year. I then also managed to track down the extension and kids rooms half price and paid just £70 for the carpet. The only thing we paid full price for was the footprint and ironically, that is the only thing that I have had a problem with. Those of you that have read my thread on the subject will know that the footprints are very flimsy and can easily be ripped apart at the seams by even the slightest of breezes. Thankfully, Outwell have replaced it for us and we have reinforced the new one with duct tape around the seams which has made all the difference.
As for the tent itself, well what can I say, I am absolutely delighted with it. There is so much space inside that with the extension on the front too it is bigger than some caravans I've stayed in! Putting it up was a bit of an ordeal the first time. Having studied the pitching film on the Outwell website we knew just what we were doing (!) but we soon found that it's not until you try it yourself that you realise that you should have paid more attention to the finer details like did they peg any bits down before trying to lift the poles and did they stand at the side or the end when they tried lifting them up?! We got it a bit wrong and stood at the end of the tent when we tried to lift the poles upright and found that it had a lot in common with windsurfing in gale force winds! Then we went round the sides of the tent and found that it was a lot easier to lift when you stand in the right place! There were a sad lack of pitching instructions with the tent (and the extension) which I think is Outwell's way of having a laugh at our expense but I can honestly say that it was much easier the second time round.
Putting it down was straight forward and having read an earlier review on here (thanks CliffnPat!) we rolled it up from the sides into the middle so that the air could escape through the front and back doors. I then got several members of our family who were with us and standing open mouthed in awe of the Idaho XL, to roll over the folded up tent to release the air (I would have helped but someone had to take the photos!) but it really did make a remarkable difference. In fact, the tent fit in the bag so easily that we had room inside for the pegs, mallet and balls from the kids room. I think Outwell should scrap their packaging process and employ my family as professional tent rollers!
So, all in all, a great tent and definitely worth the money that we paid for it. I would recommend it to anybody with kids who need a bit of extra space for all the junk that they take away with them and the kids room keeps them happy for hours! It certainly leaves our previous tents standing (or not as the case was on a particularly stormy night in Keswick last year.!).
I have added some pictures for you to see - please take a look!
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By: Stewarty Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: Date: 20/04/2009
I haven't rated our tent because we have not been away in it yet, though have set it up 3 times. The tent looks great n we cant wait to use it. Just had to write after reading all the other reviews about getting it back in bag. Think we have it sussed. Folding from sides instead of front to back firstly fold in both sides to meet in middle. Make sure doors on both sides open. Then fold halves in half again then lastly third the remaining material. Makes a nice fat roll which fits in bag. Folding from front to back as shown in video seals doors from the word go and stops air escaping. After writing this bet we go away n don't manage it next time!
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By: Steve+Ange Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: Date: 02/04/2009
Wow, what a tent. To be fair, I hadn't been camping since my childhood in my parents frame tent so I haven't got anything recent to compare it with.
It goes up & comes down easy but its a bugger to fit back in the bag & I used to hire out bouncy castles.
Loads of space inside (2x adults, 3x kids & 2x dogs). The dressing rooms are great, we use a pop up tent as a bedroom in one of them.
My only gripe would be fastening & unfastening the outer door, It slopes in at the top & the zip seemed so far away but that could be down to my middle age spread.
It was my wife's first time camping and she loved it 'more space than the static caravans'
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By: Nelmo Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating:  Date: 17/03/2009
I bought this just after xmas and paid £420, which seems to be more than some! Just spent the first weekend away and though the tent was very good overall, there are some issues.
It took us (mostly me!) about an hour to get the tent up (minus the guys) but I expect it to be much quicker next time. The Outwell instructions are, I'm afraid, useless. The written instructions come on one small A5 size card and are hopelessly brief. They mention colour-coded poles and sleeves? Where? The poles for the porch are colour-coded (blue tape that will rub off after a couple of uses!) but I couldn't see any colour-coding on the tent itself. Fortunately, the sewn-in label in the tent bag has one diagram that shows you where all the poles go, so that saved the day. There are only 4 main steel poles (in 3 sections each), 2 fibreglass ones for the central dome, 2 more steel poles for the porch and 2 other steel poles but I just do not know what they were for! Not shown on afore-mentioned diagram and no obvious place for them. The tent was perfectly stable and rigid so I assume they weren't important - possibly to hold up the main door as an extended porch? I'm planning to mail Outwell to ask them.
