It’s been over 10 years since we’ve camped, having fun with the kids, but now they’ve grown up, moved out and married, they are trying to persuade us to start again with them!
So, having gotten rid of most of our stuff, we’re virtually starting again. First priority is a tent, but don’t want to spend £££, so was thinking of secondhand. Any recommendations for what to go for? What are the good brands now? We don’t want to be cramped, so was thinking of 5 or 6 man for the two of us, with reasonable living area and possibly a porch, but didn’t want to spend more than about £200 on a used tent. Is that a realistic budget?
I’ve always used the advice of “Buy cheap, buy twice” and “You get what you pay for!”, as well as “Any fool can be uncomfortable!”
Any thoughts?
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We got our tent back in 2008, and it’s been perfect for our fortnight campings for just the two of us, and is still in like new condition, if you can find one used it would be a good buy.
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Vango are still a leading brand, also Outwell, Kampa, Zempire becoming v popular and well regarded.
Have a look at the ‘upgrade’ thread for some lower budget suggestions.
My reservations with second hand polyester tents is that they have a finite life as polyester degrades in UV light and if, for example, ‘used 3 times’ means 3 x 2 week hols in the S of France the tent will be half way through it’s time before deterioration starts.
So I would look carefully at a second hand tent before you buy.
If you haven't camped for a while ... here are the things I think have changed: windows, built-in groundsheets, carpets, possibility of electric hook up, air tents.
You don't say what age/fitness you are ... I'm 50 with a 10 year old and I love my Vango Langley 400. I personally would not want anything bigger than mine .. but I am putting it up pretty much myself (yeah, 10 year sometimes helps). What I love about my tent is all the windows. I had a previous starter 4 Man from Halfords with one tiny window - so when it rained you felt very isolated inside the tent. Now we can hang in the living room in the rain but still see out. It has a carpet and it's cosy and we have inflatable chairs. Plenty room for friends to hang with you. It has a canopy that covers the front door - which is fab. Means shoes/chairs/random stuff doesn't get soaked and it means you can come in and out without rain pouring into the tent. And sit outside under the canopy with a cuppa/wine in Scottish drizzle. I have actually bought a porch extension which goes onto this canopy area which is great if you aren't taking a separate camp kitchen shelter (which I usually do). There are quite a few tents that are very similar to Vango Langley. I personally didn't buy second hand but shopped around and shopped around until I found a good deal (the previous season's colour - who cares?) including a carpet and footprint.
We think we have a solution, but not sure who it benefits!
Our son & his wife had a largish 3 man tent but are looking to upgrade now they have a baby. So we are going to go halves on a new family tent (Vango Keswick 600). We’ll just deconflict using it, and if we go together we’ll utilise his current 3 man to sleep in and have the Keswick for living in.
So, we get use of a new large family tent (I hate to be cramped) fo the 2 of us for the price of a used one. Sounds perfect in theory, let’s see if it does in practice!
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
When we changed from caravan to tent we bought secondhand.
We went to view a Cabano Rotunde which we bought at a good price, sold it 4 years later for more or less as I paid for it.
We asked to see the tent in its bag and then to see if being erected. This gave us an opportunity to check for any damp odour and also to see how easy it is to erect.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Returning to camping, buying secondhand?
via mobile 27/6/2020 at 7:53am
