Black Wolf Turbo

Black Wolf Turbo 450 – UPDATE December 2022 - I'm even more happy after 18 months of dependable use. It works, the accessories fit well (optional side walls & grass protection mat). It hasn't faded like the Coleman did. I would strongly advise you that if you camp more than 2-3 times per year invest in a Black Wolf they really are streats ahead of the others. We have… Read more

taken it out to Carnarvon Gorge for a week and many long week-ends away in the Scenic Rim. It stays dry and comfy all the time. ============================================================

We have used this family sized tent on 4 trips away now. So we are still in the early honeymoon phase of tent enjoyment. My overall impression is that this product is worth paying the extra money for. It takes about the same time to erect as the Coleman Instant Up series, but it has MUCH better design. The frame appears to be more robust and uses a different locking system. It has a central ridge pole for the awning which stops water pooling on the awning (a know problem with the Coleman). The awning poles are stronger and twist lock. The pegs that come with it are the best bundled pegs I've ever encountered. The tie downs are very well thought out. The room divider can be opened completely. The anti-condensation system actually works!!!!

Poor Service and Poor Products – BlackWolf (Phoenix Leisure Group) is a pathetic company... incompetent and evidently run by a bunch a careless ratbags. They are dishonest, unknowledgeable (ignorant) and have poor customer service... unable to provide the courtesy of answering what should be simple questions and unable to stick by (honouring) what they claim to provide. I will… Read more

hope to be hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) next year (when this virus issue resolves)... then the Appalachian Trail the following year. Was hoping to use an Australian company like BlackWolf (which I believe it to be; correct me if I'm wrong)... but certainly WILL NOT be using any of their rubbish products from an evidently careless, dishonest company. The adventure gear industry has many competitors, one would think these @#$%^&! clowns would get their act together & try to be professional, competent in providing better service & products. Good riddance BlackWolf... because at the rate they're operating, they'll be out of business soon!

Used regularly, very sturdy tent and easy to erect – We use the tent several times per year. It is robust, quick to erect, and well made. After 8 years of significant use in a variety of extremes (-10 deg in the snow, +48 deg in the outback) it’s performed flawlessly. Recently a couple of the zips began to fail and I first contacted Black Wolf about their lifetime warranty to find the zips weren’t… Read more

covered, but the BW representatives at Phoenix Leisure sent me a few replacement zipper fasteners immediately and I’ve put them on and it’s like new. BW should remove the words Lifetime Warranty because as several people have pointed out it doesn’t have one in practice. However unlike some people’s experience I found Phoenix Leisure to be very responsive. The tent does get condensation in it quite easily as several people have noted. The idea of a simple square to cover the top held on with Velcro would allow the inner tent to be used alone (usually sufficient if not too windy) and save having to put up the cumbersome outer tent. Rain only seems to get in through those top vents even if zipped close. Overall we’re very happy. Yes it’s heavy and bulky but leaves most other lightweight tents far behind.

Strong and sturdy – We have used our turbo plus 300 4 times now and couldn’t ask for a better tent. At the moment we are in heavy wind and rain and the tent hasn’t budged. We are dry and have lots of room. (2 oldies and a small dog!). We have the wall attachments so the awning has served us well with a heater and playing cards all afternoon. One thing that would… Read more

be handy... would be a side panel with a door. All our trips we always set up with the gazebo to the side. Other than that... we are super happy. This will be our last tent as we will be too old to pitch tents in 10 years time!!!

Still early but reasonable so far – We bought the turbo plus 300 despite the bad reviews of the parent company on here. It was mainly due to the retailer Getaway outdoors in Perth and their assurance that they will personally handle any issues and have a good relationship with the supplier. I bought the 300 plus for a family of 4. I'm a parachute rigger and motor trimmer so I… Read more

have an idea about how textile products are made.

I set up the tent in the back yard to test and season it and immediately found QC issues with the production. There were many untrimmed threads where stitch patterns started and ended. I trimmed these myself, left untrimmed this could lead to seam failure. One was on a zipper and was entangling in the zip... The seam seal tape on the floor seams was very poorly applied and in places barely covered the seams. I've also since found the one of the eyelets on the front awning part of the fly is not correctly set and loose.

I had been emailing with a representative of Phoenix Leisure regarding some product specifics and thought I'd send them an email regarding the issues I found with lots of photos. I was thanked and told the email would be passed on but have not heard anything else.

