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Hi there

We went camping for first time last summer, we were in a second hand frame tent(Lichfield) and . We have now sold on that tent  as we got caught in the torrential rain and wind  but we have not been put off but have decided a frame tent is not for us. We are now looking for a new tent but a dome style tent. There are 2 adults and 2 children, and I am stuck with which make to go for, we want a tent that will not feel as if its going to take off in the wind! Our budget is around £200. Can anyone advise us on which is the best make ??

Thanks for any help!

Hi, there are lots of good makes of tent, vango, outwell, royal, wynnster, sunncamp, lichfield, khyam.

not so good are rage, leben, ultrafit, which are some the ones that there are hundreds of on ebay,selling for low prices but  best avoided.

By dome tent, do you mean you want a central living area, with bedroom pods coming off it at angles ? Or the tunnel style, a more rectangular shape with the flexible poles.

Have you been to see any tents on display yet, this is the best way to get an idea of exactly what will suit you best.? Or have you seen something you like the look of but not sure if it's any good?

Lizzy, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are not going to find such a tent IF.. and its not that big an if, If the wind happens to blow a certain way above a certain speed.. if that happens every tent on earth is going to feel like it's taking off... the only thing you have to do is figure out the ones that actually do fly, from the ones that stay put.. easy really.. cough...

Bit of a waffle before bed.........
Without wanting to cause a right row on here, or seem to be picking on you.. if you asked me to choose between a frame tunnel tent and a dome one such as a Diablo.. frame Tunnel one every time.. hands down.
Do you remember the storms in 2004 that almost wiped Boscastle off the face of the earth?? Well we were staying at a place called St Stephens the night of that storm in a ten man frame tunnel tent from Argos.  Around 1am in the morning, every 15 seconds or so there was this thud... thud... thud.. it woke my then 6 yr old and she asked what it was... I clambered out into the rain and the wind.. looked over the hedge to see strike after strike, after strike of lightening as close as a mile away...
I was out tightening our guy ropes about once every hour and a half.. not that they needed it.. just because I wanted to be sure... in the morning we were bone dry and our tent 100% intact.. 2 dome tents in the same field as us were 100% right offs... flattened by the wind and the rain.. hence my feelings on the subject.

Beefysmum has great advice.. check out as many as you can, but right now is a great time to buy as you can get last years models at much lower prices.. also be aware that if Beefy is right.. and you mean the ones going off in all directions you are likely to get charged more on certain sites... lots of posts on here all about that.

Have fun looking, then have fun deciding which one.

You will find that domes/tunnels fair far worse in wind and rain than a frame tent - believe me I have a frame tent, and have seen other tents flattened while I've only had to shove a few pegs back in.
I've also used a tunnel tent in high winds and lay awake watch the thing bend.

Thanks guys for your thoughts!

We have seen a Vango Albany 600 which has 2 beds either side of the central living area but now after reading your threads I am thinking whether to go back to a frame tent! I must admit ours did stay up last summer, but was just so frightening for the kids with all the noise! We have a camping exp end of mth near us so will try to get to that, but now am going to check out some more tents................

Liz

My advice would be to stick with the frame tent too

We used a Sunncamp Vario synthetic tunnel tent, and after laying awake on a slightly windy night listening to the fabric flapping & the fibreglass poles creaking, we sold it after that one short holiday. We've had canvas frame tents ever since. Two of our frame tents have stood firm during very bad thunder storms - with no noisy flapping or creaking - so I know which we feel safest in