It’s one thing having a large, complex base tent to set up. I mean, we don’t really like that either, but sometimes you have to deal with it. But the last thing you want to do after setting up your primary tent is spend another small lifetime setting up a bathroom tent. Gazelle provides the latest solution, slimming its tried-and-true hub-frame formula into a tall, sturdy Privacy Tent that sets up in a minute and a half, letting you get to what really counts: collapsing into a camp chair and enjoying the view.
Gazelle has been busy of late expanding out its core lineup of 90-second hub tents and shelters, branching out into full-blown winter hot tents and fortified all-weather units. Adapting its hub-based integrated frame system to a bathroom tent seems like such a logical expansion, we thought for sure such a product already existed on the market.
But when we looked back for an older Privacy Tent, we found that while there was an older (flimsy looking) bathroom tent with the Gazelle badge, it really wasn’t the typical Gazelle hub tent built for bathroom use but more of a generic wire-framed instant tent light enough to blow clean away in anything stronger than a campfire bellows misfire.
So that makes the new Privacy Tent announced this month a rather attractive launch, designed for the same simple, intuitive 90-second setup as Gazelle’s camping tents, only in narrower, shower-compatible form. As with its tent lineup, Gazelle installs a hub frame directly into the fabric. This one is shaped more like Gazelle’s gazebos, which have a single front wall free from the X-shaped frame members that erect the other walls. This leaves the front compatible with a large door, eliminating the awkward, triangular “between-frame” doors prominent on Gazelle tents with four X-framed walls.
Gazelle Tents
Upon arrival, one unfurls the collapsed Privacy Tent frame/fabric and pops each wall into place by simply pulling on the handle at the central hub, which positions and secures the X-shaped frame into place, erecting the wall with it. The roof pops into place via the same style of central hub.
The Privacy Tent measures a full 7 feet 2 in (218 cm) tall, so you’ll almost certainly want to stake it out using the eight included all-terrain stakes so it doesn’t blow and roll in a gust. Depending upon what the clouds appear to have in store, you can throw the rain fly over the mesh roof or leave it open for better ventilation and views from down below.
Gazelle Tents
The Privacy Tent interior comes equipped for showering, accommodating most portable shower systems with its dual hose ports and drawstring sprayer holder. It also includes an overhead gear loft and various mesh and TPU pockets for storing clothes, a towel, personal effects and toiletries.
If your idea of “roughin’ it” doesn’t include showers but does extend to not pooping in a hole you just dug yourself, the Privacy Tent can still come in handy as a toilet room for a portable cassette, composting or dry-wrapping toilet, or as a private changing room that makes getting dressed far more comfortable than inside a small, cramped shared sleeping tent. The Privacy Tent even includes a simple zipper loop lock to make sure no one walks in on you.
Gazelle Tents
The Privacy tent is made from 2,000-mm-waterproof 210D Oxford polyester fabric designed to hold up to the elements. The floor includes mesh sides for drainage and fully removes for cleaning.
The Privacy Tent isn’t all that lightweight at over 20 lb (9 kg), but at just 48 in (122 cm) long by 8.5 in (22 cm) in diameter, the packed Privacy Tent will fit comfortably in a variety of vehicles.
Gazelle Tents
Gazelle is currently offering the all-new Privacy Tent at a promotional price of $280. Having used the same style of quick-pitch hub frame on a camping tent from Gazelle’s sister company Territory Tents, we think it’s a great fit for a bathroom tent that you simply want to get up as quickly as possible and forget about until it’s time for that first pee a couple drinks later.
Speaking of Territory Tents, it has a similar privacy tent of its own with slightly smaller packed dimensions and a lighter 12-lb (5.4-kg) build on sale for $150. That looks like a great option for more casual campers who aren’t worried about facing as rough terrain and weather as the overlanding and hunting crowds to which Gazelle markets.
Source: Gazelle Tents
