By: EB00 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: Date: 02/11/2011
I think this tent is good value for money - I bought it because I needed a 3 person tent at fairly short notice for an end-of-season short break with my 2 children. I considered spending more on something more technical but wasn't sure it was justified and most were sold out by then.
It's ideal for 3 if you keep most of your gear in the porch, which unlike many other small tents does actually have enough room for this, although that doesn't then leave space to use the porch as a living area - we have used a separate shelter for this or just hoped it wouldn't rain too hard. It's also great for 2 and fits a double airbed with a bit of space left over for some belongings (not large bags) down each side.
I don't like the way the porch groundsheet attaches to the flysheet as in some conditions rain can run down and pool on/run over the groundsheet. I usually fold it and tuck the middle hooks on the side underneath - this also leaves a narrow triangular patch of bare ground at each side for shoes - but you do need to attach the front hooks and the ones by the inner as this keeps the inner in the correct position away from the rear wall. However we have had a few occasions when the rear wall has leaked slightly due to inner touching outer near the base as items or sleeping bags get pressed against it during the night - the guy at the rear is not effective enough to prevent this.
Overall I think for the price this is a good buy - it's easy to put up and can be done by one person if necessary.
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By: Yozhughes Reason: I've used one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 21/09/2011
Very spacious three man tent. There were only two of us but there was plenty of room for a double airbed, rucksack and a mountain of other stuff in side.
Admittedly I had had two dry runs at home, it only took me 15 minutes to put this tent up in blustery conditions.
The sleeping compartment is large but the porch area is too.
We suffered a very heavy and prolonged thunderstorm on the North Wales Coast with high winds and it coped well with the weather.
Only marked down due to weak pegs and the design that it was very difficult to open the doors with water on them without the water falling in the porch.
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By: Mikeh025 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 09/09/2011
Saw this quite by chance as an ad on the web and thought that by now I ought to get something more modern, having used mostly ridge tents for many years. Also Vango has been a good name for some decades, so I bought one to use for a 10 day break out in Hereford & Worcester. First off I was very impressed with the interior space - compared to my so-called 3-man ridge tent, even with its flysheet's 'double bell-ends', the Beta's interior is positively cavernous (and was my main reason for trying out this type). I can quite believe you could store a couple of trail bikes under cover in the porch area at night. As I am now nearer to 60 than 50, this space is a welcome change and much easier to move around in and get in and out of.
The 'porch' area makes a good daytime lounge and I also used it as a kitchen / diner area. The windows are an excellent idea as you can zip everything up to keep the wind out and the warmth in, and still get a reasonable view of the outdoors. For cooking and lighting I used (as usual) a Coleman petrol stove and petrol lantern; as you may imagine safety precautions are paramount. The steep sloping sides of the ridge tent make this a bit awkward, however the Beta's ceiling is so high there's no danger whatever of hot gases reaching and damaging the fabric. (Keeping the burner(s) near the centre of the goundsheet obviously!) And there's still loads of space for stowing cases and bags.
On the 6th day the wind changed to Westerly with, on the radio news, storm warnings for coastal ports, ditto for high-sided vehicles and caravans etc. Using the motorway network. We were battered with this for the next couple of days, plus heavy rain showers, fortunately I had the added protection of a high hedge and my car, even so the tent hoops were alarmingly deformed by gusts on several occasions, still nothing broke and even the adjusters on the guylines never even moved. Tip - they work best to support the hoops if pegged out to near maximum length, although this does mean the whole plot uses a larger ground area.
The peg bag includes various colour fabric and groundsheet patches if a repair is necessary and a spare guyline. The erection instructions etc. Are printed on a piece of cloth which is sewn into the carry bag, however to be honest I found these a bit vague, but what it amounts to is as follows: identify the back end, and peg down the two opposite corners. The two short poles (front and back) are identified by having a coloured section, the longer centre pole doesn't. Insert first the rear pole through the flysheet, I find it easier to plug the sections together as I'm pushing it through, if you plug the whole thing together first it can be very long and unwieldy. Don't forget the righthand side (looking from the front) has adjustable straps at the poles' bases, slacken these before trying to get all the base pins in to avoid straining anything, then retighten.
You should end up with 3 hoops lying on top of each other. Then you grab the two front corners, pull them forward and the whole thing stands up. Temporarily peg these down and make sure that the pole bases on both sides line up with the two rear corners, and basically there it is, just insert the remaining pegs from the rear pole bases forwards, making sure to tension the flysheet and connecting straps between each stage, and readjust the front pegs as necessary. As I found out, the guylines are important, so do use them!
