OzTent RS-1 - First Experience and Thoughts

[Geobloke]

I absolutely love our RV-4, but as you probably know they are big old beasts to transport around and way over the top for a single person on an overnighter.

As I have a lot of overnighters planned this Winter I have been looking for a smaller camp setup. It has to be;

1) Easy to set up, even in the dark
2) Discrete, no garish colours
3) Good all weather characteristics, especially wind and rain
4) Comfortable
5) Warm

My short list was a cheap second hand roof top tent (RTT), a back packing one man tent, bivvy bag (seriously I considered it) or an Oz inspired swag. The RTT was my preference, but good lord even the 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand ones were going for north of £800. A pity but, hey-ho. Plan B was a one man tent or Bivvy and I was about to click buy on a nice MSR tent when I saw an OzTent RS-1 up for sale. I confess I honestly thought the seller had mis-listed it and it should have been an RV-1. But no... :shock:

I have never seen an RS-1 for sale in the UK, so I went to have a look and well now I am the owner of this super mini-OzTent. Plus a Darche stretcher for it to sit on too. Never had a tent off the ground before and what a luxury it is to :mrgreen:

So the tent itself is everything you'd expect from an OzTent product, just in miniature. It is actually in my opinion the best of the OzTent range. Plus, it is big enough to get two adults inside, it is cosy but it is possible.

First job as far as I am concerned was to get this thing as waterproof as possible, so up with the tent and out with the garden hose and a good soaking to "season" the canvas. Often a forgotten task but it does make a difference to the effectiveness of the tents canvas.



The 1st class setup is to have the tent sat on top of the stretcher, it fits perfectly, with the RS-1 mattress and a sleeping bag. It is incredibly comfortable. Dark, so very dark inside. With the reduced air volume it is also quick to warm up as well.

The 2nd class setup is minus the stretcher. It is only slightly quicker to setup and is much lower profile.

I have now slept out in the tent on three occasions (once bumping in to Dave12345) and it is an incredibly warm and comfortable setup. It is really easy, intuitive to set up even in the pitch dark by head torch. I can highly recommend the RS-1 tent for anyone that enjoys solo camping or overloading.

The only minor downside is that it is a big ol bundle when compared to a back-packing tent. When packed up it is easy to move around. It will fit in the back of a Defender. I transport it across the second row seats when it looks like it is going to rain and on the roof rack when not. The stretcher is dinky, no bigger than a packed up camp chair and just sits in the footwell. I know it will not be to everyones taste or need but if you are in the market then take a look at this brilliant tent.

As we are going into the darker time of the year I have just modified the setup to make things a little easier with a strip of USB powered LEDs. These are water resistant and will fold up with the tent. All that it needs is the power bank to work. Hey presto one up-market comfortable tent for all weathers

 

[Paul d]

I absolutely love our RV-4, but as you probably know they are big old beasts to transport around and way over the top for a single person on an overnighter.

As I have a lot of overnighters planned this Winter I have been looking for a smaller camp setup. It has to be;

1) Easy to set up, even in the dark
2) Discrete, no garish colours
3) Good all weather characteristics, especially wind and rain
4) Comfortable
5) Warm

My short list was a cheap second hand roof top tent (RTT), a back packing one man tent, bivvy bag (seriously I considered it) or an Oz inspired swag. The RTT was my preference, but good lord even the 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand ones were going for north of £800. A pity but, hey-ho. Plan B was a one man tent or Bivvy and I was about to click buy on a nice MSR tent when I saw an OzTent RS-1 up for sale. I confess I honestly thought the seller had mis-listed it and it should have been an RV-1. But no... :shock:

I have never seen an RS-1 for sale in the UK, so I went to have a look and well now I am the owner of this super mini-OzTent. Plus a Darche stretcher for it to sit on too. Never had a tent off the ground before and what a luxury it is to :mrgreen:

So the tent itself is everything you'd expect from an OzTent product, just in miniature. It is actually in my opinion the best of the OzTent range. Plus, it is big enough to get two adults inside, it is cosy but it is possible.

First job as far as I am concerned was to get this thing as waterproof as possible, so up with the tent and out with the garden hose and a good soaking to "season" the canvas. Often a forgotten task but it does make a difference to the effectiveness of the tents canvas.

View attachment 297428View attachment 297429View attachment 297430View attachment 297431View attachment 297432

The 1st class setup is to have the tent sat on top of the stretcher, it fits perfectly, with the RS-1 mattress and a sleeping bag. It is incredibly comfortable. Dark, so very dark inside. With the reduced air volume it is also quick to warm up as well.

