Anyone have experience with the polish lavvu or canvas tent equivalents?

[Topher]

To those of you here who have either owned or do own a polish lavvu, do you consider it to be a good investment? I recently bought a zeltbahn (more for poncho purposes than shelter), but was wondering whether it would be a decent investment to get a lavvu for a tent. If you don’t like the lavvus I’m all ears for suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Buckshot]

For me the answer is 'it depends'.
They are fine for the environment they were designed for, the snow skirt works great in snow.
The problem i have with them is the amount of usable living space compared to the footprint.
The outside 3 foot is only usable as storage for the most part because the sides slope in, and the very centre where it should be most used and usable is taken by a pole and maybe a stove.
All that means you need a huge footprint to have a decent chance of being comfortable compared to for instance a dome tent style.

They do look cool though - especially with the fire going...

 

[Pattree]

They are heavy for the area of accommodation but they thoroughly watertight.

Check out the size! Look at the poncho “tail”. You want the size 3. It has three silver aluminium peg holes in a row.
Even if you are not tall the extra space is worth it.

You can rig it with a bi-pole outside the tent but you need guylines.

I don’t know whether the extension is still available.

They make good ponchos too!

 

[Topher]

For me the answer is 'it depends'.
They are fine for the environment they were designed for, the snow skirt works great in snow.
The problem i have with them is the amount of usable living space compared to the footprint.
The outside 3 foot is only usable as storage for the most part because the sides slope in, and the very centre where it should be most used and usable is taken by a pole and maybe a stove.
All that means you need a huge footprint to have a decent chance of being comfortable compared to for instance a dome tent style.

They do look cool though - especially with the fire going...

Yeah I did a bit of reading up in a different thread and someone said it depends more on if you consider the bite to be worth the chew. That make sense considering it’s a cone shaped tent. I didn’t even think about the pole taking up the middle but I could see that being a pain.

 

[Topher]

They are heavy for the area of accommodation but they thoroughly watertight.

Check out the size! Look at the poncho “tail”. You want the size 3. It has three silver aluminium peg holes in a row.
Even if you are not tall the extra space is worth it.

You can rig it with a bi-pole outside the tent but you need guylines.

I don’t know whether the extension is still available.

They make good ponchos too!

I did not know that was riggable with a bi pole that’s good to know. Yeah most of the ones for sale in my area were size two and I figured it’s probably worth the wait to try and get a size 3. I’m pretty new to tent construction so this is some pretty valuable info to me, thanks!