Easthills Outdoors Instant Shader Deluxe XL Beach Tent Easy Up 99" Wide for 4-6 Person Sun Shelter - Extended Zippered Porch Included Blue

FIRST UPDATE 13th AUGUST 2018 OK so we made it to Biarritz, historic Bayonne and to the gorgeous beaches of the French Basque Country in South West France on the Atlantic coast. We amazed everyone with our Easthills Outdoors Easy Up XL. Everyone was staring at us, looking like the King and Queen of the beach in our palatial tent! I bought some 30cm (12in) U Spikes for £5.99 for 10 and these have anchored the tent against the Atlantic wind with no problem at all and no need for the guy lines. Yesterday, the wind was very strong and the tent had no problem in terms of strength against the wind and the spikes kept it firmly anchored. Unfortunately, what had been a simple dismantling in the previous days, turned into a little bit of a nightmare due to the strength of the winds which must have been around Force 6 on the Beaufort scale, judging by the size of the waves. Other people, didn't even have any shelters out, which mainly consist of either straight beach umbrellas or the umbrellas with the extended sides. These had long been packed away. However, our packing away was difficult due to the tent catching the wind. This of course, is not the manufacturer's fault! It's merely a cautionary tale, which I ended up just rolling the tent to the best of my ability. It would never have fitted in the bag, but the intention is when the weather changes back to beautiful sunshine I'll be able to re-pitch and eventually pack it properly. Here are my observations from 5 days of use on the beautiful French Basque coast: 1) It really is easy to pitch and set up quickly, especially if you invest in some 30cm (12in) U Stakes and a mallet. 2) Even with very bright sun, my wife still managed to discretely and invisibly change into her bikini in the zipped up tent. 3) The shade is brilliant from the tent....those who have complained must be talking about having the windows open! 4) The size is brilliant. We honestly have had not just looks, but long lingering stares (could be my wife in her bikini, but I reckon it's the tent!) 5) Ordinarily, this packs down easily and perfectly, if you follow the steps I mention below. 6) On the issue of unsticking the legs, I have found the solution thanks to another reviewer: you just need to gently pull the joint away from the leg, then the leg will bend easily. There's no need for any force or broken manicured nails (my wife's glad now!) 7) No-one in Biarritz or Bidart has a tent like this! Finally, once we've got round to it, I'll update the video with one from our beach trip. In the meantime check out some of the photos from Bidart in South Western France. July 2018 THIS IS A PRELIMINARY REVIEW. IT WILL BE UPDATED IN AUGUST. THESE ARE INITIAL (PRE-USE) THOUGHTS AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS. THE VIDEO SHOWS HOW TO PACK THE TENT PROPERLY TO FIT INTO THE BAG PROPERLY..... This is a preliminary review, as much as for our benefit, as for yours, before we do the full review when we take it to La Grande Plage in Biarritz in South West France between 8th-22nd August. PLEASE CHECK BACK IN AUGUST FOR A FULL BEACH REVIEW. This is our very first video review! The Easthills Outdoors Easy Up 4 Person Beach Tent Deluxe XL wasn't available for me to purchase in the UK at the time so I bought it from Amazon in the USA and had it shipped. So why did I pay over the odds for it, £114.02 ($150) versus the bargain price of £84.90 ($112) on UK Amazon? Quite simply when I watched other reviewers of this product versus the rival manufacturers' products I noticed some distinct differences. Firstly, this was bigger than rival offerings. Secondly, the vestibule/porch flap zips up completely. Rival offerings have a couple of friction clips which secure their vestibules leaving a very big gap around the sides and a 7.5 to 8cm (3 to 4inch) gap at the top, completely negating the point of "closing" the porch up. Lastly, there were thoughtful details, like sand pockets which use velcro to secure the sides allowing easy egress of the sand, and toggles, rather than Velcro like rival tents. The package arrived 2 days early from the US, which was a nice bonus, however, we've only got round to putting it up a day after it arrived. So if you watch the videos, you'll get a better idea of what it's really like. Some things I really like after our initial set up: 1) It fits in the locker under the floor of my Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake (not available in the USA) along with two golf umbrellas, two portable camp chairs and still leaves room for me to store things. Of course, this is as a result of having a very big Mercedes and having a tyre fit kit instead of a spare wheel. (The under floor locker is double the size of the new E Class Estate's)! 2) It's well made. Having inspected all the seams and stitching, it's been made with care and good quality management techniques. 3) It's really big (when I set it up in France, you'll see just how big it really is). 4) The zippers work on the inside and outside and they can be secured with a travel padlock. 5) The mechanism is excellent, and is really easy to put up. I noticed that other reviewers, both videographers and writers, have had problems getting the tent back in the bag. This, I'm afraid is clearly operator error. I took good care to see how it was packaged from the factory, to ensure that I knew how to fold it back tightly. Watch the video and you'll see what I mean. Basically, what you need to do is to: 1) Ensure the windows are all unrolled and undone. 2) Fold up the front porch so that the first part meets the first crease in the floor. This ensures that the "umbrella" mechanism is covered and the central part of the tent has evenly spaced material, making it easier to get into the bag. DON'T zip it up, or fold the porch into the tent completely. 3) Make sure all legs are bent (free of the joint mechanism). If some are stuck, push using your thumbs close to the joint. If you try doing it from the end of the leg, you'll apply leverage which will break the leg. 4) When you roll it, make sure you've covered the legs and mechanism, as per the video. 5) Keep the tension in the roll as you do it. 6) Secure the tent using the strap provided at the widest point. Some other features which I like are: the toggles which are used to roll the windows up, and secure them closed. I like the stretch "aerated" material holding the poles to the material. This gives a reduced aerodynamic pressure on the poles and the tent fabric. I like the window mesh which is small enough to allow good airflow which keeps the interior cool and again reduces aerodynamic pressure on the structure. When we pitched it for this review, we had forgotten a mallet, so couldn't use the pegs and guy-lines. The ground here in the UK is solid after having had high temperatures and no rain for 7 to 8 weeks. Therefore, we just stuck one 1 litre water bottle, each, in the two side pockets and believe it or not, the tape measure in the rear pocket. In truth, my wife and I can't wait to get this out to Biarritz, perhaps Easthills Outdoors will get some orders as a result of our pitching this in Biarritz. Biarritz is the centre for European surfing, and a luxury resort too, so there could be a good mix of potential clientele from surfers to the "glitterati". I'm certain we'll get plenty of admiring glances for our tent on the beach.

