We are new to camping, as a family that is, 2 adults and 3 children under age 5 and not ruling out another little one so want a spacious tent.
We have looked around and came across the Hi Gear Kalahari 10. This seems pretty well rated and spacious for our needs. Want space for kiddies to play around inside, rather than out as they would soon disappear !!
So thoughts on this model please very much appreciated.
I have noticed the website gooutdoors.co.uk has one now on offer for £299. Do you know if this is the best price on the market for this one? They have a tent deal where you pay a bit more to include the carpet, footprint and canopy extention. I've also read that this canopy isn't very good.
Any feedback greatly appreciated.
thanks
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Go Outdoors is the only place you will be able to buy any new HiGear products as they are their own brand made for them by Gelert. If you have a Go near you see if they have one on display so that you can see it.
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Are you familiar with the Gelert brand in the 10 man ?
Would you recommend it ? The reviews I have read on here are pretty favourable for the Hi Gear.
Mmmm can be expensive kitting out for camping. I have just been looking at various things we will need; airbeds, cooker etc - if you know of other good online stores which do deals let me know please - might cut down with me googling everything.
Thanks again for quick response. I'm not sure who is more excited, us adults or the kids!
hi i have a hi gear kalahari 10 great tent nice and big ,2 big bedroom pods each end and a big space in the middle ,easy to pitch ,we have the footprint and carpet
but if you can afford it go for the porch to,you can cook in it and kick off your shoes in there ,its a good entry level big tent ,
have a look at this its the same tent but better material gelert beyond
Love my kalahari 10. bought last year when it was reduced to half price (think it was £199), they have also done that again this year a few weeks ago, noticed it in the Go Outdoors brochure.
Loads of space, easy to put up, really pleased I bought it.
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the hi gear has fly screens on all doors and all windows...it even has them on the inner bedroom doors, so you can air the bedrooms without worrying about having a bedroom full of flys and wasps!!
The deal at the moment means you get everything including the porch for £340..which is a damn good deal if you ask me!! If you don't actually want the porch, why not buy it anyway and sell it on ebay at a slight discount and recoup some of the cost of buying the tent
Tent alone - £300
Tent plus extras - £340
sell porch on ebay - £50
cost of tent, carpet, groundsheet = £290
not a lot of saving, but with camping, £10 could get you some other items that you do actually want.
Yes, camping setup isnt going to be cheap to get started, and if you read some of the posts on here you will find that it's addictive too...you always need that next thing, or another one of those etc. I would just buy the basics to start with, and then you can upgrade if you find that you really enjoy camping and want to continue doing it. some things you can get cheap and will last you a little while, others (like cookers) it's best to try and spend a bit extra now and get a decent one. you don't want to buy something cheap and nasty and let it ruin your whole camping experience.
Keep an eye out for bargains on ebay, and special offers from go outdoors and other stores. Check the adverts on this site and ask for reviews on items that you think you need.
A wealth of information on here from some very knowledgable people.
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Quote: Originally posted by richibeno on 21/7/2011
hi i have a hi gear kalahari 10 great tent nice and big ,2 big bedroom pods each end and a big space in the middle ,easy to pitch ,we have the footprint and carpet
but if you can afford it go for the porch to,you can cook in it and kick off your shoes in there ,its a good entry level big tent ,
Gooutdoors have a deal on this week which includes carpet, footprint and porch for 339 - so a good deal.
have a look at this its the same tent but better material gelert beyond
there is also a gelert clearence store on ebay where hi-gear tents come up cheep
I am struggling to do a comparison. You mention the Beyond Meridian is better material. Could you give me the differences, I have tried looking online but can't find the material information for the hi gear.
We had the kalahari 10 and LOVED it, would definately recommend the porch though, we used it for cooking and kitchen equipment which is then seperated off so the kids could have the run of the tent without any worry of kettles, cooking etc.
We only changed our's this summer, as i wanted a steel poled tent, but have struggled for so long to find a tent that would offer me what i got from the Kal 10. the gelert meridian in exactly the same tent, just yes a better material, it has a higher hydrostatic head so in theory is more wateproof, but from what i understand you would basically have to camp half way up a mountain for this to be a particular benefit? we have camped in some pretty bad weather and never had a problem, althogh i was very excited at getting my new tent, i felt sick to think i may have made a big mistake, as it happens i didn't and love my new tent, i will add that i have had to have an alteration done on my new 'much more expensive one' as it had a maufacturer defect on, and never had a problem with my kal 10, and sold it at a very nice price!!
it can be expensive to set up, but you don't need it ALL at the begining, you need the basics and have the fun of slowly adding and upgrading over the years!
