Mountain Warehouse Pop Up 3 Man Tent | Tested and reviewed

Cheap and cheerful is a phrase we often hear when people talk about Mountain Warehouse, and it's a phrase that applies here as we test the retailer's Pop Up 3 Man Tent.

It's very cheap, especially when it's on sale, which it pretty much always seems to be. It's also rather roomy inside, quick to put up and has a handful of genuinely decent features.

It's never going to be all good at this price point (and it'll never compete with the best camping tents), though, so there are compromises. As with many options like this, it's single-skinned. It's waterproofing leaves a little to be desired, too, while there's no porch.

Does it do enough to land a place in our list of the best pop-up tents? Let's hand over to James Forrest for his full review...

Pop-up pitching and packing away

This tent uses a classic pop-up system, working exactly how you’d imagine a pop-up tent to. Simply open up the storage bag, slip off the elastic band holding everything together and then the tent automatically springs into shape.

You don’t have to anything with any poles, either. It's all pre-connected and pre-built, so there's very little to do other than pegging out the sewn-in groundsheet.

The tent has a freestanding design, so you can move it around easily and pick your spot over the flattest grass, before pegging it out. Eight lightweight metal pegs are provided for this purpose, as well as four guylines for added stability – which you need to attach to the tent yourself.

I timed myself pitching the tent for the first time, including pegging out the stakes, and it took us just two minutes – and that involved some faffing. So it’s certainly quick and easy to pitch.

Packing this tent away is not quite as simple, with even Mountain Warehouse’s instructions stating the tent needs to be “coerced back to its original shape”. The process sometimes feels like a wrestling match, as if you’re trying to tame a beast that just wants to be free, but after a few practice attempts it gets a lot easier.

The simplest process is to grab the two top poles in one hand, then lift up the two back poles (the floor poles) upwards into the same position, so you’re now holding the centre of all four poles in one hand. This forms a burrito-style shape out of the tent. The door should now be fully opened to release any air.

Next is the difficult bit. Using your other hand, you fold and contort the tent in on itself. You’ll face some resistance to doing this because it bends the poles significantly, but by being firm and decisive you can fold the tent into two large circles, which join together and can be slid back into the carry bag. Phew.

Internal space and tent shape

The Mountain Warehouse Pop Up 3 Man Tent has the following official dimensions: 280cm long, 180cm wide and 105cm high. For two people this is quite roomy and comfy; for three it can feel slightly cramped (the 4-man version may be comfier), but the internal space is pretty impressive.

The walls of the tent are quite tall and vertical, providing reasonable head and elbow room. Most people will be able to sit up in the tent without hitting their heads on the roof, but taller individuals over 6ft may struggle. Ultimately it’s a tent for lying in horizontally and not much else.

Overall the tent has a dome-like shape with an average overall height. The sewn-in fibreglass poles create this structure. One large oblong-shaped pole creates the groundsheet floor, while two hooped poles – almost in a V-shape – create the tent’s vertical structure and shape.

This works quite well and provides decent liveability. But the V-shape leaves quite a flat centre to the tent roof, which is prone to sagging and during heavy rain may accumulate small puddles. It’s also not very easy to adjust the tautness of this tent’s structure, so it can be a bit flappy or misshapen, particularly in windy weather or if camping on lumpy ground.

Waterproofing, wind resistance and breathability

For a cheap, basic pop-up tent, the Mountain Warehouse Pop Up 3-Man has decent waterproofing stats. The 100% polyester tent fabric has an official 1,500mm hydrostatic head waterproof rating, as well as a DWR (durable water repellent) coating.

This isn’t a premium score, but it is technically waterproof and should provide reasonable weather protection. You also get taped seams and a stormflap over the main door to further help seal out the elements.

There are some negatives, however, in terms of waterproofing. This is a single-skin tent, so you only have one layer of protection from the weather, rather than two. The main zipper is a potential weak-point for water ingress and the flat roof doesn’t shed rain particularly well.

Overall, therefore, we’d describe this tent as better-suited to fine weather. It will probably cope fine with some light drizzle here and there, but we wouldn’t recommend relying on it in sustained, heavy downpours.

In terms of wind-resistance, this tent is alright, but not great. The walls are reasonably high, and thus have a tendency to catch the wind slightly more than average (indeed, when I first pitched it in a garden, it almost flew off in a gust despite being pegged down).

Overall, the shape of the tent isn’t the lowest or most aerodynamic design I've ever seen, that’s for sure. But, in relatively calm conditions, it works absolutely fine, particularly if you peg out the four guylines for added stability.

Single-skin tents are notoriously prone to condensation. This can be a problem with the Mountain Warehouse Pop Up 3-Man, but there are some nice features to help mitigate this risk. There are three vent windows on the tent outer (two at the front, on the sides of the door, and one at the rear), plus the main door can be zipped up with an internal mesh panel, which ensures improved breathability.

Weight and packed size

On my scales the Pop Up 3 Man Tent weighs 2.6kg, including: the storage bag (133g), eight pegs (138g), peg bag (10g), four guylines (44g) and the tent itself (2,275g). This is relatively light for a 3-person tent and it's easy enough to carry around for short distances, such as from a campsite car park to your pitch.

But, like almost all pop-up tents, it’s not particularly compact. When packed away, it's shaped like a humongous circular disc, with a super-wide 90cm diameter but very thin 4cm depth. If you’re packing it in a car, it can lie down neatly and compactly. If you’re travelling to a campsite or festival by public transport, however, it will be a total nightmare – large, unwieldy and clumsy.

Features

There are only a few other features to note. The tent has one main entry door, with a D-shaped profile. The main door zipper has an external stormflap to help protect it from rain. Behind the outer material of the door, you get a mesh door made from an insect screen. This can be closed to keep out bugs, but ensure you get excellent ventilation and airflow in hot weather.

Alternatively, in poor weather you can close both doors, or in fine weather (without insect problems) you can open both, rolling up the twin doors and clipping them away using the tent’s in-built toggles.

The in-built poles of this tent are made from fibreglass, which Mountain Warehouse describes as “flexible, strong and stable”. The tent is also certified as fire-retardant.

Verdict

This is a cheap, cheerful and comfy pop-up tent designed for fair weather camping – but it’s not durable enough for poor conditions.

For more technical options, take a look at our list of the best two-person tents.

About the author

James Forrest writes regular features and route guides for Trail magazine and has been one of our main gear testers for the last few years. James is based on the edge of the Lake District so when he isn’t off on his latest crazy adventure or challenge, he’s walking in his local fells.

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