North Face Big Fat Frog 24 First Use
Slightly different from my normal geeky tech posts, but after a weekend camping I thought ‘some’ people might be interested in a little review of my new tent. I couldn’t find any other user reviews online so lets get started.
Manufacturer: North Face
Model: Big Fat Frog 24
Size: 2 Man
Weight: 2.93kg
Packed Dimensions: 57×18 (cm)
Features: Large vestibule, DAC Lightweight poles, 1500HH
Price: £199.99 at time of post
I don’t know how
It was my first time camping apart from festivals and I decided that I wanted to live in luxury. My requirements were that 2 people could have enough space to move and sleep as well as a cooking area out of the rain. Unfortunately this brought the weight up a little but I felt it was worth it.
Like any beginner, I began with a pitch in the garden to test my tent erecting skills which were apparently terrible. After roughly 30 minutes i found the instructions (RTFM) and managed to complete roughly 10 minutes later. Once I had done it once I could get the tent up in roughly 12 minutes alone and about 8 with someones help.
The Big Wild World
I felt like a child leaving school it was big, scary and I didnt know what to expect. I could use it in the garden but lets see how I managed in the real camping world. I grabbed my camping buddy and headed towards fresh green grass. This is where I learnt 10 important lessons.
Home from Home
I felt like I was living in camping luxury inside my tent. I could cook inside without anyone having to know that I was actually not a very tidy person. The vestibule made a fantastic cooking and storage area, this meant that we had room to roll around.
But did it keep us dry….well yes, put simply. It rained for a minimum of 3 hours but I felt surprisingly safe in my comfy, sturdy and lightweight tent. I hadn’t really camped in rain before so wasn’t sure what to expect but my new tent pitching skills payed off because both of us and the equipment were dry in the morning.
I didn’t test the packing part because I left the tent on the parcel shelf of the car to dry out on the way home.
Wrap it up
So to summarize the tent did a brilliant job, it felt sturdy, kept me dry, safe and created a luxury (without electricity) home from home.
The tent is a little heavier than some small tents but depending on your use this doesn’t matter so much.
You may be interested in the North Face Tadpole that is very similar without the porch area and smaller sleeping area for a little less money and weight.
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