Sit upright and you'll get a face full of tent...
Being described as a fair weather camper would be an understatement, the days of nothing but a bit of 1mm thick sheet of polyester being between me and the elements are long gone, but I found myself on the lookout for one for the summer music festivals so here we are.
The spec on this states it's a 2 man, hence the `X2' tag but let's be honest, Keira Knightley led next to herself would struggle to find elbow room! Nice thought though it may be, this really is a 1 man bin liner with poles holding it ajar - You can get in, shoulder to shoulder fine, it's just both of you and your mates feet will have to be intertwined due to the design of this - bear that in mind if he/she has verrucas.
I toyed with the idea of one of those pop-up tents, but where they really fall short compared to this is the packed away size. Cool as it may be to throw a flat tent in the air and watch it `spring' open before your eyes, it hardly packs down to a manageable size. Imagine carrying the lid to a kiddies sand pit around and you have an idea. It's OK in the back of a car if you're pitching your tent a foot away from where you park, but any amount of trekking and it's a pain to lug around, just too cumbersome. That's the great thing about this, it's literally as heavy as a bag of sugar and not much bigger packed down, I managed to slide it snugly into my backpack with plenty of room for my pants, socks and portable camping stove...Packing down by the way consists of removing the two poles and rolling up and then into itself. Brilliant!
Once up, which takes a few minutes with practice, you've got something what is described as `Featuring a striking colour design with reflective trims along zipper cuffs', I describe them as a bit of an eye sore, there will be no Bear Grylls-esqe hiding from grizzlies in the woods of Canada, you can see this thing a mile off. Depending on whether that's a plus point or not for you, will float your boat or sink it. I suppose it is easy to find amongst a thousand others in a cramped festival campsite - only time will tell for me...
Other than that, you'll need some new tent pegs for this, the lolly pop sticks they give you to secure this to the ground are worse than the potato ones you get from the eco-bods at Glastonbury, but think like a boyscout and you'll be fine.
All in all, the good outweighs the bad, the bad being space inside or lack of it, the good being portability and convenience so with those things in mind it should help you decide whether this is right for you or not.
This is the cheapest here...