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Tent Reviews: Vango Aspen 700DLX

Tent and Awning Reviews Index  >  Vango  >  Aspen 700DLX Reviews

Current Model?
Berths:
Weight:
RRP on date added:
Bedroom inners:
Living area groundsheet:
Pitching Style:
Discontinued
7  (more 7 berth tents)

£550.00
3
Fully Sewn-in
Inner first
Average User Rating:
9.3/10 from 30 reviews

Viewed: 103838 times

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30 Reviews of the Aspen 700DLX         Showing 21 to 30          Page:   1   2   3  

By: Jw5683  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2007   Rating: 

Wow what a tent. This is our third tent and the best we have owned.

We have just been away for 8 days, 3 of those were constant wind and rain, the wind was very very bad. The tent held up, stayed dry, did not lift or break in any way. Amazing.

The sealed main area is fantastic for keeping the bugs out and the amount of windows let so much light / air in depending on the weather.

The tent and poles are very heavy but with two people they are ok to handle. It's well worth the weight.

It took us 40 minutes to build the tent and further 30 minutes to secure all the guy ropes and pegs.

Would highly recommend this great tent.
3 from 3 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

By: Lairdjohn  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2007   Rating: 

What can I add to what has already been said.Yes the poles are heavy but they are steel so you wont have any hassle with the tent in high winds which is a good point. Two of us can put it up in 30 mins,which for such a large tent is great(the better half is only 5' 3 tall so being small isn't a problem)lots of room and now its last years model very cheap. Ours cost £245 delivered.
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By: Godking  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2006   Rating: 

My wife decided that this would be our next tent when we went to a garden centre, and saw one. Our kids are grown up, and despite this we seem to buy bigger and bigger tents. We have two large lurchers, and we foster dogs for Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue, so have always favoured large tents, but this seemed to me a step too far. Wrong. ALWAYS listen to your wife, or at least to mine. It is heavy, and there are two large bags to lug around, and putting it up is fraught with difficulty, but the results pay dividends, as mentioned in other reviews.

Now we have the tv, the Wii, and a dvd player, all on a large table, along with two large chairs AND a blow up sofa in the living area. The main bedroom has our double thickness double mattress bed and two large dog beds, and still room to move around comfortably.

I have to say that the tent must be erected according to the instructions, and to this end the video, as mentioned in other reviews, is very helpful. Trying to wing it can quickly lead to marital strife, and maybe a miamed tent.

We have been largely fortunate with the weather, but we did go to Dorset in early April, and I was woken on the morning of our departure by snow ramming against the walls. At 05:00hrs. The snow disappeared by 09:30hrs, but it took until 13:00hrs for the outer to dry. We managed to get it all down and in the bag, just in time for it to start snowing again. As we left, we drove out into a blizzard. God, that was a long day.

I would recommend this tent to anyone who wants space, and lots of it. Lots and lots and lots.
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By: Helenh  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2007   Rating: 

We are a family of 5 so wanted a tent large enough that we could all sit inside on rainy days and not get on each others nerves! It's incredibly well thought out, pockets everywhere, lots of vents so even though it has SIG, condensation isn't a problem. Warms up quickly, and on hot days when all the vents are open it feels cooler than outside. The 3 berth and one of the 2 berth bedroom pods can be opened up into one room with space to place two kingsize beds with room to spare, and the third pod is perfect as an en-suite lol! The porch is surprisingly large and is great for kicking off shoes and storing cooking equipment and buggy. We even got the tent back in the bag with no trouble whatsoever. We really love this tent and can't wait to go away again. It looks great too!
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By: Swappy  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2007   Rating: 

We are a family of four children aged 5 and 8. We all love this tent if you use a heater. You can go away early season as sewn in groundsheet keeps weather out. The only problem that we have had is we went away last may, we used a footprint which doesn't come with any instructions. If you don't tuck under properly, rain water can get trapped between footprint and groundsheet - after a while water came through seams in floor.

Other than that we have had no problems. Lots of room .Would recommend the DLX as extra space in porch is great for setting up kitchen out of children's way
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By: Mumanddr  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2008   Rating: 

We bought this not having seen it up but loving it from the pictures. It is a wonderful tent and not too difficult to erect (though definitely a 2 person job). So much room, our children both have their own bedroom and sleep wonderfully in it. Loads of space and fantastic if raining as can keep the inner bit dry.

