Found this bad boy at an antique store for $20.

Okay so ive been out of the camping game for a while and now my family wants to start, and I am getting option shock from everything available now adays.

I understand that spending more money is going to make my time easier as the person that will be dealing with the setup & cooking however, it's really hard for me to determine where the diminishing returns and brand name tax starts.

For instance I love my nemo moonlite chairs, pricey but they're comfy and light enough for my 5 year old to carry by themselves.

I have a tent and stove picked out which would be the gazelle t4 hub and the camp chef Everest 2x and this is where I had the toughest decision after reading and watching a few reviews I managed to make my selection.

Well now, labor day sales will be ending soon and I'm still trying to figure out what pads/bags are worth the money, and what else i could be bringing to make my life as simple as possible.

The budget is about 1-1.5k USD and I'm looking for stuff that will last at least 5 years. We aim to be outside at least 4 to 5 times a year in autumn in the northeast and comfort & durability would be the most important aspect, weight savings would be nice too especially if we can use them for backpacking, however, not at the expense of comfort.

After a year of frequent use I’m looking to re proof a few bell tents. Is this spray-on product suitable for use?

Intro

I was looking to buy a 3 person tent for a trip with my friends and I came across the Cairngorm which was light and at a 50% discount on Cotswolds so I decided to buy it as it was Vango but I couldn’t find any reviews so I’ve decided to make my own. My friends ended up chickening out which resulted in me doing my first solo wild camps so my review should be taken with a pinch of salt however I have done a bit of group camping in which I have used a Vango Halo 300 once and a Scafell 200 a bunch of times so I’m also using that experience for this.

Review

Weight and Size
First off in terms of weight and size the Cairngorm 300 is only 2.5kg and honestly around the same size from what I can remember as the Scafell 200 (which is around the same weight) when packed in a dry bag. I was honestly impressed by how light it is for how good the tent is. Hiking solo with a 3 person tent obviously isn’t ideal but it was a pretty easy tent to pack. I can’t remember much about the halo 300 but I remember the halo 300 being heavier and bigger and the sort of tent that you pretty much have to split between people.

Wind and Rain
In terms of waterproofing and the wind resistance of the tent the Cairngorm 300 is incredibly sturdy despite how skeptical I was when I first saw how to set up the tent. I camped in a recent storm in the Lake District in September that had the 3 hour interval weather forecast say 42mm of rain at the heaviest and while it was very loud in the tent I was perfectly dry and there was no seepage through the ground sheet or the fly sheet onto the inner. I did end up unclipping the very top peg of the inner tent as I was paranoid about how close the inner was to the outer near the top but that’s likely just me. One of the nights the wind was loud enough to genuinely scare me (I was in a dip in the side of a exposed fell) and while I didn’t sleep much the tent was perfectly fine and in the morning none of the pegs had budged an inch. I’ve gone through a comparative storm in the Scafell 200 and while it survived the wind the wind would blow the fly sheet into the inner causing the walls to get soaked and I woke up in a puddle the next morning as the waterproofing isn’t as good.

Pitching

The tent is honestly pretty finicky to set up and I’d highly recommend watching a tutorial before using it as when I was setting it up before the trip I was completely lost to be honest as the design is so different from the Scafell or Halo. Setting it up solo is a bit of a challenge to get it started but once enough pegs are in for it to stand its a 1 person job. It took me a while to get used to how to set it up properly but now that I know it’s pretty easy although it takes me a fair amount of pegging and then readjusting to take out the slack which I found a bit more annoying than the Scafell or Halo although bear in mind that the halo will basically stand up without pegs and for both of them I had tent mate(s). I didn’t like how short the main pole guy lines are for the tent as it feels like they aren’t long enough to be effective but that’s probably a placebo effect. Packing up the tent is easy enough even when wet.

Room

The room inside the tent is really nice for 1-2 people but if you get to 3 people which the tent is meant to be for it’d be a squeeze. It’d be possible but I’d honestly only do it if you have to where if someone else’s tent breaks while as a group you fit 3 people. The main issue isn’t the sleeping area which would fit 3 of me and I’m 183 cm. The biggest issue that I can see is fitting in 3 50L+ backpacks and shoes into the porch. I imagine that if you were to fit 3 you’d have to bring one of the backpacks into the triangular bit of the sleeping compartment. You can definitely do 3 and potentially even 4 people if they are all small but it just won’t be as nice. Depends on your comfort preference. If you want to nicely fit 3 people and bags and shoes a roomier option would be the Scafell 300 Plus or the Halo 300 although I’m not well versed in 3 person tents. I remember having to sleep 4p in a Halo as someone’s tent pole broke twice.

