First 'camped aged 7 with Girls Brigade but was really sleeping bag on the floor of a church hall! Then in the big canvas Scout tents - I remember we each had a roll mat but no proper ground sheet in the those tents. Spent a week sleeping practically in mud one year after lots of rain. But fun!
Then Duke of Edinburgh times so some sort of backpacking thing. Fast forward 20 years....
Last 3 years we have been going as a family. Started with a Halfords tent pack which did us proud first 2 years. Then bought tiny Coleman Weekend 4 which is good for one night or garden camping.
This year bought our Kampa Croyde 6 for long trips and lucky to find an almost new Bude 4 for shorter trips. Love these 2 tents!
------------- 2015 April: Polstead, Suffolk. May: Two Acres, Ely. Waveney River Centre and Whitehall Farm, Norfolk. Aug: Howstean Gorge / The Quiet Site / Fron Farm / Cae Du / Trevayne Farm - BOOKED!
First tent in 1977 with BF now DH was a two man ridge tent and a motorbike, if it didn't fit in the paniers or on the back rest we didn't take it.
Emigrated to S Africa and had 2 kids so bought a canvas tent with a sewn in heavy duty groundsheet in 1981!!!! Outwell Bear Lake is a copy of this! We even had roll up windows and mosquito mets and curtains!
One wet summer in 1986 back in the UK with said tent and we bought a caravan.
But really missed camping so when the kids grew up and it didn't matter what the weather was like we bought another tent, or two!!!!!
My gallery has photos of my original tents plus one of my present tents.
------------- Started with a motorbike and tent.......my gallery, my life.
I started camping at the age of 11 when I joined the scouts then bought my first ten when I was 17 to start motorcycle camping. Tents to date are as follows:
I have so far camped once (if you don't count the time I borrowed my sisters tent) and now have two tents and am on the look out for my third!
I bought from ebay a Vango Diablo 400 which is a really nice tent but I realised straight away that it wasn't going to be big enough. I also felt a little claustrophobic in it as I felt it didn't have enough windows.
When we did our first camp it was with friends in a field at the top of our lane and my daughter wanted to camp in her own tent so we bought her a small 3 man tent from Mountain Warehouse.
I am now on the look out for another tent although I am trying to hold off buying one until I have had another outing in the Diablo (just the girls and I so it will be big enough for 3). I fancy an Outwell Montana but am looking at Hi Gears. I seem to spend half my time on ebay looking at tents!
------------- Complete novice!!!!
Planned 2012 camping (so far)
May - the field at the top of our lane with half the village!
July - Waxham Sands
August - wild camping in a field near Llanthony Priory, Wales
Well I dont know what it's like where you all live but up here in the Highlands we have a lot of Facebook buy, sell, swap sites.
We got our first tent last summer from one of these sites.
A Halfords 4 man, non sig. The package set up. The same day I bought a regatta 6 berth, 3 pod from eBay. This was the first tent we ( as a family ) camped in. Ullapool in October is very cold. We were freezing every night.
Then decided to go for a sig. Bought the Icarus 500 from tamworth. Added the enclosed canopy later on. We use this as our weekend and week long tent. The canopy makes such a difference.
We also bought a vango Colorado 800 dlx which was donated to a young family just starting out a few weeks ago.
Looking at the hi gear corado 6 now. Might be an end of season buy now tho as we have our 1200 mile tour next month.
------------- September 27th. I'm going away. Don't care where. Just going!!!!
Quote: Originally posted by 3madboyz on 18/6/2012
We started camping in 2005 and our first tent was a Wynnster Anglesey 5 and believe me, that tent has a lot to answer for!!!
Here goes.....
EXES FIRST....
Wynnster Anglesey 5 (died!)
Easycamp Milano 500 (didn't like it)
Wynnster Cygnus 6 (bedroom layout didn't work)
Gelert Twister 3 (too small)
Coleman Alaska (too small)
Sunncamp Prism (kick myself for selling it!!)
Outwell Carolina S (upgraded to Missouri River 3- polycotton version of same tent)
Cabanon Pyramide 6000 (project and had no room to do it)
Coleman Mackenzie X6 (too fiddly and time consuming to pitch)
Raclet Prestige Delphi 6 (external mudflaps that I couldn't quite "get")
Spare canvas etc for above...
Relum Izmir (loved it but too small)
Cabanon Vis a Vis Luxe (too small without elusive canopy)
Lichfield Montana 6 special (bit of fun retro tent)
think that's it???
CURRENT SQUEEZES
Cabanon Athena- Great living area, lovely tent all round.
Cabanon Andorra- Just brilliant!, great layout, not too big for weekends.
Cabanon Calvi - solo camp tent??
Outwell Yukon River 4- love the colour and a good adaptable size.
Outwell Missouri River 3- ideal as a quick stop weekender and classy too!
There!.... I think I have justified everything, looks quite scary when I list it like that, oh well, that's all part of the fun isn't it?
Pretty sure i've got my ideal set-ups now though and am very happy, got through a few to get there though!!!
Phew, Andy - so glad you posted - was waiting for your response - makes me feel soooooo much better
But you've missed one - the Cabanon Latitude that you owned for a day but never saw - or does that count as one of mine ???????????
