New Quechua "Fresh & Black" Tents

[AshwaGandhi]

I drank the koolaid and bought a F&B this weekend. Was going to take my bell tent but realistically a 23kg bag is just too much so swapped it for a 10kg one. A weight (almost literally) lifted of my shoulders.

[al_coholic]

Was in my local Decathlon (Telford) on Friday and they have got a F&B Air 4.2 set up. What an absolute beast that is with a fairly hefty £430 price tag. But was so dark inside. 

[mike86]

Does anyone have any experience with the F&B 4.1? Thinking about upgrading from my F&B popup for more room.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/4-person-blackout-poled-tent-arpenaz-4-1-fresh-black/_/R-p-177332?mc=8492957&c=BLUE_TURQUOISE

 

The reviews seem solid. Some saying it's not as dark as they'd hoped. 

[waynewdk]

7 minutes ago, mike86 said:

Does anyone have any experience with the F&B 4.1? Thinking about upgrading from my F&B popup for more room.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/4-person-blackout-poled-tent-arpenaz-4-1-fresh-black/_/R-p-177332?mc=8492957&c=BLUE_TURQUOISE

 

The reviews seem solid. Some saying it's not as dark as they'd hoped. 

Posted a few pics yesterday, £167 at Argos 

[Jacksamthompson]

32 minutes ago, mike86 said:

Does anyone have any experience with the F&B 4.1? Thinking about upgrading from my F&B popup for more room.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/4-person-blackout-poled-tent-arpenaz-4-1-fresh-black/_/R-p-177332?mc=8492957&c=BLUE_TURQUOISE

 

The reviews seem solid. Some saying it's not as dark as they'd hoped. 

Yes we have it and love it. Any questions fire away. 

[ErnestWorthing]

39 minutes ago, AshwaGandhi said:

I drank the koolaid and bought a F&B this weekend. Was going to take my bell tent but realistically a 23kg bag is just too much so swapped it for a 10kg one. A weight (almost literally) lifted of my shoulders.

I've got both now and I'm still undecided what to do.  Having somewhere to stand up to get changed is really handy, and if I took the beast it could be somewhere for everyone to share and use as a lounge.  But yeah, the weight, oh, you've got to carry the weight...

[mike86]

25 minutes ago, Jacksamthompson said:

Yes we have it and love it. Any questions fire away. 

Just read back to all the chat on the previous page. All looks good apart from maybe the effort in getting it up. 

Considering maybe the 4.2 air but I'm not sure I can justify another £130. 

[mike86]

51 minutes ago, waynewdk said:

Posted a few pics yesterday, £167 at Argos 

Very useful. Cheers. 

 

 

[Jacksamthompson]

8 minutes ago, mike86 said:

Just read back to all the chat on the previous page. All looks good apart from maybe the effort in getting it up. 

Considering maybe the 4.2 air but I'm not sure I can justify another £130. 

Dont have any experience with the air ones but the standard ones easy enough with two people - you just have to bend the poles a lot. Doesnt take long at all just requires quite a bit of tension. 

[AshwaGandhi]

35 minutes ago, ErnestWorthing said:

I've got both now and I'm still undecided what to do.  Having somewhere to stand up to get changed is really handy, and if I took the beast it could be somewhere for everyone to share and use as a lounge.  But yeah, the weight, oh, you've got to carry the weight...

I'm coming via coach this year and not going to risk trying to take a trolly of some sort. If I was team car I'd probably be taking the bell tent because it's so spacious.

[al_coholic]

Apparently the 4.2 Air is £360 delivered from Next. Saying 1-2 weeks.

[Beaver89]

4.1 poles ordered today. Am I allowed in the club now? 
 

We toyed with the idea of the 3 man ones (Especially those umbrella tech ones! So cool!) as they are so much smaller and lighter but decided to take a longer term and more weather flexible view and put up with lugging it.

[Staberinde]

6 hours ago, Beaver89 said:

4.1 poles ordered today. Am I allowed in the club now? 
 

We toyed with the idea of the 3 man ones (Especially those umbrella tech ones! So cool!) as they are so much smaller and lighter but decided to take a longer term and more weather flexible view and put up with lugging it.

Welcome to the club 😎 

The umbrella ones are cool, however I insist on height and space, you've made the right choice B 89

[shayne66]

So for the 1st time me and the misses need 2x new tents as she is volunteering this year. I wasn't going to go to glasto but got a resale ticket. Our current tent is too big for one of us to manage by ourself. 

These Quechua tents seem to get some very good reviews. Now its just trying to decide which one and what size.

[TheDayman]

11 minutes ago, shayne66 said:

So for the 1st time me and the misses need 2x new tents as she is volunteering this year. I wasn't going to go to glasto but got a resale ticket. Our current tent is too big for one of us to manage by ourself. 

These Quechua tents seem to get some very good reviews. Now its just trying to decide which one and what size.

I've done a few festivals very comfortably (with 2 inside) in the older version of this -

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/3-person-blackout-poled-tent-mh100-fresh-black/_/R-p-313085?mc=8576111&c=BROWN_BEIGE

For extra comfort, you could also combine it with a tarp.

[Twiggy553]

On 5/30/2022 at 10:00 AM, mike86 said:

Does anyone have any experience with the F&B 4.1? Thinking about upgrading from my F&B popup for more room.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/4-person-blackout-poled-tent-arpenaz-4-1-fresh-black/_/R-p-177332?mc=8492957&c=BLUE_TURQUOISE

 

The reviews seem solid. Some saying it's not as dark as they'd hoped. 

