Bison Tundra 8 - a closer look

I have had the chance to take a much closer look at the lavvu now and I am pretty pleased. The quality is so good that I wonder how much better the equivalent Tentipi can be for another £600, I have heard they are fantastic, although I have never seen one... but I do wonder!

I have taken a pile of detail shots as I had real trouble finding decent photographs when I was researching this purchase. Double click on any of them for a good size image.

There are not many Tundra 8's in the country at the moment and apparently they take an age to come from Norway. I purchased it from Point Bar Wilderness and had to order the Bison wood burning stove and groundsheet from Mad Bear (40 day wait). The stove means I'll be able to take the boys camping later in the year too.

Point Bar Wilderness have been great, offering lots of after sales advice and hints and tips, and Mad Bear have been incredibly helpful too. They are both active on BCUK.

A couple of things pissed me off a bit, I had to re-tie all of the guys as they must have been hanked and then tied to the tent in the factory and were badly twisted. The other thing was the guy runners were plastic, not alloy/metal. No excuse on a tent of this price point and quality. I don't want one of those breaking on me on a windy night, because this thing could easily turn into a full sized parachute.

Oh yeah, I have to waterproof it too, but that is to be expected on a cotton tent.

It is a great tent to sleep in, not a drop of condensation even though we didn't use a full groundsheet and it was cool and comfortable all night. I am really pleased and looking forward to our first weekend in it :)

 

The door opens to two panels...

...or just a single panel.

Everything is very well put together.

The horrible hanked guys and those plastic runners.

Double mosquito doors.

Storm flaps all around.

Looking up with the top cap in place. This comes off if you use a firebox or the chimney of a stove slots through a special slit.

Decent chunky zippers.

Good quality tensioning straps all around.

Simple door tie backs.

Logo screen printed, not a sewn on patch.

Those straps again.

The roof cap. The guys at Point Bar suggested removing half of these and tying them to the guys to make them stand away from the tent (and stop contact leakage points).

Huge, solid un-bendable pegs (but no spares - shame)

View from inside.

Drying time.

Drying time.

I am assuming these loops are for drying/airing?

The tension strap buckles are just the right size. Have I got this wrong?

Cap off, light pouring in (and rain too if you are not careful).

 

Hope this is useful to someone :) Let me know if it is.

Chris