Message Forums

Hi,

we are taking the plunge this year and want t go camping, but there are a few things i need help with, firstly we are a family of 2 adults 3 children (9 and under) and a baby..4m.

we went looking at tents at the weekend and think a 9+ berth tent is needed,  i know about the hydro head thing...what is the minimum we should go for?

also what brands have tents with the sewn in ground sheets? we are after the dome style tent.

I cant decide if we need a 3 pod or 4 pod one though was thinking maybe as our lot are so young it might be worth getting a 4 pod and sticking one of those camping toilets in it for use at night...but would this stink lol?!?!

i like the Royal Montpelliere 12..can you think of any others that might be right? dome style with sig?

the tents with just a fitted ground sheet..they seem to have huge gaps around the outside, i can imagine them being freezing cold and creepy crawlys getting in....my girls and i are a bit nervous bout that lol, am i right to disregard this style?

appart from ebay can you recomend any websites that have sales on,

also no matter wht i do a cannot veiw the for sale adds on here??? i try removing firewall...anti virus,shutting norton everything! just doesnt work,any ideas?

sorry its such a long post, im learning slowly about it all but when it came to tents i need some expert opinions :)

really hope you can help

kate

The Outwell Montana 12 is a great tent as takisawa says. We have just bought one for 2006. It is tunnel rather than dome and has 2 bedrooms at each end and may not offer as much living space as a dome. This year the Montana seems to be the "must have" tent of the year on here.

You could do worse than last year's "must have" tent - the Vango Diablo 900 which is a 3-pod dome tent. We also have one of these and they are excellent tents. Things to consider are:

Pros:

• Large Living Area with plenty of headroom as well
• Large Porch can be used for cooking etc
• Each bedroom has some privacy as they are not adjacent
• Good quality
• Good weather protection and will stand up to the winds
• SIG

Cons:

• The bedroom height is lower than with a tunnel
• The bedrooms slope towards a point (wedge shaped) and can sag unless you get the knack of pitching spot on. We found them fine for 2 adults or 3 kids however
• Large footprint is not accepted at all sites
• Pitching is quite involved, takes around an hour, and you must have 2 people to erect the main dome.
• Pitched inner first so inner can get wet if you pitch of break camp in the rain - not a major issue though IMHO

It's a good tent worthy of consideration.

As far as SIG is concerned, some love them, some hate them. We have a Vango Venture 500 which does not have SIG in the living area. We went away in the autumn and ended up loosing count of the daddy long legs inside at around 35 - our kids decided it was full SIG for this year at that point. Any light shining under the tent attracts the flying insects.

Maybe you could take a look at the brekenridge deluxe sounds about the sort of tent you are looking for and is available here for £249.95 alternatively the vango diablo 900 is about the same size but less headroom in the bedroom pods,good luck & have fun whatever tent you choose.

p.s both of these tents have SIG (sewn in groundsheets)

 We got the vango diablo 600 and are dead chuffed with it . you could go for the 900 which has extra bedroom ( 3 in total). SIG means less draughts and being warmer. Good luck with what ever you choose and enjoy the camping experience.

thankyou everyone, i have narrowed my choice down to 3 tents now, a royal montpelliere, an outwell hartford xxl and another one i cant think of the name of right now lol.

getting really excited now, need to sit down and hunt through the free adds etc see what i can find., wheres the cheapest place to buy electric hook up?

kate

I love the royal montpellier too!  I really want one!!!!!

for ease of pitching though have you considered a "vario" style tunnel tent?

yeah we went and looked at the tunnel tents and we just didnt feel the love lol

kate

lol just measured out the size of these tents! and the pitch size issue.... think we will buy smaller lol,

what size do you all think, we are 2 adults and 4 children aged 9 and under? could we do 6 berth or maybe 8?

kate

with 6 people there is no way i would have a 6 berth tent.  there are 4 of us in a 4 berth 2 bedroom tent and it is way too small!  If you like the Montpellier i would get the biggest one they do!  the more room the better, especially on a miserable day!

Hi there

We are a family of 5 (3 under 8) and went for the Hartford XXL (2005 model) dome tent.  The moment we saw it we knew it was what we were looking for. The size and layout seemed ideal and I liked the idea of the 4th POD as we could use this for a storage area.    This model has a hydrostatic head of 5000 however for some strange reason they have downgraded the 2006 model to 3000 and have made the bedroom pods smaller.  You can still get the 2005 model however you will have to search about a bit.    Whatever you end up getting always make sure you up the amount of people any tent claims to sleep, unless you like playing sardines.   

Tony

Quote: Originally posted by katepnlo on 23/3/2006

---

lol just measured out the size of these tents! and the pitch size issue.... think we will buy smaller lol,

what size do you all think, we are 2 adults and 4 children aged 9 and under? could we do 6 berth or maybe 8?

kate

---

Hi Kate, we are getting a Diablo 600, i don't think it would be anywhere near big enough for you although they have masses of room and the porch is huge. The 900 looks fabulous though, plenty of room for all the kids stuff, the outwell and the montpellier are very nice aswell. definately a SIG for us!

caroline