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i was talking to a local manufacturer of "speed shelters" who are based up the road and manufacturer all types of instant work shelters ..something I love the idea of but am unsure about . A decent one isn't cheap by any means and they look very wobbly so if windy would need strong pegging or weights but I guess that's to be expected . The prices do seem high for the better models ..even the small ones . they do offer budget options but i suspect these are not their own product and look identical to cheaper far east/china made versions but not certain .
Has anyone experience or knowledge of these shelters ..are they worth the money ? do they perform well in bad weather ? Would a cheap gazebo be better ? Your comments would be appreciated . Thanks, Billsheerspeed shelters
Never owned one but have used them at work on a few occasions. From memory they don't pack away that small. The one we used had guy ropes on the black rubber thing that we would tie off to something solid.
I've also used a decathlon pop up tent that didn't have a groundsheet in it, I preferred that!
Used a cheap gazebo to work on the car when I had to have things exposed that wouldn't normally get wet. The gazebo leaked like a sieve.
Do you need sides to it?
We used our old Khyam 'quick pitch' 4 man tent as a shelter when having to store some furniture outside. There's no built-in ground sheet so it worked very effectively. Their quick pitch concept works quite well for that kind of thing albeit it's quite heavy.
We use similar for lads on-site working in people's gardens constructing office pods. Started with a cheap £50 steel concertina jobby which lasted a few months,then upgraded to an aluminium 6 X 3m ez-up which looks very similar to what's on that website. That's probably done 30 weeks a year for the last 6 years being put up and taken down every 2 weeks. It would be fair to say you get what you pay for, but it really does depend on how much use you think it will get.
Yes they definitely do need pegging or weighting down.
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I've used a few at work, towards the smaller end. The ones I've used don't need pegging as they have straps or bars to keep the legs positioned, a sandbag hanging off each leg keeps them fairly well planted, but I've never tried to put one up when it's windy as you wouldn't want it blowing into the road. You can also tie them down if you have put them over a fixed structure.
Ours are all the translucent type so offer limited sun protection. Velcro/zip off sides are good as you can adjust them to protect from rain on whichever side is needed
Thanks all ..they seem a handy thing to have but for occasional use rather pricey so will probably get wet instead!
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Could this be the start of a new STW fashion advice thread? What disposable paper overalls?