I won't be able to try this collapsible sun shelter on the beach for a few more weeks, but we set it up here at home a couple of times to see if it's going to be easy enough to use - and we can't wait to have this option on the beach! First of all, it's REALLY easy to set up. The easy to follow directions are attached to the bag, so you never lose them, but I think one time of setting it up and you'll not even need the directions. Pull it out of the bag, undo the strap that's holding it all together - and let it fall around the center piece. Spread it out, fold out the legs so they are straight, then just grab the drawstrings at the top and pull up and apart. This slides two pieces together which in turn snap the legs into place. The first time it feels a little stiff, and takes a little strength, but once you get the feel, it's much easier. Basically, that's it! Couldn't believe it was that easy - no unfolding bungeed poles and sliding through sleeves, no running around the structure fitting the pole ends in holes...just pull up and out! Disassembling is even easier, with a marked spot on the poles showing where to put pressure with your thumbs while holding the pole above. Really couldn't be simpler. Beyond that, the details are well thought out - stakes are included if you want to add some anchoring, as well as pockets on the bottom exterior of each wall that you can fill with sand. I love the extra touch of making the sides of these pockets velcro so when it's time to go you can easily empty the sand. I'm not sure if the stakes are long enough to add a lot of anchoring in sand, this remains to be seen. Another bonus is the ability to completely close up the structure - covering windows and zipping the porch up to close in the front - giving you a bit of privacy on the open beach. I think the size is nice - sun shelter's I've seen before have all been so small they don't offer much space, and larger ones have been more involved in the set up. I once watched a group of 4 people struggle mightily to set up their canopy - and then collapse, exhausted and sweaty in the little bit of shade they got with the open sides. I'm really excited to use this in a few weeks - we'll have a 2 and 10 year old on our family trip and could use some space to get out of the sun and keep a few things out of the sand. Upon set up and checking out the features, I'm quite pleased with this little tent, I'll update my review based on true beach and hot sun test when we return!

I bought this for our weekend at the beach. I wasn’t sure about the product because people have called it cheap and see through. We are not savvy when it comes to tents, but I thought I would take a chance and buy it anyways. I purchased the light blue color and before we got all the way out to the beach - the strap on the carry bag broke - bad omen :-( We found our spot on the beach and took it out of the bag - super easy, fast set up. We filled the side sand bags up and that seemed to be enough anchor it needed (it wasn’t a terribly windy day). We didn’t use the stakes that come with the tent. The tent fit our baby dome, cooler, extra stuff and the two of us very comfortably. I bought a beach mat to put on the flooring of the tent - I was afraid if it was as thin as some reviews say, I didn’t want to step all over it a lot - I think that was a great move. It was a very sunny day and I felt it shaded us well. I can’t speak about the waterproof worthiness - although the windows have a nice roll up/ toggle flap on the inside, so if it started to sprinkle, even with the flaps down, you would get rain inside of the tent. Our day was over and it was time to get it back in the bag - forget cardio for the day, try and get that thing back in the bag is exercise enough LOL!! There it’s is folks - an honest review about our experience. I hope it was useful. I took away a star for the strap on the carry case breaking and the difficulty of trying to get it back in the bag. Other than that, it lived up to our expectations.