There are loads of guy ropes - the weather was good so I only pegged out about half of them - nice fluorescent yellow as well!
Tent felt very stable, there are loads of vents, windows, blinds and about 7 billion ways of arranging them (well, OK, a lot - you know what I mean). I was also surprised by how many internal pockets there are - all along the inside and outside of the sleeping pods. You could probably get half your wardrobe of clothes in there.
Taking it down was nice and easy and can be done with one person - however, getting it back in the bag is impossible! Took me 3 attempts (and 40 minutes) to get it mostly in the bag. Why do manufacturers not make the bags bigger? They should know that we are not going to have access to the heavy machinery they used at their factory to squeeze the bag into it's first packed size, so why not admit this and MAKE THE BAG BIGGER! However, I'm sure all manufacturers are guilty of this, so I shouldn't single Outwell out for it.
Now, this is my first tent so, even though it seems to be very good generally, there are a couple of design ideas I personally would add in:
1. The doormat isn't much cop - it's rubber/plastic so doesn't absorb water and it doesn't have enough texture to allow mud to be rubbed off.
2. Although there are lots of windows in the main porch and at the back, there is nothing at the sides. I know these are supposed to be 'dressing areas' but all the other windows have blinds that can come down, so why not have something similar on the sides? Just made the dressing areas feel a bit claustrophobic.
I would also recommend getting the groundsheet - it keeps the tent clean underneath and also allows you to plan where your tent is going to go before getting the whole thing out.
Generally, I would recommend this tent and I think it was the best in it's class (obviously, that's why I bought it!) but, as always, there could be some improvements.
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By: Peterlymn Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: Date: 24/02/2009
Paid an amazing (I think!) £280 for a 2008 model including a front extension from GoOutdoors in Bristol this weekend (21 Feb 2009).
We've set it up in the garden already and compared to our Vango Colorado, that this replaces, it was a doddle. With all the tensioning straps properly adjusted and poles in the right place this is a sturdy beast - worth those few extra minutes to make sure it's straight etc. Though.
The unique layout is great for us - huge central area, kids bedroom away from ours(!), full standing height throughout, privacy dressing areas, huge floor to ceiling windows.
Like a few others here we struggled to get it back into the bag first time but that always comes with practice!
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46 User Reviews of the Idaho XL - Showing 21 to 30 Page:
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Manufacturer's Description
The manufacturer has advised that this model has been discontinued.
The Outwell Space Frame System enables the Idaho XL to offer a larger and improved living area,
together with a much wider porch that adds 5 m2 of space to the family’s living area. Carefully designed for easy holiday housekeeping, the Idaho XL has two bedrooms at either end of the tent which open into a side bay equipped with a clothes rail and organiser pockets. The bays can be curtained off to create extra privacy for dressing, and are suitable for a wide variety of living or storage purposes.
Other key features include low-light windows, a lamp holder, light cable tidies, and a cable entry point. With a sewn-in groundsheet in the main tent and a detachable bathtub groundsheet in the porch area, the Idaho XL is designed for ultimate camping comfort and convenience.
Specifications:
Flysheet: Outtex® 5000 with taped seams
Hydrostatic Head: 5000 mm
Floor: Double-coated polyethylene
Inner tent: Breathable polyester
Pack size: Tent: 78 x 40 x 42 cm/Poles: 23 x 78 cm
Weight: Tent: 27.8 kg / Poles: 21.8 kg
Poles: Steel poles 19/22 mm, Durawrap fibreglass 12.7 mm, 2 upright steel poles
Features:
• Detachable bathtub groundsheet for porch area
• Large panorama windows in porch area
• Mud valance on porch area
• Clothes rails
• Pre-attached and adjustable inner tents
• Organiser pockets
• Mesh pockets in the inner tents
• Lamp holder and light cable tidies
• Fully seam-sealed flysheet for maximum protection
• Reinforcement patch on all stress points
• Adjustable pegging points
• Pre-attached guy ropes
• Luminous guy ropes
• Heavy duty Outwell zips
• Outwell doormat included
• Repair kit included
... there may be more info on their website
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