OzTent - Best Tent or Worst Tent?

[driftdave]

We have a blackwolf turbo tent…and it awesome.
30 sec tent it not, but 3-5 mins it is. Unroll, peg it out, unzip and enter, lift the centre and it pops open like a umbrella. clip the fly on. DONE. Our best time, Wife and I, 3 min in howling wind. It blew an gale that night and it was solid as a rock!

Cheers
Dave

[xjrob]

I also have a Black Wolf Turbo 240, like it a lot, did not like how long the Oz tent was when packed.

Oz tent have a new tent out now, it is there version of the OZ tent saw it advertised on one of the camper trailer DVDs that come with the magazines.

Looks the goods is almost a copy of the Black Wolf.

[Brett Hooper]

I've actually sold OZTENT for years and have found the RV5 to be a bit weaker in the frame than the smaller RV4. If you're having trouble with wind, this could be a factory as I think the RV5 might be getting a little big for the design off the tent. To be realistic though you need to guy tents off incase wind comes up in the middle of the night, no frame is going to take big wind if it hits the tent head on. The OZTENT range are a really great though and nearly all customers we've sold this tent too love them, the RV5 might just be the one that lets the range down a little.

[Squall]

Originally Posted by jussy

Simon R , Makes sense to face the door away from the wind, you would have to be unlucky to have swing around right into your door. have reports of the Oztent being the only one standing on many occasions after storms have gone through camp sites.

You don't have to be that unlucky to have a sea breeze in the afternoon and a night breeze at night. In fact this is exactly what you should expect on large deserts and sand dunes near a beach.

For those not aware a sea breeze occurs when the land heats ups causing a local high pressure system and the cooler air out at sea will rush in to fill the gap. This is why of an afternoon or night you get a strong wind blowing in from the sea on a hot day. The opposite also occurs when you will get a desert or large sand dune area (very poor at being a heat sink) cooling down substantially overnight. The air pressure at sea is predomanaly governed by the large heat sink which is the ocean will maintain a relatively higher temperature and barometric pressure that the cold air from the land will try and fill (nature abhors a vacuum and all that).

So depending on where you are camping the wind could quite easily turn 180 degrees in an hour or less.

[eksjay]

I had a look at the RV4 today, and beside it was the RV3. The latter IMO is too small for a person of average height when lying down, unless they lie across the width of the tent.

Being a veteran user of a dome tent, and seeing what was available in nylon domes, and having experienced strong winds in some travels, the RV4 is a bit of a stretch in price, and roof top cargo. A Hang Glider may take up the same room on the rack.

BTW, my biggest concern would be the aluminium frame warping on the standard XJ roof bars, particularly in rugged conditions. Has anyone experienced this?

As for its accommodation, this is first class, particularly if there is an ideal spot one wants to set up camp as a home away from home.

[Yelene]

I apologize for bump an old topic from the dead, just have a few interesting things from personal experience, maybe someone will need this information in the future
We have the RV5 with the all the extra front panels, and the fly, we can fully enclose the front into a second room, we use it for our kitchen when the whole family is traveling. There is no floor though.
When I am on my own I just use the tent and when not needed i don't even roll out the front awning. In this config it's very quick to setup and if there is no wind only need 4 pegs total.
It has proven to be very effective in windy conditions, even when the wind has hit square on the front!
I have had it since 2009 and it's been in floods and very windy conditions (as prev mentioned). The tent IS WATERPROOF!!! even when the the bottom of the tent was sitting in flooded water half way up the floor on the outside. It also has never leaked even after 2 days of continuous torrential rain in Noosa (Jan 2013)! It is roomy snd I can stand comfortably in the front section to get dressed (I'm 1m 78cm tall). The Oztent stretchers fit in there comfortably. You do need to get the Fly as well though to stop condensation on the inside of the tent in humid environments.
The size is a consideration, an RV3 or 4 might be more suitable to you as it will be lighter and still fit the two of you now and when you have kids later you can add the tag along tent in front of the awning for the little ones. I would have gone with the RV3 option if the tag along was available when I bought mine.
I put mine on the flat roof rack in a custom cylindrical soft vinyl canvas bag I had made up to keep the worst of the wet weather off it as the original canvas bag will let water in from the zipper.
I use two lockable KanuLock straps to hold it down, quick and easy and it's safe. I like the roof option because I don't have to sorry about storing an often wet or dirty tent in my Paj https://bestoutdooritems.com/best-frame-tent/
I have recommended the tent to at least two other happy campers that have used them all over Australia and they couldn't thank me enough. I often look at Youtube for different videos on this topic, I will leave one here, maybe this will be useful to someone in the future

You Tube

[eksjay]

Originally Posted by eksjay

I had a look at the RV4 today, and beside it was the RV3. The latter IMO is too small for a person of average height when lying down, unless they lie across the width of the tent.

Being a veteran user of a dome tent, and seeing what was available in nylon domes, and having experienced strong winds in some travels, the RV4 is a bit of a stretch in price, and roof top cargo. A Hang Glider may take up the same room on the rack.

BTW, my biggest concern would be the aluminium frame warping on the standard XJ roof bars, particularly in rugged conditions. Has anyone experienced this?

As for its accommodation, this is first class, particularly if there is an ideal spot one wants to set up camp as a home away from home.

Further to my post in 2013, I am a proud owner of an RV4 which I bought 2 years ago, with the fly, and the front extension panels (which I only use if we are going to stay put for a while). I cannot say enough about this set up. It is a home away from home. I can actually live permanently in one of these.

I did not buy for the RV5 as I felt that it is a little too large for my needs. The front extension panels are useful to keep extra shelter from the sun and I tend to put things like chairs, and anything I don't want to sit out in the open overnite. I will be buying a front screen to allow for complete enclosure.

Recently, I also purchased Helinox stretcher cots which means this tent is now a 5 star hotel.*****

The XJ roof bar issue was solved through the purchase of a Rhino Pioneer Platform rack. The RV4 now sits as solid as a rock, perfectly flat, without the risk of warping.

As a backup, I always carry an Outdoor Expedition Ninox 3600 in case it is blowing a gale. This kit packs up into a small bundle.

The only thing I can honestly say I don't like about the tent is that someone can steal it while it sits on the rack. There is no security system that will allow the tent's skeleton to somehow be securely fastened through a cable lock on the rack. Can anyone suggest a hack???

This has to be one of my favourite vids below:

You Tube