We went away camping for 6 nights and experienced mostly good whether and one rainy day and temps down to about 8c on the cold nights.

The tent preformed well and did not leak but with 4 people (2 under 4 years old) and the windows all shut and roof open to try and keep it warmer, we did get a small bit of condensation inside around the floor area. It was not too bad and would probably be solved by opening the windows a bit.

I don't find it difficult to erect and pack up and fit into the bag but it is very heavy.

It is a fantastic space for us and the kids with ample room for them to run around even with beds and bags in place. It also is great to have the head height and it feels like a little house we all loved camping in this tent.

The tent pegs are also of high quality.

One thing I don't like is that the tent is not rain proof without the fly due mainly to the design of the roof vents, and due to the large foot print required for the fly/awning, it is a bit limiting for smaller camp sites. It would be great to have a smaller fly sheet the just covers the roof vent area of the main space so you have the potion the set up in a smaller space without the fly and still have a degree of rain protection. I'll probably make this item for myself..

I'm overall happy so far but the quality control out of China is as usual sub-standard and as per the reviews on here it seems Phoenix Leisure don't care much about the customer relations.

Turbo Cabin 450 - Best Family Tent – So we have been camping pretty much all our lives. From a couple to adding a few kids along the way. Well, five in total. After using a larger dome style tent for years and spending numerous hours setting it up we opted for the Turbo Cabin. All i can say is it's been a marriage saver. From ease of setting up, stability in bad weather and the… Read more

sheer room. This tent has provided our family with some amazing camping holidays. We have not had one issue, leak or problem with this tent. To the point we now have 6 friends who all own them and all have had similar experiences.

Turbo plus 300 canvas. Paid 2k. Used in once then took it to the tip. Overpriced junk – Waterproof tape came off. Main knuckle joint let go 4 times. Girlfriend has a Coleman gold series which beats this rubbish hands down. After spending numerous hours fixing it I got fed up and dumped it. 2k down the drain. Show details

leaks – This is the 'lite' version. Goes up fairly well. This has twin side rooms and is huge on inside. Is very heavy tho, and fairly bulky but can fit in car. Handles wind well. Structurally good except fabric and seams leaked in strong rain from day one until I painted fly with silicone mixed in turps. The tape sealing the seams didn't last long. Retreated seams after removing peeling tape. Show details

Falling into pieces – Light use only and after about two years all sealing started peeling off with means is not water resistant any more. Floor material is as bad and start disintegration process. Live time warranty it’s a spam. Show details

All the waterproof tape came off – As I see someone else posted. I’ve had this maybe 8 years. Last year first time I used it in rain, and all the waterproof tape came off the seams and I got drenched. Gunna let my ex wife have it and buy myself an Oztent Show details

Very Poor Quality – Very poor quality. I have owned this 240 Turbo for approx 8 years, I have used it in total 3 times for a week at a time. I have just set it up and water proof strip around every join peeled of. I have spoken with Black Wolf by phone and messenger and there response is NO WARRANTY, they have no confidence in there product. BEWARE.. Show details

Wet floor – Pretty much same review as Nathan from Sydney with the 300. Floor condensation is an absolute FAIL! I've tried everything to prevent moisture issues. I'm a well seasoned camper and know I good and bad tent, we camp from 2nights-3wks multiple times a year, current tent 450 cabin is in 3rd year of use. Black wolf is not worth the money! … Read more

Over all 450 cabin great size tent, easy to pitch and pack up, front awning with 3 poles is flimsy in wind but can be strengthened with additional poles. No issues with zips yet with current 450 cabin (but we do spray them after use)

With the help of the guys at Tentworld (Tweed Heads) Black wolf had replaced my original 450 after a list of quality problems, but I still would not recommend paying full price or even fully recommend a black wolf lite series tent. I can deal with wear and tear issues as we camp a lot, but persistent dampness to floor from day 1 is unacceptable for any tent and ruins our camping experience every time!

Don't be fooled buy the "lifetime warranty" – We have had the black wolf 300 plus for 3 years now and think the tent is great but.. the fly wire zips are rubbish, the second time we used it we started having problems and took it back to the retailer. We got all sorts of explanations from the black wolf rep like you pegged it out to tight or the way you stowed the tent put to much pressure on… Read more

the zip. Anyway for a tent that you drop over a grand on I think it's pretty poor. What good is a tent if the fly wire doesn't work properly this is the first tent that I've ever had this sort of problems with including cheap stuff like Denali tents which lasted for years and years. Do yourself a favour and stick with the cheap stuff because this is certainly no better.

