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well thinking and have talked dh into a tent, it will be our 1st time camping, have 3 little uns, 5, 4, 2 so thought better to have the kids in one bedroom and us in the other, but don't like the idea of them at the other end of the tent, seen a few on ebay, around 150.00 is this too cheap?? any pros/cons about ebay tents any we should avoid, we are going to look around the great outdoors camping display at the weekend, for there advice.

There  can be some good bargains to be found on Ebay, mostly discontinued tents by quality manufacturers. Private sales can be good too. (I bought my last three tents off ebay, actually.)

But the vast majority of tents sold on Ebay are cheap tat. If you don`t know what you`re looking for or what to avoid buying, don`t go there.

£150 will give you some choice of good quality tents from a proper camping shop, either locally or from an online place. Look for a brand name...Litchfield and Gelert make good value for money tents, Vango, Coleman, Wynnster, Sunncamp (ah...too late at night, someone else can write the list!) are all excellent but possibly a little more expensive. The absolute best deals are heavily discounted 2005 models, if you can bear being seen out and about in last year`s colour, that is!

There are plenty of tents with side by side bedrooms, either entirely seperate or one big pod divided by a curtain. If you are lucky and spot a tent in your price range with a third bedroom then it`s great to have for storage space. You will need a nominal 6 berth or more tent...manufacturers are notorious for overstating berth size! Eight berth would be better...kids grow fast.

The other big decision is whether to go for a tent with a sewn in groundsheet (SIG) which is less draughty, more bug proof but pitches inner first (not ideal in rain) or a flysheet first tent which will go up flysheet first. Pros and cons for each. It`s a good idea of your`s to go and look at a good tent display first .

Depends on the tent, best thing is to choose one you're looking at then post on here and ask.

I have seen some very good main name tents on ebay for less than £150.

BTW with a two year old you may want them in the same bedroom as yourselves, even with the others too. I bet they won't sleep much either way!

Go for one which you initially think is a bit too big since, if you get a five man (couple plus 3 kids) now you will invariably find you need more space for all your camping swag.

As your kids are still weeny, the suggestion of a bedroom inner with dividing curtain might be a good idea then, if they need you in the night, you can just reach through and comfort them rather than waking right up, getting up and going into the next bedroom compartment.

Which tents have you looked at and liked, so far? Is it important for you to be able to pitch quite quickly? Has it got to be lightweight? Will you transport it in a car, roofbox or trailer?

I think you'd be better having a look on here..

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/classads/

As these are members classifieds most tents will be well looked after and hopefully be connoisseurs of the camping life and can show you the best way off erecting it etc.

Just as an example of what you can get straight off the rack for your money, this is a nex six-berth Vango model, hot off the press this year with all mod cons. I`ve seen it up, I love it, dead simple tp put up, huge living space, it`s my sort of tent and it`s a good buy IMHO at £160, though you might get it cheaper if you shop around and it`s a Vango.You could fit two double airbeds into the big pod almost exactly.

http://www.outdoorgarage.com/acatalog/Vango_TBS_Oregon_600_Tent.html

Though for your family the eight berth model at around £200 would be worth stretching for.

Here`s another page from a good camping shop....it has a whole list of different tents around your size and price range. I`m just putting it in to illustrate what`s around for roughly £150. All of these tents are decent quality and worth buying, rather than chance Ebay.

Though as has been said, once you draw up a shortlist of two or three suitable tents, then it`s worth checking Ebay again. Lots of the camping shops sell new but surplus tents on ebay.

Hi

Be very careful when buying tents from e-bay, Or at least if you do, make sure that you go for a well known brand. I purchased one last year called a Stormproof USA, thinking it looked nice enough, and large enough for our needs. However, It wasn't storm proof at all, and in fact leaked so badly during the bad weather we endured that my missus was freezing and we found that we were lying in pools of water!! There are lots of good tents with bedrooms next to each other, such as the Outwell Montana 4 and 6. However there are others in your price range. One thing to look out for which is quite important is the HH (Hydrostatic Head) rating of a tent. The standard for the UK is 1500mm, and a good tent will have at least 3000mm. The Montana is rated at 5000mm, this depicts the waterproof-ness of a tent.

Jeff

We got ours on ebay but wes spent time and effort researching first: checked on here, posted and asked poeple.... tyurned out the Dh of a contact worked at Gelert and told us to avid the tent we were considering (vario) as there was a problem with ripping doors on some; however I know some on here swear by them.

I think E-Bay is fine but go to a camp store first to see what's around, and always check feedback.

We did choose to buy from an established seller, just end of line.  It is worth keeping your eyes open for those deals on E-Bay.

Hi we just purchased a Coleman Columbia 10 quite a big tent from a good company has three sleeping pods a even though it was brand new it didn't leak at all, even  with all the rain on sunday night brought from a camping center for £175.

They do have a website and you can buy online friendly and very helpful people to deal with. http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/directory2/details.asp?revid=738&typeid=

Good luck

sean

hiya just give you a word of warning me and my husband bought a tent of ebay from a what we presumed was a good ebayer they had a shop on ebay and sold loads of tents we went for a few days in angelsey after easter beautiful weather and the tent was a disaster it was covered every morning in condensation which i know most tents are but the height of the tent meant that our heads touched the top of and it dripped on us every time we moved all the inner tents didnt fit properly the seems and zips were busted and then to top it all the poles could not stand up to a very slight wind and we came home to find the tent collapsed and have now bought another so my advise would be not to bother with ebay and go and look at what you are buying first and definately from a shop you trust.

samantha