Hey guys,
A little background on how this all started. I get along really well with my brother (not all siblings do) and we both have growing families. We both felt it was really important that our kids know each other despite living ~800km apart. So a few years ago we decided we would have an annual family holiday, initially with just the twin boys, it was stylish beach front accommodation.. then as my brother had a child it became a house close to the beach, then we had my daughter...It was no longer affordable to have a roomy house that fits 4 young kids and 4 adults with a view of the beach. So we decided to pause the holidays for a year an redirect the money into purchasing a tent to go on family camping trips like we did when we were kids.
Here is where the tent review comes into it, my wife and I decided to spend the extra cash and get a tent that will last us a long time. To be honest, with the price it better last a life time. We wanted something that allowed the kids to sleep separate from us and have enough room to house the mountains of gear that we need to maintain a family of 5 on a camping holiday. The Kathmandu Retreat 360 module tent was perfect for us, 3 seperate sleeping areas, one for the boys, one for my daughter, one for us, a main area to house all of the gear in wet weather & somewhere to sit if its raining. It's going to give us exactly what we need. We knew someone else that had a similar model and nothing but good reviews. We're sold on the tent.
You can check it out here
8 days after ordering it online, it arrives via courier, its huge. In two boxes with warnings that it should be lifted with machinery or with help, estimated weight... 30-50kg. It stayed put until last weekend when my wife and I went on a 2 day trip, basically to set the tent up and test it out.
The setting up:
I've set up dome tents before, so having prior knowledge on the basics helps, but its all pretty intuitive, expand the poles and thread them through the matching slips. They're even colour coded. It went up rather easy, if you're doing it alone you're going to struggle. As the boys get older, they'll become more of a help than a hindrance during the setting up phase.
The Kathmandu team have put together some videos on the set up process if you're unsure.
The inspection:
This thing is huge.. lets go room by room. Yes it has rooms.
Entrance:
The entrance way has three doors, depending on the wind or rain you can close/open which ever one suits you. They've really thought of everything, if you're in a wet climate they've set it up so the flooring can be clipped up so water wont penetrate the tent. The plan for this section for us is to house the esky and our camping gear.
Main section & two main sleeping areas:
This is the room that we planned to have our bags and general gear in. Its easily the biggest part of the tent and has a ceiling high enough for an average height person to stand up straight in. It's got a tonne of ventilation for during the day or those hot nights. They've thought of everything when designing this;
- Magnets in the corners for magnet lights, or anything else you dont want to loose.
- Huge pockets for your phone, wallet or keys.
- The flyscreens and zip doors, zip all the way around and have a pouch to tuck the excess into.
- Zips in the flooring for power cord management.
- Multiple clips for hanging lights etc on from the ceiling.
- A sun roof for a solar panel.
Single area:
The single sleeper area is much of the same, just a lot smaller, perfect for a single mattress. This section has the ability to zip right back and the roof comes off, giving you a moon roof for those steaming nights.
Packing up:
Definitely a two person job. It was stressful to be honest, but I'm not sure that was Kathmandu's fault. The sheer size of this tent means you need someone at the other end to fold out and assist with the odd part where you seem to require a third hand.
The only negative I can really find with this tent is not even in the design, but how it was delivered to me. It has heaps of off cuts of material in the tent, which was what got me curious about what other faults there might be. When i started to inspect closer, I found that there were two runs in the fly screens on two different doors and two minuscule holes in the corners of the flooring. When you're spending close to $1,500 on a tent, you expect it to come with out these faults. The holes might not be an issue, but I don't want to wait until I'm in a situation where the weather is wet and THEN find out I have leak.
So on my holiday, I'm stressing out that I'm going to get stuck with a dud... as i said earlier, this is supposed to last a life time. First day after the long weekend, i called Kathmandu and i wanted to let loose, but the lady was really nice about it all. But the only resolution she could provide was take it back to the closest store... that's great if I'm returning something small, but this thing weighs 30-50kg.. and i have to cart it into the city.
All in all, an awesome tent and maybe I copped some shit luck, hopefully i don't get blamed for the holes and they swap it for a new one. Kathmandu have really thought about where things go and whats going to make your life easier and more organised while you're on a trip. The returns process needs to be reworked & if they could add in any convenient features to help with the pack up process.