Thread: Tentcots & Swags

I've got one...

Its OK...

Had it for years, back then I had to ship it from the states!

Its bulky, but comfy... My son uses it often in Spring / Summer

But my fat backside doesnt mind the swag in summer, lots of mesh vents is great...

I've been using Tentcot for the past two or three years now. They take less than a minute to errect and are free standing so you don't need to hammer pegs into the ground like some of the swags I've seen.

I store mine upright behind the front seats in the Disco or up on the roofrack if I need to use the space inside the truck.

The nylon isn't as breathable as I'd like and there's usually some condensation on the inside of the fabric in the morning...this is cured by rolling up the side vents and leaving the mosqitoe nets only for windows.

I think they are great bits of kit. I used it for five nights away and when used with a roll up matress I got agood nights kip every night way from the creepy crawlies.

Hi Streaky,

Doing a bit of research about theTent Cot for my new accomodation which may be either this or a swag.

Can you plaese tell me your thoughts on the quality, build, durability and design now that you have had it a long time.

Thanks Matt

We have one...

I imported it back when they werent available here.

Son loves it, far more comfy he reckons! Definitely in summer, bit cool in winter with the airflow underneath.

But bulk... Think the old square 'card tables' with the 4 legs that folded down from each corner... Now make it 100mm thick...

If you have a roof rack etc, they're fine...

I quite like using it... Once cable tied it to the defender roof rack and slept up there!

Build quality of genuine tent cots is great....

Never had an issue....

After having to pack 6 of the buggers into and out of the baggage truck or the bash...

DONT GET ONE.

pain in the ass to pack and if you're big and you set up on hard uneven ground they break.

Im not sure if the ones that were bought along were the same as the austent ones. but after watching some people try these things out Ive discovered the following

A decent swag sets up quicker
you can put you're swag on top of one of the new metal framed stretchers you get the same height off the ground
even if you do that, the swag option is still quicker.
Throw up tents are even quicker (but very funny to watch when someone drunk forgets to let go of it while its unfolding)
all of the above are a lot easier to pack and dont hurt other things while in transit.

Was looking at a US camping forum the other day. A few of the blokes where modifing them and using them as roof top tents on jeeps and trailers. Sounded like a good cheap way of getting a roof topper. Now has me thinking.

So getting back to an old thread of mine.

Ended up buying a hiking tent for cooma which weighed under a k and was used twice. Then bought a singlepole tourer tent which is great but bloody bulky and still takes some effort to put up and pack up, get the bed sorted etc. so over that now (see Markets soon)... so now back to looking at tentcots or swags for my personal use when the missus doesn't come to.

Reading back through the above it seems maybe a swag would be the way to go and possibly using on a stretcher. DO many others use them on a stretcher??? Looks like a swag with probably just the single hoop, stretcher and gazebo over the top sounds like a perfect option.