Are you thinking about getting a swag but overwhelmed by all of the different brands
and models out there? Well, you’re not alone. Traditional vs dome swags,
what thickness of canvas, how wide should your swag be - the decisions are endless.
For this video, I’ve put together a list of the best swags in Australia,
to help you wade through the mountain of options and come
up with a shortlist of a few swags that tick all the boxes for you.
First, I’ll give you a quick rundown of each of the swags on my list,
then I’ll compare them directly against each other to see which ones come out on top!
As always, the links for all of these tents are in the video description below, as well as a link to
the full comparison on my website, which includes the latest prices from all of the retailers.
Let’s get straight into it!
So, here is my list of the best swags in Australia!
23Zero Bandit 900
This is an outstanding swag and one of my favourites. The build quality is superb,
and includes seams that are fully sealed from the inside,
meaning that this swag is waterproof and doesn’t require any seasoning once you purchase it.
It has plenty of windows and ventilation which is great,
it’s just a bit narrow inside and on the heavier side.
Kings Escape Deluxe Single Swag
Another very popular and affordable product by Kings,
this single swag is very affordable and actually the cheapest option on this list. Unfortunately,
a number of people have found that this tent is pretty poor quality.
It appears to have waterproofing issues, even when people season it, plus the poles
are reportedly quite weak and can break easily unless you are quite careful with them.
In saying that, it is a very cheap swag, so you have to expect a corresponding drop in quality.
OZtrail Mitchell Expedition Single Swag
This is another quite affordable swag, although it is definitely a step up in
terms of quality from the Kings swag. It is quite light and packs down to a
surprisingly small volume, so it’s easy to see why it is called an ‘expedition swag’.
If you’ll be changing campsites often,
a swag like this will be great for you. Just be aware that the included mattress is pretty thin
and not very comfortable, so you might want to invest in an extra swag mattress.
Oztent RS-1
This is an absolute beast of a swag. It is by far the most spacious swag on this list,
and is built to the typical high quality Oztent standards.
In contrast to the Mitchell Expedition swag, the Oztent RS-1 is very bulky and very heavy when
packed up, so it isn’t great if you will need to set up and pack down your swag regularly.
It’s also made out of polyester rather than the typical canvas,
which means that the breathability and ventilation is not so good.
Darche Dusk To Dawn 900
One thing I love about this swag is the fact that it comes with dual entries
which can open completely, allowing you to do some stargazing directly from your swag.
It has excellent waterproofing and comes with a nice canvas carry bag.
On the downside, the included poles are fairly weak and can snap if you aren’t careful.
Darche Dirty Dee 900
Unlike the Dusk To Dawn, the Dirty Dee does suffer from a few waterproofing issues, which is a shame.
In saying that, it does come with plenty of windows and doors which
means that the ventilation should be good.
AOS Bushman Deluxe Single
Unlike the others on this list, which are all dome swags, this is a traditional swag.
This means that it doesn’t require any poles at all and has a much simpler setup.
It has been designed and is manufactured entirely in Australia and comes with an
incredible 10 year guarantee. This is a testament to the quality of these units.
The only downside is that they are narrower and smaller than the other swags on this list.
In saying that, you can upgrade to their king single size if you need more space.
Anyway, now that we know a little about each of these swags,
let’s compare them against each other to see which one comes out on top!
all right so first up here we have price let's compare the price of each of these swags and as
you can see there's a pretty big variation there ranging from the king's escape deluxe which is all
the way down at two hundred dollars up to uh the austin rs one which tops out at about 430 dollars
and there's a whole whole variety in there as well um the the australia mitchell single is
quite cheap as well that along with the kings option are probably the two the two cheapest
options out there um and then the others are kind of sitting at 300 to 400 dollar mark
another important point is the canvas thickness this is measured in gsm gsm or grams per square
meter and this just gives you a feel for the different thicknesses of canvas that each of
the um each of the swags have used and you'll see that there's no data here for the oz10 rs1 because
that is actually made out of polyester rather than canvas but the rest all sit around that 400-ish
gsm mark there for that canvas with the austral being a notable exception
they use much thinner canvas just 300 gsm canvas
the internal width this gives you a feel for kind of the sleeping width inside the tent and you can
see that there's a decent variation as well um most of them are sitting that 80 to 90 centimeter
range there although the oz 10 is very wide there at over 1 meter wide so that's plenty of of width
there even for you bigger guys out there that need a bit of extra space um all the way down
to the bushman uh the aos bushman there's only 71 centimeters wide which is really quite narrow
actually um and that can be a bit of a tight squeeze if you do have quite broad shoulders
similarly the internal length is important um depending on how tall you are i mean the graph
makes it look like they're all pretty much the same there but you can see that they range from
200 to 215 centimeters long on the inside and you know for most people this won't be a big deal but
if you are a tall person and you're if you're over 190 centimeters tall um i wouldn't recommend
the ios bushman single there because it is 200 centimeters long i mean if you're 190 centimeters
in height your feet are going to be virtually brushing up against the end and your head's going
to be brushing up against the other end it's not going to be very comfortable you don't have much
room to spread out um so in that situation i would look at a bigger swag or maybe look at upgrading