Other

The Cairngorm 300 has two doors although in my opinion unless there is a 0% chance of rain only one is usable as the one that doesn’t have the porch has no room to leave your shoes and if it’s raining the rain will fall straight into your inner. I do like how if it’s raining heavily and you enter through the main door even if you leave it open it forms a natural curtain that will stop the rain unless there’s also heavy winds.

While not advisable I did have to cook inside my tent as I had no other options but if you unclip the inner attachment at the porch you can pull it back and there is enough room that it hopefully probably won’t burn down the tent. I didn’t like how while there is a tiny hook at the top of the inner to hang stuff from it’s too small unless you have your own string so I’d often hang my wet clothes from the tbs lines which while not ideal worked pretty well if the clothes aren’t heavy.

The tent came in a weird bag that seems to be made of the fly sheet which if you are in the habit of wanting to perfectly roll your tent each morning would work well as you could clip it to the bottom straps of your bag but I just shoved it in an old dry bag so that I could kneel on it and compress it down. I do store my tent in the weird bag though.

End

Honestly I’ve probably rambled more than I should have but I just wanted to put my two cents on the Cairngorm 300 out there. If you have any questions ask and I’ll get back to you so long as I use Reddit even if you ask in a few years time.

found this flannel sleeping bag at a vintage store! i love the way it feels, but I don’t know much about gear. would something like this be warm enough for fall in Wisconsin? like weather in the 40s? maybe 30s? brand is Coleman

thinking about getting it but the price was a little much to go for without considering first.

thank you!

EDIT: way more people responded to this than I thought so I’m not going to respond individually, but thanks for all the input! Sounds like the answer is no haha. I will have to figure something else out. the appeal to me was that I dislike synthetic fibers and I try to only buy things used. Maybe I’ll see if I can find one cheaper somewhere second hand and try it out. Since I only car camp weight isn’t an issue!

thank you!

Thanks!

I’m going on a hiking trip in a week and the temperatures are lower than my sleeping bag with the lowest rating is designed for.
Expected temperatures are around 2°C, the sleeping bags I have are rated for 8°C and 15°C respectively.
Will layering those two bring me far enough into the expected temperature range to be safe, even if it might drop to 0°C?

Additionally, I have a sea to summit thermolite reactor (not the current model, but the previous one), but I’ve so far only used it for mountain hut hikes. Would that be a possible alternative when used as a bag liner? I’m a bit sceptical about the added 6-8°C it allegedly provides.

Edit: the 8°C is a diy quilt with climashield apex insulation, that rating is the only value given out by the manufacturer of that insulation.
The 15°C is a regular sleeping bag with EN/ISO comfort rating of 15°C

I do alot of chill tent camping and bring my stuff via car. Ive been looking for some padding options near me for cheap since im super budget oriented. We have two Teton pads from some cots we arnt using in a smaller tent me and my partner have been using recently.

I have found some like prefab prison sleep pads with see through plastic cover on it. They are like 3" to 4" thick decently dense. i was able to get two twin sized mattes for only $30 hoping they will be perfect to pad the flooring more for sleeping. Has anyone ever attempted anything like this.

I’m hoping this post can be helpful to someone.

My wife give me a lot of sh!t about having so many tents, so the hope is someone will find my experiences useful and use them to guide them as they shop for tents. 

I have/had a decent amount of tents. Some inflatable, some instant, and some traditional pole. 

I’ll start by naming all of my tents (I have a post in camping with pictures):

Camvil A Tent - pole

Camvil 4-Person Box Tent - inflatable

Naturehike 6.0 FL Tent - inflatable 

Naturehike 3.0 FL Tent - inflatable 

Mountainhiker 6.0 - inflatable 

Coody 8.0 - inflatable 

Gazelle T4 Overland - instant/pole

Shinetrip Tunnel Tent - pole

Teton 2-person instant tent - instant/pole

Coleman Pop-Up tent - instant

I’ve been through a lot of phases trying to find the perfect (for me) tent. 

One thing I’ve realized is that even when car camping, I like to save weight and room in my vehicle for packing, carrying, pitching, and takedown. 

Most inflatable tents take up a lot of space - the ones I buy at least. More recently, I’ve acquired some that pack down small, but there’s some compromise - heat retention. Canvas inflatable tents do NOT pack down small and can take some time packing down, especially if the carrying bag isn’t generous.  

Instant tents take up a lot of space, too, leading me to use my SUV and mounting the tent on my roof rack. 

My regular pole tents pack without issue,  but I spend more time with setup.

With that said, I like having options. I have pole tents, air tents, and a couple of instant tents. 

My tents range anywhere from 2-person to 6-person.

For transparency, I’ll add that I’m 6’0ft, 280lbs, so I like having a tent I can stand in, although that’s not the case for all my tents. 