Rain coming in when you unzip a door - easiest way around this is unzip it, but hold it up with one hand while you (gently) slap the edge of the roof with the back of the other hand to shake off the surplus water; holding up the door flap stops it splashing in. Simples!
It works just fine if I'm using a car but I think it's a bit big and heavy to carry if I want to start motorcycle touring again, so I'm now also looking for the smaller 250 version.
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By: Pudster Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 08/09/2011
I used the beta 350 for a four day camping trip. It took about 45 minutes to set up but I was on my own and it was my first time pitching it. I found that the materials where excellent but the workmanship was poor. It has two windows with covers that roll up and two loops beside each window to keep it all tidy. The first thing that I noticed was that one of the covers didn't match the shape of the window and was also about 3-4 inches too long, this put the velcro in the wrong place which meant that only two strips of velcro kept it closed so anyone who was walking past could see in through the gap. When I was setting up the sleeping area I noticed that the stitching was coming away from the zip that separates the bedroom from porch area. The first night I was there the tent was put to the test, I had strong winds 25-30mph and heavy rain. The tent stood up to it without me thinking it would collapse during the night but the next morning I had water on the groundsheet on one side of the tent, the groundsheet had not been cut to match the shape of the tent so I found myself rolling up one side to prevent water dripping on to it when it rained. You could clearly see that the groundsheet was not the same shape as the opposite side so I don't know how it passed QC. I would recommend it if you're looking to go one better than something from a supermarket but don't expect it to be perfect
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By: CBlaze18 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 27/04/2011
I bought this as my first tent, and couldn't believe how much space there was!
Myself and a friend had a double airbed in the main sleeping area along with massive backpacks. While another friend slept on a single airbed in the porch area as she doesn't like being enclosed. Along with camping chairs and games equipment for the kids, it was amazing!
I was worried when I put up the tent as the pegs weren't very strong and the front porch pole was bending the wrong way, but they were quickly rectified by someone who knew what they were doing! ; )
Excellent first time tent! Recommended!
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By: Clairerfina Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 27/04/2011
What a great tent! my partner and I we getting nostalgic for scout camp days and so decided we needed a tent for the following weekend, we found this one in a sale as it was last years model and bought it for £64 and what a good buy!
It is easy, and quick to build, it took us 15 mins in a breeze to put up and move our stuff in. Impressive for two rusty scouts! the ropes, pegs, and elasticated peg loops all stayed firmly where we put them so had no worries about stability.
We managed to fit the two of us on an airbed with easily enough room for another adult in the bedroom and all our bags (3 hold-alls, a rucksack, 2 stoves, 2 chairs, a cool bag, and a couple of full plastic bags.We don't travel lightly!) into the porch where they all stayed dry and safe. Due to rain one night we also made the porch into and eating/living area, which we found comfortably big enough, even with all our luggage!
We found that it was VERY waterproof in a huge rainstorm that we had over the weekend and stood up perfectly in the wind, we are so pleased with it.
The only thing we feel it is lacking is a skirt around the bottom of the porch as it is a bit drafty, but definitely not enough to bother us greatly.
The tent was packed away easily in 20 mins and we managed to fold it away smaller than when we first got it (yey go us!)
I would definitely recommend this tent to everyone!
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By: Bigfags Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 19/02/2011
After reading some of the reviews on this site and doing a bit of Internet based research, I settled on a Vango Beta 350 as my tent of choice for a European motorcycle trip in June last year.
Although the pack size and weight are not the smallest or lowest in comparison to other three berth tents, they are by no means the largest or heaviest!
When looking for a tent, I wanted to find one that I would be able to carry on the bike, one that provided a reasonable bedroom size and a reasonable living area/porch.
Although a last minute decision not to camp on the Euro trip was made and I did not take the tent, I have used it a number of times since buying.
This tent certainly provided the space I was after. The first time I used the tent was on a wet and windy night in the Peak district (camping off the bike). The tent went up quickly thanks to having previously had a dry run at home. It was relatively simple to erect by myself and took about twenty five minutes with a bit of time added on for pegging and tinkering with the guy ropes to get it completely stable.
I was able to sleep on a single airbed matress and had plenty of room in the bedroom for my dry bags holding all of my clothing and electrical components. The porch provided ample room to store the bike panniers and all of the bike gear I had been wearing. There was enough room to move about in the porch without falling over everything all of the time.
During the course of the evening, the weather took a turn for the worse, it became very windy and started to absolutely throw it down. The tent stood up very well to the wind and there was no real movement in the tent owing to the fact that it was correctly pegged and the guy lines were all checked at the time of pitching. The tent also stood up very well against the rain. I did notice some build up of condensation on the inside of the fly sheet but nothing to cause concern. My only negative point of note with this tent was with the design of the doors. Owing to how they are positioned on the side of the tent (and that they are crescent shaped) if you need to get out of the tent in the rain or after rain, the surface water drops onto the fly sheet a soon as the door is unzipped. Once you are in the tent in the rain, you need to keep the door completely shut and stay inside!
