Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - How important is it to have an easily hidden tent color

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Also, thank you, to everyone who contributed their opinions to this thread. We really paid attention, and considered all your words as we made this purchase. If we've made the "wrong" decision, we've at least done it with our eyes open.

So, thanks.

-K

I have a bright orange Vango Force 10 MkIV and it is highly visible against the Scottish moorland landscape - from more than a mile away.

Orange also gets quite warm as soon as the sun makes an appearance.

My choice now has been to buy Hilleberg Keron GT tent with a decent sized porch (for wet biking gear) and in green. Unfortunately, the Hilleberg green is a bottle green and as such it doesn't exactly match the environment. Hilleberg also do a sand coloured tent and that would be far better for blending in to the environment.

You can also use a tarp over the tent with an air space in between tarp & tent and this will protect the tent from UV rays, make it much cooler and break up the shape of the tent. But adds weight of course. Likewise a tarp could be used to cover the bikes and break up their shape. Certainly for wild camping I would be aiming to be as unobtrusive as possible.

I think an olive green would be the ideal colour for a tent rather than bottle green.

The Hilleberg tents are 4 season and one characteristic of 4 season is the ability to have non mesh fabric flaps, which cover the built in mesh ventilation panels in the winter to make the tent warmer. Hilleberg do do some mesh tents (Nallo, Akto, Unna, etc.) so maybe if you really want one for a Keron you can talk directly to Hilleberg to see if that is possible.

Grey Beard

I have a tent that has a silver fly so I only blend in if I camp in front of a shed.
Have had this tent for 15yrs and tell myself that when it wears out will get one to blend in with the surroundings. It has not happened yet.
Dam cheap tents.
So I went and bought a hikers fly in dark green, it means that I can use it to cover the tent and gives me a area to sit and cook in the shade. the fly is made of nylon and is waterproof which gives some blending in with the surroundings, and is good for emergancy cover in rain.
Made some poles so it can also be free standing. for working on the bike if there is a problem and its going to take some time to fix. (cause here there are places with no trees to attach it to.)
The Fly weighs a few grams and packs up small about the size of soft ball.
Area it covers is 12' x 8' the army Hooch l have weighs three times as much.
I have found that blending in is hard when you turn up in the middle of no where on a motorbike and you can be heard from a mile away.
Look at hikers flys rather than Tarps l have found them cheap and they work well
Safe travels

Quote:

Originally Posted by masukomi (Post 374512)

We're putting together the gear for a RTW with our dogs. Because we're bringing them we expect to spend most nights camping, and most of those nights will probably be hidey-camping. The tent we've decided to go with has a dark green variant as well as your standard bright orange, but we can't decide which to go with.

Our thinking is this:

If we spend a day just relaxing in the tent (maybe avoiding a hail storm, or whatever else mother nature throws at us) the green is going to be somewhat depressing. I've always enjoyed waking up in a brightly colored tent.

We've heard other riders suggest that it's important to be as hidden as possible. But, how hidden can we really be when we've also got a Ural and F650GS standing next to the tent?

I figure we'll either be totally hidden (behind a hill, down some tiny side-road, etc), or it won't matter what color our tent is because a four person tent and two big bikes are going to stand out like a sore thumb.

We'd really love to hear from someone who's done a bunch of hidey-camping and can comment on how much of a difference tent-color makes.

My own conclusion is that color does not matter on an RTW trip. Either people will know you are there anyways (you stick out as you arrive at the very least) or you are so far away from people that they won't see you no matter what color the tent is. Better to just find a friendly local and ask to setup your tent on their land in an out of the way location.

another issue is not just the colour, but all the bloomin reflective bits they put on them nowadays. Great at a rally when you've had a few to many drinks and are trying to find it in a field, not not when vehicles with headlights are passing by.

I'm going to gaffa tape and colour in with a pen , and re-sew tabs on mine.

I had a tent with a yellow rainfly before. The amount of bugs attracted to the fly during the summer was astonishing. I could have caught my dinner by collecting the bugs and insects from the fly, I hear that they are rich in protein. :)

It should be obvious if you have an orange or bright yellow tent, anyone driving by is far more likely to notice it than if your tent has subdued colours. I often wildcamp alone close to roads but hopefully out of the way. Sometimes I would rather any passer by not notice me. Not everyone is a good guy. If I want company I use a campsite. If I want comfort I use an hotel.