Hi All We are new to camping and after some research have short listed 4 tents as follows. In no specfic order they are;
1. Royal Biarritz 9 2. Lichfield Arapho 9DLX 3. Coleman Columbia 10 4. Aztec Cantera 9
Has anyone used any of these tents and are they any good ? I did find 2 small reviews on the Coleman both stating that the tent when erected had dips in the roof and that the bedroom walls hang in your face when lying down. Currently I think I shall go with the Aztec.
sorry I dont have experience of either tent but I didnt like to see the sad blue face.
We looked at the Lichfield Arapaho 9dlx and thought it was a very good sized tent for the price. The only thing that put us off was the HH of 2000. Whilst this is the recommended minimum HH for british weather, we wanted something with a higher rating after a very wet easter trip.
We have made a list of all the good and / or bad points about the tents we liked and went from there.
I don't have any of the tents you mention, but I have had 2 Lichfield tents and I can't fault them.
Look at the walls of the tent and bear in mind a sloping wall in a bedroom may well touch your face in the night. Look at 'living' area and weigh up what will go where like cooker, chairs, table etc.
If you have a camping shop near to you go and actually have a look inside the tents - that may help you decide. Some on-line camping shops have videos of inside and outside each tent (like Millets).
Let us all know which one you buy and why.
Happy shopping
Jackie H
------------- See the beauty ..... know the creator
the biarritz gets good reviews on here. i believe it has extra poles in the bedroom areas to prevent sagging bedrooms.
if you do a search on here using the search button then you should find more info on those tents.
i personally am a fan or Royal tents.
------------- "He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." In memory of Bear. 06/03/06 - 25/01/12 Izzie 23/09/07 - 25/03/13
WE have none of those ,We have a Gelert Quebec 8 berth,Just got it used it once up to now in readiness for our Cornwall hol in 2 weeks,2 very large sewn in pods either side of living area,good headroom,no saggy bits,we were impressed,because we actually went shopping for the Royal Barraitz and happened to go to a tent display nearby and it was last day withonly one tent left standing the Gelert.Priced at £329 and we got it for £100,so came home with change and lots of other bargains.
We have the Aztec Cantera 9. We looked hard and long before going for the Cantera 9 and what a great tent it is. Bedrooms good size, but headroom a little low. Main living area ample and over 2.5m headroom so you can easily standup. Tent easily pitched with a little practice, our first attempt 80 minutes from start to finish. HH of 4000mm so able to cope with most of our weather. Last outing very windy but tent stood up well in the conditions.Tent although advertised as a nine berth more like a six berth but we all know that. If you wanna ask any other questions about the cantera, let me know.
we have a Royal Biarritz 6, just the same but only 2 beds. It's great. Easy to put up and loads of room. No sagging in beds, which are a good size with loads of headroom, cos of the extra pole. Loads of light and vents and really sturdy in the wind and rain.
------------- SHIRLZ
I'm not a complete idiot...some bits are missing.
Thanks for the responses so far. Having done a fairbit of research and headscratching,also looking at a vango colorado 800 dlx, Khyam Arizona we think we have decided on the royal Biarritz 9. The only thing concerning me before taking the plunge is the physical footprint of the tent at 7.9M by 7.35M. I have seen some reports on this site that say some campsites wont accept a tent this big or charge for 2 pitches. Has anyone experienced this with one of the larger tents ? I would think the vango diablo 900 is approx the same size. What is the normal or average size of a pitch on a site? The footprint of this tent is a lot bigger than most caravans
Don't have any of those but have an Aztec and can't fault it! It looks good, lots of headroom and it's huge! Also the outer feels thick enough to withstand anything!
When we booked our site.We were asked tent size,we have a large tent we told them,they asked it was one of that range,i said it has no pods that extend from central living area,they said they wouldnt be able to take us if it was.or we would have to pay for 2 pitches,but we have seen these tents at other sites where there are no pitches marked out,just a case of find a space.It is not fair that you should be penalised for size of your tent,everyone to thier own choice,so i think you might come across some problems,esp in regimental style camps,we do not usually go for this type of site where evey body seems to be all on top of each other.Margie
Hi, I picked up a Biarritz 6 at the weekend and think that its a whole lot of tent for not a bad price.
I saw a guy on ebay selling one, he was really helpful in helping me try to trace a 2005 model Biarritz 6 and even rang the manufacturer and gave me numbers of other stockists.
The Biarritz 9 is for sale on this link, I don't know the guy but since he was so helpful to me I thought I'd return the favour and recommend him plus this is the best price I've seen for a Biarritz 9.
Hi All
Well we finally took the plunge and ordered a royal biarritz 9 plus loads of other stuff so now the wallets hurting Hopefully will arrive tomorrow so we can do a test run at the weekend.
All arrived as promised. Went for a trial pitch yesterday and it took about an hour after working out the very limited instructions that came with the tent. Devised our own now and on next attempt hope for about half an hour not including guy ropes. Overall very pleased with the tent.Does anyone else have a royal biarritz 9 ? We could not install any of the vent poles as described and had to use the loop in the middle instead of the sleeve as described. Broke one trying Now I have to try to get a new one..............(pole)
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Topic: What tent to go for ?
Hopefully will arrive tomorrow so we can do a test run at the weekend.
