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Hi all, I am about to buy a new tent to take to France.  We currently have a diablo 600 but would like something with more windows and doors (and quicker to put up) to take abroad.

I like the extra features that the sun valley has (completely opening windows etc) but I also like the canopy of the indiana.

I also don't know which size would be best - 2 adults and 2 children.  I don't want something too big if we're hopefully not in it that much because the weather will be gorgeous!

Any opinions gratefully received, thanks

Hi

I have seen the sun valley 8 and indiana 6, I would relly like to see the sun valley 6 but can't find one to look at.  I want to find the right size.

thanks for replying

Hi Jan - We've got a 2006 Sun Valley 8 and it certainly has plenty of room. We holidayed recently for 5 days with our 2 children and felt that the space was just about right giving us a porch area to retreat to in the evening  or somewhere to store kit (and you can close this to the main living area so you don't disturb the children. We haven't used the 2 man inner and felt that with this up it compromised the amount of living space so would only use it for short stays if neccesary (nice to have the option though). The tent's well made although I gather there have been a few issues with porch zips on earlier versions - ours is fine but we do have a problem with the sealed G/sheet being lifted by the outer poles (see my earlier post) - a minor thing and not enough to make me take it back as everything else is top quality. The tent's very easy to put up and take down ( 20 - 30 mins) so ideal for a touring holiday.

Hope this helps

We've just returned from 2 weeks in France with our S V 8, excellent tent held up well in the storms we had. plenty of room for us 2 adults & 2 children. took the small inner out to give us more room. Sun valley 6 is the same size inside but with out the third bedroom option, and it only has a small porch. We managed to cook and eat in the porch during the storms. Happy camping!

P.S France is V.cold at night, slept in and under everything we could find had expected it to be too hot to sleep!

hi

well I didn't think about being cold in france, I'll take the blankets then! I agree the sv8 looks really roomy and cosy but a friend keeps telling me to go small as we should (hopefully) be outside more than inside, so I'm in a quandry.

I'll have to ring around and see who has what on display

Quote: Originally posted by blackout on 28/8/2006

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We've just returned from 2 weeks in France with our S V 8, excellent tent held up well in the storms we had. plenty of room for us 2 adults & 2 children. took the small inner out to give us more room. Sun valley 6 is the same size inside but with out the third bedroom option, and it only has a small porch. We managed to cook and eat in the porch during the storms. Happy camping!

P.S France is V.cold at night, slept in and under everything we could find had expected it to be too hot to sleep!

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The sunvalley 6 is over a metre shorter in length than the SV8. I have a SV6 2005 model and really like the tent, however I saw an indiana in the summer and liked the porch. The downside to the sunvalleys are that you have to take down the "porch" which is a door proppped up with poles to close the door.

Also we found that when it is pouring with rain and we wanted to get in the tent quick we kept getting wet from the doors as they aren't D shaped like frame tents so it's difficult to get in without brushing against the wet tent.

Having said all that I am extremely happy with the tent. What I like most about it it that it has a cental area with a sig and removeable ground sheet at one end, we use this  doorway, so we keep the central area clean.

Happy tent hunting!

Leila