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There is a Gelert Meridian 10 on EBay at present, Buy It Now Price £249.99, plus £10 postage. We have the Kalahari 8 tent, and are well pleased with it
We are ar family of 2 adults 3 children but often take my 2 nieces camping with us aswell and we have bought the kyham marseille 9, its a great tent, comes with a porch already attached, and 4 bedrooms, all take a double airbed and a huge living area, we use the porch for cooking, eating in, so that leaves the living area for wet days!! We love it and its really easy to pitch.
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Quote: Originally posted by agelessamber on 21/7/2011
Quote: Originally posted by owennicki on 21/7/2011
We only changed our's this summer, as i wanted a steel poled tent
Thanks for your input. Out of interest, what did you upgrade to?
We went for the Kampa Tenby 10 and I have to say its a real beauty! Very pleased we changed but still rate the kalahari for our budget at the time, it was also a trial to see if we enjoyed camping with the little ones, and as we do our Tenby is everything I could have wanted.
------------- April-Norfolk 7nts, Oxford 2nts, Defford 2nts
May-Symm Yat 3nts
June-Defford 2 nts,Pembridge 2nts
July-Tabacconist 2nts, France 19nts
Aug -Bosworth 2nts, Winchcombe 3nts
Oct -costwolds 6nts
We went for the Kampa Tenby 10 and I have to say its a real beauty! Very pleased we changed but still rate the kalahari for our budget at the time, it was also a trial to see if we enjoyed camping with the little ones, and as we do our Tenby is everything I could have wanted.
Hope you do not mind me asking questions. It's just that we know we definitely want a 10 man version as we need the size with little ones and we may go on to having baby 4 but then stop, so that'll be six of us in total and we do not want to feel squashed.
I understand the Tenby has a built in porch and the porch which you can buy separately with the Kalahari leaves a gap so is not flush, so if rains you need to be a bit careful.
I have been talking with my husband and we as individuals like camping and we did whilst I was pregnant with our first. We are thinking rather buy quality tent now otherwise if we do not it might be that we want to upgrade next year for instance. Our boys are definitely out doors so they will love it.
So in terms of the space would you say they are much the same and what about the living area? The Kalahari is said to have a living space of 10m2. I have been flipping back and forth over the measurements to try and give me a sense of size but I thought it might be easier to ask your good self since you pre owned the Kal and now own the Tenby. I have managed to find out through measurement guides that there is more head height in the Tenby but due to the shape wasn't sure about the rest.
We are very keen to get started up but I do not want to make the mistake of buying something which may not live up. I have high standards so my wish list is strong durable tent which will take to plenty of putting up and down. We intend to go off as many weekends as possibe as well as longer trips, while the kids are young, enjoy them as I guess when they reach teenage years they may not be so keen! Also space is a must.
Lastly do the doors and windows have the fly screens in the Tenby so you can let air in and keep the nasties out? Do the fly screens appear in the bedroom area too as with the Kal?
If you find the time I would welcome your comments.
I think the kal is a perfect tent for getting going but if you are thinking long term, you should seriously consider the Tenby, more expensive but for what you get I thought it was a fair price. It's about 60cm larger each way, but that makes a big difference, it has that no see in mesh, which works unless you put your face to the mesh on doors, windows and each pod door, the windows are Brill, the best couple of features are - black out pods and the ends of the tent itself where the pods are is blacked out, AND my favorite is the skylight roof in the living area, makes a huge difference so light and airy then hook a blackout curtain up for the nights if required! Bedrooms are bigger and storage / toilet room if fab, even has a zip from the bedroom (an ensuit ) the porch is good for cooking in, we have the canopy too but choose when to use it, as only down side has to be sloped porch door, but everything else is fantastic do overcame this with canopy.
Email me and I will send you pics of our 2 set ups then you can see the difference owennicki at hotmail.com
------------- April-Norfolk 7nts, Oxford 2nts, Defford 2nts
May-Symm Yat 3nts
June-Defford 2 nts,Pembridge 2nts
July-Tabacconist 2nts, France 19nts
Aug -Bosworth 2nts, Winchcombe 3nts
Oct -costwolds 6nts
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Topic: Thoughts on Kalahari 10 please
) the porch is good for cooking in, we have the canopy too but choose when to use it, as only down side has to be sloped porch door, but everything else is fantastic do overcame this with canopy. 
