Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting kamp-rite tent cot

anyone use one of these? reviews?

http://kamprite.com/shop/tents/off-the-ground-tents/kamp-rite-oversize-tent-cot/

A GI cot is the way to go if you can find one in good condition. They are a PITA to put together but the canvas is as tight as a drum. Put a Thermarest Camp Rest on it and you have a nice bed. My 2cents

that would be the last piece of gear I'd buy, look at the weight.

Go for it mate, apparently if you post here you are supposed to be able to leap mountains and lift locomotives so an extra few kilos will not be a hindrance.


I just use the Australian version, too heavy to lug about on your back but handy at a base camp.





Not my pictures, I got them from Ebay.

aside from weight, only thing i can see is the support bars look like they would dig into your back when you are trying to sleep.

Sold the camper last week and I am just looking at options to stay dry and somewhat warm at deer camp.

The Kamp-rite is a lot different than a GI cot. It's a tent/cot or a cot/tent.

I don't have any direct knowledge of them, but I remember a conversation a few years ago regarding a similar request for information. The fellow had a compact car and was driving to state park campgrounds to turkey hunt and wanted something he could throw up quickly late at night.

Folks talked him out of it. As I remember the concerns were along the lines of

a) a pop-up tent was easier to set up.
b) sleeping with a foam pad on the ground was going to be warmer than sleeping on a cot


Having done a lot of what this fellow was describing, namely driving to state park campgrounds, arriving late and having to grab a quick bit of shut-eye before hunting, I have to concur. I also have to say that I've never been all that comfortable sleeping on cots like that-- much prefer being on the ground.

With any cot, you need a good pad on top of it for insulation. Since you need the pad either way, the cot does give you 2 advantages - it avoids rocks under you and it's easier to get up to pee.
We have a couple of these ALPS cots for llama packing. They weigh 11 lb and fold up more compact than an army type. They're lower, about 8" but you're well above the rocks. They'll fit in a popup tent easier than an army cot.

No, not a locomotive. Just a backpack, since this is the backpack hunting forum. It's what's known as a given. You do know what backpacking is, right?

Another little idiosyncracy that many backpackers have that you'll find charming is, gear is important to us. Since we carry it on our backs and all. So when we ask whether others have experience with a specific piece of gear and name the piece of gear including brand, we are looking for experience with that specific piece of gear.

In other words, if I were to say "does anyone have experience with Hanwag Mountain Light boots," a good response is not "yeah, boots, love 'em, get ya some boots!"

The only way to use cot and backpacking together is to talk about those ultralight cots that sell for well over $200.

I agree with that. The comments between JSUART and I don't really address the OP's question anyway, they're from something he carried over from the fitness thread.

The piece of gear the OP mentioned is not a regular cot and weighs 34 lbs. so it's obviously not meant for backpackers.

I'm thinking you posted in the wrong forum, unless you are built like Gronkowski or JJ Watt- hauling a 34 pound cot/tent is going to be quite a feat with a backpack.

If truly a backpacking element to it look into a bivy, tons of options, here's a place to start

http://www.backcountry.com/bivy-sacks

https://www.bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Tent/ThreeWireBivySack ---- less than 2 pounds

For a cots my wife and I use Slumberjack

For backpacking use a cot would have to be awfully light, say a pound or two or so before you could seriously consider taking one along on your back on a pack-in of any consequence.

However, here in the NW it can rain ... to the point where you will have water creeping into your teepee despite careful siting and your best water diversion efforts. Last years elk hunt in WA was a case in point. Without a cot in my 8 man Kifaru, I would have been sleeping in a small lake. A cot allowed me to sleep dry during the worst of a multi day deluge. In this case though, I was camping out of my truck & could afford the weight of a light cot. There are times when staying dry in a floorless tent or even a well built tent with floor and additional groundcloth can be a real challenge.

I don't use one backpacking but for use out of a vehicle, a light, compact cot can be a real treat.

.

I think this is about the lightest cot on the market, made by Therm-a-rest. It weighs 2lb 12oz and costs over $200.
Big Agnes makes a similar one, about the same weight and price.

It is definitely not meant for backpacking. That said, for just taking out of the back of a pickup and setting up in about 2 minutes, it is a pretty darn nice piece of gear.