You put the inner tent up first which could be tricky if it was raining heavily - not had to do it yet! My only other 'complaint' is it is a little dark with not too many windows. Will be fine in warm weather as plenty of doors though. Lovely tent overall.
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By: Rhondda reg  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2007   Rating: 

If you want a tent with the wow factor, then this is definitely the one for you. After spending 4 long winter months looking for a new tent, the wife and I could only agree on the aspen and we had not even seen it in the flesh. When we did get to see it, it was certainly a case of WOW.

If I do have to fault it, it would be the fact that the pole bag is very heavy indeed. That said I do not intend to carry it very far, only from house to car and car to pitch. One other bad point is, if it is raining whilst you are pitching it, the inner tent will get wet but I feel that it can be made waterproof, in approx 10-15mins if you hurry. Once inside switch a small heater on, open some vents (which there are loads of) and it will dry in no time at all.

We use the 3 bedrooms main one for me and wife, double air bed all our luggage and still loads of room to walk around in with exceptional head room. Side bedrooms one for daughter with single air bed, luggage and loads of room to walk around in with same head room as main. Same goes for other side room with son. If we decide they can bring a friend along, it just means an extra air bed in a side room and sacrifice some walk about space. The dog sleeps on a dog bed in living area with no probs at all due to sig (sewn-in-groundsheet). Living area has loads of space all being practical usable space. Where on a chilly evening you can sit back and relax in comfort.

The extended porch is ideal to keep all the kitchen equipment in, plus any outdoor stuff like bikes, footballs etc again with that excellent headroom.

Where we felt this tent really came into it`s own, is when we all went out without wet gear and got caught in heavy rain. When we returned we simply stripped off our wet clothes in the enclosed porch and dried off, before stepping into the main tent keeping it completely dry. Then zipped down the main door put the heater on opened a couple of curtains and watched the rain hammer down with a can of lager whilst the kids watched a dvd in total comfort.

When we were sat outside the tent in the sun, it was amazing how many people commented on how, it was such a nice tent. All in all a truly magnificent tent cant wait to use it again.
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By: Sleepyol  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2007   Rating: 

Being new to camping, we looked around for a long time before deciding on this tent. The major factor that swung it in our favour was the sheer amount of room that this tent offers both in terms of footprint and height. We use the two largest bedrooms (sleeping 2 adults and 2 children) with the smallest bedroom used as a wardrobe (via included rail) / general dumping area for bags, cases etc.

As well as being spacious, the tent is nice and airy too with plenty of doors and windows that can be rolled open to ensure plenty of fresh air whilst retaining however much privacy you want.

We use the large porch area for the kitchen / eating as it's big enough to take the stove plus table and chairs. This leaves masses of room in the inner tent for chairs etc. We've been away with friends and have regularly had 4 adults in chairs in the living area, as well as 4 children (all under 5) with their various toys and it has never felt cramped.

In terms of putting the tent up, the most useful tip I could give would be to go on to the Vango website where you will find a downloadable video showing how to put the tent up step by step. This can be put on to a mobile phone, ipod etc and we found it invaluable the first couple of times when we arrived late at campsites in the fading light and had to sling the tent up ASAP !

Overall, as you might be able to tell, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND purchasing this tent.
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By: TENPIN  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2006   Rating: 

This is the greatest family tent on the market. To date we have had three fabulous holidays in it in all sorts of weathers and it is still as good as new.

There are 5 of us in total Mum,Dad,2 Daughters aged 14/13 and 1 son aged 10. The beauty of this tent is its enormous inner height and the light and airy feel this gives. The bedroom height is exceptional and I have not seen it in any other tent out there. I am saddened that Vango have decided to make the new 2008 model ,now called the Zambezi, fly sheet pitching first as the only reason we picked the Aspen over all the competition was because of the extra height and added tension inner first pitching gives plus the double layered effect which means zero condensation.

With the central and right side bedroom converted into one space we manage to get quite comfortably our king size memory foam double layer bed ,a double wardrobe containing 8 shelves,a hanging rail and all the clothing and towels for the five of us. Our son has a singe bed in the other bedroom compartment and the daughters sleep on a double bed in the living area which can be converted into a settee but we usually just leave it with back and armrests up but base extendedso that 4 of us can veg out on it to watch TV of an evening. The living area also houses a large double moon chair ,table and tv.

