Hi there, We have an old Vango Vista 600, so I don't want to go into detail, as it looks more like the Oregon than the new Vista's. The new ones have shaped poles, and I don't know if that makes much difference, and the 800 is of course bigger.
That said, ours goes up really easily. We put in all the poles, then make all the hoops by fastening the poles on the pins, peg one end and pull it up. Peg the rest, tension and guy. Put in inners and groundsheet. Its very straight forward, and the instructions are pretty clear.
The one thing we find we need to watch is that the tent is straight. Its pretty easy to get it a little bit crooked, and then the inners/groundsheet won't fit! It takes us about an hour from start to beds made and kettle on.
We need a bigger tent for next year wouldn't consider anything other than a tunnel, and the only thing against the Vista 800 is the bedroom arrangement. This weeks hot favourite is the Lichfield Comanche; very similar tent and Lichfield are part of the same company as Vango.
Jo, i am known to have a very dry sense of humour. everyone at work knows this and they never take me seriously they crack up most of the time. Not big headed or anything. I like making people laugh.
Trouble is some people sometimes take me the wrong way.
------------- "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.'" [Tommy Cooper]
------------- "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.'" [Tommy Cooper]
Jo, i am known to have a very dry sense of humour. everyone at work knows this and they never take me seriously they crack up most of the time. Not big headed or anything. I like making people laugh.
Trouble is some people sometimes take me the wrong way.
yes, i thought it was your zany type of humour...its just in real life... you have the whole body language, facial expression thing to help work a person out, on here you just got print so it kinda comes across exactly as its said... if that makes any sense? anyway, i kinda had ya figured out anyway, but last nights thread showed some others may not have... think they do know though
We have the vista 800, have had it for almost 3 yrs and it's a great tent. the best advice is to check everything is there as the others have said and if possible pitch it before you go to make sure you are familiar with it. It took us about an hour or so first time, but in France last year we got it down to around half that.
I like the look of the new model- more window area and the porch type attachments over the door.
Did you download the instructions from vango? They should also be found sewn into the side of one of the storage compartments in the tent holdall.
Any problems or questions just post them and I or someone else will do our best to answer them.
glad to hear from someone with same tent... we have last years model, we saw it up in the shop, and loved the amount of space inside and the bedroom layout and its height (in bedrooms too) thats what sold it to us really, the bedroom height.
i prefere last years model with the porch, to this years. i will be back to let you know how it went... should give everyone a laugh anyway!! hahaha
Funnily enough the height in the bedrooms is what sold it to us too, along with the huge living area (you will need it with three children!).
Just remember that we have all been in the same position of getting to know a new tent. Crack open a beer or two, take your time and get the children involved and you'll be cosy in no time!
Funnily enough the height in the bedrooms is what sold it to us too, along with the huge living area (you will need it with three children!).
Just remember that we have all been in the same position of getting to know a new tent. Crack open a beer or two, take your time and get the children involved and you'll be cosy in no time!
oooh i cant wait to go now!!! roll on next saturday!!!!
Hey up again - been fed and watered now, and found me Quest instructions. If you watch the video at the link rhebdon gave here then betweeen that and the following you should be as prepared as possible. There are some basic pointers about choosing where to pitch - try to keep your doors out the prevailing wind, clear the ground of obvious stones/rock etc, and you might also want to judge which direction the ground slopes.
1) Like i said earlier, lay out the flysheet and try to identify one end from t'other (by working out where key features likes doors and windows are)
2. Assemble poles and insert them through the sleeve of the same colour, so that the tent is laid out on the floor with all the poles in place.
3.At the end of each pole sleeve there will be webbing strap with a metal ring and pin. The pin goes into the metal ferrule at the end of the pole. Do each end of every pole to pull the pole up into its full arched shape. You may find buckles on the webbing as well to allow you to slacken it off to get the pin in - then you can tighten it up again, but make sure you tighten both ends equally, so that the flysheet is evenly tensioned over the poles.
4. Starting at one end of the tent, lift up the first arch and keep it upright by loosely pegging the guyropes on the flysheet at that end and pegging out the flysheet at that end. You can peg the pole foot too through the metal ring, but you need to make sure your tent is positioned where you want it to go before doing all this pegging out.
5. Work your way along the tent, erecting each hoop in turn, pegging its feet and making sure that the tent fabric is pulled even and straight between each hoop so that the tent walls line up straight.
6. Once all the arches are up, you can peg down the flysheet using the loops along its edge. Keep all the zips closed whilst doing this so that you don't wrongly tension the door areas ( and then find you can't close the zips). If the tent has a draught skirt on it too, the position of the pegging loops will dictate whether that skirt goes outside (ours on the Quest does) or inside to be tucked under the groundsheet.
7. The guy ropes need to be pegged out too - ideally you need to get yourself some delta pegs which really are unbeatable for this job - 100% stable!
8. Inside the tent, you need to lay down the groundsheet - this will probably attach to the inside of the flysheet with plastic clips through D-rings. (BTW, some people lay the groundsheet out right at the beginning to lay the flysheet out on, and this can be a good idea in muddy conditions- some of this is down to choice really).
9. You also put the beroom pods up - these will attach to the inner side of the flysheet using toggles and loops, and probably clips and D rings in the corners.
Then you can open yourselves a beer, and do all the other bits ( sorting out your bedroom kit, cooking etc)
I am sure you will be fine - it gets better with practice (like so many other things in life). You have chosen a great tent -so now you need to go and enjoy it!
If you don't have time to go out and get the mallet an ordinary hammer from home will do. And other campers will always lend you theirs. We're always lending ours out, and it gets you chatting with your camp neighbours too ( we now have 3 mallets, cos we keep losing ours and buying new ones, only to find it a few days later and it is also handy to have two so both of you can hammer the pegs in , saves time) A big builders tarpaulin from b&q for about £6 is great to lay under the groundsheet. Don't leave any excess sticking outside though or it will collect the rain. It keeps your inners clean and gives a clean dry surface to pack up on afterwards. Stick it in a bin bag and hose it down at home.
Quote: Originally posted by crystal jo on 20/5/2006
Quote: Originally posted by mjd245 on 20/5/2006
Jo, i am known to have a very dry sense of humour. everyone at work knows this and they never take me seriously they crack up most of the time. Not big headed or anything. I like making people laugh.
Trouble is some people sometimes take me the wrong way.
yes, i thought it was your zany type of humour...its just in real life... you have the whole body language, facial expression thing to help work a person out, on here you just got print so it kinda comes across exactly as its said... if that makes any sense? anyway, i kinda had ya figured out anyway, but last nights thread showed some others may not have... think they do know though
Makes perfect sense
------------- "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.'" [Tommy Cooper]
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Topic: unprepared... help!
