Aussie camping gear

[Silver Bullet]

I don’t have anything to add in terms of which mat to buy, but Anaconda have the Dune mats on sale - up to 60% off until Monday. Queen size is down to $99!

https://www.anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/sleeping/mats/dune-4wd-mat/p/90024949002

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[zoiks]

I've also have had many tents over the decades including buying for Scouts, the best so far, Black Wolf turbo lite 300.

Care to expand what else you considered/tried in this area? Ie. Why the lite over canvas. Why blackwolf over oztent or coleman

[KiwiNTPajero]

I reckon Kiwi tents are made for windier condtions than aussie tents

[old Jack]

Our "empty nester" touring tent is a Black Wolf 240 canvas, ideal for just the 2 of us, quick enough for overnighters and big enough for extended stays. It has been through heavy rain and high winds without any issues. Not particularly light or compact but nothing of that size is. At 2x to 2.5x the price of a Coleman they are not a cheap tent but it you are going to use them regularly then they are worth the extra money. Cheap tents are ok for fine weather and you have alternate accomodation close by but for remote extended trips you really do want something that is reliable in all weather conditions.

OJ.

[Phil]

Care to expand what else you considered/tried in this area? Ie. Why the lite over canvas. Why blackwolf over oztent or coleman

Went with the lite due to the weight, every bit counts with 4 people on extended trips.
It drys nice and quick and I can manage it myself.

Had a coleman and it didn't last, get what you pay for and you can see that when they are side by side. There new stuff may be better, but not 5 years ago.

Looked at the Oztent, seems small inside for the 4 of us, the angled back wall probably.
It didn't fit in side the car. Something I was after with our remote camping/touring for security, wet weather and dust.

Had heaps of dome tents in various seizes and brands, never again for a family tent.
Still have a 3 man one for the son and hunting trips. But you cant beat a "pop up"

[kiwi1973]

Thanks for all the suggestions/information. I have now ordered the Exped Megamat duo. I have found that while people debate tents quite a bit, no one who has seen or tried the Exped mattresses gives them anything less than top marks. I'm buying it sight unseen, but at the price Snowy's have it for currently (thanks Turorit!) it seemed like too good of an opportunity not to increase my budget to accommodate. The Dune Queen for $99 currently also looks amazing value, but I'm happy to pay more for the Exped in this instance.

I haven't ordered the tent yet as the discussion here has prompted me to double check I really want the AirVolution tent, but I am pretty sure that is what I will be ordering.

[old Jack]

The Darche AT6 certainly looks interesting and the PR blurb seems to tick all your boxes.
Found this 18% off offer and reviews online.

https://www.wildearth.com.au/buy/darche-air-volution-at6-6-person-inflatable-family/t050801811#videoblock

Sometimes you just have to jump in a try something new if you can afford to take the risk.

OJ.

[NJV6]

Hi Kiwi,
Haven’t seen the air ones in use but where I like to go, (and similar to you judging by the pictures) my Coleman wasn’t up to the task. Actually it never fully let me down but it was often very unpleasant in the wind.
When looking for a replacement strength in wind was the highest priority and eventually I found one I could stand in, a torpodo7 geodesic design that I can still stand in. So far so good, more stable in the wind but not as many user friendly parts as a Coleman with all their air vents etc.

[kiwi1973]

I'm in Sydney currently and have the new 2017 model Darche AT-6 set up in my sisters garden, with Exped Megamat Duo inside. Both products are exceptionally good. The Exped is the most comfortable mattress I've slept on and doesn't feel at all like an airbed, and not even so much like a self-inflating mat, it feels like a supportive real mattress.