52 Night Test - Passed :) – We spent 52 nights in our Turbo 240. Coming from a small 3 man polyester tent, the new canvas Turbo 240 made us feel like we were in a cabin rather than a tent. We had almost perfect weather for the 52 nights but we did have 3 nights of light rain and one windy night. It didn’t leak in the rain and stayed put in the wind. We noticed on our first… Read more

few nights that airflow was important, so we slept with the top windows open. The gusseting windows were a good feature to have in the tropical rain, this allowed us to open the big side windows without getting wet. Having airflow stopped the morning mildew in the tent and kept us dry. We were constantly on the move during our trip and set the tent up around 30 times. Our initial setup time was probably 20 mins, mastering the task we’re now down to a leisurely ~10 mins. Not exactly instant but at least it was put up right! On a couple calm nights we just setup the main tent and left the fly/awning off. Does anyone else setup without the fly?

Center Pole Hub mount system keeps failing, 1 pole keeps falling out – I've used the tent twice per year with my family, I've had issues with center pole hub what a pain to pull apart and fix. Discovered its a manufacturing fault, (nylon/plastic body has fine cracks in it, allowing to bend and pole to fall out) No backup support, No reply to emails, Phoenix Leisure Group, Escape2 completely useless, don't waste your money.

Zips not covered by Warranty – The tent is great but unfortunately the parent company (Phoenix Leisure Group) will not warranty the zips. I have only used the tent 3 times and the zip is now permanently caught. This has been a terrible experience and the Lifetime Warranty is practically worthless.

Good tent, terrible warranty – After my 2 month old Turbo 300 Plus tent suffered a bent pole in max. 40kmh winds, I contacted Black Wolf in order to have it repaired under it's lifetime warranty as it was obviously defective. They immediately denied the claim saying they don't cover storm damage. I then asked what the tent is rated to in terms of wind. Their response was: "I… Read more

have heard back from our BW product manager and she has confirmed that these tents do not undergo a specific wind testing procedure.

It is very challenging to perform and place an accurate wind rating on the tents as there are too many variables and different environmental factors involved in real life situations that could end up contradicting figures and ratings placed on these tents.

Things such as wind-breaks, environmental shelter and surroundings as well as human factors such as pitching quality and tension, means we cannot place an accurate wind rating on this.

Unfortunately that’s all the information I have been given on this query."

So after not being able to provide a wind rating, but still insisting that I subjected my tent to a 'storm', Black Wolf still refused to repair the tent under warranty. At this point the tent had already been at the place of purchase for 6 weeks awaiting the warranty repair. The retailer decided to repair the tent at their own cost with no assistance from the Black Wolf representative, as the bulky tent had been taking up space for so long. Very disappointed in the whole process from Black Wolf, as I thought I was buying a product with a lifetime warranty.

A perfect tent – Can’t say enough good things. A near perfect tent. Quality and functionality is just beautiful. Highly recommend by me. Very heavy and quality is amazing. Many good holidays ahead with this one.

Took on so much water. All taped seams failed after a night of rain – Previously had a Blackwolf Turbo 300 plus (not the lite model - the full canvas) which was a great tent. Replaced that as it was too big for 2 of us with a new 300 model (again not the lite - the full canvas). We’re regular campers and maybe go camping every couple of weeks. Long weekends to 2 weeks at a time. No problems with the new tent… Read more

at all for a couple of dry trips. Worked well, easy to set up, stood up to wind. Problems started with a trip to Moreton Island. It started raining - quite heavily - and after a few hours the taped seams started to peel away from the canvas inside the tent and fly. After another hour or so the majority of tape had lost its seal and the tent took on a huge amount of water - the tent was on a slight slant and there was a good 2 inches in the bottom by the time the rain stopped. Packed up after only 2 days - 12 days early as more rain was forecast. Wasted over $1k on camping, ferry and permit fees.

Contacted Blackwolf who pointed me to a tent repairer who told me to seal it back up with paint on sealant from Tentworld. Explained it was every seal in the tent that had failed and was advised to remove any remaining tape and buy more than one tube.

