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Hi all hope this post isn't too long,

My name is Linda, partner to Trevor and mum to a wonderful 9 year old called Rebecca, or Beca to the family.  We have only just got into camping, at first when my OH mentioned it, I must confess I had a few reservations.  As most if not all of our previous holidays involved the security of a B&B. 

Last weekend was our first camping venture,  sadly it rained every day.  But as OH convinced me not to be put off, I said ok, well do it again.  I wont lie and tell you I was totaly bowled over, because I wasn't.  We realised that we had made a few mistakes, firstly the tent we purchased, although it stated it was a four man tent, we soon realised that the living area was far to small, and that the head height played a major part in giving us both back ache.  Storing clothes etc also proved a problem as there was not way to keep them from getting damp. As the bedroom area where the Built in ground sheet was, didn't have enough room to store anything, and as I stated living area was to small, so everything had to stay in the boot of the car.  We have now purchased a Royal Avignon 6 Plus.  And we can't wait to try it out (local at the end of the month to get the hang of putting it up etc).  Plenty of head room, large living area, spare bedroom for clothes, sigh... wish we had done some research before we purchased the first tent. 

And all the research on has come from here, thank you all.  We have learnt some really useful tips since reading the message boards.  But I have just one question, how should we light this large tent?  We have two lamps, but they just don't seem bright enough, just a pale blue tinted light.  Could someone recomend some lamps that would be bright enough to read by, cook by etc in the evening.  They need to be either rechargeable or plug into the cig lighter of car.  Any suggestions would be brilliant.

The camping bug has now bitten us and we can't wait until next year!  It's also getting rather expensive lol........

Linda

 hi oraya and welcome to ukcs!

 regarding your lighting question, we have been looking at the led lanterns in argos, they are not cheap, but say they are very bright! afraid i cant say what they are like as ive yet to get one.

 happy camping in your new tent!

Hi oraya and welcome.

Before we got our EHU we had a battery operated remote control lantern that we got from Aldi and it lit up our old frame tent no problem. I think they sell something similar in Argos now.

Happy Camping and welcome to your new addiction..................UKCS!

hi and welcome to the site

before we changed our tent we used to use a flouresant battery light which used to hang in the middle of the tent then we a another battery lantern near the doorway. these were fantastic and never had any problems with light we also use to give our children a small torch of there own for when they went to bed

I got myself a Wynnster 8 watt tube lantern and a load of rechargeable batteries, does the job nicely.

Thank you for the great replies, the idea of the head lamps is a good idea!  Wouldn't have thought of that.  As we usualy take one of my daughters friends with us so she has some company, this would mean we don't get a repeat of the last venture where they were both fighting over the light to read/colour by.

My OH did mention a gas lamp, but I was worried in case it got knocked over.  Do they have some sort of safety cut out built in?

Pegwil, have just dispatched OH off to wollies, we did see these previous, but as  you stated they were priced at £29. and we thought £58 for 2 lamps was a bit much lol esp in light of the amount that has gone out of our account in last couple weeks (camping can be bad on the bank account lol..).  Your price tip, is very useful to know.

Also what is a krypton bulb, do these burn brighter?

Best wishes,

Linda

your welcome hope you get lucky we had to try 3 branches to drop on ours,we all use head lights as well they are excellent krypton bulbs offer a brighter whiter light.you can pick up head light for between £5 and £30. if you are just looking to use it in and around the site then type "headlight or headtorch"into the argos search and you will find a good variety to choose from around the middle of the price range.milletes also do childrens ones happy hunting.......and....happy trails

Thanks Pegwil !

I have a handy tip if anyone is interested, I found it a pain in the rear trying to get the sleeping bags back into the sacks they came in on our first camping trip, they and also the pillows we took were bulky.  I've since been out and purchased some large travel vacum packs.  These are the type that you place your items in, seal the double edged seal then roll the air out of them.  It now means I am able to get one double and two single air bags into one large travel vacum bag which is only 6cm high once compressed. Same for the six pillows we took last time, all compressed down to the above.  It also means after we get back and i've washed the sleeping bags etc, they can be stored away ready for next time in a small space.  And of course with the extra car boot space there's more room for those cans of larger lol....  so needed after tent has been erected and children tucked safely in their beds. ;-)

Best wishes,

Linda

Quote: Originally posted by PEGWIL on 08/8/2006

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woolies have got one of those 7w rechargable lanterns with remote control and it can be charged from mains or 12v in car for £14.99 reduced from £29.99 while stocks last ....its a good safe bargain and battery lasts for 6-8 hrs fully charged and approx 500 charges good cos you can recharge it in the car on days out

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Hi Pegwil

Just found and purchased two of the lanterns in Woolies, thanks for the heads up.  Seem to be ideal for what we want.  Cheers!!

Linda

I have a question about them though on the instructions it says and I quote:

"Use the 12v output adaptor directly"

My partner and I are trying to work out if that means you can plug it into the cig lighter, or in our case we have a point of access for this under the bonnet of RR, so will it will run without using the battery in the lamp?

Would anyone know?  Because it would sure be useful to have one plugged directly into car so that we only need to change the one during the day.

Linda

Hi,

I think it might mean use from plug socket while it is plugged into mains. So you could use from your home socket or from EHU...

John&Maz