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Hi,

Sure many have pondered on this question before.  Been camping for many years now and the last outing at Easter we decided we had just had enough of spending 2 hours putting up, pegging down, filling up, our 6 berth tunnel tent. 

So i come away thinking right 'lets get rid of the tent and get a cheap second hand caravan'.  Thing is there's no such thing really, not in my budget anyway (sub £1000, but much lower if possible) that's not likley to slowly and systematically disintergrate whilst travelling down the motorway.

Next idea, trailer tent, or folding camper, or folding caravan, or whatever a 'trailer tent' is called nowadays? My question is, and i know this is going to vary from model to model, if i go onto the wonder that is Ebay and spend say £300 - £500 on a used 'trailer tent' am i going to be spending the same amount of time putting it up as my current tent just for the advantage of raised beds?  Is there any significant time saving on pitching time on a T/T over a standard tent?  Are there any particular makes/models that are easier/quicker to up than others?  There's only 3 of us and a dog so a 4 berth with awning is going to be big enough.

I have absolutley no idea with these so any comments or suggestions would be very welcome and thanks in advance

We have recently moved from tunnel tent to frame tent to trailer tent. The tunnel tent was a nightmare pitching in the rain being an all in one (which I thought would make it easy)whereas the frame tent you put the frame up then canvas, then inner and groundsheet fitted over the stormflap making it near as good as a sewn in ground sheet.

The sleeping area of the tt opens up in about 10 mins but ours doesn't have any 'standing' room its just beds so needs the awning up. We have yet to pitch the awning properly but will probably take about another 30 mins and then another hour or so to fill as a normal tent. In hindsight I would probably have gone for a combicamp as you can use it without the awning and probably still be able to cook inside if careful ie not frying etc. If not fussed about age you should be able to get a combicamp in your budget (sometimes cheaper!)

As you can see from my outfit I still have a small tent for short stays & when I don't have another adult with me to help pitch.

We went from Large tunnel tents (the last one being Outwell Wolf Lake 7) to a Trailer Tent last year.

Just couldn,t see the point in towing everything in a trailer to unpack it all and set up.

We went for the Cabanon Stratos as we do like the tunnel tent design.

We wouldn't go for a cheap frame style trailer tent as they will take as long if not longer than a new modern tent.

You won't get much in the way of a good trailer tent for your budget of 300-500 pounds

Ours cost £1300 last year and has 3 poles and sewn in groundsheet takes around 45 mins to put up.

Wow, thanks for all of your replies guys

It sounds as i thought (but hoped it wouldn't be) that i'm not really going to have any significant gains in pitching time with a 'standard' t/t over my current set up.

Tynx, your combicamp suggestion might just be a goer though.  Had a quick look on Ebay and although there is'nt a huge selection to choose from they do look very interesting.  Sellers are quoting pitch up times for the main unit as a couple of minutes.  The awning may well add another 20-30 mins on top of this but i guess with a caravan you'd have the same addition to time erecting an awning.  Only down side, for the older ones in my price range, against a t/t is they seem to be slightly less caravan like in that theres no kitchen units or 'fixed' power sockets, etc.  This i could live with though, i could just use my existing kit from the tent.

Interested in any comments from owners of one of these in what they are like to actually live with and use.  Given i would be looking at an older model for my price range any weak points on them i need to look out for and is the 2 minute pitch time realistic, wishfull thinking, or sales patter? Also anywhere else other than ion here and ebay i should be looking for one.

Thanks again for al lyour comments