ongoing Tentipi issues

[Wink]

I bought a Tentipi Arran 5 lite a couple of years ago, and have to say I was a little disappointed. It was the "entry level" model, but still a lot of money for no groundsheet, no inner, no vents. Even the mosquito netting on the door is not midge proof. Still, I consoled myself that I had bought the best quality, if not the best specification. Unfortunately, I have been a very underwhelmed since! On its first proper test, driving rain and wind in South Wales (on a caravan/campsite!), it leaked. I suspect that the rain was being blown up through the top hat and dribbling down, but it may have been the seams as well. To be honest, I have never owned a tent in 30 years plus camping that leaked on me, so I was a bit dischuffed. When I came to take it down there was a rip in the fabric at the stress point at the top of the door zip as well.

Maybe I was unlucky, but I think that claims of massive superiority over other brands are being overdone. I am now thinking of making my own design, specifically to account for UK conditions (midges, lots of rain, ventilation), and seeing if I can come up with something better. Maybe combine the benefits of the Bell Tent (more protected entrance, short side walls) with the lightweight and fire-friendliness of the tipi (adjustable smoke hole/top hat). If anyone has any design ideas to throw in the pot, let me know!

 

[Mike Benis]

Well I have more good news about this Norse saga (sorry, couldn't resist the pun).

I finally hooked up with the people at Nordic Outdoor and have now seen the latest Safirs....

Conclusion: they're brilliant - definitely back up to their previous standards and beyond. The stitching quality is magnificent, the materials are the good old reliable ones we know and love (the canvas definitely feels much nicer), good proofing impregnation and a nice new touch: instead of a cord to measure the pegging distance there is a nylon tape which is bar tacked to mark out the main distance, making things much easier - especially in the dark because you can feel it - and also providing a solution that will carry on working even after things have been used a while, when the old markings would fade or get covered in mud.

I know many experienced users no longer need to bother with the cord, but still it's a nice further example of Tentitpi's continuous improvement.

So having warned people about the glitch, I can now quite happily let you know that going by what I have just seen you can very definitely buy the latest ones with the greatest confidence that you're going to get a superlatively made tent which will give you many years' pleasure.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Transmaniacon MC]

So did Tentipi make everyone happy and fix your problems with your tents. I am looking to buy a Safir 5 or7 in canvas or light to use for camping. Are they a great tent?

 

[thingswelike]

Interesting stuff this. Hadn't seen this thread before. I have absolutely no idea which materials my Varrie uses. But it was purchased from Caspar at around the time of the problems. I've certainly had the peg rings snap on me (two so far), and I have plastic guy tensioners. But the materials and stitching seem fine. Next time I see another, I'll compare.

I was aware that I've seen some with a much shinier valance than mine - I assumed it was newer and better, but now I'm not so sure. Hopefully I was lucky, although I would definitely describe my valance as 'course' and heavy.

 

[DPK71]

Mmmm, I suppose that was an inevitable. I'm a bit reluctant to say because I suspect its part of history now.

However it is a Mad Bear Vildmark 4, which for me has turned out to be a bit of disaster. Its now only available as Factory Seconds.

My reluctance is because a) Oliver (MD at Mad Bear) was very sympathetic and I would have no hesitation in buying from Mad Bear again,and b) it was getting very good buyer reviews on the Mad Bear Website, so my experiences seemed to be unusual.

The full list of manufacturing faults (poles not fitting together, stitching missing the seam and running through the main canvas, webbing straps missing, straps sewn in the wrong place, straps falling off etc) is too long to list, and as I ended up getting a large chunk knocked off the price (and it was the first run of a new model), I can live with them.

The main problem is that I cannot pitch it, the material stretches so much between wet and dry, that the tension straps aren't long enough to cope, This means that you need to constantly take out and replace the pegs.

it also means that if you don't constantly manage the pegging its gets so taught that its scary (taught enough to rip one of the webbing straps from the groudsheet) and so sloppy when its wet that if you don't sleep in the centre of the tent, the edges collapse onto you,

Now while I have no experience of pitching tipis, I do have a lot of experience with all sorts of tents from Canvas Bell tents to nylon tunnel tents, and I have never experienced anything like this before.

The flucuation from being so tight that you think its going to tear itself apart to so floppy that you end up with a working tent space of about 2m rather than 4m, is incredible and certainly my wife has now reached the stage wher she just doesn't want to use it. I feel the same way, but for me its more the irritation of constantly having to fiddle with the pegging.

Of course it could be my lack of experience with tipis and I admit to being a bit of a perfectionist when comes to pitching tents. Indeed, when everything is adjusted the Vildmark looks really good, but it never lasts more than a few hours.