The 2nd class setup is minus the stretcher. It is only slightly quicker to setup and is much lower profile.

I have now slept out in the tent on three occasions (once bumping in to Dave12345) and it is an incredibly warm and comfortable setup. It is really easy, intuitive to set up even in the pitch dark by head torch. I can highly recommend the RS-1 tent for anyone that enjoys solo camping or overloading.

The only minor downside is that it is a big ol bundle when compared to a back-packing tent. When packed up it is easy to move around. It will fit in the back of a Defender. I transport it across the second row seats when it looks like it is going to rain and on the roof rack when not. The stretcher is dinky, no bigger than a packed up camp chair and just sits in the footwell. I know it will not be to everyones taste or need but if you are in the market then take a look at this brilliant tent.

As we are going into the darker time of the year I have just modified the setup to make things a little easier with a strip of USB powered LEDs. These are water resistant and will fold up with the tent. All that it needs is the power bank to work. Hey presto one up-market comfortable tent for all weathers

View attachment 297433View attachment 297434View attachment 297435

That is a cool setup .do you have a picture of this packed up…was thinking of a box tent for my defender but to be honest because mine is raised would look too damn tall …unstable maybe …did this come with the mattress or separate ?

 

[Geobloke]

That is a cool setup .do you have a picture of this packed up…was thinking of a box tent for my defender but to be honest because mine is raised would look too damn tall …unstable maybe …did this come with the mattress or separate ?

I can do that Dan. I agree about the Tent Box RTT as soon as you fit one you can kiss good bye to all the car parks with height barriers

This is the version 2 of the RS-1 and comes with a massive bag, 2x awning poles, a bag of HD pegs, guy ropes, the tent and a 40mm mattress. Hat for scale.

I know that one of the complaints about this tent is that the bag is so big and folks buy an aftermarket bag and roll up the mattress to make it more compact. Such as the Kelmatt bag or Drifta bags and even I believe the RV-1 bag is smaller. It's a basic coverall bag with so much wasted space. But it does the job.



Small collie also for scale The tent is less than half the weight of the stretcher and can easily be lifted in one hand.

Although I have not used the feature yet, one of the best bits about this tent is the awning is attached (unlike the RV series) and doubles was a reflective fly sheet. The poles are tall enough to use the awning with the stretcher as well.

These are random images off the internet.

Given the right conditions this tent will also fit easily underneath the extended awning that is fitted to Miffy as well which might make things more comfortable, possibly. But at the end of the day you are shifting which kit gets wet... Plus awnings and Welsh windy weather do not often go very well together

 

[Paul d]

I can do that Dan. I agree about the Tent Box RTT as soon as you fit one you can kiss good bye to all the car parks with height barriers

This is the version 2 of the RS-1 and comes with a massive bag, 2x awning poles, a bag of HD pegs, guy ropes, the tent and a 40mm mattress. Hat for scale.

I know that one of the complaints about this tent is that the bag is so big and folks buy an aftermarket bag and roll up the mattress to make it more compact. Such as the Kelmatt bag or Drifta bags and even I believe the RV-1 bag is smaller. It's a basic coverall bag with so much wasted space. But it does the job.

View attachment 297598View attachment 297599View attachment 297600

Small collie also for scale The tent is less than half the weight of the stretcher and can easily be lifted in one hand.

Although I have not used the feature yet, one of the best bits about this tent is the awning is attached (unlike the RV series) and doubles was a reflective fly sheet. The poles are tall enough to use the awning with the stretcher as well.

View attachment 297601View attachment 297602 These are random images off the internet.

Given the right conditions this tent will also fit easily underneath the extended awning that is fitted to Miffy as well which might make things more comfortable, possibly. But at the end of the day you are shifting which kit gets wet... Plus awnings and Welsh windy weather do not often go very well together

How much was this if you don’t mind me asking .and erecting time it looks a nice piece of kit .like the idea of it being of the floor must keep a lot of warmth in .
just read setup time 30 seconds is that possible.

 

[Geobloke]

Ok. Obviously once you know what you are doing the setup time comes down. The stretcher takes no more than 30 seconds to setup. The basic RS-1 (without poles) you can definitely get on the stretcher, erected and have the mattress inside within 30 seconds. Roping out the awning adds time. As I have lived with an OzTent for many years the setup comes almost second nature, although with the RS-1 you sit on the stretcher and erect the tent rather than standing up inside the tent. Because it is much much smaller than the RV-4 it is so much easier to lock the frame into position.