The kitchen area is within the tunnel. We were fortunate to buy the Aspen with the lift up flap as this makes the tunnel area more spacious and last year we purchased large sun canopy that now gives us 2/12 metres more room somewhere to sit ,eat,shelter and cook.We have an american kitchen table and a sunncamp lite double kitchen with larder which we arrange in an L shape so that we can still access the tunnel from the end and through the side door this also keeps the kitchen cool. Can't comment on the new 2008 model now called Zambezi as I have yet to view it.
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By: Dreamwolf  Reason: I own(ed) one  Made in: 2006   Rating: 

We looked at various tents and it was during our trip to a camping place in Neston, Wirral where they had all the popular larger tents up in one place that we decided on the Aspen 700. We’re a family of three looking to use a tent a lot and therefore wish to be comfortable for stays up to a week.

The first thing you notice when you walk into one of these tents is how light and airy they feel, the light blue of the canvas makes them really light inside. They have a large living area to the front of the tent and you can have both side doors open too, so they really do have an open feel to them. In, say, the Diablo 900 I could image feeling a bit claustrophobic with the living area being right inside the middle of the tent, plus it was darker inside too.

We went for the 700 because although the 500 looked great too, it’s only when you see them side by side that you see how much more roomy the 700 is. Also I compared bag sizes in the shop and there’s not much in it. You still lose just about the same boot space with the 500 so for the extra £65 we thought it worth it. That said, if there was no 700 I would have been just as happy with the 500, maybe still even over the Diablo 900 as that tent has such a huge foot print yet the 500 aspen still has that feeling of more space.

The other thing we liked about the Aspens too was the sheer size of the bedrooms, all three are big but the middle master especially is good and you can stand up in them all too, just look at the room…

The two tent bags are large and the pole bag especially is very heavy. I would not like to carry it much further than the front door to the car. Not really a problem as when you get to a site you just pull it out the boot and almost straight onto the ground.

I have a Mondeo and the pole bag would go across the front of the boot towards the tailgate, and the tent bag would push in lengthways along the side of the boot leaving a reasonable area for other stuff to go in, eg. Folding table, chairs, gas stove and bottle. Our suit case will just fit on top. That leaves bedding, mats, sleeping bags to all get squashed up in the back seat of the car with our daughter. Other bits to go under seats and in the front passenger well with my wife. A squeeze I know and not ideal but I reckon we’ll manage it.

Getting it Up!

We emptied the bags on the grass and assembled all the poles first, easy because they are wired so you just unfold them and push them all together. The poles have coloured plastic bands on them that correspond to coloured bands on the inner tent sleeves.

We unfolded the inner and layed it out nice and flatish and because it was a wee bit windy just lightly pegged each corner, no need usually.

Now taking assembled yellow and green roof poles we carefully slid them through the corresponding roof sleeves of the inner tent. Yellows and greens first which go across the tent (3 lengths) and then reds which go front to back (2 lengths), also a blue fibreglass pole that goes down the middle of the roof but doesn’t seem to fit, seems too long until you start getting the roof lifted up and supported then it can be closed in with it’s Velcro fastener. Take care pushing the poles through the sleeves, I supported the weight and pushed slightly while my wife fed them through. Two people can assemble the tent. Once all the roof poles are in place and lying on the ground it’s a case of lifting up the sides in turn to first attach the down poles or legs. Someone can stand inside to help hold the pole up while another fits the legs in turn, it can be a bit awkward but not too problematic. We just went around each one in turn, first the two sides, then the front and back legs were fitted until we had an awkward looking free standing inner. I say this because until they are attached to the inner tent and pinned down the whole thing is very collapsible looking *lol*

Just go around each leg in turn attaching the clips of the inner tent to the poles first as in the picture below, you can see the plastic clips of the inner hooked onto the leg poles and also the colour coding system is clearly visible too.

At this stage we got a bit worried because when we looked inside the tent it was all distorted looking and the bedrooms were all “pulled” tight across the middle. Part of the problem was the inner was still pegged out at the corners from when we first layed it out, undoing all these then just carefully going around the tent and adjusting where the legs sit on the ground and just generally pulling it about here and there (being careful mind) got it all looking quite nice. When finished your erected inner tent then should look like this. Note the outer tent sitting in front waiting to be pulled over (above).

To me getting the inner up and getting it right is the main part of it all, once this is erected and free standing and secure the rest is a doddle, so I say take your time over the inner, don’t rush it or risk damaging it by over stretching seems and fasteners. Once the inner is right and even all round that’s 90% of it because the outer is just a doddle for two people to sort of throw over the front of the tent and roll it back over towards the rear, pulling it all down evenly and getting the stiched seems roughly in line with the poles and pegging it out. Also by having the inner tent erected correctly and sitting right means the outer sits correctly over the top of it too. So do get the inner tent up nice and right. It’s worth the extra time.

