Outwell Wisconsin XL Tent 2012 Discovery Collection From  £275.00

Upon opening the box, I was amazed as just how BIG this tent is. It's at least 3x the size of anything I've used in the past. It features a vís-a-vís style bedroom setup which means the bedrooms are at opposite ends of the tunnel shaped tent. Setting this tent up by yourself is possible but definitely not recommended. Even if it's just a toddler to help you hold the poles in place, it makes a huge difference.

The tent is not as bright as it appears on Outwell's website but is more of a slightly muted peach color. Assembly instructions are fairly straight forward; roll out and set up the rain fly, roll out and set up the tent within the rain fly. The inner tent connects to the structure of the rain fly by plastic hooks attached to the frame and stretchy cords attached to the tent.

This may seem a little counter-intuitive to the strength of the tent but since it sits firmly on the ground, you only have the weight of the walls to hold up in this fashion. The design creates a gap between the tent and the rain fly for the whole length of the tent which allows for greater circulation and helps to keep the inside cooler.

The floor of the tent is bathtub in style in that the material comes up off the ground a little in one solid piece eliminating seams at ground level and keeping water out. The rain fly has a hydrostatic head of 3000mm which isn't their most water proof line but it definitely does the trick. The first night the tent was set up and used, there was a massive rain storm that passed through and it stood up to those conditions with little to no effort.

The tent is good for families who may need a little more room than your traditional family tent and has the added craftsmanship that I've been told is standard of Outwell. One down fall to this line is the lack of a rain safe entrance. Water tends to collect slightly on the roof and when you enter/exit the tent it drips down and due to the slanted design of the side wall it falls directly into the tent. Even "flicking" the roof clear of some of the water doesn't really diminish the amount that comes in.

However, with the tent sealed up it stays very dry and has enough room to store your essentials to get you through the storm. The only reason for having to leave would be for potty breaks, to shower, eat, and things of this nature.

All Outwell tents should include their "Easy Pegging System" which comes with color coded (and sturdier) pegs. However, I was told by the authorized retailer that there was a packaging issue with some of the their Wisconsin line whereby the correct pegs were not supplied. Instead they included your standard run of the mill tent pegs. Upon contacting the retailer they informed me of the error and that Outwell had supplied them with additional pegging systems that they would send to me free of charge. If you purchase this tent and experience the same, be sure to contact your retailer.

All in all I would give this tent a very solid rating. As a starter tent it is exceptional. However, I quickly realized how much I was going to want to upgrade at some point in order to gain the additional features the other lines offer such as universal bedrooms, storage, awnings, rain safe entrances and other things. Of course with those extras comes extra cost. I would recommend this tent to anyone starting out that is serious about getting involved in the sport of camping and can afford the slightly higher price point compared to your run of the mill tent lines.

Suitable for portuguese climate and camping condition in summer.
To much ventilation inside the rooms during the nigth. Mesh pannels should be zipped for better control of air entrance.Rooms should be a little wider. Not so easy to pitch with wind.