SoulPad 4000-ease - Good For The Soul (Soul Pad 4000 Ease)

Member Name: GoFigure

Product:	Soul Pad 4000 Ease
Date:	10/07/09 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of space, incredibly sturdy, takes less than 15 min to put up!

Disadvantages: No netting on the door.

At the beginning of 2008, after a disastrous camping trip in Glastonbury where our tent literally took on tons of mud after a week of violent thunderstorms and torrential rains, I vowed that I would never again go camping... not unless we purchased a proper tent.

Ah well, proper tents being somewhat out of our reach financially, and with our old tent having been binned in Glastonbury because we just didn't have the courage to squeeze the two tons of mud out of it, and try to dig out the separate groundsheet where it had been buried, we said goodbye to camping.

I wasn't too sad, especially as camping had become somewhat of a nightmare regardless that the tent we had was NOT cheap. It was a family tent with two sleeping pods at each extremity holding three adults per pod, and a centre portion that could be used for cooking or storing gear. I have no idea what bright light thought that it was okay to design a tent that possessed no groundsheet [leaving the centre portion as a massive highway for creepy crawlies]... must have been a relative of mine, because I wasn't bright enough to see that no groundsheet in the centre portion was asking for trouble from the elements, not just the wildlife! I kid you not, when the wind picked up in Glastonbury and the rain gathered momentum and created a brook that literally ran through the centre portion of the tent, the measly groundsheet I'd purchased to cover the grassy bits literally turned to mud, soaking our feet as we sat huddled beneath the tent debating on whether or not that was the worst trip ever, and then, when the wind whipped up through the centre of the tent, inflating it to the point where we thought momentarily that we were about to be carried away to Oz, I knew then that it was most definitely the worst camping trip of my life.

For those considering camping, steer clear of tents that don't possess sewn in groundsheets because they are not airtight, and regardless of a separate groundsheet, the water will trickle in if it gets stormy. The sleeping pods are usually nice and snug, however, unless you plan on spending your trip inside the sleeping area in case of bad weather, I suggest you get something that will keep the elements and creepy crawlies outside.

Anyway, having said goodbye to camping, my husband with some sadness, myself feigning it all the way as a show of solidarity, I thought, seriously, that I wouldn't miss the camping trips. Wrong. What I had failed to realise at the time, was that camping is cheap. As long as you have a tent, you have a home away from home, a place that is as comfortable as you want it to be, and being portable, it is a home that can be set up anywhere and will cost you next to nothing. Choose a good camping site with nice hot showers, a kitchen for washing your dishes, clean toilets, water outlets and freezers for ice packs, and you're in camper's heaven... add to this your own personal luxuries such as ready beds [next on my list of 'must have' accessories], a camping kitchen [stove and larder as one], a good heater, warm and comfy sleeping bags, a solid fold out table with sturdy chairs, a wind-up radio, LED lanterns and whatever your imagination and wallet can conjure, and you'll never know you're 'roughing' it!

Realising that we might not be able to take another vacation for awhile because of the high cost of hotel rooms, B & B's and Inns, not to mention the cost of eating out, I set about looking for a proper tent that we could afford. Not an easy task... in fact... it was impossible. I went through hundreds of websites, looked at hundreds of different tents ranging in price from £39.95 to £395.00, and not a single one interested me. At the lower end of the market came the affordable tents without groundsheets, at the higher end came those that were suitable for our needs, but not what I really wanted. I wanted a tent with a really solid groundsheet, something that wouldn't tear and was high enough around the edges to keep the water out. I wanted something that my 6 foot six 6 inch husband didn't have to crawl around in on all fours!

It was during a tent-hunting session on E-Bay that I first came across the SoulPad... what can I say... I was bowled over! It reminded me of one of those desert tents, the ones used by Sultan's... all it needed was a scattering of cushions, silk scarves and a fan on the ceiling operated by a eunuch. Whoa... my imagination went wild... I wanted it!