This tent has the ring and pin system to locate the lower inner ties to the bottom of the poles. It can be awkward and a bit of a stretch but basically you have to pull that pin downwards and hold the leg up to insert it from the bottom, it just sort of snaps up inside the hollow of the leg leaving the end bit outside. Go around doing this to all the pins, inserting them up inside the hollow leg poles. Not too difficult but can be a bit of a stretch.

On the front of the inner tent, porch area are two rings one either side with TWO pins attached, we couldn’t work out why there was two pins on these rings until we realised the long bendy porch pole uses one each side to locate itself and stop it’s ends springing outwards as shown, one pin is in the main steel pole and the other is up inside the fibreglass pole.

When erecting the inner, the instructions say to peg out the sown in ground sheet in the corners. At first glance this would appear to help in windy conditions but it serves another purpose we found. When erecting it was so calm we didn’t bother because you have to usually un-peg it anyway when the tent is up to get the tensions and dimensions correct. By not doing this we found it really difficult to erect the inner, the frame was just too sloppy and the poles kept falling over and coming apart due to too much movement. So we then pegged out the inner in the corners which this time just gave it that bit of stability to allow me to ring and pin before it all collapsed again.

Once the frame is up and standing on it’s own, it’s the ring and pin system that gives it it’s rigidity by connecting the inner tent to the frame at the bottom.

We found pulling the outer tent over from the front to the back the easiest method. Although the tent is high with two of us, one on each side we just kind of shook it over and allowed the breeze to give it some lift as we slid it back over the frame.

The outer tent also has some ties which tie around the steel frame poles, once pulled over my wife just sort of pushed up the outer and reached inside between the two tents to tie up the upper one and then when done reached up to tie the lower one to the poles.

Conclusion

She is a beautiful tent, very roomy and comfortable. We fitted everything in with space to spare. The porch area makes an ideal kitchen for the camping gaz stove etc, thereby also keeping the gas bottle out of the tent and sown in ground sheet area. We had two tables and three chairs inside with a 10” portable tv and electric hook up and room to walk around them. Due to the light blue colour she is very bright inside, so much so that even at night especially under a moonlit sky you can see inside really well. Very handy for getting up and using the chemical loo in the area of the third bedroom. It’s a handy room with a partition that divides it up into a rear toilet area and front wardrobe with hanging pole or it can just be used as a bedroom of course. This tent was as close to a home from home as tents get.

So I hope this is of some help to those thinking of buying or wanting to know how to put up an Aspen 700/500 series tent. It may look daunting but really it’s one of those instances where thinking about it is actually worse than just going ahead and doing it. It’s really not too bad to put up, just spend your time getting that inner tent erected nice and straight with the bedrooms looking right and the sewn in ground sheet sitting right and the rest is easy. The outer goes on easy by pulling it over front to back and just going around pulling it down and straightening it up, pegging down etc.
2 from 2 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?   

30 User Reviews of the Aspen 700DLX - Showing 21 to 30          Page:   1   2   3  

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Manufacturer's Description

A range of tents inspired by some of the nomadic tribes of Asia. The rigid steel frame offers exceptional room and living space combined with stability and weather resistance. Plenty of doors, windows and vents add to the comfort and flexibility for the family or group.

"The Aspen...plenty of light and ventilation...the living area can easily be sealed off against drafts and bugs...the separate porch area is ideal for storing wet or dirty equipment." CAMPING MAGAZINE

SPECIFICATION
Flysheet: Protex 5000
Groundsheet:Polyehtylene
Inner: Breathable H2O repellent Ripstop Polyester
Poles: Steel & Fiberflex
Design/Style:

• Rigid steel frame which ensures the tent is secure and provides a comfortable living space.
• Sewn-in groundsheet which adds protection, comfort and helps keep the bugs out.
• Seam taped flysheet which gives long lasting protection from the elements.
• Mesh ventilation on the inner tent reduces the build-up of condensation and keeps bugs out.
• Bathtub inner groundsheet which gives you total climate protection and prevents insects crawling in.
• Mesh side door which adds extra ventilation options.
• Fibreflex fibreglass poles which are though, sturdy & reliable.
• Colour coded poles which help you put the correct poles in their pole sleeves.
• Extended porch on DLX models with skylights on the front and side which increases the light and airy living space.
• Crystal Clear windows which allow the maximum amount of light through.
• Roller bag with zip opening for easy packing away and transport.


... there may be more info on their website

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