I go camping once per year for 4 nights with my 2 children aged 5 and 9. Occasionally my husband comes with us. Having never camped before, 2 years ago we bought one of those tent sets from Halfords. The tent was ok the 1st year, but last year we had the most awful time as the weather was horrendous (in late July) and the tent all but collapsed and we were soaked for the entire time. This year I want to buy a new tent. As I only have a small car & we dont expect to use the tent more than once a year - I have been looking at 4 person tents on the internet as there does not seem to be anywhere close to home where we can go to see the real thing! I am desperate for advice - we really just need the tent to sleep in as we will be out during the day.
Having discovered this site, I was wondering whether the Outwell Virginia 5 or Vango Icarus would be ok for us - or would it be too small?
I would be really grateful for advice - thanks in advance.
I always add two to the number of people you have. So a family of 4 would be a 6 birth minimum.
Saying that, there's only two of us and we have an eight birth. But we always camp with others so it's the four person bed pod up and leave the other one off for storage and extra room.
It would definitely be cosy in the Virginia 5. That said we did have 4 of us sitting in the living area at night with two big dogs and there was enough room. It really depends how much space you want.
The Virginia is a lovely tent and very bright with all its windows but you might want to look at something larger unless you're happy being that cosy.
Just re-read your post. If it's just somewhere to sleep at night then the Virginia would probably be fine for 3 (or sometimes 4) but the divider in the bedrooms is just a curtain, it's not two seperate rooms. Don't know if this bothers you.
Many thanks for the advice - I think it would be a squash in the smaller tents. The Vango tent mentioned looks very spacious - my only concern is as to whether it will fit into my VW Polo!
I think if you take out the parcel shelf you'll be able to get the Icarus 600 or similar in fine. Have a look at the pack size, find something with similar dimensions, even if it's just a squashed up cardboard box and try it out in your boot.
hi... and welcome... just thought I would throw in a thought..have you looked at the quechua tent's....lots of people seem to manage fine in the quechua 4.2 and this is easy to put up and would definatly fit in the car...
do not know if this would be too small for you though..we have just got the base standard and i was so impressed with it that I even considered selling our big set up and buying lots of quechuas and sticking them together!!
We camped last year with my parents who have a Vango Icarus 500. Two of our children slept with them. If you have minimal equipment and really only sleeping it would probably be ok but you won't get much more than a couple of chairs in the "living" area.
We have a Outwell Indiana 8 (there is 6 of us) and I agree that you really need to add 2 to the actual berth to allow some room for equipment and to move without stepping on each other .
I have a Vango tent for taking the children away solo, which is a similar size to the Icarus 500, and its fine for the 3 of us. We have used it for weekends for all 4 of us as well, and its cozy, but comfortable. How big is the one you have, and is it ok?
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Topic: Help please!