to the aos bushman king single swag instead that gives you a bit of extra space similarly the head
height this gives you a kind of a feel for how claustrophobic the swag is in a way swags do
tend to have quite low ceilings they're quite squat um and you can see there that the austral
mitchell is down as low as 70 centimeters um so it is it is quite quite low um but it's still
it's not too bad there's definitely a swag out there that are lower than 70 centimeters um but
you can see that the oz 10 rs1 is um again he's the winner there at 100 centimeters of internal
height so it is quite spacious really as spacious as a squat tent so it is quite a large swag
next up is the packed volume for each of these swags and that's just giving you a feel for
how much space um this swag will occupy or take up when it is fully packed away
and there is a pretty big variation on these i don't have any data for the king's escape deluxe
because they don't provide that unfortunately but you can see that um the australian mitchell single
and then the dachi duster door 900 both take up very little space when packed up they can
pack down quite nicely which is good to see and then on the other end of the spectrum is the oz
10 rs1 which as i've said before is a very bulky swag it takes up a lot of space when packed up i
think it's about one and a half meters long fully packed um it is a big bulky unit it
will take up a lot of space in your boot so just consider that as well that is an important point
and likewise the weight is also something to to consider if you're going to be lugging around
the l-s-10 rs1 is very heavy as i've said before um over 16 kilograms it's a bulky item but then
um the australian mitchell is very live same as the aos bushman single they're down at around
eight to nine kilograms there which is quite nice and much lighter and much more manageable
if you are carrying it around a fair bit the mattress thickness is important each of these
swags come with an included mattress um including the king's escape deluxe i just don't have any
data for the thickness of that mattress um you can see there's a bit of a variation
most the mattress is around 70 mils thick the os 10 rs1 is just 40 millimeters thick so it
is quite a bit thinner you might want an extra swag mattress on top of that existing mattress
for added comfort in that situation do keep in mind that the thickness does not tell you the
whole story however some mattresses um might uh might be fairly thick but have no support
so they're actually not that comfortable anyway so do check out the full comparison on my website
outdoorexplorer.com.u to see which how these mattresses all do stuck up against each other
ventilation is another important point as you don't want to be getting any condensation
inside your swag overnight and you also want to be able to get some fresh air into that
swag arm during summer to help you cool down the ols 10 rs1 is unfortunately made out of polyester
which means it's less breathable and the double whammy is that it also doesn't have many windows
um so or ventilation points apart from that kind of front opening which means that um yeah you do
tend to get a um you do tend to get a build up of condensation in these tents and these swags
that's what i've heard from people that have used them um and you you probably might find there's a
bit hot in there in summer as well as you won't be able to get so much fresh air in um similarly
the aos bushman swags don't as are a traditional swag rather than a dome swag they don't have any
windows so the ventilation will not be quite as good in these when they are sealed up at night
warranty is another important point here and um the obvious standard is the aos bushman single
that comes with that outstanding 10 year warranty which is really quite amazing when you consider
how hard-wearing swags are you know they're out there in the sun the dirt dust and the rain to
give a 10-year warranty on an item like that is pretty amazing and it really just shows how good
quality the aos aos products really are um and how much they back themselves to produce good quality
products that are fully manufactured here in australia so that's quite outstanding if we just
remove that for a second so we can see the other ones more clearly you can see that they are all in
the one to two year warranty range there with the kings and the australia being down with one year
there those are the two cheaper cheapest um swags on the list so you would expect them to have a uh
a shorter warranty period as well last up we will just take a look at the build quality of each of
these uh swags um a bit of a subjective measure but just based on my feel speaking to people that
have used these flags before and what they think of them the king's escape deluxe is generally
considered to not be such a good quality swag it has waterproofing issues even um for people that
haven't seasoned it many times and the poles are break fairly easily as well unfortunately
the two dachi tents um they also have reportedly quite weak poles um that's what people say they've
used them and that you have to use quite a bit of care when you're setting up and packing down these
tents to make sure that you don't break or damage the pulse in any way other than that the rest of
the swags on this list um are built quite well as far as i can tell the the 23 0 bandit swags have
that internal seam sealing which is a really nice touch the aos bushman swags are just all around
quality and the oztent um yeah as per usual with those tent they produce high quality gear as well
that swag is excellent so that's pretty much how each of these swag stack up against each other
To sum it up, the type of swag that is best for you depends
on the kind of camping that you will be doing.
I think that the 23Zero Bandit swag is a great all-rounder option.
If you are on a tight budget, go for the Kings Escape Deluxe swag.
For expedition or touring style camping, the Mitchell Expedition swag is great.
If you tend to stay in one spot for a while and want a nice,
spacious option, the Oztent RS-1 swag will be great for you.
Be sure to check out the video description for the latest prices on each of these swags!
Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed this video on the best swags in Australia!
What did you think of it? What’s your favourite swag? Let me know in the comments below!