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You wont go to far wrong with an Outwell ,they are a good mid range manufacturer!

The bearlake is a pretty nice tent ,everyone has good and bad experiences of all tents dont worry!

Welcome to the forum!

Hi there

Im sure you will have some great holidays, I remember the 1st time we took the kids camping we had thunder storms everyday the tent we got was a bit to small. Its one holiday we have never forgot about. My Kids are 18 & 14 now and just love camping.

I am sure you will be very happy with your Bear Lake.  We have the Norfolk Lake and find the quality is fantastic.  You have a great zip in ground sheet, really strong mande of thick PVC.  The flat front of the Bear lake is great, you won't get the problem I have with the slopping door in bad weather.  You also have the canopy at the front which is great for cooking under in bad weather.  Also to get it for 1/2 price is great, where did you get it ? and how much was it? 

Hi Nicmcw

We have had two Outwell tents and loved them both. Camping is very addictive as is this site. Good luck with your tent and have fun.

Hi there - you have made a great choice. Usually when a new person joins and asks if they have maybe made a hasty purchase I worry that I am about to read another thread about rubbish stuff off Ebay (like Stormproof).....

The Bear Lake is at the top of Outwell's range - this is because it is made of poly cotton, (so it is breathable and enduring unlike the cheaper man made fabrics) and the poles are alloy, which gives the best strength to weight ratio. Most folks on here who got one have been happy with it. There is another thread on here currently though, from someone who is having problems with the zip of the groundsheet not matching up to the flysheet of the tent. So I would  advise you to get your tent out and give it a thorough checking over as soon as you can, just to see that it all works properly.

Wow-what agreat welcome from you all!!Thank you so much-it really means a lot to me!Really looking forward to our trip now-feeling reassured that we've done the right thing.

As for the bearlake details etc-well a friend bought one last year for £599 on the internet (best deal she could find)and recommended it to us after our disastrous trip where we all froze and came home ill.So I scoured the shops and internet & the best deal I found was on Blacks wesite for £400 for last year's model which I thought was a bargain.We ordered it & when it arrived they'd sent us the wrong tent!So when we rang them they confessed that they had also by this time run out of 2006 bearlakes so we had to wait an extra 6 wks for the 2007 model to arrive which they were happy to send us.We then found out that they were taking ANOTHER £50 off for the inconvenience!!!!We were absolutely thrilled to have a 2007 model for £350!!!So we are incredibly chuffed with the service we received from Douglas at Blacks HQ & are actually glad that they made a mistake!!We are waiting for a fine spell to put it up for the first time!!thanks again everyone!

Nic