You have spent months following along with Off-Road.com's reviews of ATV's, picked the most capable and competent set of wheels, and studied the trail reports and planned your trip. Your tow vehicle is equipped with the latest lift, tires and engine boost you need to get you WAY offroad. Not a hotel in sight. Perfect - now what?

While we have spent many a night in an RV in the past several years, this summer we found our reviewers with repeated opportunities to follow a trail to the very remote end. It was time to tent-it again. However, after years of offroading via Landcruiser, we found our equipment much too bulky and heavy for even a full-size ATV. A six-man tent with aluminum poles, full size sleeping bags and air mattresses, even heaters and hard sided coolers just had to stay home on these trips. Our choice was to either hit WalMart and buy the cheapest PowerRangers tent and matching slumper party bag, or get some "real" equipment. There's only one place to turn - Coleman.

Coleman Exponent Canyon 32°

First impression was that this mummy-style bag was difficult to get used to, as any mummy bag is if you are used to a traditional square-bottomed bag. If you turn over or move, the bag didn't necessarily move with you. You'd end up wrapped in it with the head cover wrapped around your face. However, once you adapt to sleeping in it, it's a great improvement over a heavier cotton or flannel bag. It's much warmer, especially considering the size and weight. And it's not quite a true "mummy" bag, instead having a slightly wider, angled foot section which allows some foot movement.

The "Which-One" draw cord on the hood is great, even if you don't drawstring it completely down around your face, just to pull up onto your head. Keeping the top of your head warm makes a big difference in controlling nighttime heat loss.

Also, the 3-D zipper is made with a unique draft tube, which provides draft protection around the zipper but doesn't lay across it, so you will seldom find yourself catching the fabric in the zipper. We like that a lot.

A couple interesting design features include size seams that are in fact at ground level, intended to keep rising heat from escaping, and a built-in chest cord that minimizes heat loss through the body of the bag itself. Whatever they are, they work. The DuPont Thermolite Micro insulation did its job well. Rated to 32 degrees, we took it to the frost point, and woke up snug and comfy.

The size is probably the biggest bonus of this bag. It takes up very little room in the pickup or on the ATV - barely 7"x 11", weighing under 3 pounds. And surprisingly, repacking it into the tiny stuff bag is actually easy. It has a double drawstring system that allows you stuff it quickly into the bag, then get a second handle on it and stuff it and drawstring it one move level tighter, further reducing bag size another two to three inches.

An added bonus is that it is made entire of commercially machine washable material. And is small enough to actually wash. No chunks of laundry soap caught in corners of the sleeping bag, to be found the next time you are trapped in an enclosed tent full of wet steamy campers.

Coleman Exponent Oryx 2 Tent

When packed, this entire tent is only slightly bigger than the sleeping bag. Barely 5 pounds and 15" long, it opens up to a full 32 square feet, to sleep two persons. No, that's not really two persons and their gear, and at only 42" high you won't be standing up to dress, but you will get your shoes in with you. Travel alone and all your gear will come inside just fine.

The two aluminum pole design is quick and easy for one person to snap together, getting you in and out of the weather quickly. The polyester taffeta rainfly is unique, in that it not only snaps securely to the corner tie downs, it also comes with strings and stakes to tie it securely on it's own, making it an additional wind brace instead of a kite that will lift the tent up.

The gear loft, a snap-in hammock over your head, allows you to store your gear such as glasses or quad keys without worry of rolling on them in the night. The small size is also compensated for by adding a second door, so both campers can easily enter and exit. These are great features we haven't found on any other tent we've tested.

Key to tent use is always how long and well the zippers hold up. Again, Coleman knows what they are doing here, and designed them with cuffs to protect from the elements, while still laying out the fabric in a fashion that does not encourage any fabric catching in the zippers. Water tight seams are a factory standard.

Coleman Self-Inflating Pad with Pillow

It's really comfy, but unfortunately, it's not in the same ultra-small size family as the tent and sleeping bag. Actually maybe it is - its about the same size as the other two put together! After first inflation, we've never gotten it quite as small as original again. It does have a one-way valve so inflating is easy, but it's a bear to get all the air out.

And while it does have "compression straps"built-in, with no pack bag you run the risk of snagging and tearing it as you pack it or ride through brush.

However, it has a great built-in pillow, a one-way self-inflating valve, and button quilting that allocates the air evenly, making it exceptionally comfortable. It does seem so far that the 210 Denier Nylon is nearly indestructible. We figure with the space you've saved on the sleeping bag and tent, you can afford to splurge on the extra space and weight taken up by the air mattress, and not leave behind any comfort on your next expedition. Yeah, we fight over who gets this one, now dubbed "the GOOD pad."

*And with the room you've saved in sleeping arrangements, you can pick up a new Coleman hard-sided aluminum cooler with insulated cover - you'll have ice for days. Don't waste your money on those cheap plastic coolers. A good Coleman cooler will last you for years - while one will set you back about 100 bucks, ours survived 19 years and hundreds of hard-riding camp trips, before the plastic hinges finally gave out. We had the appropriate burial for it this summer, and picked up two new ones. Now we're set for long RV weekend or adventure by ATV.

What did we do before Coleman "civilized" the outdoors?

www.coleman.com
800-835-3278
consumerservice@coleman.com
Coleman
P.O. Box 2931
Wichita, KS 67201