------------- Anne - mad mum to one - foster mum to many - adoptatent to you guys!
started with a 4 man asda tent, had 2 very enjoyable weekends in that so bought a second hand aztec tent which was 6 man. It wasn't SIG tent, so sold that and bought the hartford xl tent. That has been our tent for 3 years even though I have bought 3 more tents (a vango tunnel, asda 4 man tent again for me and my son and a orchy 500), but just bought another tent hope will last me another 3 years which is a Gelert Morpheus 8, with tent extension and carpet).
Me and the wife have decided to sell a load of kit because we are just hoarding it! You buy new, don't sell the old and it accumilates and much of it we will never use as have bought better!
I think camping is always striving for different things... Thats why we can always sell what we don't want on ebay! :)
------------- Camped since 2008 and still loving it!
Me and the wife have decided to sell a load of kit because we are just hoarding it! You buy new, don't sell the old and it accumilates and much of it we will never use as have bought better!
We're just doing the same. Don't need the roof box now as we have the 8 seater Toyota. Do we really need 3 cookers ? Then there was the cry of " oh look what I found. Have we ever actually used this ? ". Sell sell sell. Then BUY BUY BUY all over again.
------------- September 27th. I'm going away. Don't care where. Just going!!!!
As a single chap had some unbranded cheap ridge tent.
Since I've been married we have owned, or still own:-
'Turkish Delight' ridge tent (large ridge tent with a squared off porch. imilar to a tent Lichfield used to make). Still got this.
Hawley Goodall 4 berth frame tent - used for two seasons and then moved on to a bigger tent. Gone
Sunncamp Chateau - 6 berth frame tent. Leaked quite a lot. Sold for spares.
Sunncamp Palace - 6 berth frame tent. Gone
Aztec Terreno 4 (x2) - Vis a vis style. Still own one of these but not a great tent. No sig.
Gelert Rocky 4 - 4 berth dome. Well used 'pup' tent. Still own.
Coleman Coastline 3 - 3 berth dome. Ditto. Still own
Coleman Evolva - a veritable cathedral of a tent. Modular design with zip on bed, chef and link annexes. Very high quality and the dogs dangly bits. Also included Vango front canopy. Sadly gone as it outgrew us!
Outwell Montana 4 plus canopy - says it all. Bought second hand for £60 but suffered mildewing and leaky seams. Still own.
Cabanon Pyramide - owned for a couple of weeks. Bought and then sold on to a member here for a measly £60 as OH didn't like it!
Sunncamp Kansas 8 (Shadow 800) plus Verano DL Canopy - Large 8 berth vis a vis style tunnel tent. Bought last year and a great family tent.
First tent - very cheap 4 man (lent out - never returned, wasn't bothered)
I still have the following:
Second: The North Face Tadpole 23 - love this tent.
Third: Outwell SunValley 6 - great tent!
Fourth: Gelert Tornado 5 - Fine for what it is (cheap dome tent)
Fifth: Relum Canaria 4 - Ebay bargain - nice!
Sixth: Cabanon Monaco - Only done a test pitch, but it looks fab!
Seventh: Sunncamp Auberge - Not even put this one up yet. Looks a bit faded, smells a bit musty - possibly destined for the scissors of death to re-emerge as something else (bags, wind-breaks, who knows??)
Wishlist: 6 - 8 man polycotton, probably Kampa - Possibly never gonna happen!
we started off five years ago with a gelert lokon, £100 off ebay. sold it the following year for £115!! then two in one year, a 2nd hand cabanon aruba, followed by a gelert corvus. then onto a brand new, montana, we kept this for two years until we got what we had dreamed of, a bear lake. now two years later i'm thinking of (dreaming of) a cabanon stratos trailer tent, like alphonso de lards. for me that really would be the dogs danglies. cheers, gaz
------------- "sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy"
We started out on a 3 man dome type tent, make unknown, it was very cramped and leaked.
Seeing our friends Outwell Hartford XL we progressed quite quickly to a Gelert 8 man tunnel tent, the only downside was the groundsheet was not sewn in, hence the mass intrusion of bugs and wasps. My children did not appreciate nature Still a vast improvement to the dome tent.
The next purchase was a Vango Killington 900, massive spacious tent, was a pain to set up in high winds, on our first trip the wind shield flipped up and put a hole in the tent Like the Gelert this was sold on to a couple in Portsmouth along with the repaired tear.
Next we turned to an Outwell Idaho XL (2010) again a super tent the only downside was it did flap a bit during strong winds, like the rest of the tents we owned we sold the Idaho on to a friend.
As of now we purchased a Outwell WL7 2012, expensive yes, but a good move to poly cotton. The only downside is that we are on our second fly sheet and ground sheet; due to leaks and poor quality sewing of the seams. Fingers crossed the new ground sheet and fly sheet will be damage free and give us at least 2 seasons of camping until we start looking for another tent
------------- Camping is a bit like fishing, you can never have enough new equipment.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: How Tent`s Have You Owned
cheers, gaz
Still a vast improvement to the dome tent. 
Like the Gelert this was sold on to a couple in Portsmouth along with the repaired tear. 
