.
The weather was a very mixed bag, which is always good for a tent test. We had a lot of rain and the 5000hh flysheet of the Horizon 400 never let us down once. Thankfully it was dry on the day we packed up and the large oversized trolley bag took the struggle out of getting packed away.
Pitching time is quoted as 25 minutes, but we recon after you’ve got to grips with it you will have this tent inflated and pegged out faster. NOTE – The first time you pitch it you will need to install the bedroom, so allow for this at your first camp. After that, you can just leave it in place like with other tents.
As mentioned, it’s supplied in an impressive, strong and oversize wheeled bag with rugged buckle straps. The HiGear Horizon is not too heavy for a tent of this size, weighing in at a quoted 37.3kg.
This tent also comes with a repair kit as well as a spare beam tube too and an air pump for inflating. The colour coded pegging system is very handy, meaning the right pegs go in the right place to do the right job.
Outside
The guy lines each have their own handy little mesh storage pouches, meaning that when packing away you have somewhere to stow the guys. This helps keep everything tidy, preventing them from getting knotted up and making pitching the next time less fiddly and hopefully faster.
The inflating points are covered by zipped panels, making the outside of the tent look very neat. They also protect the valves from exposure to sun and rain.
Fitted front and rear are heavy duty storm straps for coping with any bad weather. As mentioned, we had some very wet and windy weather and can assure you that the tent didn’t budge, even when pitched right in the middle of an exposed campsite.
There are power/electricity access points on both sides of this tent. This is handy as many other tents only have them on one side, and this can mean having to run cables all around the outside of the tent or even having to pitch in different places so you can reach the electric supply.
The HiGear Horizon 400 has a fitted floor in the living area and it comes provided with a separate ground sheet for front porch area. This leaves you with the option of whether you choose to fit it or not.
There’s plenty of ventilation panels around the tent, and a large zipped one that runs along the rear of the bedroom which is great for keeping that area cool. We had rain and sun, and didn’t experience any problems with condensation building up inside the tent.
Tinted windows not only make the HiGear Horizon 400 look very attractive, but they also help with privacy and keep the inside temperature down too. They are not too heavily tinted though, so being inside the tent is still a light and airy experience. Some tents have very dark windows and this can be a turn off, but HiGear have got this just right.
.
Living area and porch
Moving into the centre living area, you will see from the photos that it is large enough to comfortably fit a table and chairs.
The flysheet on this tent lets in plenty of light, making this a very nice and airy feeling living space. The side door is a nice large size, giving easy access and letting in plenty of fresh air. It is fitted with a mesh panel for keeping the creepy crawlies on the outside. It’s got a decent rain canopy too should the good old British weather decide to do what it does best.
On the other side is a large window that also lets in plenty of light although it is slightly tinted. The sides of the window blind zip downwards, and it rolls away neatly at the bottom. The advantage of zipped blinds is that you can have them opened/closed at any position you want based on the light or privacy you need.
This living and bedroom area has a built in groundsheet, so no worries if it gets a bit wet or muddy, you will be nice and dry inside.
The front porch area is provided with a separate groundsheet. This is handy as it gives you the option of whether you want it in place or not. Some like to feel the cool grass under their feet whilst in a sheltered area, and many campers also like to have no ground covering in areas where they are cooking/preparing food.
Also, with the front door wide open, having no ground covering in the porch gives the feeling of bringing the outside indoors.
With regard to the large front door, you have the option of having it fully opened or just half open using the tiebacks in the middle. When fully opened, there is a big pocket down in the corner for neatly stowing the door away. What this porch area doesn’t have is an mesh panel, but again there are plenty of vents for cooling and we had ample room for fitting a kitchen table and other cooking gear. Overall this area make for a great food prep area as we as somewhere to hangout and lounge around.
Bedrooms
Designed to sleep 4 persons in a 2x2 configuration, the centre divider unzips to make one large sleeping area, one of the first things you will notice is the big crescent moon logo depicting that HiGear Horizon has NightFall bedrooms.
Made from a darker material, NightFall bedrooms are designed to block out more bright light whchich is perfect if you don’t want to get woken early by the summer sun.
From our experience, darkened bedrooms are always cooler, meaning you should be more comfortable on hotter nights. The centre divider can be removed to create a single large bedroom and if you are worried about feeling closed in a claustrophobic, there are large mesh covered zipped panels front and rear that can be opened up to let both light and fresh air in – the best of both worlds.
Stable camping
There are some other goodies that you will spot when you unpack the Horizon 400 and they are the stability bars. They are designed to keep the tent more stable when the weather gets a bit blowy.
There are three of them, adjustable and they sit at roof level between the beams of each area of the tent. Above the bedroom pod, in the living area and in the porch. They are very easy to adjust and fit, that is unless you are challenged in the height department. Don’t worry about this though as you only really need to fit them if it does get breezy as the ample guy lines and storm straps around the tent will do the business for most of the time.
Overall we were mightily impressed with the build quality and the features of the HiGear Horizon 400. Many of these features you would find in high end tents that are much more expensive, and if you are looking for something a little large check out it’s bog brother the HiGear Horizon 700 Nightfall, designed to sleep up to 7 people but with exactly the same brilliant features that we’ve outlined here.