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Hi folks, my wife & kids (10,9) have agreed to give camping a go, though they like their foreign holidays they realise this could be fun!!.

However if it all goes wrong they'll never agree to go again,(camping that is). i think space is going to be very important for us, therefore i was considering  the diablo 900 then decided that either the Outwell Hartford xxl or Khyam Exelsior would be a good choice so went to pj camping for a look and discovered the Vango Vail 7.

I know that if its hot we would be outside but the vail was actualy bearable to be inside with a great "through" draft, and its living area is huge. which is all great but is a tent this size a bit over ambitious for a first tent?.i have read some reports about how long some tents take to put up, but frankly cant see why they should take so long, am i being naive?.

Any comments appreciated.

Welcome to the site Zanouska.

The Vango Vail looks very similar to the Monty 6 with the front canopy. But I have never seen it in the flesh.

The Monty is very spacious, we are a family of 4 but could easily fit 2 more in!!! The shape of the tent is great as you can stand up in every section (unlike the Diablo). Haven't had it up in this heat but with all the doors open you do get a great breeze.

The Monty is extremely easy to pitch and I would assume the Vail is on a similar principle although I may be wrong. It took me and OH 1/2 the first time we put it up.

Hope this has been some help. Good Luck

just done the same myself went out and bought a sunncamp tourist plus 6xl sleeps upto 12 people, put it up on the field outside the house yesterday to see how hard it would be to get it up, took 30 mins first attempt thats me and the missus

had to go big as i dont like confined spaces /somewere to escape from the 2 kids

it`s only Meee

Hi Zanouska,

Have a look on the Vango website and you can see the video for pitching the vail.

Depends how long you`re intending to camp for. If it`s just for weekends, look for a smaller tent. If for a week or more, get as big as you feel you can handle.

I have a choice between a Vango Colorado 1200dlx or the trailer tent for long stops, but I bought a Vango TBS Oregon 600 for weekends. I can pitch it myself in twenty minutes and it gives a decent amount of living space for its size. You`ll find a lot of people here have at least two tents...one weekend one, one main holiday one.

Same here Val.  We have a gelert cadiz for weekends and a Campus Indiana 8 for longer trips.  There are only 4 of us and 2 are under 7!  But when you are away for a longer time you have no objections as to how long it takes you to erect and it's worth it for the space.  The only problem we now have is fitting everything in the car!

Quinnys

We have a Vango Diablo 900 and that is BIG it was our first tent but only took about an hour to put up. You need a lot of space in case it is raining so the kids can play

Mick

We went for the Diablo 900 for the space, we have two kids, but found it takes too long to put up just for a weekend when you don't leave until after work on a Friday night.  Therefore we also have a second tent just for weekends.

The Diablo takes a good hour to pitch, longer when it is hot as I need a rest after putting all those pegs in...!  Where as the Coleman takes about 20 minutes on my own.

WE HAVE A 9 BERTH BRECKINRIDGE DELUXE AND ITS GREAT REALLY SPACIOUS IT IS QUITE BIG WHICH SOME CAMPSITES ARE NOT KEEN ON BUT MOSTLY NOT HAD PROBLEM BUT IF GOING FOR A WEEKEND ITS A BIT TOO MUCH WORK BUT WE ALWAYS GO FOR LONGER SO NOT A PROBLEM BIG IS BEST LOL