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I recall kyham tents from my youth as being the posh(expensive) pop up style tent that kinda worked like an umbrella.
I also recall them being fairly fragile
I see they have reinvented them selves as the cheap inflatable tent specialists.
Is this the same khyam - or is it name only sports direct karrimor special style trading on the old reputation ?
Are they any good ?
- My go to would be a Decathlon airbeam but the kamper Pro driveaway awning has caught my eye as it looks like it would work as both a standalone tent and an awning for a family.
No idea about the inflatables, but In motorcycle touring/camping circles, the "Kyham biker" tent is very well regarded. I have a mate who's had one for yonks and it has been well used. It's very well made and seems to be able to take a lot of use and abuse.
The underlying Khyam business has been through a couple of insolvencies/reboots.
I had a pop up (quick erect) two person one in the 90s it was very sturdy and survived weather that flattened many other dome tents of the era.
I have an older quick erect 5 person tent (in the middle 2000s I'd guess). The quality is good.
I also have an Airtek 8 from a couple of years before the last insolvency (tent is around 2019) and it's good but the quality was definitely not up to the earlier stuff. There were issues with ours that were livable with as the alternative was to send a 40+kg tent back to Khyam but annoying.
I think but not 100% sure the original guy is back running it now (having been run by others in the middle).
There's an active Facebook group Khyam Tent Owners UK
Personally I don't see it as either a badge engineering thing or the Khyam of old. I have pretty much given up on bulky camping now (lightweight I still do occasionally) but I wouldn't pay a premium/ go out of my way to buy a Khyam as a premium product now, whereas 10+ years ago I would have. I wouldn't rule one out either but I would make sure I had a couple of spare air beams as an insurance policy against any future issues.
Good info guys.
Yeah I've plenty lightweight touring tents this is very much a week long family base off the side of the van ready for a potential wet week
We had a motorhome sleeper awning when we had a van. It was well made and the quick erect system works and saves a small amount of time compared to poles. The disadvantage was that you couldn't pack the poles separately so it was heavy.
As a tent it was generally well made and thought out. We did use it as a stand alone tent a couple of times on sites that didn't allow vans onto the field and it was fine for family camping with two (at the time) small kids. They also use to make a tent version with the tunnel for fixing to a van.
Looked briefly at the one you've pictured above and it says it has steel poles when is a plus point for car camping as they are more reliable than most glass fibre and as you can separate them from the tent it makes it easier to lug around than the sewn in poles of an air beam.
Main question is whether the tent footprint and layout meets your requirements.
The sale prices do look very good.
I have a decathlon 4 man family tent which is fine for an overnight with the family but i wouldnt not want to spent a week in it - even along side a van.
IT was bought as a base camp when we were a 2 person family.
the airtek i pictured has no steel poles its an airbeam- and the airbeams are replaceable
I've had two, a Highlander and a Freelander IIRC. The QE system is brilliant, I used to love sitting in the tent door with a beer watching everyone else wrestle with poles in the pissing rain.
What they're like today though I couldn't say (so this post is pretty pointless, sorry). Mine are from decades ago.
well that's it - my memories are of them being associated with the G4 challenge and the only person i knew who had ones parents were mega well off ....... we had an ex scout steel pole and canvas tent that came with a trailer.
Have a Khyam Motordome and it was ( is) frankly amazing. Insanely quick to put up and has lasted as long as the van itself (20 years)
Only thing I'd say is don't bother to connect it to tha can, just put it nearby.
But yes, awesome things.
I had a Khyam Mckinley back in the day. Used it for motorbike meets. I could carry it across the back of my BMW 1150GS just fine. I remember going down for a GS meet at Lands End one year in appalling weather, howling gale, torrential rain. When I arrived others were struggling to get their tents up, it was a (relative) pleasure to be able to get the Khyam up in a few minutes and be rainproof quickly. A good bit of kit that served me well.
As I think someone alluded to, they've been through a few owners and such over the years I believe.
For what it's worth, the large tunnel tent I bought way back in '09 was the worst made tent I've ever had.
I always test pitch before taking a tent away and I'm really glad I did. The webbing that has pins or eyelets in to attach to the poles were seemingly sewn in at random. The wrong attachments fitted and in one case (went through 4 tents, luckily bought at a local store that was really helpful) the webbing wasn't even sewn on in the right place.
Come the 5th tent we got one that was mostly ok. I persevered as id had khyam tents before but this was the last one.
Since then I've pretty much only had Quechua tents of all different sizes and types and they've been absolutely spot on.
Luke I said though, my last experience of a khyam was many moons ago.
Looking about I see they are selling dangnamit the same tent from ol light and a couple other brands as a drop ship for about same price which leads me back to my original thoughts - was stung by terranovas poor service quality post VC taken over not needing to deal with drop shippers.
Back to plan one which was a bit quecha seconds airbeam
And after all that I did some more reading on who ol pro were and ended up buying an ol pro. Cocoon breeze v1 Preloved with the porch extension
At 375 quid it seemed rude not to even if it is discontinued. Can still get the groundsheet and the carpet + the annex + spare inflate poles from the V2 fits but will worry about that stuff after we have had a chance to use it
30 days to decide if it's for me.
Decider was it's good for vans up to 250cm where as the kyham kamper was for 210. Mines 240cm
For anyone else wondering on my original question the owner came on a post on Facebook and explained the situation. He sold it. New owner ran it into the ground and he bought it back as was though above
Had a 2-3 person quick erect (ooer)back in the 90s (Highlander I think). I was still using it here in Oz up until last year when a friend borrowed it, couldn't work out how to fold it down and snapped one of the support poles. The seam tape had all but dissolved but for the climate here it was ace. Wouldn't do well in UK moisture! Went up in 30 seconds. Quick peg out. Done.
The thing went night fishing with me when I was 18 in snow, hail, rain. Solid thing in wind! I just turned 50 this year so 30 years from a tent aint bad!