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From the same suppliers of the 2 man hide chair, comes this mega hide! This is a totally different design from anything I’ve used before, but incredibly robust and user friendly for any situation which requires a long wait.
Each wall and the roof pulls out brolly style, into a rigid, flat pyramid. Once I got to grips with this principle (which I’ll admit was a bit of a wrestling match because mine arrived with no instructions) I was able to erect the hide, and fold it away in under a minute.
Once up, this fella is big. Not “oh my goodness I think I’ll move in” big, but big enough to swing a small cat. This is great if you plan to spend a large amount of time in the hide since you can accommodate all your photography / filming gear, food for the day, a seat (see Walkstool) and even somewhere for a lie down (see Therm-a-Rest).
There are lens / viewing ports on every wall and in the roof, all of which have a zippered or Velcro window and many of which have an integral scrim secondary window. (If using the Velcro windows, with sound sensitive subjects, it’s better to prepare your view as you settle rather than trying to peel back a view once installed).
The pan arc is good (though not as broad as the 2 man hide chair) from the bigger ports and the weather-proofing is excellent.
Despite its size, the built in external scrim makes this hide blend in beautifully throughout a host of different environments. I used mine recently to film a Tern colony, and as well as being accepted by the birds in minutes, I found it surprisingly hard to see once I had moved away from the site by a couple of hundred metres. Up against a dry-stone wall, it virtually disappeared!
I left this hide out in a force 8 gale, and yup, it did shift despite my having guy roped it from 4 points (next time I’ll use stronger cord and 8 points of guy line). Amazingly, I found it in a sea pool, shaken and only just stirred (one of the arms had punched its way through the holding sleeve). Once I dried it off I was able to use it again without any problems.
It folds up, umbrella style, into a bag with a built in peg bag and rucksack style straps.
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