LittleLife Family Beach Shelter With Zipped Door Opening And Sand Pockets For Extra Stability

I haven't yet used it in anger, but I have done a trial assembly in my living room. That was extremely fiddly, so heaven knows what it would be like on a windy beach.It has 3 long - VERY LONG - poles, each folded into (I think) 6 sections. There is a piece of bungy elastic running through the middle of all the sections, and supposed to have sufficient tension to keep the segments together when they are unfolded into a single long pole. Sadly, the tension is nowhere near enough, and the segments tend to come unplugged from each other when you handle them unless you are incredibly careful.The fabric is sewn together in a way which provides three 'tubes' into which the poles have to be inserted. It is essential that you PUSH the poles into the tubes, and don't try to pull them through - otherwise they come apart at the joints. Even so, there is a tendancy for ends of the fabric tubes to snag on the poles and get caught in the joint between two pole sections. It is also essential that all three poles are inserted into the tubes AND arranged to have a equal amount visible at each end BEFORE any attempt is made to bend the poles into the bow shapes they need to take up. Although the tubes provide a reasonable amount of clearance for the poles to slide through, once the poles are bent there is a lot of side loading on the tubes which prevents the poles being slid in or out to adjust their position if they are not in exactly the right place.Once it is up, it seems fairly sturdy, and it is surprisingly roomy. I am fairly tall, but I was able to sit inside on a low stool, and still had plenty of headroom. There are pockets sewn into the lower sections of the walls, on the outside, intended to be filled with sand to provide ballast to prevent the whole thing from being blown away. I would imagine that this could get extremely messy, and would suggest either taking some plastic bags to fill with sand so that the sand doesn't come directly in contact with the tent or - if erecting it somewhere where you don't have to walk very far - taking some sealed bags of cooking salt to use as ballast.There is a large zip-up door at the front which provides good privacy when closed, and ventillation slots sewn intio the back wall. Hopefully they should help to keep it cool, but I have not tested it outside.Taking it apart is even more 'fun' than putting it together. Unhooking the ends of the poles so that they become straight again is easy enough, but removing them from the tubes is a nightmare. Bearing in mind what I said earlier about needing to push rather than pull, you can start to push a pole out. But once the free end disappears inside the tube, you have no option but to pull it from the other end. This causes the sections to come apart and the ends of the tubes to snag on the joints etc. It probably took twice as long to get the poles out as it did to get them in. And that was in a calm environment. I dread to think what it would be like on a windy beach.I was pretty much resolved to send it back for a refund as not being fit for purpose but, sadly, I was ill for a couple of weeks and missed the Returns deadline - so I'm stuck with it! I MAY try to use it in anger in the summer - but I'm not at all optimistic about being able to assemble and dismantle it in anything other than ideal conditions.

Looked through a lot of different beach shelters for use in backyard with children as a tent and also potentially for summer holidays. Wanted something that was quality made and also roomy enough to fit a young family of 2 adults and 2 children.Decided on this LittleLife version based on brand reputation, simplicity of construction and also ability to hold up in windy conditions.Disappointments with this one are:- fibreglass poles seemed to be slightly bent after use; would have preferred aluminium for durability and not worrying about dropping the poles- fabric is thin...not sure how long it will hold up for...maybe 2/3 seasons if that?- the fabric at the bottom really should have been made waterproof; will need to get a separate sheet to put underneath to keep dry- setup and take down took 10 Mins EACH! I’ve done a fair bit of tent setup and it still wasn’t a smooth process as the metal joints between the selections of the poles kept getting caught while being pushed through the fabric guides- no strings arrived with the stakes to use for grounding the tent- very small triangle mesh window: if you have young children, you won’t be able to see them outside the tent other than through the main zip down door.Positives with the tent are:- roomy inside, children under 8 could stand up inside and walk around: diameter of 200cm, with each of the sides of the hexagon base at 100cm- nice to have zip up door- covered mesh window doesn’t let in much wind or sand, then keeps inside warm- compact size and durable looking bags to hold everything together, including separate small bags for the poles and the stakes; would fit in a carrying suitcase- colour is grey and a copperish orange; looks smart- small footprint with a geodesic shapeFor £40, it’s ok in value value...but if it had been waterproof on the bottom fabric and also around the zippers with more durable fabric, I would have paid £80-100 for its expanded usability and compact size from the LittleLife brand.**Update** after just 3 uses, for less than a total of 9 hours, one of the fibreglass poles has a pretty crack in two sections. The danger of this is that you can get fibreglass splinters as you’re sliding the poles into the tent sleeves as I did today. I did tape up the sections but it’s disappointing for a product like this to crack under normal use.

Personally I was initially dissapointed. The carrier does not update the delivery status passed dispatched so don't expect to follow your parcel. When it arrived as expected, we tried to put together but one of the pockets was to thin at one point to accept the join in the pole so I had to undo the seam then re stitch. A one off??? But the shelter is of good size but is hot inside when the sun is shining. On those days I will be taking our coleman

Great item to provide a good sized shelter on the beach. Private and a bit more secure than the open shelters. Easy to put up. We find this really useful for our family of five. Especially for UK holidays where beach days might be interrupted by the occasional shower. It is very small and light so it is easy to keep in the car and carry to the beach even when juggling 3 young children and all the gubbins we need to go with the kids!

Once you have managed to put it up once it suddenly becomes easy!!! Instructions are not very good! Sturdy and stable, sand pouches help in strong wind, larger than I expected also. Was perfect for a group of 11 of us to put everything we wanted in to stop getting too sandy and for 2 to sit in if needed. If rainy, need some shade or too windy on the beach could easily sit 4 in it, even lie a couple of adults and kids down! Good but and good value for money.