Decathlon Quechua Arpenaz 4.1 Family 4 Man Tent Review

What we tested

Decathlon Quechua Arpenaz 4.1 Family Tent £79.99
Buy it here.

Technical features

• 4-man tent
• 1 bedroom
• 1 living area
• 200mm HH
• Lined flysheet above living area for ventilation
  
• 9.8 KG
• Colour coded poles
• 190cm H x 260cm W x 455cm L

Pros

• At a price of just £79.99 this is an excellent quality tent
• Head height so you can stand up in it
• Easy to pitch thanks to colour coded poles
• 2 year guarantee
• Heaps of additional product videos and reviews available on the Decathlon website
• Plenty of lantern hanging hooks inside the tent, 3 in total
• 4 sewn in storage pockets inside the bedroom
• Large window so you can make the most of the view
• Comes with a spare guy rope and spare pole
• Packs down to a small size and is very light to carry

Cons

• Relatively low waterproof rating of just 200mm HH, despite this, the tent did cope well in a 48 hour torrential storm
• The skirt at the bottom of the flysheet, running along the outside of the tent kept blowing up in the heavy wind. Combined with torrential rain for 48 hours, we did end up with a couple of puddles inside the living area, but nothing to drastic
• The window cover consists of just two clips either side at the top, so when you open these to look outside, it doesn’t stow away anywhere, just hangs down at the side

Pitching the tent

On arrival at Shell Island we set about putting the Arpenaz 4.1 tent up. The weather was grim, gray sky, drizzle and high winds, but thankfully erecting the Arpenaz 4.1 tent was a breeze, and we really like the fact that there is a fabric pitching guide sewn into the bag, so it’s impossible to lose.

With the two of us, it took about 15 minutes in total, including clipping in the inner tent, and the bucket style ground sheet for the outer living area.

Internal storage pockets

Internal toggle tie-backs on the bedroom door

Inside the tent is spacious, and in our opinion, ideal for 2 adults or 2 adults and 1 child. However if you are using self inflating mats, you could fit 4 adults in side by side.

One of 3 lantern hanging hooks inside the tent

We tried our double airbed inside, before determining that there was enough space to use our 2 double height twin size airbeds; significantly wider than the double airbed.

Looking into the bedroom compartment of the tent

The verdict

We’d had our eye on this tent since last season, and were delighted to find that it actually exceeded our expectations.

 

We are strong believers in the fact that you don’t always have to pay a fortune to get a decent, functional tent, and the Decathlon Arpenaz 4.1 really does deliver. There are not many standing height tents on the market at this size, and certainly not at this price point.

Bucket style ground sheet in the living area

We tested the tent at a coastal campsite and spent 3 nights in it, and the weather was terrible throughout. Despite the torrential rain and strong winds, the tent stood up to the elements sufficiently, so we’d have no problem in recommending it.

Rain beading on the flysheet

The tent being buffeted by high winds at Shell Island July 2016

 

Thank you to Decathlon for supplying the featured product for us to review.

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