I'll need to get practiced with the Darche Airvolution to see how quick I can get at setting it up. Having only set it up once my focus was on reading the instruction manual to make sure I was doing everything correctly. My initial impression is that quality of materials and quality of design are pretty much 10 out of 10. Seems very stable without the guy ropes set up such that I believe I will only need the guy ropes on occasions when it's quite windy. I should point out that the later model Airvolution models like mine have inflatable ridge poles as well as the inflatable arch poles and I think this likely adds greatly to stability. It was $1,199 from Tentworld. A somewhat expensive tent, but I'm happy to pay that as long as the build quality and robustness are up to my expectations, and my current impression is that it is worth the money. We plan to be pretty much living out of this tent for the first 3 to 4 months of 2018.

[Country Cruiser]

Dragging this one out of the depths, came across this thread via a google search.

Thinking of upgrading to an AT6 for the family camping, what do you think of it after spending some time with it?

[kiwi1973]

Dragging this one out of the depths, came across this thread via a google search.

Thinking of upgrading to an AT6 for the family camping, what do you think of it after spending some time with it?

The good points:

- quality of design and materials are very good. I like the integrated double roof, mesh everywhere when you want it, quality floor, all zips are still working etc
- no separate fly to put over! It's all integrated into the design. Saves time and better if you have to set up in rain.

The not so good points:

- although all seam sealed has been subject to some leaks. I contacted Darche - they replied very quickly, but only to say that it wasn't possible for the tent to leak because it's waterproof etc. Not that helpful. They did say however that they had no other reports of water ingress for the 2017 revised model onwards. This shouldn't put you off.

- heavy. But all quality tents will be heavy.

- there are a lot of pegs needed. Not too much of an issue, but if going into hard ground setup time increases commensurately.

General comments:

- it's reasonably quick to erect, but I would have liked faster. I can put it up, including all pegging (not including guy ropes, as these are only needed in high winds, as usually very stable) in about 17 minutes. I can put up many tents in that time (working alone) so it's not hugely faster, however there are no fiddly poles. That said, pumping the air poles still takes some work. I can fully pack it away, back in its bag, in under 9 minutes.

- wind performance is mixed. We've had it up in some pretty darn strong winds! It really needs to be lengthwise into the wind, as the air poles buckle if strong winds hit it from the side. This seems like a weakness, but bear in mind that when a tent with poles finally buckles in high wind its because the poles snapped. With air poles they don't break - can just push them back out. There would be some tents with poles that have better wind resistance, up to the point when they snap poles. By way of contrast my tent before this Darche was an Oztrail fast frame tent - we had strong winds that summer and it was dead and dumped within a month! Not a suitable expedition tent. I also note from that summer seeing an OzTent standing up just fine in the same winds that were slowly destroying the Oztrail. Those winds were fierce and would have pushed the Darche over a few times, but it would have survived undamaged.

- if its already windy when setting up you can position accordingly, but if the wind comes later it may end up being a less side wind. In very strong winds I've managed by putting out the guy ropes and marginally over-inflating the poles to get them more rigid. (Next day let some air out so that in the heat of the day/sun it doesn't get too much).

All in all a good solid long lasting tent. Very nice and pleasant internal space, pleasant to be in. Polyester material will get hotter than real canvas in direct sun, though the double roof with ventilation does help out... and if this tent was real canvas it would end up being over 40kgs at least.


Now that we're travelling every day, setting up and packing up daily, I've been reconsidering a roof top tent, in family size, with a sealed floor annex, such as made by Darche or Howling Moon. But to get the best out of that setup I'd need to reconsider the vehicle too. I.e. double cab ute with alloy canopy.

My overall score for this tent is 8.5 out of 10.

Back when I posted this thread I was also looking for mattresses. The Exped Megamat turned out to be the best quality and most comfortable mattress I ever purchased and is worth the high price.

[nj swb]

The not so good points:

- although all seam sealed has been subject to some leaks. I contacted Darche - they replied very quickly, but only to say that it wasn't possible for the tent to leak because it's waterproof etc. Not that helpful. They did say however that they had no other reports of water ingress for the 2017 revised model onwards.

It can't leak, but later models are better because they were revised?

How did they know they needed to revise the sealing if it couldn't leak?

