Last year I purchased my first inflatable tent, a Vango Palermo 800. It's a fantastic tent and I love it. It is, however, very heavy and very big.
Having been a camping lover for a long time, I had this lovely floaty idea of buying a large tent for weeks away with the kids. The reality is, i can't fit the 3 kids and all our stuff in the car, with my lovely big inflatable tent. I'm also quite unlikely to go away for weeks at a time.
So. I'm after some advice.
The Palermo is 33kg and pack size of L78.0 x H48.0 x W52.0cm. It's too big and heavy when not in use.
Ideally I would like a 5 or 6 birth, ideally with 2 completely separate bedrooms to minimise kids fighting, and give them some space (ages 15, 13 and 9) - although I think i'm unlikely to get this. The pack size needs to be smaller, and I need to be able to get it in and out of the boot of my car. I would also like a big enough living space for cooking, table and chairs etc
Completely open to suggestions, although i suspect i'll need to purchase second hand due to costs - although that will depend on how much I can get for my pretty much brand new Palermo.
Thanks in advance.
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Slightly off topic here but was wondering what your experience with the palermo 800 was like? I brought that tent early last year and had nothing but problems with it (although I loved the tent). It always collected water on the roof so much so the beams would collapse, no matter how it was pitched there was low points in the roof fabric so the water would not run off.
Been fighting with vango for 8 months and they finally gave in and provided me with a 2018 outwell vermont xlp with all the gubbings.
Just interested to see if ours was a one off as it definitely has put me off airbeams and vango for that matter.
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Unfortunately this is the same weight, plus lots of poles. I'm a single parent, and whilst the kids do help, i'm happier to let them run around and explore and put the tent up on my own.
Quote: Originally posted by Pike259 on 14/2/2018
Hi
Slightly off topic here but was wondering what your experience with the palermo 800 was like? I brought that tent early last year and had nothing but problems with it (although I loved the tent). It always collected water on the roof so much so the beams would collapse, no matter how it was pitched there was low points in the roof fabric so the water would not run off.
Been fighting with vango for 8 months and they finally gave in and provided me with a 2018 outwell vermont xlp with all the gubbings.
Just interested to see if ours was a one off as it definitely has put me off airbeams and vango for that matter.
Interesting point. We did have an issue with water dripping from 1 of the poles, but it looked like it just needed resealing at that spot. No problems with water collecting, and it really threw it down for long periods.
I only used it once, but was very impressed with how quickly it went up, and how solid it was. We were at Shell Island, and the winds were really strong, but the tent stayed absolutely solid. If it was smaller and didn't take up half of my boot, I would love to keep it.
It took 8 months of phone calls, emails (which were never responded too). Days off work waiting for couriers that didn't turn up. I have pages and pages of correspondence between me and them. I spent days erecting the tent to video the faults and then having to dry it out again.
In the end I got my place of purchase involved who dealt with vango (as I couldn't, the level of service from them was appalling). I just wanted a refund but they said they would get me any tent I wanted so I got a new model outwell with all the extras.
Don't get me wrong they were pushing vango tents for obvious reasons and kampa as they did not sell outwell there. But 8 months later after countless hours on the phone I now have an outwell.
Ah! So it was the retailer that sorted out the replacement, not Vango themselves. Makes sense, as that's who your "contract" was with.
As in most cases, it's the retailer/dealer that you need to deal with. Vango sold their tents to the retailer, not to you, hence their lack of interest in dealing direct with the man on the street.
Good result in the end though. Hope you get more joy with this new tent.
lets hope with fingers crossed the Outwell is fault free...
because dealing with Outwell is like trying to contact a train company customer relations office on mars ...
vango are excellent by comparison for customer relations!
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Quote: Originally posted by hankakampa on 15/2/2018
lets hope with fingers crossed the Outwell is fault free...
because dealing with Outwell is like trying to contact a train company customer relations office on mars ...
vango are excellent by comparison for customer relations!
Mucker raises a good point, if you have an issue contact your retailer not the manufacturer.
I bought an Outwell last year, I’ve had some issues with manufacturing faults. I’ve never contacted Outwell myself and have done everything through the retailer. The retailer has been brilliant and has provided replacement tents twice without quibble.
The retailer in my experience gets very responsive service from Outwell and has an answer from them on next steps within a day each time. I couldn’t really ask for any better than that.
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Topic: Lightweight family inflatable tent advice