$1200 down the drain. Bitterly disappointed in the product and bitterly disappointed in the customer service and warranty. Tent is going in the bin and will be buying an Oztent. Avoiding Blackwolf at all costs in the future!

Thia tent is a beast – Had 300 plus for 2 years now. Never has condensation or mould but we do sleep with the roof vents open. We camp in all westher conditions in Victoria. Have only pegged the whole thing down once. Spent the night in 60 - 80km plus winds at cape otway, was very noisy but tent stood strong. When wind swung to west on 3rd storm front we thought… Read more

hell had opened up. Turns out it withstood a massive hailstrom and had a foot of Ice stacked against it.

Amazing quality, is heavy but needs to be in order to provide such strength.

Taking it to canunda this easter cant wait.

Highly recommend.

Turbo 450 bad product quality – Bought new Black Wolf turbo 450 from Tent world in Perth, the telescopic roof pole is stuck and does not extend, took back to them since not used yet, saw only when pitched it for first time, but they have plenty of stories, will never buy this brand again. I ordered a new roof pole own expense to replace, not happy camper on this one.

Fly mesh and after sales service is disappointing! – In short, we did a lot of research prior to purchasing our Blackwolf Twin Turbo 240 lite and overall it's a reasonable tent. We're a fastidious family & take great pride in looking after things, namely big ticket items we expect years of use from. Previously we had a relatively cheap Coleman tent that lasted us 12 yrs without fail. Thus, it was… Read more

most disappointing to find a small tear in the window fly mesh of our Blackwolf after its second use and that we could only reasonably put down to being a product fault we had not identified on purchase. What was more disappointing rather was the tone of the Phoenix Leisure Group (owners of Blackwolf) representative who insisted this could not have been a product fault for the simple reason it was not detected on purchase. To put this into context, we're talking about a 1cm tear in ~30m3 of fabric. He had also allegedly "never dealt with a fly-mesh related complaint" in some 14 years. Reluctantly, when we asked if the item could be repaired (at our cost) with an original replacement fly the response was no "you're better off just going to Bunnings to get a repair kit". I think this alone speaks volumes.

waste of money – bought turbo 300 2 years ago ,didn't use it for about a year ,6 weeks into a trip the door zip fell apart ,2 weeks later the fly ripped ,tried to deal with bcf and blackwolf ,kept getting run around so I gave up .ruined what should have been a good holiday , might as well take it to the tip .

Floor condensation – We are a family of four who go camping all seasons and every 2 months approx. The Blackwolf Turbo Twin 300 we have has not been as good as what I expected for the price. The back zippers have seized but the really frustrating thing is floor condensation. We have a picnic rug down and self inflating mattresses. Every morning we have to drag… Read more

everything out to air and dry due to moisture. I have seam glued and experimented with and without tarps underneath with no success. I've removed the picnic rug but there will be moisture under the mattresses. It is not due to a leak from a hole as it only happens under mattresses and rugs. I have all windows and vents open. It is so frustrating to see that the Coleman, Oztrail tents my friends have do not have the same problem. I spoke to a fellow blackwolf owner and they had the same problem. I will not be recommending or purchasing another blackwolf tent. I would love to hear of any solution. Nathan

Great tent. But very very heavy – Family of three with small child who camp at least every month in all weather. We love this tent. The ease of setup is fantastic with average time being less than 20min. I always peg the ground matt however only bother with any side lanyards if windy weather is predicted. Have had a few moments with very high wind where this tent hasnt moved! The… Read more

canvas and particularly ground matt are extremely durable. Some leakage the first couple of times but after hosing down and drying no issues now.

There is a handy storage pocket on one side of bed. Wish it was both sides. Also the internal zippered seperation only allows for a bed in one orientation..we do not use it.

Packup takes a lot longer. Esp if its wet. The bag is barely big enough and i leave pegs out due to roofrack weight limitations. It is very hard to pack with one person. Certainly the overall weight would justify some bag wheels.

Front door zip arrangement is frustrating. With the D shaped entry needing a lot of unzipping to use, as opposed to a single central vertical zip.

Overall i love this tent and would buy again. But car camping access only due to weight. Best of its type!

