Gear Review: OEX Bobcat 1 Tent Review with OEX Expedition Tarp
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ค. 2021
- Taking you through the set up of my brand new tent and tarp combo. I hope you enjoy it, I love this tiny tent, it's perfect for just me. Back to my big walks next week, bear with...
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Just bought one today from Go Outdoors (22.6.21) and had a quick set up in the back garden. They price matched and with their 10% off got it for £61. I'd watched a few videos before deciding to get one so I knew exactly what I was getting. I was aware that the back wall does slope in a bit, and though I can sit upright the inner does brush against my shoulder and the side of my head. I noticed that when you were sitting in it you weren't fully in so didn't point this out. I'm sure I'll just get used to that, though for some it might be a sticking point. I'm 5' 8", so I would recommend people who are much taller than me to try it out first as it may be a bit cramped for them. I like the porch area. It's a decent size for cooking in if the weather is too foul to cook outside. I intend getting back into wild camping/backpacking after a long lay off as I'm not getting any younger and I'd like to get back out there while I'm still able. I could use the Wild Country Zephyros 2 which I bought for camping on motorbike trips. It's got good space in the inner as it's classed as a two person, but because of the size of the inner the porch area is pretty poor. It's in great condition, but it was a no brainer to give the Bobcat a go at £61. It's just great value. I know you 'get what you pay for', but at this moment in time as I'm just dipping my toe back into the scene I'm not ready to pay Hilleberg prices! Happy camping Dave.
Nice review Dave. Thank you
Thank you Keith
@@bushcraftdavetrangia you are very welcome.
nice vid, i actually own the predecesor to this tent, the Northridge Col-1.... from the looks of your tent, it would seem that OEX ( which is the same company as Northridge ) have ironed out all the flaws in the Col-1, namely the saggy inner, giving a porch ground sheet, and a much tighter outer pitch.... having said that,,,,with regards to your tarp, you may want to try ( as viewed from behind your tent ) moving the tarp forwards about 2-2.5 feet so that the over hang of the tarp over the pole of the tent is only 1 foot rather than the 3 feet you currently have it ( which is redundant and a waste of tarp space)... doing this would give you a massive porch area ! hope this helps
I had a modified North ridge col (which later became the col lite, which is the predecessor of the bobcat, I worked in the tent department at go outdoors at the time) and camped in some serious sub zero temperatures, it's a warm tent which holds your body heat in well. The only thing they still haven't utilised from my version is to attach the inner back panel to the outer guy point to give more internal room.
Thank you. It is a bit cramped inside but I agree it keeps the heat in well. 👍
@@bushcraftdavetrangia that's the only other downside, if your over 5ft10 and lie on your front, it's not long enough lol.
The bobcat 1 looks awesome with the tarp loads of room, I've got the phoxx 2 oex makes really good tents at affordable prices. Great video dude 🔥🔥🔥
Thank you Marshy. Yeah I'm really impressed with the whole set up. Felt very spacious. I looked at the Phoxx 2 but it was a bit too similar to my Coleman tent so went for this which was a it more unusual. Not seen many tents that look like this.
Definitely different looks cool 🔥🔥🔥
Put a sheet under the tent it makes it better good video 👍
Also recommend attaching the inner before you do most of the pegging out.
Thank you 👍
Hi Dave, I've just purchased a Tamar 2 Dome (dome- dark green) backing tent from Amazon - It normally retails for £102 .50- but at the moment they are £42.50p- I prefer a bigger tent because I like more room. I'm only 5ft nine but 18 stone.
I have one, and it is much much easier to put the pole in than that. Even from day one. And I’m not that strong.
Hi Dave. These look nice little tents (especially considering the price). I like that it is "outer pitch first" which is very useful in our rainy country! 😁 Can it be taken down as one, or do you have to re-attach the inner each time you pitch? Nice overview, by the way!👍
Hi Des. Glad you enjoyed the video. I think you could take it all down as one, but I would expect the little clips inside to come undone in places, so you would just need to check them when you pitch again.
just need to pull the black ground floor line towards yourself to get the tension and bend the first part of the pole to insert it into the second peg. great tent used mine first time this weekend. Bit of condo in the morning but its a one-man compact tent lol
Thank you Mark. I'm also finding now I've used it about a half dozen times the pole is super easy to get in. Just needed breaking in I guess.