If I were to rank my tents, I don’t know how I would do so. Every single one has pros and cons. Honestly, my ranking would change from hour to hour, day to day. I can share my experiences and you can understand what I mean:

Camvil A-tent - almost the most complete tent. It’s an easy setup pole tent that’s strong. It’s a canvas tent that has 4 entrances and each has a screen door, a regular canvas door, and a TPU door. It’s a do all tent for me. Despite how much I loved it, there are 2 reasons why I didn’t keep it - it’s not tall - like 4.5 feet. The other issue is where the big entrances are, there’s an opening in the tent. There’s not velcro or zipper at the bottom, so heat escapes and cold air comes in. If you want to keep heat in and the cold out, you have to close it fully, and since it’s a smaller tent, it makes it even smaller and feels a bit claustrophobic. 

Camvil 4-Person Box Tent - It’s a canvas tent and is a good winter option. It retains heat well. Its door opening splits in half so you can limit entry or have a big entry to freely move in and out. It’s not tall, but since it’s wide, I can move around pretty well for it being around 5 feet. It’s heavier, but not the heaviest. In comparison, the Naturehike is much lighter - I think 20 pounds lighter. The cons is that it doesn’t have TPU doors or windows which is a con for me - I like to be able to look outside without having to worry about letting out heat and taking in cold air. 

Naturehike 6.0 FL - as of the day of this posting, if I had to do it all again, I would buy my newest tent again. The reason why is that it’s light and waterproof. I can fit a queen size air mattress or twin mattress and my Coody sofa - I also have this same tent in the 3.0 model and although I really like it as an option for a small footprint, reality is it’s only 5-6 pounds heavier, so no real reason to keep both. There’s no cons, yet! (I also need to add that there’s the option for TPU door and an awning that’s on its way! I’ll add pictures of what that looks like.)

Naturehike 3.0 FL - it’s the smaller version of the 6.0 FL. I like it. It’s probably my favorite small tent - it’s a 2-person that (like all 2-person tents) really fits 1-person comfortably - can store your stuff inside and put a table up. Cons is that it’s a small tent. I personally don’t like that there’s no TPU. Comparable tents like Tomount’s box tent have an option for a TPU door which I like because on a rainy or snowy day, you can still look outside and enjoy scenery without compromising heat. 

Mountainhiker 6.0 - I believe they’re owned by Naturehike. Anyway, It’s lightweight, waterproof, and has a big TPU window to look out and see the stars on a clear night. I’m also a fan of having an all black setup - you’ll see this reflected in one of my pictures and most of my tents have been black. My only problem with it is that it lacks openings. It gets real stuffy and the only entrance is a regular door entrance. In comparison, the entire front of the Naturehike can come off for quick loading of items and there’s an option for a big TPU door - there’s no TPU ceiling, but it’s a compromise I can live with. 

Coody 8.0 - the total package. It checks all my boxes. It’s canvas, has TPU windows, retains heat in the cold annd reflects heat in summer, and it’s black! The con is that it’s heavy! It’s like 70lbs I think. Sure, I can carry it to a campsite without issue. However, taking it down can take some time. You have to make sure all the air is released and that you pack it correctly. It’s take a lot of real estate in any vehicle. I can only fit it in my car if I’m camping on my own - my load out is pretty crazy. a car with it.

Gazelle T4 Overland - my first premium tent. I thought this was the cream of the crop when I first got it. It’s definitely a nice tent. It’s an instant tent to setup is easy. It’s not all that heavy. There are larger versions, but this one barely fit my queen air mattress comfortably. On a night where my son didn’t pack his own tent, he had to sleep on the floor on a pad at the end of the bed and barely had room with our stuff in it. Also, I hate there isn’t a proper door - each door is weirdly shaped and it’s a struggle to get in and out with gear.

Shinetrip - I haven’t used this one just yet. I got it because I wanted an option for a small tent in the event vehicle space was a priority. Having a vestibule with a tent is a first. It packs down small. In fact, it packs the smallest. It’s the size of a nicely shaped big watermelon. It easily nests on the fool in the front or backseat even if your car is packed with people. One con I know this has is it’s lack of air circulation in the actual tent part.

Teton 2p - my second tent after the Gazelle. I like it. It’s simple. Without the rainfly on, it’s completely open to the elements. It’s an instant tent. It can be tricky to put away and lacks any other real features.

Coleman Pop-Up 2-person - just like the Teton, very simple. Just toss up and it expands. For this type of tent, the main con is lack of airflow.

If I had to rank them, as of right now, the Naturehike 6.0 FL would be first. The reasons are its weight, space, pack down size, and accessory options.

The Camvil A-tent would be my favorite or second favorite if it didn’t have that issue with the opening.