My dad and I both have one, and with a pad under your bag, or even a blanket, it is a very comfortable way to sleep and stay dry.

Plus you can sit in the opening in the morning and pull boots on, instead of being on the ground. I also tend to start my coffee outside of my tent cot before I even get out of my bag.

I have one tan in color but have never used it. Seems handy as it can be used as a lawn chair with adjustable back positions. Can be used with just the mosquito netting and folds up and fits in a soft carrying case. Tom

I have a couple of buddies that use these and they like them a lot for staying mobile while hunting a few different areas but they use a vehicle and are not backpacking. You can put your pad and sleeping bag inside and have a warm dry place to sleep with less than a minute to set up. Not sure I would put this piece in a backpacking conversation though.

I've laid on a few commercial fold-out cots and they all suck compared to a GI cot with a Camp Rest on top. The GI cot, however, is a royal PITA to put together, because it stretches the nylon canvas so tight. Not something you'd want to do daily.

For a protracted "camp-out" with vehicular access, the GI cot/Thermarest with the new GI bug net is as good as it gets.

Cabelas has a new GI-type cot with a pivot arm that gives you leverage to get the cross bars in place. It's supposed to make it much easier to set up.

[b][/b]

This past hunting season I was camped in the Sierra Mountains at around 8500 ft. There was a camp down the trail were they had 8-10 of the kamp-rite tent/cots in a circle around their camp fire.

My first thoughts were that they had to be cold since it was cold and with strong winds. I know I turned my little buddy heater on in my Cabelas Extreme Weather Tent.

[i][/i]

Oh I don't know. You probably could use it for backpacking but you'd have to leave the ice chest full of beer and steaks behind.

Oh, and the cast iron dutch oven.

Oh, that brings back the good old days. Several of us were camping at a lake in Idaho's White Cloud Mtns, about 8 miles in. A guy showed up with his 2 small daughters. They camped near us and we visited their camp. Get this: his pack included 3 sleeping bags, an old style umbrella tent (the one with the internal spider frame), and a 12" cast iron frying pan. His boots were leaving tracks 4" deep on solid ground.

That's my cot! Well, mine is all metal! But I love that cot! Adjustable springs, crossbars on the ground... with a Thermarest on it I have the most comfortable bed that is possible.

If anyone knows where to get one of these I really would appreciate hearing about it. Mine is pretty well worn out.

There are no top crossbars, head or foot. I don't mind the one at the head (the pillow goes there anyway)but the foot bar on the army jobs kills my knees. My feet are pushed too high for my knees to touch the mattress. And it doesn't have legs that sink into the ground or kill your tent floor.

And the adjustable spring tension is a great thing. It allows compensation for cloth stretch with age.

It packs 38" long and 5" across. Weighs 13 pounds, so certainly not for backpacking (unless horses or llamas are involved.

But the stickers and paperwork are long gone... Can anyone tell me where I can find another??

Funny thing, probably pure hellish torture on him and they probably talked about it as a great memory from then on.

I have one.
Very comfy.

Pard has used one of these last two seasons. Says it makes a diff for his old bones

I'm still on a pad on the ground. But starting to think about doubling up on pads. Maybe exped on top of therma rest. But not for true backpacking. Then light is right

A good combination is a light air mattress together with an insulite pad of some kind. I have a couple waffle insulite pads that I got from Wally's for about $15 each. They weigh almost nothing and work great to triple the insulation of an air mattress. They are a bit bulky, though.

I have Cabela's version of the cot-tent. It's decent for car camping. However, with the fly on, it's tight enough for pretty serious condensation. If it's not too cold and windy, I like it better with the fly removed, just use the mesh for bug protection, and hang a tarp overhead a bit. I use it with Cabela's cot pad and a WM semi-rectangular bag .. best sleep I've gotten away from home, better than many good hotels' beds.

Backpacking ... NeoAir. If you don't mind another half pound to pound, a folding Z mat. Protects the NeoAir from puncture, adds warmth underneath, and I think it about triples the comfort despite only 3/4ths inch of thickness. Well worthwhile if you're not going truly UL.

Tom

Something often overlooked is the affect of rocks and sticks on an air mattress. Even if a rock doesn't puncture it, it can put enough pressure on a seam to weaken it. A pad underneath can keep your mattress alive longer in addition to holding the heat.