Outwell Concorde XL Tent

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Outwell Concorde XL Tent Photos

Our Review

The Outwell Concorde XL is a fantastic 10 person family tent. Lots of great design features. Part of Outwell's Smart Air range so quick to pitch. It gives you the option of using a large tent for both weekend and camping holidays.

a host of innovative features that makes putting up a tent of this size a lot easier

The Outwell Concorde XL Tent Smart Air is Outwell's largest air-framed tent, introduced in 2013. It's also one of Outwell's premier tents.

It is designed to sleep up to 10 people; if that isn't big enough, you could also get a further extension.

A host of innovative features make putting up a tent of this size a lot easier.

Here's a video tour from Outwell...

Inflating the Outwell Concorde XL

Inflating this large family tent is straightforward.

1. Outwell supply the hand pump complete with a pressure gauge (it's important that you don't use a power pump as this could over-inflate the tent).
2. There's a single valve located on the outside of the tent.  Connect up the pump and start pumping!
3. Once inflated close off the isolation valve in the roof of the tent. This isolates the air chambers providing you with additional protection if part of the airframe were to get damaged.

Deflating the Concorde XL is easy too: simply unlock the isolation valve and similar valves at the end of each airframe tube.

Easy Pegging

Outwell actually supply decent tent pegs

To further simplify pitching the Concorde XL uses Outwell's pegging system, where they supply 3 different types and colours of pegs for different jobs.

Unlike many other tents you could buy, Outwell actually supplies decent tent pegs.  So, follow their pegging system and your tent is going to be anchored better than most.

• The metal tent peg secures the ends of the tent (which you put in prior to inflating).
• Once inflated, the black plastic pegs secure the tent to the ground at the end of each frame tube, which is colour coded as black pegging points.
• Finally, the brightly coloured pegs are used for pegging out the brightly coloured guylines.

For a large ten-person tent, pegging out could take some time.  Outwell have halved this with their Outwell Floating Guyline System.

A guyline is run from both the top and base of the Concorde XL (this provides stability), but then a separate single line takes them to the peg.

These lower lines are brightly coloured to help prevent anyone tripping over them.

Whilst talking of guylines, it's worth mentioning that Outwell provides little stowage pockets on the tent for the guylines.  When taking the tent down simply roll up the line and pop it in the pocket.

This avoids guylines getting tangled when you put the tent away, and so also helps reduce pitching time as you don't have to untangle guylines from the previous pitch.

More Details on Pitching the Concorde XL

Below is a video on pitching Outwell SmartAir tents.  The Concorde L is shown, not the XL, but the technique is the same.

Tent Material

Outwell have fitted the Concord XL with their technical cotton fabric called Outtex Airtech.  This is a blend of polyester and cotton, so what may look like a traditional canvas tent has the benefits of modern manufactured materials.

For example, the material is breathable, like cotton but stronger than cotton due to the polyester.  The mix is about 65% cotton and 35% polyester.

breathable like cotton but stronger than cotton

Outwell also claim that the Outtex fabric is less likely to get spoilt by the sun's UV rays, so you should get a tent that looks good for many years.

The material has been treated and so is fully waterproofed, along with protected seams and zips.

Just as with canvas tents, polycotton tents tend to be better insulated: warmer in cooler weather, remaining cooler in warmer weather.

The downside that comes with cotton-based tents is that they tend to be heavier.  This large tent weighs in at around 43KG.

We also found that they tend to be darker inside.  Fortunately, the Concorde XL has some big windows.

The inner tents in the Concorde XL are made from polyester, and the groundsheet is thick Oxford polyester with a 5000mm hydrostatic head (so pretty waterproof there!).

Concorde XL Interior

The interior of the Concorde XL layout has both a 3-person and a 2-person sleeping pod adjacent to each other, which is repeated at both ends of the tent.

unzip the partition between the sleeping pods to make one large bedroom

You can unzip the partition between the sleeping pods to make one large bedroom (or to get access to small children at night).  Any of the sleeping pods can be removed, though if you would like more living or storage space.

