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Hi all i want to pick your brains about the best tent to buy i am thinking of selling my trailer tent and buying a new tent i have seen four that would suit my family they are the vango zambezi 700 dlx/ outwell hartford xl/ outwell georgia xl and the outwell sun valley 8 which one of these four is the best. Hope you can help me.

phil

just to start the ball rolling for you whats your buget ? and how many in your family?

Phil,

I know that you've mentionned the Hertford XL, have you thought of the XXL?

We have one, which we brought after we sold our trailer tent.  We found the space really useful, four of us, two apparent adults, and two kids, we used the fourth room for storing stuff so it kept the main bit of the tent free from clutter.  We only used it three times, brought a canopy for it (used once), and then got a caravan.  It's currently up for sale for £200.  If your interested then feel free to contact me.

There you are Phil, you are getting a bargain there.

I would have a look at the footprint size of the different tents, if the tent has a large footprint you may struggle at some sites, or get charged extra, there have been a number of threads on this. I have noticed more site owners asking me about the size of the tent when booking. Also consider the amount of light/windows as in the UK we are often inside and I hate not having natural light and good windows. Height in the bedrooms and the amount of useable space may also be worth a think about,  I found it is hard to store things against sloping sides.

Also how often you will use it and for how long, if you are using it for a lot of short breaks you may want to think about pitching time and ease of pitching.

Good luck.

Quote: Originally posted by phil and shell on 06/4/2008

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Hi all i want to pick your brains about the best tent to buy i am thinking of selling my trailer tent and buying a new tent i have seen four that would suit my family they are the vango zambezi 700 dlx/ outwell hartford xl/ outwell georgia xl and the outwell sun valley 8 which one of these four is the best. Hope you can help me.

phil

Can i be so nosey and ask why you would want to sell your trailer tent and go to a tent, being i am making decission to go the other way would be good to hear your thoughts.

Nick

Hi, We are a family of two adults and two children. We have a sunvalley 8 and love it. It has good head clearance, tall hubby, and the versitility to remove the third bedroom pod to make a large living space if the weather is bad.

The large porch is ideal for a kitchen come muddy boot area. All in all having trawled the available tents last year we are delighted with our choice. You obviously have your own views but take this as a vote for the sunvalley 8.

Quote: Originally posted by canvasquivers on 07/4/2008

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Can i be so nosey and ask why you would want to sell your trailer tent and go to a tent, being i am making decission to go the other way would be good to hear your thoughts.

 

Nick

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I love my jupiter to bits but my eldest son is joining the navy so i will have to put it up myself and it is a two man or woman job if you are going for a trailer tent go for it i still have not made my mind up weather to sell or not it would be like getting rid of a much love friend i am just thinking about it at the moment.

phil

We have the Sun Valley 8 and have done since it was first introduced.  It's a fantastic tent.  There's 4 of us go most of the time.  The amount of windows is great, lots of light getting into the tent.  The porch area is brilliant for keeping all the cooking utensils and boots etc.... leaving the main living area nice and tidy.

You wont go wrong with the SV8 at all , its the one I would go for every time

Hi there, we have the Outwell Georgia XL and here's some info I posted about it last year:

We have this tent and love it.

It is spacious, large living area and bedrooms with the added bonus of the porch area for many purposes.

Inside, it is light and comfortable with plenty of ventilation options.... great for hot and for wet conditions.

Initially, I didn't want an inner up first, but the extra comfort it gives more than makes up for the comprimise of pitching inner first. Also, the inner is of a similar material to the outer and dries quickly. We didn't even notice it had been wet, after pitching in rain as it hadn't penetrated.

It is a big tent, so it can be a little awkward at first, but then don't they all?? It will need somebody inside to hold up, whilst the flexipoles are located,

When you pull the flysheet over, make sure that you try and line the seams of the fly, with the poles of the inner. there are little velcro fasteners on the inside of the fly, to attach to the flexi poles. There are also little plastic, black hooks on the fly, at the bottom. These hooks attach to the rings (where the poles are located) not pegged. Once the fly is on, it may take a bit of adjustment, but that is the same of most tents.

Finally, breath a sigh of relief and have a bevvy!!!

There is another thing that I noticed...... people seem to like having a good look at this tent... they seem to walk past and have a good stare !!

Good luck with your choice.

well here is another vote for the sun valley!we have the 2007 model there are 4 of us and its layout is great.

we have the table up in the front section along with cooker bits and bobs and plenty of room for shoes n wet gear. then in the middle section we have our nice cosy living area and then you have your nice large sleeping area.we never put up the extra sleeping compartment we use the living space instaed.thats why the sun valley does it for us as you can have the separate areas.

also we had 40 mile an hour winds last year on hols and the tent stood up fine when other people were putting theirs in the bin and going home! also pretty straight forward putting up about 30 mins