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Are the 'standard' (fiberglass or whatever they are usually made of?!) poles that you get with a dome tent a) interchangeable with aluminium poles (of the equivalent length etc) and b) much heavier?

I'm just about to buy a vango orchy, and purely as a weight thing I was going to see if it would be worth replacing the poles from the off?

Cheers

Hi Dan & welcome to the forum

I can't say for sure but, I would imagine that if you got the same diameter alloy poles they should be okay. However, I'm sure someone else can advise you on this, so I've bumped your post back up to the top again

Hi Dan

I have just come back from a few days camping with ny brand new Vango Orchy 500. Within half an hour of setting up the tent the wind changed by 90 degrees,freshened to 20 mph and two bottom poles split resulting in the tent collapsing slightly inward due to the 'S' shape adopted by the weakened poles. No other tent on the campsite was in the least affected by the breeze. Having camped in tents for the last 30 years these tent poles must be the worst designed poles for a dome tent, so I can only reccommend that you either upgrade the poles or consider a tent with poles strong enough to withstand a breeze.

oh dear, I am getting a Vango Orchy :(

I hope it's ok as i am forking out £140 for it and can't really afford to get more poles!

I have just emailed Vango, to see what their take is on the many people I have read about that have had problems in relatively light winds.  Be intereresting to see what they say...I will post the response when I get it.