I have an old Relum 7 man 3 bedroom Frame tent. Bought second hand for £40 to see if we like camping.
Other equipment needed stretched the cost somewhat Camp kitchen - borrowed, 2 hob cooker £1 - including gas cannister! Beds 4 £40 Sleeping bags 3 £30 420l Roof box and bars £50 3 way ehu £50 14l leccy fridge £30 Picnic table and parasol £25,
Total cost £266. But we knew if camping was not going to be for us we could sell the lot and re-coup most of our money!
Just had 9 days in France - loved it. Bit scary first camping trip above a weekend is abroad, having not even been abroad for 4 years!
Experienced campers nearby reckoned our tent was at least 20 years old, and was in the old 'blacks' style (whatever that means). They think the tent was a bargain, and if we are careful (with the more seethrough, threadbare bits) should last for several trips to come.
We think that if it gets us through the year, we will seriously invest £400. But it will be a one off cost that we will hope will last for years. We will pass our good fortune of the old tent to others to let them experience the thrills of listening to owls at night and being woken by cuckoos and woodpeckers, and hoppefully they will catch the bug!
we too are getting a new tent...we have a satalite6 and are replacing it with a montana 12....need more space and a built in groundsheet,son in wheelchair and now a puppy we need more living space...also going away for 2 weeks to the coast and need room just incase it rains.....we have had the satalite 6 for 3 years....does this warrant spending more money!!!!!!
Hi! We change tents quite regularly. True this is partly because I enjoy buying new tents but also because our needs change as the family grows up and the type of camping we do varies and also because the tent market is, I think, much more dynamic than it used to be. So each year new design features, improvements and innovations come along. If you sell the previous tent, then the extra needed to buy the new one is not a lot. As someone else pointed out, the major expenditure is probably on all the stuff you put inside the tent, and that just carries on from year to year. MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
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I think it's a case of finding your perfect partner our normandy's in it's 3rd season and despite seeing loads of other tents in camping shops we haven't seen anything that would suit us better. We plan to keep it until it drops to bits.
Quote: Originally posted by Merry Terrier on 07/06/2005
. As someone else pointed out, the major expenditure is probably on all the stuff you put inside the tent, and that just carries on from year to year. MT
That is just so true, and that`s not going to change even if you own two or more tents. If buying a small weekend tent, or a big long-stay tent in addition to what you have already means that you go camping more, then the cost of these non-tent items will get cheaper per use.
So in a way, the second tent will pay for itself. Well, that`s my excuse!
We had our rheum vis a vis dome tent for six year and loved it but hubby ripped it on our last trip out last year so we have now invested in a trigano trailer tent which we intend to keep for a long time. I think if you do your homework and find a layout that works for you and your camping needs you dont keep needing to change tents, my sister has had 4 different tents in 3 years, but has now found her perfect one. Then again I still carn't resist looking at all the tents at camperlands in manchester but have no intention of changing mine.
------------- FIONA
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I agree with fiona karen the only reason we've had 3 tents in 2 years is because we were looking for just the right one. Now we've got the Khyam XL Classic I'm pretty certain we've found it - so we won't be changing again for a long time. Doesn't stop me window shopping though!!
We had a tent for one night and realised it wasn't for us. Bought it for £90 and sold it for £65 so £25 for a night away to find out we loved camping! We now have a Khyam Tourer 400 which cost us £200. We've used it for three nights and have just booked another 2, so that's £40 a night so far. That's no different really to a B&B. We also plan at least another weekend or two, so could be looking at £20 a night this year.
We are looking to buy something with a bigger living area and are looking at the Khyam Rigi-pod. We love the Khyam Tourer, very impressed with the whole thing just want more space, so we will stick to Khyam.
The plan is that the Rigi-pod will last us for a good few years (I hope so at that price) but the most important thing for us is that we have discovered something. WE ADORE CAMPING!!
Well we took up camping last year and bought a Vango Diablo 600 which we love. This year we have bought a Vengo venture 500 for weekends. So I suppose thats us on one a year so far.
It is all the other stuff you can't help buying that mounts up!
The more you go camping the more you will realise exactly what you want from your tent. You will only stop buying tents when you finally get everything you want in one tent! If i could buy any tent I wanted money no object, I would go for all of the Khyam ones!! My favourite new one this year though is the Vango Aspen 500. It's more of an aesthetic thing than anything else in particular!
------------- Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you're good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.
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We've had 4 tents in the last 27 yrs. A 4 man frame tent when there was just the 2 of us, a 4 man 2 bedroomed frame tent when the kids came, a 4 man dome tent which we didn't like when there were 2 of us again and a new gelert last year to replace the tent we didn't like.
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Topic: New Tent Every Year?
