Hi. Went and had a look at a couple of camping exhibitions yesterday in quite testing wet'n' windy weather.
We noticed that the central domes of the Idaho and Utah are not supported by the normal poling arrangement of two full length poles which cross over the middle of the dome through some sort of pole sleeve and ring and pin at the bottom of the fly. Rather, they both have short length poles which are only the length of the roof of the dome, push into little pockets where the fly starts to form a vertical wall dropping down from the roof of the dome and are held in place against the middle of the dome by velcro. In other words, they only cross the roof and do not gain any tension or strength from going the full distance across the whole fly from ground level to ground level.
Does that make sense? Anyway, the Utah in particular seemed to be blowing about quite a lot yesterday and I was wondering how these two tents had performed in the poor weather conditions this summer. Were these short roof poles sufficient to maintain tension across the tent or might traditional full length poles have been a a benefit? MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
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This is something I would like to hear about also. We are planning to upgrade from our small tent, and like the look of the Idaho, but I wondered about stability in the wind. Thanksfor any help!
I think they may be there just to give a bit more headroom in the central area rather than adding any strength to the tent.All the reviews on here about the Idaho seem good.
Hi all.
I remember a post on here last year were Gary {cross camping} who sell and displays tents stated that dome tents were more secure in the wind than tunnel tents.
So surely if the makers had continued those poles to the ground it would have given the tent a semi geodesic pole construction, and the tent would be far more stable and stronger.the trouble is it would last longer and they would not sell so many tents.
Regards
Rex.
------------- "Be the person your dog thinks you are" (BM)
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we were camping in our Idaho Xl a couple of weekends ago with winds strong enough to break gazebo poles and one or 2 tent poles but our XL didn't budge x
We have just bought a Utah 8 - it arrived today. We managed to put it up in the garden for a few hours this afternoon - the dome poles seemed Ok and it was windy. Once we have tested it properly which we intend to do in the next few weeks, we will write a proper review. I am sure the weather won't change that much so will be able to let you know how it fares. Y
Hi, I have an Idaho L. The poles you are talking about are for extra head height. And, they are really stable in high winds. Mine stayed firm in gales when lots of other tents didnt. Happy camping x
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Topic: Outwell Utah and Idaho