[Dicko1]

I had an Darche air tent. Bought it second hand. It had only been used once before. AT6, I think. 3 years ago. Bloody heavy thing to lug about and thought that the ridge poles for the roof where an after thought. Wasn't really impressed with it to tell the truth. I didn't even bother taking it camping. Set it up twice in the backyard to get a feel for it. Not for me. Sold it 3 weeks later for same price as I bought it. Prefer the Coleman instant up... a hell of a lot better as I found it quicker and easier to set up. Solid and waterproof. I see Jayco are using a similar set up as the Darche for one of their campers annex.

[kiwi1973]

It can't leak, but later models are better because they were revised?

How did they know they needed to revise the sealing if it couldn't leak?

Yeah, I wasn't really too impressed with that response. I was contacting them to inform them that it WAS leaking, not to debate whether it was possible for the tent to leak. Not aimed at Darche, as I don't consider my potential approach on warranty determined yet, but more generally there would seem to be too many companies these days that offer warranties that imply they really stand behind their products, yet their true specialism is in dodging warranty claims.

Overall I do like the Darche AT6. But I perhaps should have pointed out that it's weight might be more an issue for some. I throw it overhead up on top of my roof rack. Though I'm getting older, I've long been involved in weightlifting - even when I travel I search out a weightlifting gym in cities and usually find one. Throwing a Darche AT6 onto roof racks wouldn't suit everyone.

[kiwi1973]

Review Update

I felt I should update my earlier product review for anyone who later finds this thread and uses it to inform a purchase decision.

If I was buying again, specifically a tent to take on an expedition where we'd be moving onwards most days, I'd be having a really good look at an Oztent in preference to the Darche. Not an Oztent plus all the accessories, just the RV5, a ground sheet and the fly. A good 270 degree awning with a wall or two gives more covered and wind resistant space when that's needed.

The Darche is a nice tent with good internal space, but you really want to be staying put more than one night to justify the additional time setting it up. I'm not convinced it's truly a genuine touring tent. Everything else I wrote earlier still applies, but:

(1) whilst it's good in some respects that the Darche's air frame pushes over rather than snaps poles in high winds, you do want it to stand up!
(2) My Darche seems to have become progressively less waterproof and now it's a significant problem.
(3) one zip has failed, though that can just happen to any tent
(4) setting up the Darche AT-6 requires a minimum of 23 pegs, and that's when not needing to use the guy ropes. It's just too many pegs in anything other than soft ground, and even then too many.

Having not used an Oztent I can't be sure that it's the ideal solution - I only once saw one, but it was easily handling a wind that was destroying other tents, including my Oztrail at the time. Even better for my style of travel might be a family sized (2.4m by 2.4m) Howling Moon roof tent - these look very good quality, but considerably more expense and need to have a bigger vehicle for that.

I should add that my position on how long it should take to set up camp has changed dramatically and this colours my updated my review. I used to think it fantastic that I could have camp set up in 30 minutes, during which time my partner would have cooked dinner. That's OK for most people's purposes. On our current Central Asia trip, our longest overland travel to date, a half hour setup is no longer what I want. There are too many nights when something hasn't gone to plan and we find ourselves on dusk looking for somewhere to stop. At that point in time I want a camp setup that just about falls up in a few minutes, including where perfect ground is not available.

We had one camp in Russia where the ground looked ok but ended up being hard and rocky beneath, so I didn't do a great job with the minimum 23 pegs on the Darche. During the night we could hear and see a thunderstorm rolling over. I couldn't be bothered trying to contend with all the Darche's pegs and so we packed up at 4am before the storm got to us and we hit the road super early. I suspect an Oztent would have faired better - much less pegs and they're far less structurally important - the internal frame gives the structure to an Oztent and pegs just keep it planted and pull out the rear fabric.

All this said, the Darche is still a nice roomy tent. The water ingress issue that has affected mine, along with concerns over its storm resistance are issues to consider, though I still consider it an otherwise very nice all around family tent that is likely fit for many people's purposes.