So much better than the Phoxx 1!!
I have had the OEX Phoxx 1 vii for a while now, camped in it a few times and, although really small, didn’t mind it too much. I decided to get the Phoxx 2 vii so I had a bit more room, and there was a lot more room.
The tent is so easy to put up, literally 2 colour coded poles that slip through the inner and a few pegs. At most it should take a few minutes to put up. I wouldn’t be confident saying that about extreme weather though. The tent is completely waterproof, the inner has a good bathtub style groundsheet to keep water out and good ventilation to reduce condensation. The Phoxx 2 is marketed as a 2 person tent but realistically, I would consider this more as a 1 person tent with your belongings inside / in the small vestibules. As I have found with all OEX tents so far, it is very easy to pack away as well as put up.
The downsides
The tent design is coffin / tunnel sort of shape, this means the tent does move around quite a bit with the wind. If the poles crossed over it would probably be a lot more secure and eliminate this problem.
The vestibules are small, and as soon as they’re open they are letting water in when it is raining, so wild camping up a mountain and needing to cook would be interesting to say the least.
It is heavy. Weighing around 2.1kg it doesn’t really compare to ultra lightweight backpacking tents, but, it certainly isn’t the worst either and with the cost of it being a lot less than UL tents, it is worth considering if you are on a budget.
Pros & Cons
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In review
I like it. It is a cheap, waterproof, strong tent that can pack down quite small if you take the poles out of the bag and strap them to the side of your backpack etc. Plenty of room for 1 person in the tent, I haven’t tried with 2 but I think it’d be a squeeze. Certainly couldn’t get 2 decent sleeping mats in there. I can see myself using this tent quite a bit!