Each of the pods has a mesh door for ventilation (which you can screen off for privacy), and a mesh vent at the back to provide a flow of air that reduces condensation and reducing that a damp feeling you can get in a tent in the morning.

The pods come with handy mesh pockets for all those little items (a useful place to leave the torch and loo roll in case you need them at night!)

The interior trim is fitted in Outwell's green stripe pattern.  You can get many matching Outwell items, from chairs to cups and plates, if you want to go with a coordinated look.

In the middle of the tent is a lantern hook, and there's also a separate cable entrance if you wish to run power to appliances in the tent without having to leave a door slightly unzipped.

one of the doors has an 'eyebrow' porch, which helps keep rain out

Each of the side panels can act as a door, so you can be flexible in how you use the tent, but one of the doors has an 'eyebrow' porch, which helps keep rain out of the tent as you come and go in the wet.

The doors have large tinted windows.  They are tinted for additional privacy and to keep the sun's rays out.  They also come with blinds for even more privacy!

Concorde XL Footprint and Carpet

For many tents, the footprint is not always that necessary (we use a cheap tarp instead).  However, buying a Concorde XL is a major investment, and the relatively little extra for the footprint may be well worth it to help protect that investment.

We would really recommend getting the carpet (see Are Tent Carpets Worth It?).  This will make the whole tent a lot more comfortable and liveable.

Concorde XL Side Porch and Side Extension

If this large 10-person family tent is not quite big enough, you can get both a side extension and a side awning for the Concorde XL.

Both the extension and awning are made from the same Outtex Airtech polycotton, and inflate with the same pump that comes with the tent. They also use the same floating guyline system.

The side extension is open and provides you with a larger porch area, ideal for storing outdoor furniture, muddy boots, or somewhere to bring the kids bikes in at night.

The extension has large sides to help keep the wind and rain out.

Below are more details on the Outwell SmartAir extensions.

The awning is fully enclosed and comes with a panoramic window and groundsheet.  So pitch up to somewhere with a view, get your lounger out, and sit in the warm and dry!

The video below shows how to pitch the Concorde XL Awning.  The pitching for the side extension is more or less the same.

The Downsides?

There's no doubt about it, the Outwell Concorde XL is a fabulous large family tent.

However, the big downside is the price.  This is a serious investment.

you are saving on time

If you have a large family then you'll be used to things costing a lot (I know), so it may be worth budgeting as part of a family holiday cost if you are planning a camping holiday... it's still a lot cheaper than flights for a large family, and you should be able to spread that cost over a number of years.

The other thing to consider is that you are saving on time.

Large tents like this are ideal for camping holidays when you are pitched for longer.  However, for shorter weekend breaks large tents take so long to pitch that they are not worth it.  A lot of regular campers need two tents.

you now have the option of using a large tent even for weekend camps

With Smart Air and other air framed tents you now have the option of using a large tent even for weekend camps.

Claims of pitching in 5 minutes are often banded around.  This is not exactly true: you have to get the tent out and positioned, then pump (5 minutes of pumping feels longer than 5 minutes), and then you have to peg out.  However, Outwell's innovative design would bring the total time for pitching a large tent within comparable time as a weekender.

The other downside that should be stressed is the weight.  If you can transport a tent that is just under 50KG that should not be a problem, but you should take it into account.  Even if you have a small trailer, this tent could take most of the trailer's permitted weight.

Alternatives

if you are after a 10-person tent, then there's little else of this quality available

If the Concorde XL doesn't quite fit what you are looking for then there are some alternatives out there.  However, if you are after a 10 person tent, then there's little else of this quality available.

If you like Outwell's Concorde XL but want something a bit smaller, then look at their Concorde L Tent.  This takes the same design but as a 6-person two-bedroom model.

Vango made the air-framed tents popular with their AirBeam range and have a few years of product development under their belt.

They have a slightly different inflating method where you pump up each beam.  You can watch a video about it here.

Details