Tesco 3 man dome tent

[Boris]

With the season coming towards an end and the retailers clearing the shelves for new stock, Tesco's have dropped the price of their dual skin dome tents again. The tent has been discontinued now but there are still plenty on the shelves in the stores near me. I've updated and reposted a review of one such tent a bought a wile ago (for no other reason that it was really cheap:- under £20) and it was something the kids could sleep over or play in without the risk of them wrecking one of my better tents.



I've marked the tent against my usual acceptance criteria for a small tent which is as follows

1 It must be big enough for me[1] and my kit
2 It must fit inside a topbox or pannier when stowed
3 It must be watertight and be suitable for summer stopovers
4 It must be able to be erected and struck by me without additional help
5 It need not be fit for camping on the north face of the Eiger


Well On 1 Tesco claim 210cm square inside [2] and while that may be the case if you pushed the sides out a bit, realistically it's big enough for a double airbed to fit without touching the front or back (just) and about 50cm to the side for kit. When packed it certainly fits the Topbox on my Varadero (Its the usual topbox supplied by Honda 52L I think) as the pack size is 50cm x 14cm x 14cm. It will fit in one of the Honda panniers but not in its bag. The poles have to go in diagonally and the rest of the tent can easily fit in round them. I recon I could easilly get tent, airbed, pump and small stove all in one pannier. Update The poles are longer than I thought and have to go diagonally in the pannier and pretty much stop anything bigger than a mug fitting round them. It does fit in the top box OK.

Now as I said I've only had it a few days but I have erected it in the garden and it took me about 10 minutes all in. Not bad I suppose for a small dome tent with detachable inner. I reckon I could do it in half the time next time. It pitches fly first and the only real problem I had, which may be common to all dome tents, was getting the poles to bend in the correct direction when the tent was still flat on the ground. That and the rather worrying amount of pressure I had to use to get the the pin in the end of the poles. The inner just clips in with toggles and elastic loops as opposed to the cheaper fixings found in some budget tents. This method keeps the inner taut and away from the flysheet. You can leave the inner attached and pitch as one but you really need someone to lift the middle of the tent when tensioning the poles due to the extra weight of the inner.

Since putting the tent (2 days and nights) up it has pretty much rained here non stop and some of that rain has been torrential and so far the inner tent has stayed bone dry so a tick for number 3 then.

Number 4 on my list is also a tick but it is a bit tricky. Not sure why this is more awkward than other domes but it is. Not difficult, just tricky.

So that's how it fares up to my check-list. Other observations include webbing between the corners (which I have only seen on larger more expensive tents), a couple of pockets on the inner for spectacles etc and the small porch area has a groundsheet and four detachable guy lines are supplied.

Bad points
Well the only leak I found was into the porch area and this I feel is down to the way the door opens. To allow for the porch the door flap is at a relatively shallow angle and had dual zips running the length of it. This makes the zips vulnerable to water ingress and when I opened the flap there was about 2 teaspoons worth of water lying on the porch groundsheet. Not a huge problem but still a leak. The other problem is when unzipping this door flap the water can run off the edge of it and hit the mosquito netting or the inner door if you are not careful. And 2 of the alloy sleeves that fit on the end of the poles are loose. A bit of araldite soon fixed that.

Markings
I've given it a 4 for ease of installation as it was tricky but there was certainly nothing that was particularly awkward or illogical.
For quality only time will tell but so far, especially considering the terrible weather it has stood up to and considering one small leak in the porch it has to be a 4 and as for value? £20 for a tent that does what it says on the tin. How could I give it anything else but a 5?


[1] I'm over 6 foot so wanted something I could sleep corner to corner if need be.

[2] 210cm x 210cm was on the label attached to the tent bag. the web site gives different dimensions below.

Brand Tesco
Colour Green
Features of Product Ideal for weekend breaks or festivals. Robust 3 person tent with porch with clear view windows & carry case. The tents comes with built in airvents and is easy to assemble. Waterproof with breathable inner & mosquito net to prevent unwanted guests. Groundsheet built in. Weight 3.6kg
Mosquito Mesh Doors Yes
Poles Fibreglass
Product Depth 208 cm
Product Height 135 cm
Product Width 215 cm
Size 3 man
Sun Protection Factor 30+
Waterproofing Hydrostatic Head 1500mm

[tankosl]

As ever, a great review

Thanks very much for the info, it's staggering they can sell it so cheap!!!!

It looks very similar in the photo to a Khyam Igloo, but using conventional poles?

[Boris]

I've just seen these tents in Tesco and they are now under £15.

Grab one while you can.

[Fidius]

great review

[rosalka09]

By reading the post and by imagining the tent that you have shown in your post, I have concluded that this tent is really nice for a camping lover like me. It features a porch with clear view windows and mosquito net to prevent unwanted guests. The tent has air vents and is easy to assemble so you can quickly get on with your camping activities. It comes complete with a carry bag for easy storage. Really nice tent.
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[Mr Custard]

Very nice affordable tent for a camping with 2 or 3 people and a great reveiw