Yes I have one and it’s great. If anything the living area is a bit too dark (only one small window) so we use a tarp to allow us to have door open even if it’s raining

[irnkrtn]

I went to Decathlon yesterday to pick up a cupboard. I went in some of the F&B tents and thought of you lot!

Store was sweltering, it was a lovely day, and at the back of one of the bedrooms I was chilly. What a tent. 

[Toilet Duck]

Just as a matter of interest...has anyone made the switch from a good Vango to one of these? If so, how do you find it. I love the idea of the blackout lining and the heat reflection...So, I went down to decathlon to get one, but when I had a good look at the tent, it has a design feature that I hate in tents, namely that the inner is connected to the poles and then the fly sheet goes on top (I'm aware this is how most tents are!)...My Vango Halo has the poles through the flysheet, with the inner connect to that and thus they never touch and it never gets damp. I've had many tents with a similar design to the F&B ones, even massively expensive MSR ones, and they still ended up with the fly sheet touching the inner overnight (no matter how well pitched) and getting damp (even just plain wet) at the points where they meet (whereas you can throw the Halo up in 10 minutes and this never happens). I ended up leaving and deciding to stick with my trusty Halo, but I'm still tempted! (I'm choosing to believe it's gonna be a scorcher)...Will I regret it if I get ones of these and leave the best tent I've ever owned at home?

[Twiggy553]

8 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

Just as a matter of interest...has anyone made the switch from a good Vango to one of these? If so, how do you find it. I love the idea of the blackout lining and the heat reflection...So, I went down to decathlon to get one, but when I had a good look at the tent, it has a design feature that I hate in tents, namely that the inner is connected to the poles and then the fly sheet goes on top (I'm aware this is how most tents are!)...My Vango Halo has the poles through the flysheet, with the inner connect to that and thus they never touch and it never gets damp. I've had many tents with a similar design to the F&B ones, even massively expensive MSR ones, and they still ended up with the fly sheet touching the inner overnight (no matter how well pitched) and getting damp (even just plain wet) at the points where they meet (whereas you can throw the Halo up in 10 minutes and this never happens). I ended up leaving and deciding to stick with my trusty Halo, but I'm still tempted! (I'm choosing to believe it's gonna be a scorcher)...Will I regret it if I get ones of these and leave the best tent I've ever owned at home?

My F&B (arpenaz 4.1) has it’s poles through sleeves outside the flysheet. Didn’t realise they made any that are inner first?

Edited June 3, 2022 by Twiggy553

[Toilet Duck]

2 minutes ago, Twiggy553 said:

My F&B (arpenaz 4.1) has it’s poles through sleeves outside the flysheet. Didn’t realise they made any that are inner first?

I have to cart it over from Ireland, so was looking at the 3 person one below. There's a single pole through the fly sheet for the porch, but the rest are inside and are used to pitch the inner (or at least that's what it seems when I crawled into it in the shop!)

https://www.decathlon.ie/2-3-man-tents/331796-149997-camping-tent-mh100-xl-3-p-freshblack.html#/demodelsize-254no_size/demodelcolor-8641758?queryID=9c7ab54d202c75da6dcf09121949a98b&objectID=4271868

[Twiggy553]

9 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

I have to cart it over from Ireland, so was looking at the 3 person one below. There's a single pole through the fly sheet for the porch, but the rest are inside and are used to pitch the inner (or at least that's what it seems when I crawled into it in the shop!)

https://www.decathlon.ie/2-3-man-tents/331796-149997-camping-tent-mh100-xl-3-p-freshblack.html#/demodelsize-254no_size/demodelcolor-8641758?queryID=9c7ab54d202c75da6dcf09121949a98b&objectID=4271868

Ah maybe the smaller ones use that system. It can be a nice feature if camping in hot countries where you just want to keep the flies away, but pointless in the UK

[Copperface]

Anyone with a pop-up and after a bit more storage/sitting/lenor bottle space, the Vango Gear Store has dropped in price a bit at Go Outdoors with plenty of stock compared to silly prices on ebay and elsewhere. Had mine for years now and fits any of the F&B popups (2/3/XL).Make sure it's this Trek one and not the Banshee version

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15894744/vango-gear-store-15894744

https://youtu.be/PRUuionFuP4

 

[shayne66]

So managed to narrow it down to 2 choices.

3 person poled MH100XL @ £89.99

Or the 2 second popup 3 person XL @ £139

Like the design of the pop up. Not sure can justify the extra cost for a pop up design 

[The Other Steve]

All of sudden watching with interest as my Coleman 3 Man Pop-Up Dome which I loved flooded in Ullswater this week with the rain so on the market for a new one.  Must have a leak somewhere.

 

Are the F&B tents decent when it comes to waterproof rating?

[garc1a]

thanks to this thread... and Late in the day i have opted to join the F n B crew. I have opted for the 3 person poled tent with the porch at £89.99 from decathlon... .then i couldn't walk past the Vango self inflating mattress which was another £80 i think.  volunteering in the bars, need my sleep when i can get it and hoping this solves many problems. 

next thing i need to think on is how i zone out the sound of the SE corner that we are camped just a bit too closely to.