Wanting to buy a tent for 9 yr old's son's birthday (family is expanding so we'll need his bedroom in the family tent!).
It would help if he could manage to pitch it himself. Any advice for easy to pitch tents - the tent needs to be able to survive in bad weather too!
Are these any good?
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/pp/Tents/1-2_person/Gelert_Quick_Pitch_Tent.html
we love our quecha 2 second tent bought on ebay a couple of years ago, but we haven't used it in really bad weather so i wouldn't like to guarantee it would be ok.
They seem to have some offers on at the moment .. In fact i would love one of the newer designs but we already have 2 of the originals and we have a khyam now, so i have absolutely no excuse to buy one!
quechas have been talked about elsewhere on this site .. which reminds me. Practice folding it back up before you go! The first time we used ours we had to bring it home half folded. Luckily we were in a transit van! Once you get the knack... and there are loads of demonstration videos out there.. it is easy peasy.
The 'Khyam Eiger' is available for under £80 at the moment (plus £10 for footprint groundsheet) and is a very well made & reliable tent. It can be pitched in less than 5 minutes (using the brilliant Q.E. system) and will stand up to any weather... It might be worth a look on "www.khyam.co.uk"... Andy...
You could also look at the Kyham Pocket tents (£30-40), there are no poles, all you need to do is run the top guy ropes up to somewhere on your main tent. My mate uses his attached to his car, but the principal is the same.
Advantage, is obviously very small to transport - hence, the name "pocket tent".
My 11yr old daughter has the Vango Delta 300 too, it is very easy to put up. It withstood very bad storms in the summer. Plenty of space for all her stuff.
I love my VauDe tent - had it 16 years and it is still going strong (except for a dodgy zip). By far the best tent I've ever owned and was the only tent still standing on the field we camped in on one of the Scilly Isles in a bad storm years ago.
I was looking for something a bit cheaper for my son's birthday though!
I have ordered a Gelert double skinned pop up tent, so will hope for the best in bad weather!
Quote: Originally posted by greyspeckledhen on 05/10/2006
I have ordered a Gelert double skinned pop up tent, so will hope for the best in bad weather!
i am sure he will love it!
in case you haven't seen it.. here is the video on pitching and packing the gelert tent.
Actually - If you made this a little bigger, and out of fly material, added an inner tent and a couple of add on pop-up bedroom pods, you would have a fully pop-up family tent. - Coooool - Ok, I'd like money to develop my idea - any backers??? lol