Coleman Phad X2 (and Coleman 'dog' tent!)

[Jenna]

got bored yesterday so thought I would have look at one of the Phads sitting on the shelf.

First impressions as it came out the bag were that the quality wasn***8217;t too bad, the fabric a lightweight ripstop was not exactly the best quality but when you consider this tent is 50% of a similar Terra Nova I guess you can***8217;t complain.







In the bundle was to bags one for poles and one for pegs, both bags were double thickness at the bottom which I thought was a nice touch although the stitching quality was poor!... the supplied pegs are the square section aluminum ones not like the old cheapy meat skewer ones that came with my Jack Wolfskin tent ( just in the interest of science I did try and bend one and it wasn***8217;t easy The Phad has three T6 ally poles, two forms the main front to rear cross and a third the side to side ridge. The ridge pole is nicely marked with a red section as it the channel it fits, another nice touch was that the far end of all the pole channels are blocked making it very easy to stretch the flysheet and clip in the end of the pole!!





I thought I would see how idiot proof this tent is so put it without reading the blurb or watching and demo vids, insert the two man pole from to rear with the tent on the ground, insert the cross pole as far it would... then push each main pole home and put the pin in the end of the pole through the hole in the strap for it and it stands up, same thing with the cross pole and that***8217;s it tent up!!!.. If I hadn***8217;t of put the cross pole in arse about face I guess that could be done in 90 seconds.





The tent is braced between all the bowed poles by webbing straps and by simply letting in or out some tape in a minute or two it***8217;s all square and ready to peg out, loads of guy ropes to use if you want.



The tent has a removable porch ground sheet (held in with a zip) which I did think could cause the damage to the inner tent ground sheet if it got pulled about and although the ground sheet was made of a reasonable weight nylon I think it wouldn***8217;t take much to punch a hole through it, so by saving a few grams on a lighter fabric you will have to carry an extra ground sheet which obviously weighs more!



One thing that did strike me was the ventilation, this tent has the most ventilation designed in I have seen with loads of mesh breather panels, air flaps all the way round and even a window!





So what***8217;s the verdict, it***8217;s not a serious contender for heavy abuse like mountaineering but then its it to well designed and made to be called a festival tent, its well thought out and on whole the quality is ok for yet another mass produced Chinese tent. ***8230;.Would I part with my money for one ( and I say this as unbiased as I can be!) probably not at a full retail of £140 ( i'd look at the Phact) but at sale prices of £100-£110 it***8217;s as good as if not better than my old Wolfskin which cost twice the money, it went up alarmingly easy and should last quite well.





Coleman Mountaineer Dog Tent.
OK yes I went out and bought one, the idea was it would double as some shade for the dogs and somewhere I could put some ham radio gear out of the rain with a portable mast as it***8217;s cheap, light and packs up small.



So what is this tent, well it***8217;s a posh play tent in reality! We have the large mut size which has a 48" square footprint and 60" internal height (it***8217;s a roomy little pooch pad). construction is proofed nylon (not ripstop) with a heavy weight groundsheet (hu hum as should be on the Phad if anyone at Coleman is reading this!), two cross poles and ridge form the structure which takes seconds to put together with just split pins to insert in the ends of the cross poles. The design is a bit curious as it has two zipped doors on opposite sides but on the other two sides it has a small porch and is open.... sure there is a reason but I couldn***8217;t see it!





For what it cost (RRP £17) I have to say it***8217;s not bad, what***8217;s more the furry terrors love to play in it.


As a side note Coleman are making some big changes in their range this year with a lot of models changing or being discontinued, from information given to me by Coleman its likely the Phad will in the future only be sold in the UK as a 2 man and the Mountaineer Dog Tent will be dropped.

[Boris]

I have to agree with Jenna on this after using my x3 in anger quite a few times now. The only difference I can see to the x3 (apart from size) is the x3 has a pre-curved pole across the tent (the red one). No problems with the porch groundsheet pulling the inner groundsheet although an extra inch of material would take the worry away of it happening.

I did manage to bend a peg booting it in on really bad ground but as it was square section it was a doddle to hammer straight as it didn't keep rolling around. I haven't tried to bend a pole but they did manage to contort them selves in to some surprising shapes while pitching in a Skye gale but they survived with no signs of damage.

As Jenna says I wouldn't take it up the north face of the Eiger but for UK use it's more than adequate.

All in all I'm really happy with mine.

[Jacqueslemac]

As I think I've said elsewhere, both of the long poles on mine have bent slightly towards the front end when I've been trying to get them into the end slots.

Neither is too bad and it doesn't really show when the tent is up. It is noticeable when the poles are ready to be packed away.

On the plus side, the "canvas" is nice and tight so doesn't flap around in the wind and it's been completely waterproof (and I've tested it in rain more times than I care to mention!).