I have bought several beach shelters in the past few years, but this is the best one, by far. It is EXTREMELY easy to set up. They aren't kidding when they say it will take 5 minutes or less. It gives plenty of shade, is light to carry, held up in high winds, and was the perfect size. I was afraid it may be too big from the description, but it was just right for two adult size beach chairs, plus plenty of space for the kids to sit on the floor. Collapsing it and getting it into the bag isn't as easy as setting up, but after 2 times we figured it out. The trick for us was to collapse it with the sand bags/poles still anchored to the ground. This way, once the middle is down you can start systematically folding the poles around the middle column, which works quite well. The first time we took it down we un-anchored it first and it was a windy, crumpled mess. I did need to zip this up to do a quick beach change and although it worked for this purpose, it is rather small inside when zipped up, so keep that in mind if you anticipate using it in that manner. If I had to give any critiques it would be that the window flaps are difficult to roll up and keep up, and that I wish there were a slightly longer overhang on the front, to give more shade earlier in the day. Both these things are minor though and overall I'm extremely pleased with this purchase.

We took the Easthills beach tent to our trip to Port Aransas. On arriving I discovered the beach was extremely windy for April, I was worried the tent would embarrassingly fly away or hit someone’s car. I can happily say none of that happened. Although the tent has pockets where you can add beach sand for weight, the stakes by themselves were enough to keep the tent anchored. I also left the window flaps open to allow air through. The best feature of the tent is the process of packing up. I go camping quiet a bit and setting up and taking down tents is a process I generally don’t look forward to, however with the Easthills tent the process is fairly simple, we used the tent three times in the week and I never had issues folding it up and putting it in it’s original bag. It’s also pretty easy to make sure you don’t pack the tent with beach sand as the main flooring area can easily be lifted to let the sand out. I recommend trying the tent out at home one time before using it at the beach but there really isn’t much to folding it back up. The only concern I have, and only time will tell, is the rods that hold up the tent are locked in place using plastic tabs. To fold up the tent you press the tabs in, my worry is that potentially the tabs may wear out over repeated use. I will update the review if that happens.

We purchased this 2 years ago to take to the beach for our kids (ages 5 and 2 then) and it has held up over the past two years! We’ve used it at the beach, in the yard next to the pool for a picnic, and for the summer days my husband and I play spikeball and wanted some shade for our kids. When we first purchased it, I watched videos to make sure I understood how to assemble and disassemble. It is pretty easy to assemble/disassemble, put it can definitely be a pain and time consuming. If one piece isn’t locked in just right, and you don’t realize it right away, it can take a minute or two to find which pieces aren’t working like they should. Even then, once you fix it, another piece comes undone and you have to start over again. It’s really not that bad but if you’re impatient, it might bother you. Even with the panels that can roll up, the ventilation isn’t ideal (but then again it’s a tent so just expect the air flow to not be the greatest. I do like how large the tent is and we easily 2 Tommy Bahama chairs inside and 2 kid chairs with enough rooms to put our beach bags in the back and a small cooler. If you don’t mind the assembling and disassembling, I definitely recommend purchasing to have some sun shelter for your kids!

My daughter bought this beach tent last year because she had a baby and wanted to go to the beach. It’s so good I bought one for husband and myself to use this year. Your able to let the air flow through the screens or block the sun by putting up the window cover. It has a zipper to pull up the front mat to completely enclose the tent for privacy if you wanted to make a quick change if there is no bath house nearby. This is far less dangerous than a beach umbrella that can uproot. There are pockets to create sandbags to help weigh it down. There is room for you cooler and a few chairs inside or without the cooler inside you can fit more people. This means we can stay st the beach longer without worrying about burning our skin. Great to be able to relax and not feel like we have to leave because we’ve been in the sun too long. It’s easy to put up and take down and easy to carry. There is a one year warranty too!

I bought this tent to use on a beach vacation with my family in August. Before our trip, I tried it out in my backyard and it worked fine. When we tried to use it at the beach, however, it was a different story. The first day we used it was a little windy. Nothing excessive. It was very hard to set up with the wind blowing and almost impossible to take down. In the process of taking it down the very weak frame nearly snapped at several points. We managed to get it down but it could not be folded up. We had to drag it off the beach in a big pile and fold it up in our backyard. Day 2 finished it off. Again, it was a windy day but not excessively so. We never got it up. The frame did snap this time and I wound up with several metal shards sticking out of a bleeding hand. Pulling them out was a lot of fun. That was it. We got about 15 minutes of use out of it. If you plan to use this outside and there will be absolutely no wind, it might work for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

easy to erect light weight good for shade on the beach plenty of room for kids

Great large tent but one rod broke on the 9th consecutive use under normal beach conditions. Easy to assemble and disassemble once you get the hang of packing it up. Very disappointed to find the snapped rod when trying to put it back up. Given the price expected greater quality and life. The bag handle was starting to fray and small holes were appearing. Although not the tent itself not great that the bag used to protect it is so cheaply made. Still waiting for the return to register on the Amazon end after two weeks.