I used my 2 man chair hide properly for the first time on Monday. Went with jonsphotos for a day out in Pembrokeshire.
First thing I noticed was although it comes in a bag that has a rucksack type of carrying system this was rendered useless as I also had a Lowepro vertex 200 which I had on my back. So I then put my tripod into the hide bag and carried it under my arm with one of the straps slung over a shoulder. I am quite a fit bloke, but I did start to feel it after a couple of hundred yards, and then we had quite a steep 100 metre climb up a muddy bank, lets just say I was panting a bit.
Erecting it was still quite easy though, and considering we were on a bank with no level ground at all, was impressive. The pegs that came with it were ok, but I never felt completely secure, that said considering the ground we were on that was of no surprise.
2 man????? I am really not sure about 2 men. Maybe on perfectly flat ground..like a lawn. As it was, getting in with just a camera ( eos 1d on a 055XPROB tripod) was hard enough on my own, how you could get 2 guys in there without a real struggle is beyond me, and then I reckon it would be to cramped for comfort.
All that said, once set up, I was reasonably comfortable ( I did end up sitting on the edge and in the middle of the chair a lot of the time) snug and out of the wind, had really good views all around and got very close to the birds. Though Jon, who had come with just a camo net and a stool, got equally close, with a much lighter set up, but he did look cold outside..lol.
I would say, it is far from perfect, but at under £100 and although not essential, its a handy bit of kit and well worth the cost and the effort. That said, with summer coming,I am going to get myself a camo net and stool...lol
Taken on Monday.
Martin