I have the Darche stretcher, not the OzTent one. It fits perfectly on top of it but does not include the anti-sway bars or tie down loops. So far I have not missed these at all. If I do then I will modify the stretcher to include these features.

I am actually going to be using the tent over the winter so it will be a good test for it. I realised the other day that it is low enough profile that it would shelter behind a dry stone wall and out of the worst of the Welsh wind...

As for the cost... £400 as it was second hand, but only used once or twice. It was less than a second hand RTT and as long as it lives up to what I expect from an OzTent then it will do the job.

 

[Geobloke]

Well today is the sunny day I have been looking for to top-up the water-proofing on a number of bits of gear before the worst of the Winter gets going. I am a life-long Nikwax fan, it is great stuff, but I found myself buying a different product by One Chem. Give almost anything a go once. So since I was asked about how long does it take to erect the stretcher, tent and get the mattress inside I thought this is also an opportunity to do the setup test and give the RS-1 a top-up (not that I am concerned at all) before our next outing this weekend. Time will tell on the One Chem proofing, but here is the setup test...



Starting with the tent and stretcher on the floor in their bags - 2 minutes 20 seconds - Stretcher, tent and mattress erected. No rushing, just an easy setup



Then to set out the awning to the front with guy ropes - 1 minute 20 seconds.



One of the added features of the awning is that it is reversible; forwards = awning and backwards = reflective sun fly sheet.



Finally the re-proofing.

 

[Geobloke]

Just to round the last post off. The pack down including the awning and guys took 4 minutes and 34 seconds. I honestly cannot see why anyone would want or need to do it faster than that.

 

[Paul d]

Just to round the last post off. The pack down including the awning and guys took 4 minutes and 34 seconds. I honestly cannot see why anyone would want or need to do it faster than that.

I guess it depends if it’s pishing down and you want to get going
thanks for that good review

 

[Geobloke]

I guess it depends if it’s pishing down and you want to get going
thanks for that good review

Quite. Here in Wales you can get mighty wet in 4 mins 34 secs

 

[RandomLandyFan]

Well today is the sunny day I have been looking for to top-up the water-proofing on a number of bits of gear before the worst of the Winter gets going. I am a life-long Nikwax fan, it is great stuff, but I found myself buying a different product by One Chem. Give almost anything a go once. So since I was asked about how long does it take to erect the stretcher, tent and get the mattress inside I thought this is also an opportunity to do the setup test and give the RS-1 a top-up (not that I am concerned at all) before our next outing this weekend. Time will tell on the One Chem proofing, but here is the setup test...

View attachment 298648

Starting with the tent and stretcher on the floor in their bags - 2 minutes 20 seconds - Stretcher, tent and mattress erected. No rushing, just an easy setup

View attachment 298649View attachment 298650View attachment 298651View attachment 298652

Then to set out the awning to the front with guy ropes - 1 minute 20 seconds.

View attachment 298653View attachment 298654View attachment 298655

One of the added features of the awning is that it is reversible; forwards = awning and backwards = reflective sun fly sheet.

View attachment 298656View attachment 298657

Finally the re-proofing.

View attachment 298658View attachment 298659

A nice set and very practical set up. TBH a decent ground tent would make far more sense for most people that roof tents which seem to have become the must have camping accessory for Landy owners.

Cheaper, doesn’t compromise the ability to get into car parks and you can leave it set up if you need to drive off for the day want to go to the shops or pub. A roof tent in its own is pretty quick to put up and down but when people add on all kinds of extensions which need to be attached and detached it defeats the main point.

I have a roof tent and gave spent hundreds of nights in it and in warmer climes particularly where you are not staying in one place for any length of time and (esp the clamshell types) are good for stealth or carpark camping but for the UK, esp outside the summer months a ground tent (esp one that you can fit a woodburning stove into) is IMHO a far better set up. Being able to stand up is nice but in winter, the lower profile of your RS1 would be better in a storm and be a smaller area to keep warm.

I have an Oztent RV3 which is a really well thought out design. I did find that the external bag suffered UV degradation after a year exposed to African sun and having made the mistake of leaving it for a day (empty) under a tree in Botswana, the frame is not up to the job of acting as a trampoline for the local baboon troop. Other than that few complaints. Managed to get a replacement frame in South Africa but eventually decided that having both a roof tent and Oztent was unnecessary and shipped the Oztent back to the UK.

 

[Geobloke]

Do not get me wrong this is not a replacement for the old faithful pack in to a rucksack ground tent. Sleeping out of the Defender allows for the bigger packaging and stretcher. It is a good setup and one I am enjoying living with. Plus, unlike my ground tent the RS-1 is not bright orange... Makes stealthiness a little challenging.