Enjoy your camping buddy
Awesome video Dave--new friend here
Thank you Dave
Subbed. Not seen thee before- good channel
Thank you Mark. Nice to have you onboard
👏👏👏👍
Every video I've seen on the Bobcat has issues with the pole. Seems like it's few mm too long.
Great video. Still my planned purchase for bike packing but 6 months illness buggered that plan for 2022.
Sorry to hear that Greg. The pole takes some getting sorted. I have used the tent loads since and it has got much easier with time. It's almost like the tent needs breaking in. 👍
A tent with a decent vestibule would be a better option I think. With this set up, the tent and tarp are not particularly light and probably bulky in your pack, also so many guylines! I can see the advantages of having that large porch area to sit and cook under though. Thanks.
It’s got a huge vestibule. Some 2 man tents are the same size as this tent, but they cut the vestibule out and make it a sleeping area. The reason I like this tent is the large vestibule with the included footprint to keep my gear dry. I’m notoriously messy, so the vestibule let’s me spread my things out and get organised in the morning.
Can the door be used as an awning? Works well with the tarp for a cooking/relaxing area.
Yeah it can. There are zips from either side, so you can zip up to the top and then bring the door out. You could use two hiking poles and some cord and create a useful little awning.
@@bushcraftdavetrangia Thanks for the quick reply, That’s excellent, I haven’t seen anyone have it configured that way.
You need to bend it more not try use brute force to get it in, if you bend the poles a little more it will go in first time
Thank you Shuggie. It's definitely got more bend and flexibility with time too 👍
does the tarp come separate
Hi Tom. Yeah the tarp comes separately. I think it's called the expedition tarp. It was on offer the other day at gooutdoors pretty good price 👍
Trip hazard city..
Video misses out the only important bit how to actually set the tarp up, just got one myself and have no idea where to start or what order to do it in..no instructions or guides anywhere I'm amazed no one has done a guide yet
Really good point. It was fairly tricky with just one person, but with a bit of trial and error it wasn't too bad. Main thing was to decide how much space I wanted at the front of the tent, and left only a little bit hanging over the tent at the back.
I have found the star shape of the expedition tarp a little bit awkward and times when I have set it up separately, and I think a standard rectangular tarp is much more practical. 👍
That first set-up looked a hell of a faff, but now that it's all set up, would it be possible to keep the inner and outer connected so that next time you use it, it can go up as one ? If that will work, I will consider buying one. Our weather is so often unhelpfully wet that I can see no justification for any tent for the UK Market not being designed to be pitched as one unit.
I have become quite evangelical on this issue and hope that others too will add to my admittedly harsh criticism of the manufacturers of back-packing tents which rely more on marketing b s than excellence of design. B s which seeks to make a virtue of all mesh inners which allow the occupants to enjoy a bit of star-gazing, while ignoring that the darn thing is usually uninhabitably wet through by the time you have wrestled an unco-operative outer into submission, in what is normal UK upland and lowland poor weather. There are no acceptable excuses for laziness or incompetence in design or cutting corners to save a pound or two. Perhaps it will take a refusal to buy anymore of the silly inner first designs to bring in this much needed change.
OEX have a good design in their Bobcat, but it could be more than good with a few tweaks to enable inner and outer to go up together.
Hi Arthur. It was definitely an issue the first time I used it, but that was just as it was new to me and I wasn't 100% confident with it.
I have used it loads since and it had become super quick to put up. I've even put it us in the rain and had not real issues with doing outer first then get inside under the shelter of the outer and sort in the inner once inside.
I agree it can be a real pain to have 2 layers to sort out and would love tents to be quicker to pitch. If you find one please let me know as you could be saving us all a load of time.
I definitely think you could just leave the inner still attached by leaving the loops attached. It might make getting the pole in a bit tricky and make the tent awkward to handle and move around. But I think it could work.
Hope this has helped and thank you for commenting 👍
stake it out first
To many guide lines and I would have move the tarp further out to give you move room to sit under
Thank you Jamie 👍
How tall are you chap
I'm pretty short really. I'm 5ft 8
@@bushcraftdavetrangia really like the bob cat but I’m 6ft people say 6ft and above wont fit comfortably in the tent .. did you have much room top and bottom
Subbed
@@captainkickoff3565 thank you. Welcome to the channel
@@captainkickoff3565 I totally love this tent but it can feel quite cramped. I find that it's from the side though not necessarily the length. It'll be tight, but if you find it for a good price I definitely think it's worth a go.
Great for lightweight backpacking, but definitely snug 👍