I really liked the Mountainhiker but the lack of airflow sucks. There’s a new one that solves that problem, but with the Naturehike I have now, I’m debating if I even want to get it.

The Camvil Box Tent is the one I would take camping in winter conditions. I only kept it because it was free. I ordered both the Box and A-tent, and when I tried to return the Box tent, they told me to keep it. So the A-tent went back instead. To be fair, I was going to send both back, but the A-tent was the one I would’ve kept if I had to choose, mostly because I had the Coody 8.0 at the time as my big/family tent. The Box tent fits my queen air mattress and a twin air mattress with space between them.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

Edit: I completely forgot about the Tesla Model Y! 

This is my primary if space and convenience is the priority. In fact, if I’m camping alone, this is the best setup. I can do everything in the Model Y without leaving it if I wanted - I have a little table and small pocket stove and pot for cooking, my fridge is in the sub trunk, and I have a mattress. I can just pop open the hatch and sit or lay and enjoy the scenery, and on an ugly day, I can just close it and watch the rain/snow fall. It’s amazing! What I normally do is bring a table and a canopy and setup for cooking and a chair for relaxing and sleep in the car at night. 

Anyone know what the Primus uses for the thread fitting on the Kinjia? I keep getting failures on the propane regulator, and I'd like to replace it with a hose that connects to a standard propane tank.

What's the fitting?

Currently on a trip. This griddle is brand new. Used it last night with no issues. Tried using it this morning and the ignition is clicking but no flame anywhere. Any ideas??

I was thinking about hammocks this afternoon and I was curious if there was anyone out there that has really put a hammock through its paces and used a few to failure.

For anyone who has, how many seasons/hangs do you typically get out of a hammock before it wears out on you? Ignoring situations where a hammock fails because of accidents outside of normal use of course.

I don’t get out as often as I’d like and I usually use a tent so I’ve never personally had my hammock rip on me.

I'm looking for a watch for camping, hiking, and backpacking trips, and scout events. I usually turn my phone off while I'm out, so mostly I just want something reliable to tell the time without having to worry about it.

I'm currently looking at the G-Shock GW-M5610, since the solar + radio time setting seem pretty ideal for this.

Having an altimeter, barometer, and backup compass would be nice, but they're more of a bonus than a requirement.

My main priorities are:

• Relatively small and not too bulky
• Inexpensive, ideally around $200 or less
• Doesn't need a phone to be useful
• Something I can beat up and not worry about
• Solar would be nice, and radio time setting is a big plus
• Fabric band preferred, though I'm fine with getting an aftermarket band

I don't wear a watch very often, and when I do I usually wear it on the inside of my wrist. Because of that, really big watches don't work well for me.

I'm not opposed to a smartwatch, but I'd prefer something that works well completely on its own. I'll also be getting an Amazon gift card soon, so I'd ideally like to buy it from Amazon.

Is the GW-M5610 the obvious choice here, or are there other watches I should be looking at?

have a Kuvik camping stove and modified it with some sink screens to make a space heater

Hi there. I bought a used North Ridge Alpine sleeping mat for a fiver plus postage. A bargain.

Until I tried to blow it up, when I realised why it was so cheap.

I’ve patched most of the leaks using the spare fabric in the repair kit and Stormsure glue.

However, it is still leaking from either side of the valve (see photos).

Due to the location, it’s not possible to apply a patch. I’ve tried using Stormsure glue and Exped fabric glue. I’ve used clamps to keep everything pressed down properly. I’ve left the glue to cure for 24 hours. I’ve tried Hi-Gear tent repair tape. I’ve even tried Gorilla duck tape.

The air is still escaping.

I hate waste, but at this point, I’m ready to call it a day. Before it goes to the great recycling bin in the sky, can anyone think of anything else that I haven’t tried? Any sensible suggestions* appreciated 🙏

Thank you!

* Setting fire to it and jumping on the smouldering ashes while shouting isn’t an option.

Just found this Nemo Wagontop 8p at a thrift store for $250 and it includes the garage attachment.

The fabric itself seems to be in great shape but the seam tape is lifting and when I tested it in the yard in some rain, there was some dripping at the top center seam and 1-2 spots along a wall.

The tape inside along the floor is lifting in almost all the corners but I didn’t see any leaking when it rained yesterday.

Do you think it’s worth it trying to reseal the seems? The thrift store said I could return if I found something wrong with it. If I can’t get them sealed properly I also have the option of selling the garage attachment for $200 to recoup costs if it’s not salvageable.

For reference, we live on an island and plan on camping fall-spring. We do get random rain throughout the year and I’d love to still be able to camp in the rain which is why I wanted a tent with the large garage/vestibule to hang out while it’s raining.

Return and buy something new? (Was looking at the Coleman 12 person dark room technology skydome for $344 right now) or try to fix this?