If an affordable RTT had come available I probably would have gone for that, but at the time even 10+ year old examples were priced at the 800-1200 pound mark. Even with bits missing and unclean. So no choice at all. You are quite right about RTTs during a UK winter, some of the worst nights sleep I have ever had were in one during only modest wind and once (maybe twice) I woke up to find I was sealed inside the tent due to frozen zips. That was an interesting problem to solve when you need to urinate...

I do wonder whether the popularity of the van-life movement will begin to wane. Who knows. I suspect those that have always had the proclivity will always do it and the rest will go back to hot showers and AirBnBs...

 

[RandomLandyFan]

Plus, unlike my ground tent the RS-1 is not bright orange... Makes stealthiness a little challenging.

I know what you mean - I think newer lightweight tents have subdued colour schemes for exactly that reason. I have a Macpac 2 person tent from the early nineties, a brilliant tent but in the pale purple colour which was in fashion back then!

You are quite right about RTTs during a UK winter, some of the worst nights sleep I have ever had were in one during only modest wind and once (maybe twice) I woke up to find I was sealed inside the tent due to frozen zips. That was an interesting problem to solve when you need to urinate...

Two of the most miserable nights of my life were spent in the RTT in Buttermere in December the Lakes - I had only planned on doing a day walk but it was stunning so decided to stay and make use of what I had in the Landy and eat in the pub.

The pub was shut and it was too cold for the butane stove unless I sacrificed body heat to warm up the gas canisters and I think it was minus 15 C that night. Even fully clothed in a 5 season sleeping bag, perched up in the air in a large canvas and plywood box with not much insulation, I was freezing. That said, it was so wonderful there, I braved it for another night!

 

[Geobloke]

I know what you mean - I think newer lightweight tents have subdued colour schemes for exactly that reason. I have a Macpac 2 person tent from the early nineties, a brilliant tent but in the pale purple colour which was in fashion back then!


Two of the most miserable nights of my life were spent in the RTT in Buttermere in December the Lakes - I had only planned on doing a day walk but it was stunning so decided to stay and make use of what I had in the Landy and eat in the pub.

The pub was shut and it was too cold for the butane stove unless I sacrificed body heat to warm up the gas canisters and I think it was minus 15 C that night. Even fully clothed in a 5 season sleeping bag, perched up in the air in a large canvas and plywood box with not much insulation, I was freezing. That said, it was so wonderful there, I braved it for another night!

View attachment 298722

Oooo Purple gear... I have a dark blue-purple Sprayway Torridon jacket from the late 90's and it is brilliant. Just keep up with the waterproofing and it will do another decade or so I also have had the butane issue and it is very irritating when all you really really need is a coffee. I have been using a Coleman single petrol stove since and have not had a problem brewing a coffee since. Mind you -15 degC is mightily frigid for these parts. It really goes to show that internal air volume might be useful to get changed in during summer, but come the cold times and you'll wish you didn't have to warm it up solely by body-heat

 

[RandomLandyFan]

After many years sweating away in a variety of crisp packet waterproofs and drooling over the Cotswold catalogue I splashed out (see what I did there!) what seemed at the time to be an obscene amount of cash on a Sprayway goretex jacket in the early 1990s I can’t remember whether it was a Torridon or not (bad memories, badly sprained my ankle doing a scree run down Torridon to the YHA hut at the bottom), but it was purple with black sleeves and red underarms. If kit wasn’t purple back then it was a sort of “petrol” or teal colour. Still have it somewhere but replaced it with a slightly more restrained “old gold” coloured one after about ten years.

IIRC Sprayway used to be made in central Manchester and the Karrimor (before they went bust and were bought by that appalling specimen Ashley who sticks the name on far eastern tat) factory was just up the road in Lancashire. I worked in Manchester for a while and often stopped by for a furtle through their seconds bins and they would stitch any rucsacs that needed fixing for free.

Just g00gled Sprayway Torridon and they are still being made (almost certainly not in Manchester) but the colours don’t seem any better - teal and purple seem to be back in fashion!

Sprayway Torridon Waterproof Jacket Review

1980S CLASSIC SET FOR RETURN TO UK HILLS ### DOES THE REVIVAL OF THE SPRAYWAY...

www.livefortheoutdoors.com

 

[Geobloke]

Honestly what I love most about the Torridon are the enormous peaked hood and the impenetrable storm flaps on the main and pocket zips. I tell you all... You can keep your modern rubber taped zips... Utter rubbish and a step backwards in waterproof design IMHO.