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Has provided many years of good service – I purchased the 240 lite in March 2012 & have used it several times a year since in all climatic conditions. I read reviews prior to the purchase that mentioned the lack of ventilation however this version had the gusseted windows etc so that problem resolved. My brother-in-law had the canvas version & was pleased with it which influenced my… Read more

decision. I preferred the lite version. It has the lip over the entrance which is formed by connecting two angled pieces of aluminium which can be fiddly to feed through the tube. The storage bag is made of stout material & easily holds the tent & fly, a Wak Jak, pegs & a light ground sheet. The tent dries quickly & I like the way you can store the ropes. I've camped in the Snowy's in Autumn & been perfectly comfortable despite frosts at times. Have been fortunate to not experience too much rain but endured a heavy thunder storm in the Warrumbungles which saw water briefly cover the camping area. The tub floor kept the water out with just a small leak in one corner. The wind had no affect as all ropes were used to secure the tent. Have camped in Central & FNQ in the milder months & the tent catches any breeze as windows & door provide adequate ventilation. A window at the back would be perfect. The insect screen keeps midgies at bay. It's easy to erect & dismantle. The material & poles have held up well with none of the problems others have experienced so touch wood. I hang a light from the middle of the tent. I also own a Black Wolf Turbo Stretcher which is equally easy to setup, comfortable (use a self inflating mattress), strong & the right height.

Lite 240 Plus 2017 Model – I must say that even after reading many reviews that don't put these tents in the best light, I still went ahead and bought one. The design best suited us, as did the dimensions of the bag to fit neatly in our vehicle. We also have an 8 year old that loves his own room in the rear, so the 240 Turbo Lite Plus model was for us. As soon as it… Read more

arrived I put it up, and there it stayed in the back yard for a few days, and when we had rain and a couple of windy days I was keen to see how it handled the weather. The were no issues with leaks, I had purchased seam sealer which I went around the outside stitching with, and because of all the taped inner seams, I didn't need to do them. We ''camped out'' a couple of nights while it was up, and there were no issues with leaks anywhere, and it stood up to the gusty winds no problem. I packed it up just as easily, and I had a spare duffle bag and packed the fly into that so the tent bag was less bulky and lighter weight to handle. I went ahead and purchased the deluxe side walls and front, and we went to a campground to try it all out. Once again there were no issues, except that we had still night and a heavy dew overnight, and condensation formed inside the tent, even with the roof vents open. I had closed all of the windows, because it was quite cool, but that may have contributed to the inside dampness. Once consolation it wasn't dripping wet inside, but next time I'm packing moisture absorbers and leaving a portion of a side window open to see if that helps. In all the years we've camped in tents (around 20 years), we have never had condensation, and yes, we have even camped in the highland snow here in Tassie. So it was a little irritating, but I feel with preparing the tent for the camping conditions we can minimise this. Well, it's still early days for us with this tent, and we are going away again in a couple of weeks time and hope it lives up to our expectations. One concern I do have is, the fly seems to sit hard up against the knuckle joints of the frame, so I'm going to make some soft little ''wraps'' with velcro fitting to put over the knuckles to help protect the fly from possible rubbing points. It's also a shame there is only one accessories storage pocket in the rear room, when the main area could also have one, say, near the power inlet. It also would be handy to have a couple of fabric loops sewn into the roof panel near the dividing wall, to hang a coat hanger, or extra light, or string up a makeshift indoor clothesline, that sort of thing. Apart from that, I am hoping over the next few months we will put it through it's paces in many different weather conditions,, but I will keep our old faithful Sportiva Outlook sitting in the cupboard as the emergency tent, we know that will stand wind gusts of up to 100km when we were last up in the Highland Lakes, but it just takes so long to put up!! I feel really spoilt to be able to not only put up a tent on my own, but within minutes... which is great when master 8 is only thinking of food & drinks and hubby is pulling out the rest of his gear because he wanted his bike 10 minutes ago!

Well made, but quite small – I was given this tent by a friend of my sister. She obviously didn't like it. We set it up for a day and I was impressed by the build quality. (It's the older model with the little awning fly) The door zips are hard to close due to the elastic holding the tent to the poles being so strong. You need to stretch the elastic when closing the zip or… Read more

the zip will not last long.

Being well over 6 foot tall, I found the 210 cm length to be very tight for sleeping. My head is touching the back wall and my feet are on the door. In reality it's more like 195cms x 195 cms when set up.

15 kilograms is pretty heavy for a 2 person tent, but our neighbours certainly looked on in envy when we set it up in about 5 minutes at the camp ground.

Anyway, we have decide to take it on a trip around Australia. If it disappoints, I will find a good home for it in a wheelie bin.