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I am debating buying a Hartford XL or a Diablo 900 - and I would be very interested to know the pros and cons from owners of both models before I buy.

To give you some background, I need sleeping room for myself and my wife, and two kids (though more may be on the way someday!) - my budget is £250 max. A three pod tent would be nice to have an extra storage, to have room for the family growing in the future - or for visitors staying over.  The Hartford XL sleeps 6 (£199.99 from outdoor megastore), whereas the Vango Diablo sleeps 9 (£239.99 inc delivery from outdoor garage).

I have some specific queries which I would be really grateful for any owner feedback on...

1. I want to be able to set up my kitchen/cooking gear in the porch and leave it there for cooking all the time - is this possible in both tents? - or should i be looking at other tent types? 

2. Is it possible to cook inside in the rain with the door flap open and not get wet?

3. I currently own a 5 berth Vango Colorado 500 and the move to a larger 3 pod tent is a wee bit worrying in that I might be refused a pitch on some sites.  In owners' opinions - are both the diablo 900 and Hartford XL termed "oversize" tents by site owners?

4. I am leaning towards the diablo 900 at the moment because for an extra £40 i get a lot more space, but have read the UKCS thread on problems with overtight zips etc. which is causing me some concern...

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=3&TopicID=44134&PagePosition=1

Is this a common problem for 3 pod tents? Have any XL owners had problems with overtight zips / zips not closing etc?  Is it worth spending extra on something like the Montana 6 to avoid this problem?

5. Has any body manged to get one of these tents up alone? - my wife is expecting!

Thanks!  

The Hartford XL is/was on our shortlist for our next tent but we are holding off at the moment as there appears to be a flurry of problems with build quality from Outwell this year. Since the 2006 tents were put on the market this forum has been pretty much inundated with people reporting problems.

 I am aware that this may well be in part due to the fact that so many people on here have bought Outwells, but so many of the problems seem to be relatively basic things that a decent manufacturer shouldn't be cocking up, like poorly stitched pieces and badly sealed seams, especially considering that they are supposed to be top quality tents.

I think we shall wait it out and see what the 2007 lot are like.

Amanda

Sounds like good advice, thanks.

I have a brand new Diablo for sale for £240 cost £289.This tent is brand new,the only reason we are selling is that we were offered a new Cabanon espace at a price that we could not refuse. We live in Warwick my email adress is sapper696 at yahoo.co.uk if you are intrested.

We have never opened the bag.

I agree with everything that Ian says above, the Diablo 900 is a fantastic tent.  We also set up the kitchen in the porch as a permenant feature never had a problem, store most things in there too, food, shoes etc., The living space is invaluable for a large family, there were 8 of us camping for 2 weeks this summer and we didn't feel as though we were on top of each other. 

We have never had a problem with tight/sticky zips, the bedrooms sag slightly, but i don't see this as a problem after all we only sleep in them.

Never had a problem either with pitch sizes.

Brilliant tent.

We had the same difficulty choosing between the two tents but decided that we could add a canopy to extend the XL but could not add sky lights to the Diablo, and the amount of light in the tent won as we thought the main reasons for being inside are either because it's raining or because it's evening, in both of circumstances which we would prefer the extra light!

Anita

isn't the royal biarritz 9 almost the same tent but at a cheaper price?? 

oh will you lot stop confusing me!!! lol

Hi

Don't know if you've noticed but the Hartford XLs are out of stock at Outdoormegastore. I looked it up because I was a bit surprised at the price - lowest I've seen it elsewhere is around the £250 mark.

Another option for the same money is the 2005 Hartford XL which Yeoman's Oudoors still have some of in stock. This would avoid some of the build issues mentioned by Essexmum re the 06 range and as far as i can tell has the following benefits over the 06 model:

Bedroom pods are bigger (180x215 v 160x215) and more rectangular, so have been classed as 3 berth, so just right for 2 people!

Flysheet is 5000mm HH as opposed to 3000mm on 06

Bedroom pods have no see um mesh on the doors which I believe the 06's don't.

To me, the XL with the additional canopy for around £65 will take you just over your budget but do all you want. The canopy is more like a tunnel than a canopy - plenty space for cooking, sitting, etc.

BUT (and there's always a but), this is pitched inner first (but then again I think the diablo is also an inner first). So if pitching in the wet the inner tent will get wet - probably good for speeding up your pitch time tho!!. You can get SIG tents which are outer first eg Vango Aurora's and Outwell Montana's

Hope I've helped and not thrown too many new variables in!

Cheers 

Hi

I have a Vango Diablo 600 and took a friend and her 2kids as well as me and my 2 for 5 days away just recently. Other friends who were in a different tent had mega problems no SIG and tent blowing down as well as getting flooded, they ended up in my tent so an extra 4 adults and it wasn't too bad a squash. Each sleeping pod had a double airbed and 2 single airbeds in them.There is still room to set up the kitchen in the porch and my husband who is 6' can stand up easily. They seem to have the same floor space as the 900 apart from not having the extra sleeping pod.

We went to look at a 900 up and it was enormous, also we were concerned as to whether we would fit on some campsite pitches

 Little Ern

we have just bought the diablo 900 and its great. we got the blue one and at night the light just reflects inside making it really bright.  Loads of room inside even for indoor frisbie.