Flying Tent
Next up for the adventure camping gear review series is the “Flying Tent.”
It is not an every day occurrence to hear about a tent that flies. Well, today is a new day and an Austrian company made it work in a pretty genius fashion. They combined the best features of a tent and the comfort of a hammock and transformed it into a Swiss army knife of camping possibilities.
I encountered this company a couple years ago when they were running a startup campaign, but did not take the plunge at that time because frankly, the price. The product comes with a hefty price tag of $299.99 and with so many tried and true tents on the market, it was difficult for me to justify taking a gamble on this new company at that level of investment.
My old, faithful tent and small pocket hammock had always done the job; however, this hybrid product definitely sparked my interest. On Black Friday 2018, the company released a special promo code, which brought the “Flying Tent” down to a slightly more reasonable price.
I placed my order and was pretty excited to receive the item. The first thing I noticed was the low, flat profile in its collapsed state. This made it simple to pack on top of the motorcycle top pannier. Removing the system and setting it up for the first time was definitely a challenge. Anything that comes with instructions and requires a me to watch a YouTube video is usually more work than I’m willing to do. However, I was able to handle it and it wasn’t so bad.
I know what some of you are probably thinking… “What if you don’t have any trees around you?” Well, that’s the beauty of this system. It’s a 3-in-1 shelter, so you can go from hammock, to ground tent, to poncho in a matter of seconds to suit your terrain. The major plus side is that the inflatable mattress and cot can be left at home when using the “Flying Tent” as a hammock. This saves a significant amount of weight and space on the bike.
The rainfly is completely removable, which yields great ventilation and fantastic star gazing. A mosquito net surrounds the entire hammock with a very large entrance.
So, if you’re still reading this, you can see that this product has a ton of pros. With regards to cons, I felt they could have skipped the small zipper pocket inside the liner by where your head rests to sleep. Next, the tree tie straps are very short for wider trees and you will likely need to buy larger ones. Also, the break down process, including stowing the item back inside the carrying pouch, takes some practice. Unfortunately the bag rips easily (I know this because mine ripped on the first attempt). I also learned that customer service is available, but was easier reached through Facebook than email. After addressing my concerns about the bag ripping via our favorite, old school social media platform, a replacement was shipped to me.
Here’s a recap of pros/cons.
Pros:
Fun
Versatile
Space/weight saving
All hardware included (stakes, guidelines, etc.)
Cons:
Zipper inside the liner where you lay
Storage bag
Small tree tie straps
All things considered, I’m satisfied with my purchase and love all of the options that the product provides. So if you will be flying (ha!) solo for upcoming adventures, this just might be the hammock/tent you’re looking for.
Till next time, ride safe!
https://www.flyingtent.com/america/
Posted in Gear Review & Thoughts and tagged #adventure, #bmwmoa, #bmwmotorrad, #camping, #campinggear, #explore, #motorcycle, #travel, #xladv, 2WheelAdv, hammock, tent by admin with comments disabled.