Review: Decathlon Quechua 2-Second Easy Tent

When testing with my partner, we opted for smaller sleeping pads that weren’t as thick so we got the full floor space without the walls coming in too quickly. We both had enough room, though not much extra. Decathlon says the tent measures 80.7″ x 57.1″ with 43.3″ usable height. My own measurements from inside the tent came in at 79″ x 56″ x 45″.

Durability

Durability is probably one of the this tent’s lower points. One of the pole connectors snapped the first time I tried to set up the tent, making it completely unusable. However, I received a replacement, and the round-two tent has been holding up well so far.

One of our experts, NEMO product development manager Gabi Rosenbrien, recommends going for tents with aluminum poles and polyester fabrics when budget allows. This tent uses polyester fabrics, but its pole structure is a mix of fiberglass and thermoplastic. That said, the tent has held up against some fairly intense wind and rain so far.

As far as the outer fabric goes, the white coloring is fairly susceptible to staining and discoloring, especially in wet, muddy conditions. Personally, I don’t have any issues with this for a tent as long as the fabric still works (it does), but if you’re someone that doesn’t want to see stains or mud on your tent, it’s worth considering.

Ease of Setup and Takedown

It might not surprise you for a tent with “two-second easy” in the name, but setup and takedown are where this tent really shines. The tent pops up and collapses in a matter of seconds and is fully move-in ready or all packed up in a couple of minutes. Plus, the whole process is simple and intuitive.

Basically, all it takes to get the tent up is pulling two strings. As you pull, each side comes together with a “pop” as the poles click into place. After that, you just peg it down with the tent stakes and guy lines (the cords that attach to your tent to increase tension and help with stability) and you’re set. It took a total of 2 minutes 45 seconds from taking it out of the bag to fully up and staked down when I set it up on my own. It took a minute and 20 seconds when my partner and I did it together. And this wasn’t after a huge amount of practice either—we got that time on the first go doing it together.

Now, there are plenty of pop-up tents that are super quick to set up—including this tent’s precursor, the two-second tent—but takedown for pop-up tents can feel a little like wrestling a pool noodle. That’s not the case with this tent. In fact, takedown is even quicker than setup. From fully staked down to packed away, it took me 2 minutes 30 seconds on my own and 70 seconds with my partner.

Part of what makes this process so simple (aside from the unique pull-string pop-up mechanism) is that everything is all preconnected. The outer rainfly and inner tent are fully connected, so they go up together and you don’t have to worry about forgetting a vital pole or connector. I also preconnected the guy lines to the tent for extra simplicity.

Waterproofing and Ventilation

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve put this tent through some heavy rains and it has stayed impressively dry. I used a standard tarp under the tent to reduce condensation and floor durability, but the floor itself holds up on its own too. I did notice some condensation buildup on the inside of the rain fly during especially misty, humid conditions, but I never saw that drop into the inner tent.