Oztrail Ironhide table review; have our kids broken it yet?
You’d think a decent camping table would be easy to find, and not something you need to think about too much, but we’re tired of buying gear that doesn’t do exactly what we need it to, and put a fair bit of thought into finding a new camping table, for our Big Lap of Australia.
We had a basic, square plastic table that was reasonable, but stopped taking it with us for some time as it didn’t fit well in the storage compartment of our camper trailer, and we didn’t really need it. However, with us being on the road full time, and our two kids doing distance education with limited room inside our camper trailer, we decided a decent outdoor camping table was not negotiable.
We paid full price for this
Like all of our reviews, we believe you deserve to know how we got this product. It was not gifted, or sponsored. We paid full retail price for it, and if turned out to be rubbish, we’d have no issues telling you just that.
Why did we get the Oztrail Ironhide Table?
I mentioned above that we spent a long time looking for a suitable table, and Sarah had a heap of different links up at one stage. One by one, we knocked them all off, until we settled on one that we thought might do the job; the Oztrail Ironhide Table. We went into Anaconda locally to check it out, and see if we were happy with it, and made the purchase. Here’s what we wanted:
Adjustable height, to suit the kids chairs
This first point was the primary reason we ruled so many other tables out. Some were adjustable, but the heights were miles off what you needed for a child sitting at a childs chair, and that makes it completely useless.
The Oztrail Ironhide base height is about 70cm, which is perfect for both of our kids in their chairs. On top of this, they can easily push their chairs under the table on all 4 sides, which means they can sit close to the table and not spill half of their food onto their laps!
Strong, and able to take a beating
We’ve used plenty of cheap, flimsy camping gear, and I won’t go down that path again. I wanted something that could be thrown around, dropped, knocked and even sat on by our kids without it bending, cracking or breaking.
The plastic that these are made from is seriously strong, and whilst I tell the kids off for sitting on it, they do from time to time and we’ve had no issues in this regard.
Quick and easy to set up
You can get some pretty awesome camping tables that pack down to tiny little rolls. Some are fast to set up, but we’ve seen tables that take a long time to put up, and require a lot of effort in putting slats in, or clipping things together. The Oztrail Ironhide table is super easy to set up; you pry it open, and flick both legs out, and its done.
If you want to go up in height (which we’ve only done once for adults to play cards on), you need to lift the legs individually, but there’s no parts to go missing and no construction.
So, what’s good about the Oztrail Ironhide Table?
Well, asides from it meeting all of our criteria above, it does exactly what we need it to. It has these little tabs that you can press on which release the spring loaded ball to close the legs, which is super handy. With big hands and fingers, I really struggle to push the balls in enough to be able to get the legs to move, and these make it a breeze.
It’s got a nice carry handle, is bulletproof and just works, even when our two monkeys sit on it! Overall, we’re really happy with it.
What are we not happy about?
If I’m being picky, I would have preferred a different colour. Black shows a lot of dirt (mind you, white does too – our previous table was filthy), and it gets hot in the sun.
Beyond this, the only fault I can really pick is that the steel legs must have started to rust, as I packed it away one day after it sat out in the rain, and noticed some rusty water drops running out of the legs. I’m not overly concerned as by the time it becomes a problem the table will probably be long gone, but it is worth noting.
Overall, it’s a great table, and it does what we want it to. The kids use it often for playing at, eating at and doing their school work on. We’ll keep using it for the next year or two whilst we’re on the road, and update you if it breaks, or anything else changes!
