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Hi. I have seen the Family Vario 900 up and think it looks like a great tent for a big family. I can see how it would work very well for a couple with six children. The quality of the living space would be far superior imo than you would get in a four bedroomed dome tent and it would be much more space efficient on a pitch. But I have never camped in one, so someone else would have to let you know how it actually performs.

World of Camping have it for £400, what price have you been looking at? MT

Hi, I'm just down the road from you in Croxley Green!  We are thinking about one of these too, just the 4 kids and a dog - they have one up at PJ's in Romford and Crosscamping (?) near Royston (lots of people up here have recommended the latter) which are both about an hour away so we are going to visit this weekend.

We are stuck between this - good reviews as long as you have the annexes ON or it leaks, and condensation probs in some), the Vango Killington (apparantly leaks badly) the Outwell montanna 12 or Outwell Nebraska (these seem to leak aswell) or the Outwell Hertford xxl, which looks fab but is pitches inner first - this could be a problem for us.  I have to say the living area in the vango diablo 900 and the Hertford xxl is fab - but we didn't see any of the others pitched at the last place we visited, the other good thing is the bedrooms have real space between them, no fighting through the walls!!!

I'll let you know what we do after this weekend, currently in a Tesco Value 6 man tent, which in all fairness kept us dry during our last stay even with persistent rain one night, but it is too small to do anything other than sleep - shame as we really don't fancy forking out a few hundred on a seive if Mr Tesco can manage quality control for under £60!

Thanks Merry Terrier, will look at World of Camping, that sounds like a good price.

Hello Bluebella in Croxley Green, we actually live in Bushey!, we have been to Pj Camping both the one near St Albans and the one in Romford. The one at Romford has more pitched tents to look at. That is where we first saw the Family Vario 900. Do let me know how you get on. Thanks xx Lou

Try to get a 2007 model as they have changed the side doors and added velcro onto the zip covers. The second bedroom is a little tight on space but will fit a double airbed (just) but the annexe bedrooms are huge.  We like the space in it as we won't be falling over each other when it rains.

One thing we did notice was how quickly it warmed up in the morning - went in with coats on only to be throwing them off!!

I really like ours and can't wait to try it out (it's only been up in the garden so far).

Quote: Originally posted by bluebella on 18/5/2007

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.... the Vango Killington (apparantly leaks badly) the Outwell montanna 12 or Outwell Nebraska (these seem to leak aswell) or the Outwell Hertford xxl, which looks fab but is pitches inner first - this could be a problem for us.  I have to say the living area in the vango diablo 900 and the Hertford xxl is fab - ....

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All of these tents have their fans. My feeling is that if you like the living space in the Vario  then the Montana 12 will disappoint you as it has bedrooms at both ends of the tent which detracts from the light and airy feel of the living space in the Monty 6 or the Vario 900. 

The Diablo and Hartford would both be more complicated to put up (two stage inner first process) and their living space is a lot less useable because all the walls are doors if you see what I mean, so you can really only use the middle of them.  The walls/doors bit  would be true of the Killington as well.

The Nebraska is an awful lot heavier (50%) than the Vario. The + shape of the Nebraska XXL means that your pitch would feel a lot smaller as there would be a lot of space in the middle of the pitch taken up by the two sticking out bedrooms, which would probably also effectively block off the space behind them.

I think! MT

hi all,

We bought our vario 900 last year, had leak problems with side doors and have got new fly. Despite this, we do love the vario because it has huge living space, good headroom, large bedrooms to split the fighting kids up (a boy thing I guess?!) and its easy to put up. When it rains there's enough room for everyone to pile in!

Now to suggest another option, which is the wild country halo 103. We have the 73 which is 3 bd with a central living area and a good size porch. The 103 is bigger is bedroom size and if you can get an additional porch extension you can set up kirchen and chairs in there with no need for day tent/ gazebo. We got our 73 for £199 from World of Camping as it was 2006 model. We've been out in it since Feb in wind and rain and its stood strong & kept dry. It's easy to put up too, light in the living area, lots of door options in the porch and if you can get a 2006 model you'll pay a lot less that the vario.

We bought one last year and love it.  There's only 4 of us normally, so stacks of room, we keep one of the bedrooms for our clothes and coats which means that the main area is less cluttered.   This weekend we had 6 children and 2 adults in there and there was plenty of room in the bedrooms for us all.   My 3 year old comes in with my husband and I on a ready bed, but she could have shared with one of the other girls.  It's great for chilly/rainy evenings as we can get the table and chairs inside as well as all our other clobber.   It's easy to walk around in, not only in the main area but in the bedrooms, and I like it because I don't find it claustrophobic and we can see out even when we're sat inside. 

We've just returned from a Whitsun bank hol trip when it rained almost non-stop for 24 hours.  The only place we had a slight leak was from the skylights and we're hoping that some sealant on there will do the trick.  We also had the elastic holding one side of the pods come off in the night (my husband said he hadn't put the guy on properly) and the front of the tent started flapping around and we had to re-do the guys.  However, I have to say I think it was exceptional weather last night and very strong winds so all in all was very pleased with how it held up.  We've also been away in the other extreme of really hot weather and it was great to be able to open it up, drop the front off and get some air into it. 

We're over the moon with it, our only regret now is whether we should have waited for the SIG, but I was just reading the SIG or not thread, and there seem to be pro's and con's for those anyway.  But overall big thumbs up from the surfer household.

Hi There

My sister and family (four in total) brought this tent earlier this year and have already been away camping in it a number of times and love it. One night they suffered heavy rain and wind and tent did not leak while others were destroyed. They love esp the huge living area, you can have a kitchen area, table with four chairs and none of this blocks any of the doors to the bedrooms. Obviously another advantage is that you can walk standing up in all areas.

We saw it up the other day at a tent show and does look good.

Julia