I am new to the site but not to camping, we always used to have camping holidays when I was younger but over recent years its only been the odd weekend with fairly cheap rubbishy gear...anyway we would now like to start having regular longer camping trips and get a fairly OKish tent to start us off with!
(We are planning a week at Bay View in Cornwall in July)
Our budget is pretty tight this year but we will be taking our 10 month old, so need something that wont leak or fall apart in bad weather!
After a bit of reading up on here I first thought about getting the Lichfield Mojave from Argos at £136, but would we be better off with getting a second hand frame tent from ebay? There are a couple ive got my eye on, a Sunncamp and a Trio. Both seem reasonable price wise so far, one ends tomorrow and the other in a couple of days. The frame tents are much bigger so would be great space-wise, and both say they are good condition, but are they likely to be good in bad weather or should we stick to the Lichfield one? Any advice much appreciated! Thanks!
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I would say definitely go for a 2nd hand frame tent, but then I am biassed because mine is an ebay bargain too!
You need to feel confident that you are getting a good buy though, and seeing the tent up is the best way to do that if at all possible.
In general a frame tent will stand up to adverse weather much better than a cheap polester tent from Argos, but only if you are confident that you know how to pitch it correctly.
Have you ever camped in/ pitched a frame tent before?
A canvas frame tent will stand up to bad weather far better than a modern synthetic tent, and is much quieter during a storm too - we bought a new Suncamp synthetic tent about 5 years ago, and when a slight wind started (not a storm) the fabric was flappy and the fibreglass poles were creaky. We sold that tent after just one 5 day holiday, and bought a second-hand frame tent. We've been through two thunder storms in the Elody without any problems at all.
There isn't a condensation problem with canvas tents either. You can cook inside a canvas tent if the weather is too bad to cook outside. Canvas doesn't heat up like an over in hot weather either. A synthetic tent has a 5-7 year lifetime, but a canvas tent can last 25-30 years.
The only downsides with a canvas tent is that it takes up more space in the car, but if you have the boot space, then go for it, especially with a young child.
hi there are many tents on ebay outwell are by far one of the best makes
we have a 3 and 4 year old and ours is amazing cannot comment on all others but ours looks the part and most importantly no leaks fabric really good quality
cheers from max and david
------------- hi how the devil are you david and maxine here oliver and jasmine too roll on camping weather .ready to go yipeeeee.
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Thanks for the replies, very helpful! Frame tent sounds like the way to go!
We always used to have frame tents when i was a kid so i have slept in one and helped put it up, space isnt too much of a problem as we have plenty of room in the car so im definately going to go for one rather than the Argos one.
The Outwells do sound great but even second hand a little out of our budget at the moment (maybe next year!) but the Trio 5 berth frame tent im watching on ebay has 1 hour to go on it and is still only at £50 so fingers crossed!
Aww no i didnt win it! (perhaps shouldnt have advertised it on here lol!) It went for £132 in the end, i was trying to bid more but my work computer decided at that moment to be incredibly slow and i didnt get in another bid in time!
Oh well must be fate, ill have another go on the other ones im watching
Sorry to hear you didn't win the Trio, but one good thing about frame tents on ebay is that there is always plenty to have a go at.
I asked whether you'd been in one before just to make sure you know what you're getting into, as I'd hate to recommend one to someone who had no idea and then found out they'd made a big mistake! But it sounds like you know what you're doing (sorry didn't mean to sound patronising, but can't find a better way of putting it at the mo!). In my opinion, so long as you have room to transport, and are prepared for a bit of the Krypton Factor then a frame tent really is the perfect tent, for those who want them.
Outwell do some lovely tents, but I never want another polyester tent, and I prefer the classic styling of a traditional frame tent to that of the Wolf Lake (lovely though it is) etc, plus there is no dead space in a frame tent as you get with the tunnel designs.
Sorry, I went on a bit there!
Good luck with your hunt for that new (to you) frame tent
------------- Angela
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Topic: Second Hand Frame Tent from eBay?
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(perhaps shouldnt have advertised it on here lol!) It went for £132 in the end, i was trying to bid more but my work computer decided at that moment to be incredibly slow and i didnt get in another bid in time!
