The only reviews that I can find are on purchase sites. They are not vey in depth but from what I could make out it's quick to put up and stands up well to rain. The only negatives I saw was it doesn't have an electric hook up opening but I guess that doesn't affect everyone and It's hard to find a carpet to fit.
However, it is baically the same as the Coleman Octagon 98 (American version?), it has 15 5* reviews on amazon.
My friend who isn't on here has purchased one as a festival / weekend tent. It looks very good and he is happy with it. He doesn't feel it's good enough for long stays though.
Bought one a couple of weeks ago as it was on a silly offer (went for socks, walked out with a tent!). We (Wife, 4y/o, and I) have been very impressed with the first 2 outings which were a 2 and a 3 nighter.
First time use was for the 3 nights of the West Yorkshire Scouts Big Camp on the early May b/h weekend. The weather did pretty much everything that you could expect from the British weather (wind, rain, bright sunshine, torrential rain, hail, brighter sunshine!) and at no point did I fer the tent was reaching it's limits. VERY quick to put up, loads of space inside (one large open space with a divider that can be used to cut in half - not a problem for us, but if privacy is something that you want/need look elsewhere) although it would be difficult to get a carpet/footprint g/sheet to fit.
Second outing did highlight one important limitation - it pitches inner first. We were pitching this in the type of sustained downpour normally associated with the tropics, and while we had the whole thing from bag to up in 10 mins flat, the inner first design did mean that there was an amount of mopping needed before we could move in.
I have a couple of mods in mind to make this pitch outer first, and if they work, this will remove the problem.
Packing away was easy, with a generously sized bag complete with wheels, although I do have reservations about the sturdiness of the zip.
I would be perfectly happy using it for a week or so, which is normally about our maximum duration of stay. If you have any specific questions, give a shout and I will do my best.
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
We've just come back from our first trip with this tent.
Very easy to put up, but when folding, remember to do it right, or it won't go in the bag!
Three nights of heavy rain and 40kt gusts were no problem, it really coped well with the wind.
Two modifications before we set off. The guyline tensioners were replaced with Hillberg line locs and we added hanging loops in all eight corners, rather than just two. This allowed us more options in dividing the room. The setup we settled on had a bedroom of three sections and a living area of five. Cord between all the loops gave us hanging & drying space.
I'm now wondering how to get a hammock stand inside, without SWMBO noticing!
How did you attach extra loops? I just bought this tent second hand and I'm thinking of using a caravan awning inner tent for a bedroom but need to hang it from something...thanks
Urgent help and advice please.
We bought this tent a few weeks ago and just got to our camp site and put it up.
It's very nice and roomy but we can't find a hole in it to run the power cable from the supply on our pitch to the inside of the tent, can anyone help please?
You can use the back door to run a cable, but there are two zips that meet in the middle, so the cable won't come in at floor level.
I've camped twice in mine now and it rained a lot both times. A few dribbles from under the main door, but no real issue.
Unless you're a polar bear, this is definitely a summer tent...it's very draughty! We lay there at night scheming ways to cover up the vast mesh panels on the sides and roof of the inner tent, but decided it was more trouble than it was worth, so we bought a 6 man tunnel tent for the colder months. If you have some skill with a sewing machine, you could probably whip something up quite easily. We LOVE the feeling of space, and the 360 degree view is amazing on the more picturesque sites. If it just had windows to go along with the mesh, this might be the best "unconventional" tent ever made.
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
I did say on another thread that I intended getting one for w/end short trips in warm weather and after seeing one in the flesh and reading some reviews. i still intend getting one. My wife wants to sew some clear vinyl windows on the two mesh windows near the front door as thats where we see the most likelyhood of rain getting in. The lack of a cable entry point is a pretty stupid design fault though, although not a deal breaker. For under £200 still seems a good buy to me.
Ironically, I've just joined this forum to look for advice on getting a new tent because of problems with my Cortez ... so I have lots of experience to share with this tent having camped with it for a couple of years.
It is a great tent, but it is definitely a fair-weather, summer festival tent. The interior is spacious and exceptionally well-ventilated - it's the driest tent I've ever had, despite being in bad-weather I've never experienced any condensation inside. The tent goes up very easily - the only downside is that the cover goes over last and as the tent stands tall, even with the help of 6ft friends it's a struggle to get the cover over the main structure. I've developed various methods to do this as sometimes I've been on my own so it can be done, but it's a big design flaw. It comes down easily as well and (after watching a couple of youtube videos to get the knack) packs really well. The carry case has a handle and wheels - very handy for campsites without nearby parking and especially appropriate for festivals.
It's designed for a specific purpose, a summer festival glamping experience, and it does that very well. But it's a fair-weather tent. The interior is mainly mesh so it would be unwise to put up even in light rain as the tent would be quickly flooded. Getting the cover over in any kind of wind will be difficult. When I've been expecting bad weather, I've either packed a spare tent or slept in my car until a dry spell. Once up, the tent seems sturdy and withstands wind and rain well - I was in a storm a couple of nights ago and it weathered that well. However, it is a cold tent - I camped in France during the heatwave this summer and it was still chilly at 4/5am. The ventilation which is the tent's main selling point is also it's biggest drawback. I've just got back from camping in Dorset with it when it was 22c during the day but temperatures went down to about 7-10c at night and I had one of the worst night's camping I've ever had. Nobody else on the campsite suffered as much as I did, so I've resolved to find a hardier tent for next time.
Ive got this tent and i really like it, in fact i have 2. Recently took it to devon in the summer and had great few nights sleep in the sea air and good weather. It did heat up quickly in the hot morning sun though. Feeding in power cable through door is no big hassle i would bring the cabel up high if possible so you can bring it in under zip flap to prevent any rain from running in. However my main reason for posting here is this: i have only used this tent in summer but what does everyone think about using this tent in colder weather with heating either electrical or some thing like a mr buddy because it does have good ventilation?
We use ours with an inner bedroom tent, usually used with a caravan awning... our dog chewed the zip on the door so to counteract the extra breeze/potential spiders we sewed elastic loops to the seams on top of the inner tent and just hook up an inner bedroom at night, keeps it nice and cosy and eliminates any breeze from the window mesh. Then we leave the airbed n sleeping bags inside,unhook the "room" and use a long bungee cord to lean it against a side wall in the day to make the most of the space. With regard to the power cable, we cut the zip stopper off so both zips can go all the way to the bottom...then just poke the wire through and just use 1 zip for the door👍
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Coleman Cortes Octagon 8
via mobile 19/6/2019 at 3:07pm
