Hi, does anyone have the vango zanzibar, want a polycotton tent and was thinking about the norfolk lake, however seeing the zanzibar i'm not sure now, don't know what the quality is like having only seen a picture, i have an aspen 700dlx at the moment and have no complaints with the vango name, however, i previously had a sun valley 8 which went back twice due to leaking and faulty ground sheet so at the moment i wouldn't touch normal outwell tents with a barge pole, however, the norfolk lake is different and the quality control on those seems to be ok at the moment. any advice would be appreciated thanks, julie
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While we were looking for a new tent we went to have a look at a zanzibar and also wolf, norfolk lake etc. All nice tents ... zanzibar is probably lighter and airier as fabric is a much paler green ... outwells had a slightly more 'finished' feel inside.-Windows and meshes particularly nice . Norfolk lake is very long which could be a problem on some sites but enclosed porch would be great if weather bad.. If you do go for zanzibar obi camping had a good price (£580) and taunton leisure has offers on all the lakes.
We pondered over these for a while- in the end we went retro and got a frame tent... hoping we will get other stuff in car!
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Hi, I considered the Zanzibar 600 and 800 and they look like they'd be good quality and spacious. In the end I opted for the Bear lake 6 as this has a zip out ground sheet (as do all the outwell classic series I think). This will make packing up and drying out on return home much easier, this is important as it seems that drying out a packed up wet polycotton tent - which is inevitable sometimes - as soon as possible is really important to ensure longevity of the fabric. Having the ground sheet attached during this process could make it quite unmanageable unless pitching it again to dry - but then everything has to be dry which is pretty difficult as the ground sheet will always get some moisture on the underneath of it and I wouldn't want to risk rolling it up like that till the next time you go camping which could be all winter. I couldn't find anywhere that could give me the detail I needed re the groundsheet so I assume it is sewn in. ZIP certainly isn't listed as a feature. The weight of this tent is greater when you add all three packs together. Initially i thought it was lighter but then realized from the spec that there are three packs as opposed to 2 as with the bear lake 6. The 800 is more like the Wolf lake 7
Also I never found anywhere that was displaying one within a reasonable distance.
We bought a Norfolk Lake last summer and we're very impressed by the finish on it. It packs up into two bags, quite heavy, but my husband manages them ok! Size wise it's extremely spacious inside, particularly if you don't put up the third bedroom. And because it's a regular shape, it's not difficult to fit it into most pitches - easy than the big dome tents.
hi.Can you tell me how you found the aspen 700dlx. Are the windows a good size/ Am not sure as all pics of it appear to give it a dark interior.Thanks.
Its a fantastic tent very airey and bright, the only reason that i want a norfolk lake or vango zanzibar is because last year when we went camping for two weeks and we got caught in a strong wind which broke two of the porch poles, (we have now replaced them with no problems) and although the rest of the tent stood up to the wind excellently, I was a bit scared, its the first time i have camped with rain every day, the wind was only for one day but we never left the tent just in case, normally had great weather but i wanted the polycotton cause its quieter in rain and less flappy in wind. julie
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Topic: dilema vango zanzibar or norfolk lake!
