Never having ridden the Road of Bones I can't speak from experience, but having read and watched others' experiences I know I'd want a bigger tent than that for two reasons, weather and mosquitoes.

Having seen Oisin Hughes sitting in his tent in deepest Siberia, watch his YouTube series if you can, it strikes me you'll spend quite a lot of time in your tent sheltering from the wet, the cold and the bugs, so you want something big enough to be a home from home, where you can bring all your gear inside so you don't have to keep going outside.

And what is a couple of kilos anyway? A week jogging round the park and you could probably lose the difference in weight between a minimalist back-packers' tent and a decent, roomy travelling tent.

Do I have a preference? I love my Coleman Phad X3 there's loads of space to spread, a good size porch to cook or unpack in and it is neither too heavy not too bulky to carry on a bike. While it's not cheap and maybe nasty, it's not stupidly expensive either, and it's available throughout the world.



Oh and it's got aluminium poles which I prefer as they're easier to fix if they bend or snap using one of the supplied sleeves, than carbon fibre which tends to splinter into razor sharp spikes, ripping your tent and sticking in your skin (that I do have experience of).

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Personally if I was going on a long trip, I wouldn't want to be stuck inside a tiny lightweight tent for that time. Weather and bugs may force you to spend a lot of time inside.

I bought a Hilleberg Nammatj 2 GT for one person and motor bike gear. It has a very large porch for all the wet gear that you must not bring inside the dry part of the tent where you will sleep.

But as I planned some wilderness walking also, I planned to bring a small Hilleberg Soulo or Akto as I didn't want to carry the Nammatj for three or four days.

If you are staying with the bike, get a lightweight quality tent like Hilleberg, etc. etc. but don't sacrifice space just for weight.

Grey Beard

I'd just like to second the Phad X3. It can be a bit awkward to erect the first couple of times but once you get your head around it its a fantastic tent for traveling with. It's also the only tent that i have ever bought with good quality tent pegs straight out the box.

Dont be fooled by the notion that paying a high price means you get high quality. People do get suckered here.

And a cheap tent will rot in UV as quickly as a dear one.

Likewise I've seen people buying a high mountain tent which is totally inappropriate but because it cost more, they think its better.

Thanks for posting this. I followed up with some research and it seems its highly rated as being great value. Can't seem to find it in Australia though. Are there any online camping sites in the UK that ship internationally?
cheers

Simply hike will deliver internationally

Coleman Phad X3 Tent | Simply Hike UK

Thanks. I just tried to buy it and it lets me select the shipping option of Australia but when it updates it tells me that they cannot ship that item to the country selected. I'm finding this happens quite a bit with U.K and U.S sites.

Wondering if any other Aussies have had any luck shipping this tent from the U.K?

i'm very happy with my Marmot Limelight 2p

Alloy poles, quick to pitch, good quality pegs, roomy enough for man and gear and one of the only small tents I found that I can actually sit up in.

I always have a tarp/basha with me as well though; gives me somewhere out of the weather to get my sh1t together, cook, chill.

A lot of websites default to no shipping to far off places, or even to Germany from the UK.

I usually give them a phone call or eMail and ask them specifically, but of course it will not be cheap to post UK to Oz and I suppose you may have Oz Customs/Import Duty. Probably could get the UK VAT deducted at source if exporting to Oz though.

Grey Beard

Well, I did some research and thought it could interest some people:

first here they make some comparaison and tests:
Backpacking Tent Reviews - OutdoorGearLab

and then here:

[url=http://www.litekamper.com/tent_2man.htm]2 Man

I have 2 of these tents so if you want to buy one of mine let me know. & I am here in OZ ?

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....rather Die Living.....than Live Dying !
www.globetrekkers.net.au

Hi mate
Lots of good advice here. I come from a mountaineering background and i can tell you you get what you pay for. My advice is to go to a reputable mountaineering retailer and buy a 3 or 4 season rated tent. If you can get one with Easton aluminium poles thats a bonus.. I have been using the same tent for almost 20 years and it is still serviceable and there is nowhere harsher in uv terms than down here. Anyway thats my opinion based on experience. Also mountaineers dont like to carry extra weight.
Regards
Mark

I've used a different model of Coleman tent for summer trips and I am happy with the quality of the materials; the "X tent" model has a lot of good features, like good ventilation and mosquito netting but it doesn't erect with the fly sheet first - I haven't had a problem with this because the whole thing goes up very quickly in any case.
But, the flysheet design is for summer use; it doesn't extend to ground level all the way round, and I wouldn't "trust it" in very high winds from the wrong direction (such would probably get under the fly sheet and try to lift the whole tent).
For a quick stopover I don't even use the guy lines and pegs; it is free standing and my own weight on the sewn-in ground sheet is enough stabilisation.

Anyway, is that Phad complete in the picture, or is there another fly to be fitted? (it looks a bit "bare" with the pole arrangement, but the guy lines arrangement says that the tent is fully erected).

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Dave

Thanks Dave, that's interesting what you say regards of the outer fly not coming all the way down to ground level.

If you have used a different Coleman model, can you let us know which one?
And when you say the outer doesn't go up first, are you meaning the Phad X3 or some other?

I would like to see some more photos of the Phad X3, maybe someone has a few photos showing more of the setup of it.

The other tent I had though about initially is the Zelt Ligero Al from Tom Cat from Sud-West.
Sued-West - Zelte & Camping > Trekkingzelte > Zelt Ligero AL

I went touring with a German fellow for a few weeks this year I have seen this tent and was quite impressed with its quality and ease of putting up and packing up. This guy was set up before me each day and was ready on his bike before me each day. It is very stable and has some height to it.
From the photo it looks smaller than you think, but its overall length is around 3 metres.

For me, the price is good, very good in fact.

What do others think of it?

Paul

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Paul,
My Coleman is quite old - I got it in the USA at least 12 years ago.
The model is called "X tent" probably because the main poles cross over each other which gives a good stable set up. I'd have to dig it out of it's bag to see if there are any other bits to the name, but I am 99% sure that is it for the naming.
After the tent goes up, the fly sheet uses a pole to make it into what looks a bit like a kite and it clips to the main tent at all 4 edges of the main poles, so it sheds water all round except at the tent entrance where it just overhangs a bit and doesn't extend all the way down to ground level. Does that make sense? It's this latter aspect which would make it susceptible to high wind strength blowing from the wrong direction.
With my tent, the inner goes up first, as described here, and the fly sheet goes on soon after (just one pole and 4 clips and it is on - in fact, in wet weather I can get the fly sheet prepared first with it's single pole fixed in place and then it goes onto the tent in just seconds, so long as it hasn't flown like a kite in the meantime!).
It doesn't have a vestibule and the phad is a better design for this aspect.

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Dave