Measuring four meters in diameter, the SoulPad came with a sewn in bathtub-style groundsheet that is incredibly solid [some sort of rubberised material], tall enough at the centre [just over 8 feet in height] to allow my husband to stand, mesh-lined windows to allow air circulation as well as three mesh-lined roof vents... made out of lightweight canvas that is not only incredibly strong, but water, UV and mould resistant! Unfortunately, tent-perfection doesn't come cheap, and I gulped when my eyes rested upon the price... £329.00.

Although I knew that we couldn't afford it, I showed my husband and he immediately fell in love with it. We both knew that the SoulPad was the tent for us, a home away from home that you could even kit out with a wood stove! Deciding that we would save our pennies and forego on vacations until we could get the tent, we settled in for a very long wait... but then, in December, my in-laws called us up and told us that they wanted to buy us something special for Christmas, something that we really wanted, and they'd set a £400.00 budget for our gifts! Needless to say, hubby and I were ecstatic - we opted for the SoulPad as a joint gift, saving the in-laws £70.00 in the process!

We received the tent just before Christmas, and were somewhat gutted to realise that it didn't fit in our garden or even in the driveways out front [ours and our neighbours combined]. A dilemma indeed... how could we possibly check to see if everything was okay? The answer was... we couldn't. All we could do was unroll it one section at a time, inspect the stitching, and that was that. Which is why we decided on a local camping trip so that we could inspect our new gear... I have reviewed our nightmarish camping trip separately... for those who are interested.

Skipping ahead to the day we arrived at site and started setting up camp:

We pulled the tent out of the canvas bag, unrolled it as per the instructions with the door facing in the desired direction. We removed the centre pole from the bag [which comes in sections] put it together and set it aside along with the A-frame for the door. We pegged the groundsheet down as instructed before entering the tent and sliding the centre pole into position. We then exited the tent and zipped up the door, as instructed, and started pegging down the tent itself with the enclosed pegs [which were extremely sturdy]. All in all, it took us less than fifteen minutes to put the tent up that first time even though we had to stop often in order to read the instructions. We figure that it will take us less than ten minutes next time because the guy ropes are now in the proper position [ropes that hold the tent up] and we now know how it's done. Needless to say that our last tent always took 30+ minutes because it necessitated poles being slid into narrow hems, and the doorway always ended up either sagging or being so tight we could just barely manage to zip it shut! There are no such problems with the SoulPad because all you have is one single pole in the centre holding the ceiling up, and a metal A-frame for the door... that's it! Doesn't seem like much to be holding the tent up, but believe me... this is the sturdiest tent I've ever seen... and I've seen more than my fair share! It would take something akin to a tornado or hurricane to yank this tent off its tethers or to tear the canvas.

The truth is, it took us longer to set up the interior of the tent, the soft rugs we'd purchased on sale for the floor in order to make our space look and feel comfy, our inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags, the folding table and comfy chairs, lamps, food, stove... etc... by the time we'd finished, we stepped back and smiled in satisfaction... it looked absolutely fantastic!

There is sufficient space in the tent [measures 4 meters in diameter] for two large air mattresses, a folding table that seats 4 adults, picnic chairs, a food larder and suitcases... with space left over to lounge on the ground on the rugs and cushions in order to read a book or do crossword puzzles while being lulled by the warm breeze coming in through the numerous windows and the extremely large A-shaped door. The SoulPad... truly... is heaven.

During our stay, we were approached by snooping campers who were in awe of our tent and nearly begged us to let them enter it in order to further their investigations! Everyone seemed to want it... even those who had actually rented holiday houses on the site!

We absolutely loved our experience, and are looking forward to a lengthier camping trip in Dorset in September. Maybe by then we'll have saved enough to purchase the wood stove that comes with the tent! If not, maybe the in-laws are planning another Christmas gift for us... :)

My only complaint would be that there is no netting on the door... I had to put one in myself.

SoulPad Features:

Sturdy cream-coloured cotton canvas.
Water, UV and mould resistant.
3 ceiling vent caps - mesh-lined.
Sewn in extra-thick bathtub-style rubberised groundsheet.
4 mesh-lined windows.
Overall height just over 99 inches [250cm].
Entrance height nearly 56 inches [140cm].
Diameter 13.1 feet [4 meters].
Sleeps 8 - 10 adults.


http://soulpad.co.uk/

Summary: The best tent... ever. Camping in style!