we bought one a few months ago and have put it up twice now. First time took nearly two hours , second time took much less - about 45 minutes. Went camping in it last week so I have tried to give instructions from memory below - the instructions in the bag though are fairly good - only one bit confused me (I'll tell you which)
We lay out the inside and thread through the three long poles - they are colour coded with the piping on the pole sleeves. Then hubby stands inside holding it up whilst I put the poles on the pins - I cannot do this without someone inside so this tent really needs two people to erect it.
Then the smaller poles go in for the bedrooms - again into the pins.
Peg it out - bedrooms first so you get them right.
Put two angled poles into top sheet and and pull over the inner tent. Put poles into pins. Attach plastic clips on outer sheet to rings near pin (this was the bit that confused me as the instructions call these clips something weird but they are like the belt clips you get on key rings and just snap onto the ring)
tie outer tent to inner - you need to get up inside between the two layers to do this. Hubby pegs while I tie to save time.
The groundsheet in the porch is removable - get this where you want it before pegging the porch bit as it doesnt seem to lay right otherwise. The flaps and straps need to be safely tucked underneath. First time out I tore this groundsheet when I tripped over a peg. You need the pegs with the flat tops - right-angles to the peg shaft so they dont damage the groundsheet.
Oh and when taking down dont wildly take out all the pegs if it is windy - your tent may take off and land in a hedge (as ours nearly did!)
You may want to put another groundsheet underneath to protect the sig but to be honest I decided this was too much faff in the end as I would have had to cut one to shape. We just lay the tent out in the garden when we get home.
HTH - it does get easier second time round. We took it out without the kids first time round as we couldnt even go for a dry run in our garden - the tent is too big.
Hi there,
Follow the instructions, they are pretty easy to follow, the main tip is when you have the tent laid out on the ground and have threaded the poles through make sure some one crawls into the pod and lifts the poles where they cross over(in the middle) you can then push one side of the tent onto the pins and run round to the back of the tent and push the other end of the poles onto the pins, this supports the poles as i have read on here in the past some poles snapping.
The inner is pretty easy to erect then both of you get the fly sheet and walk it over the top, it looks high but it just slips straight over, make sure you tie the ties between the inner and flysheet in the porch area and around the back door, next thing peg out, sort the porch out get the beer out,Hey Presto.
Have a look at our piccys if you need anymore help, if you want anymore piccys let me know your email and i'll send you them in better quality.
ps don't get embarressed if people are watching and don't start bawling at your other half LOL, take your time.
And top choice of tent, think were going to swap our campus for another vango but smaller for when its just Trace and me and no kids!!!!!.
Happy Camping.
I recently sold my 600 to my sister in law. We erected it in lightening speed at the weekend, about 20 minutes including guying out.
I'd echo all of the above advice, there's loads of postings to be found on this site that will help you as I'm sure you've discovered.
One top tip I've found is that when you've inserted the main two black poles and the long blue pole and someone has gone into the centre to hold it up, locate the blue pole into the pins first. This seems to make it much easier to then get the black poles in which I know sometimes causes people some difficulty. Make sure the straps are slackened off too.
Important advice! Make sure that, when you peg your guy ropes down, that all the guy ropes follow the tent poles to the ground in the same direction! As if the guy rope was a continuation of the tent pole in a straight line to the ground.. This is vital for dome tents to make them less susceptible to wind, as we discovered to our cost the first time we used our diablo 600 last year.
If Vango had taken the time to explain this in the instructions, it would have saved them the trouble of replacing my tent when it got flattened in the wind on its second outing.
I believe it is called storm pitching a tent. Just make sure that the guy ropes follow the direction of the poles and itll stop the topsheet flattening against the poles in heavy wind.
I hope there is someone else around to explain storm pitching better than me!
Welcome to the Vango D600 club, what a grea tent. I could go on and on about it.
Best advice is to get someone inside before bending the poles into place. Everything else is straight forward enough.
DaddyJohn - 20 mins must be a record to get fully guy'd out, Well Done! Whats your secret...... we can get it up in about 35-40 mins between the two of us.
DaddyJohn - 20 mins must be a record to get fully guy'd out, Well Done! Whats your secret...... we can get it up in about 35-40 mins between the two of us.
Dont know if this helps anyone but when I pitch my 900, once all poles are threaded into the sleeves, I carefully bend one of the main black poles whilst it is laying on the floor and put pin in, then I put one end of the other black pole into the pin. At this point, help is needed to raise and support both poles and then frantically try to get the other pin into the other black pole before it all collapses on you ( hope that makes sense, it seems to when I'm doing it). Once main poles raised it is pretty easy to put other pins into place.
I have the 900 and I follow the practice of threading the main poles through and then sending somebody inside to lift the middle of the dome whilst I run round carefully pushing the poles up to get the pins in. The first time I did it I tried to lift from the outside and snapped a pole . Since getting the broken pole replaced I have taken a bit more time and always lifted from inside with out any problems so far .
Hi there, we are considering the Diabalo 900 and the Vail. I looked on the Vango website and they have really useful film clips of the tents being errected. Have a look, it definately helps you to get your head around it. RR
Interesting read, we also have the Diablo 600 and had our first real trip last weekend. Previous one was in the back garden.
First attempt took 1 hour 50 mins just for the tent.
Second attempt last weekend for real (campsite with people watching) was 2 hours from start to finish, this included setting up the table, chairs, airbeds, cooking stove, etc (you know the scene) with three children running around.
Received a few comments about a team building exercise, as most of the tents around were smaller two / three man tents. However, not a cross word between myself and the other half, which amazed both of us considering how stressful it could have been. The practice run in the garden was well worth doing. Mightg be a bit more interesting in the wind and rain :-)
Good time had by all and can't wait to go again.
BTW what's the best way to dry the tent out when you've had to pack it away in the rain ?
D600 and there kin ( 900 etc) are cracking tents for the money - we have used ours many many times - Zips poles etc have been faultless and the space is huge. W e chose this over it the Outwell for one reason only - the kids a re more than a micron's width away,
With a SWMBO we can wack in up and pegged in 45 min's - 60 mins with air beds inflated and kitchen set up - I LUUUve it! - FCS - £199! for a 2005 model.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: vango diablo 600 help??
, second time took much less - about 45 minutes. Went camping in it last week so I have tried to give instructions from memory below - the instructions in the bag though are fairly good - only one bit confused me (I'll tell you which)
in about 35-40 mins between the two of us.
in about 35-40 mins between the two of us.
. Since getting the broken pole replaced I have taken a bit more time and always lifted from inside with out any problems so far 
.
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