Quechua MH100 2-Person Camping Tent
A 2-YEAR IN-DEPTH REVIEW
A 2-YEAR IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Two years ago, we walked into our local Decathlon store and bought the Quechua MH100 2-person tent for an overnight trip we had planned. The idea was that we would be using it for that one trip and perhaps occasionally a few more times in the future. Little did we know at the time that we would be using this tent A LOT and in all kinds of situations. So much in fact, that we now feel qualified enough to write an in-depth review on this tent.
Although we know this tent is not intended for heavy duty use, the purpose of this article is to show you how we’ve used it and give you our thoughts on how it has held up to everything we’ve thrown at it over these past two years. Let’s get to it!
Okay, let’s start from the very beginning. This tent is super easy to lay out and set up, even if you’ve never pitched a tent before. I guarantee you won’t have any trouble with the initial set up if you follow these easy steps.
This tent is marketed as a 2-person tent and the interior dimensions definitely allow for this. In practice, however, it can be a bit cramped depending on the type of activity that you’re doing. What we mean by this is that with 2 people inside there is little room left for much else, even with the tiny vestibule area at the front.
During a multi-day trekking trip in France we had to cram our backpacks in there with us overnight and leave our shoes in the vestibule area which is practically non-existent. It wasn’t the most comfortable sleep with our backpacks stuffed into the corners of the tent. Don’t expect there to be much room inside for anything else.
Despite this, the tent interior has some very useful features. There are two large mesh pockets to stash your stuff. The only problem with these, though, is that if you put too much stuff in there or something too heavy it’ll cause the tent wall to sag, possibly enough to bother you in your sleep.
A plastic hook and a nylon loop have been placed at the top center of the tent to hang a lantern, keys or whatever else you want to put up there.
There is a bit of shock cord installed from one end to the other that can be useful for hanging clothes or other things.
One thing to note is that Decathlon recommends using inflatable mattresses or sleeping pads no thicker than 8cm as it will greatly reduce the interior space and may cause condensation issues. Decathlon sells an inflatable mattress called the Quechua Air Basic 120 that fits inside almost perfectly and seems to be designed for this tent as it has the correct dimensions for length and width but not height because it is 16cm. We think it’s important to mention this because we see these two items paired together all the time in the store displays and it all just seems to fit together so perfectly.
Despite that, whenever we camp close to the car or at easy-access campgrounds, we utilize this mattress for convenience and comfort and haven’t run into any issues that were deal-breakers for us. However, I should point out that when using this inflatable mattress, my head and feet sometimes touch the ends of the tent resulting in some occasional discomfort (I am 5’11″/180cm) and I have observed a bit more buildup of condensation in the morning. Mind you that this is with 2 full-grown adults inside and is no longer an issue when we use a sleeping pad instead with a much lower ground clearance.
These are the sleeping pads we use:
The inner tent material goes all the way up the walls on the sides, about halfway up in the back and about 80% of the way up in the front. This allows for the tent to trap heat and keep you warm during cooler temperatures. However, this also means that in warmer weather the inside can get pretty hot, too.
Fortunately, there is a vent in the back and other methods that allow for air to flow through the tent and keep the temperature bearable. There is also the option of removing the rainfly completely to maximize airflow.
During the time we have been using this tent, condensation hasn’t been much of an issue. This is mostly thanks to its double-walled construction and to be honest, knowing the right spots to avoid too much humidity build up during the night.
According to Decathlon’s website, it states that this tent is designed for “occasional outdoor use (4 weeks/year) during camping or nature outings”. We’ve used it quite a bit more than that and can confirm that if you take care of it when not using it, it can take some abuse.
I remember one weekend we got caught in a surprise thunderstorm with heavy winds, hail, tree limbs flying all over the place. My only thoughts honestly were that this would surely be our glorious end. But guess what? Not only did it hold up just fine, it also didn’t leak a drop of water. Despite our great overall experience with this tent there are a few things to keep an eye on:
Throughout all this we’ve only had one issue come up and that was with the fiberglass poles. One of the sections developed cracks, gave out one day and broke. Keep in mind that by then we had used this tent quite a bit.
Decathlon offers a 3-year warranty with the purchase of this tent and we decided to take it back and give it a try. So we sent it out, got it fixed and when it came back we had to pay about 13€ for the repair. At that point we realized that it’s better to buy a tent pole repair kit from Decathlon which ends up costing about the same.
This kit includes 10 fiberglass sections and a length of shock cord enough to do both tent poles. If you are good at doing these kinds of things, it’s probably worth it to purchase one of these kits as soon as you see some cracks in the fiberglass. It’s quite easy to do and there are plenty of Youtube videos that demonstrate how to do it.
Previously, we mentioned the issue with the broken tent pole for which we recommend buying a tent pole repair kit for this tent after some time. Ours used the 8.5mm fiberglass repair kit when we had to fix it. Here are some more tips on how you might be able to improve your Quechua MH100 camping tent:
You might be wondering if this tent is right for you, and we think that if you fall into one of these three camps, it probably is:
Are you wondering which category we were in? It was number 2. Yeah, we were broke and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a tent so we got this one. Honestly, it was a great choice and one that we can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone in any of the 3 categories mentioned above.
Whatever your case may be, weigh out the options and make sure this tent is right for you. Here are some of the points that we consider pros and cons:
Although we’ve been heaping praises all over this tent throughout this review, we understand that it’s not comparable to a high-level or professional one. In fact, Decathlon sells other tent models with different features at higher price points as well. In truth, the reason we talk so highly of it is because we didn’t expect to get so much value for the price we paid. This alone makes it a tent worth getting, whether it’s because you’re short on funds or as a backup tent or for any other reason you can imagine.
But these are just our thoughts. Let us know in the comments what your experiences have been like, if we missed anything or if you have any questions about this awesome bargain of a tent.
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