I have watched Tentipis being pitched three times now, and have been down to see the pitched ones at Taunton Leisure about 6 times, in a range of weather conditions and they just seem so much better than the Vildmark. BUT one of the good reviews on the Mad Bear site commented on how much better the Vildmark was than his Tentipi, so maybe its just me.

From my correspondence with Oliver at Mad Bear , I am confident that the new stock of Vildmarks will be much better than this first batch that I got mine from, and his service was excellent. So my comments are probably of limited use.

However, I would be interested in any one else who has a Vildmark to see if this pitching problem is just me.

Graham

I've only just seen this Thread!

But I bought a Vildmark in 2008 I think and I had the exact same problem with the Sagging sides in the wet.
Mine was a second but I didn't have any other probelms with it.
It's a great tent in the winter with a stove but I wouldn't dream of using it if I thought it might rain.
I have given up using it and am looking at the Tentipi range now.

What did you go for in the end Graham?

Regards

Darren.

 

[myotis]

I've only just seen this Thread!

But I bought a Vildmark in 2008 I think and I had the exact same problem with the Sagging sides in the wet.
Mine was a second but I didn't have any other probelms with it.
It's a great tent in the winter with a stove but I wouldn't dream of using it if I thought it might rain.
I have given up using it and am looking at the Tentipi range now.

What did you go for in the end Graham?

Regards

Darren.

And I have only just seen your response, because I have been looking up old Tentipi threads.

I have had a Tentipi Safir 9 cp for a week now, pitched in the garden. Well, now just taken down from the garden - see below.

Today the tensioner on one the main peg out points sheared in two, and there are obvious stress marks in one of the other tensioners in exactly the same place.

One of the guy points has frayed from the top of the webbing down to the slot the guy is tied from and I have two inexplicable leaks that are forming small puddles on the ground sheet.

It has been pretty windy and lots of rain all week, but nothing that any decent tent shouldn't have coped with easily.

I'm not exactly very happy at the moment. The stove is meant to arrive on Monday, but instead the tent will be going back :-(

Graham

 

[Nonsuch]

I really think Tentipi have lost the plot on quality. You hear of too many unhappy owners. Spend half the money on a Hilleberg or Terra Nova and you will hear far fewer complaints. And I speak as the owner of two Tentipis.

 

[myotis]

I really think Tentipi have lost the plot on quality. You hear of too many unhappy owners. Spend half the money on a Hilleberg or Terra Nova and you will hear far fewer complaints. And I speak as the owner of two Tentipis.

Unfortunately, I ended up with a Tentipi because it was the only tent I could find that matched the criteria I had put together, and its taken over three years to finally buy it. So feeling really gutted at the moment, not least the concern about the reliability of the tent.

Graham

 

[myotis]

Now spoken to Taunton leisure who are going to replace the tent. They said they hadn't heard of a problem with tensioning buckles before, so lets' hope I have just been unlucky.

Graham

 

[Jez10]

Stumbled on this thread and thought I'd put my oar in...

I have a Safir 7 which is about to reach its 1st birthday. I think it is a wonderful tent. I can appreciate all the frustration vented in this thread, as I think it not unreasonable to spend so much money on something, and expect it to be nothing less than brilliant.

I am much more fortunate than some posters here, so I don't need to get into Tentipi-Bashing, but wanted to make a few points about my experience.

The tent is just what I expected, and has given some excellent service in some pretty horrendous weather (force 8 wind, heavy snow, bitter frost and torrential rain). We also have the Eldfell stove which made the tent warmer than the local pub when we were camping in -6 temperatures in February!

I have managed to snap one of the fibreglass spacer rods in the tipi cap when I rolled it up, but Tentipi are sending me a replacement and spare for free. These rods are a fiddle when rolling the tipi up, but you just need to be careful.

Dirt from soot is also a problem on the interior from before we had the stove with a chimney. The best advice Tentipi (eventually) gave me was warm water and a brush to remove the worst of it, but definately no detergents.

I also rather recklessly splashed out on one of the new porches. I needed it urgently for what promised to be a wet weather trip so drove 300 miles round trip to Keswick to pick it up from Nordic Outdoors. When I examined it properly once home, I found it was missing a toggle attachment to connect it to the tipi guy points. Nordic said they would sort it and I could fudge a solution for our trip so we continued. On trying to pitch the porch on holiday, I found that one of the 2 pegging points at the front of the porch was completely absent. It had simply not been stitched into the seam during manufacturing. Nordic have been great and have said they will just give me a new porch, but I can't help feeling let down. Someone in Tentipi's QA was clearly having an off day. It was doubly frustrating after the effort I had gone to get the porch, to find it failed on a trip. It obviously pays to pitch at home first if you have time!

I'm off to Keswick in 2 weeks for a road race, so will exchange the porch then. I think I'll look the new one over in the shop and report back on if it serves as well as the Safir, or whether I've just been a reckless fool!