Packing the tent away whilst wet was no fun but easy enough owing to the oversized bag. Drying the tent off afterwards meant only having to erect the fly as the inner had remained dry.
I also used the tent whilst attending the Le Mans series races at Silverstone. On this occasion, the tent would house two adults and a thirteen year old. Two adults were able to sleep on two single airbeds in the bedroom area with room between then for bags and clothes etc. Owing to the wrong choice on the flip of a coin, my son slept in the porch area on a steel framed campbed. This bed had to be put at an angle so that it was not touching the fly sheet and to allow access to one of the side doors. Once again, the tent performed well, however, as has been commented on previously in other reviews, owing to the gap between the fly sheet and the ground sheet, there was a noticeable difference in temperature between the porch area and the bedroom area (although, with his extra bedding my son did not notice!).
Overall, I would suggest that for the price, the Beta 350 is a great little tent. As another reviewer rightly pointed out though, whatever the size of tent you are after, it is worth going a size larger if not two. I bought this tent for motorcycling and only to accommodate myself, however, owing to all of the kit that comes with biking, I needed the tent to accommodate that too. This tent does just that.
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By: Pasancamp Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: Date: 29/09/2010
Do not agree with the negative comments on this tent.
I am 60yrs old my wife 57.
We have used this tent on 9 occasions with no problems
That some people have encountered
If you pitch it correctly and look for the direction of the predominant wind in the area you should not have a problem.
To often people just put the tent up without paying attention to wind direction,recipe for problems.
You have to take the tent for what it is and this one punches above its weight.
Yes it is a comfortable backpacking tent for two,would be a bit small for three.
I and the wife love it,we have experienced very bad conditions with no problems with performance.
Can not praise Vango enough for this gem. No I do not work for Vango and our tent for weeks away is not Vango but khyam
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By: Painter man Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 15/08/2010
As you can appreciate North Wales can be a little hostile on occasions but the Vango beta 350 stood up to the gales and driving rain without as much as a whimper. The Vango stood firm and true and when the sun did finally come out it showed its true colours as a perfect weekend tent.
Admittedly it was used solely by myself but for one/two man camping its ideal, offering loads of room in the sleeping area and masses of room in the living area, plus it only takes 10 mins to put up. A winner all round!
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By: CD04 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2010 Rating: Date: 28/07/2010
We bought this tent to replace our tiny two man TESCO 'festival' tent. We saw it for £95 at a well known highstreet retailer but found it online for a bargain price of £61 with delivery!
It is the perfect sized tent for a couple even if the weather dictates that you have to retreat to the porch. We happily sat in the porch and relaxed, even although there was a slight draught from the gap between the fly and the ground sheet. We didn't experience if this might have caused a problem in the rain.
It was easy to pitch even for the first time and packed away easily too. My fiance was happy with the amount of guy ropes that it has, as well as all of the little features that it has, i.E., closeable curtains, pockets, colour coded hooks for the inner tent, etc. They seem to have thought of everything!
Looking forward to many more nights in our Vango Beta 350.
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34 User Reviews of the Beta 350 - Showing 01 to 10 Page:
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# The Vango Beta 350 includes taped seams for waterproof protection # As one or flysheet first pitching simple, quick to pitch and keeps inner dry # Heavy duty pole sleeves ensures even distribution of tension # Guy tidy velcro holder allows guylines to be packed neatly, making re-pitching easier # The Vango Beta 350 includes colour coded poles matching the poles to the sleeve tab for easy pitching # Front and back flysheet vents with covers allows continual airflow enhancing comfort # Rain gutter zip covers keeps zip dry # Mesh side door reduces build up of condensation and keeps bugs out # Mesh vents on inner allows continual airflow enhancing comfort # The Vango Beta 350 features part mesh on inner door reducing build up of condensation and keeps bugs out # Storage solutions inner pockets - keeps those essentials close at hand # Crystal clear windows allow maximum light into living areas # Lantern point loop or hook conveniently placed to attach lighting # The Vango Beta 350 features breathable fabric inners creating a comfortable sleeping area # Carry bag oversized to ease the pack away. # Repair Kit included for that unforseen tent emergency # Matching Accessories includes Sleeping Bags, Furniture, Windbreaks, etc.
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Date: 02/11/2011
Date: 09/09/2011
Date: 28/07/2010
