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Hello All,

I am looking for some advise please.

We have been looking for a new tent for a while after realising in the high winds at the end of May that our dome tent without sewn in ground sheet just isn't up to the mark anymore.

We are considering either the Outwell Norfolk Lake or the Vermont XL.  The layouts look kind of similar, but the former is of polycotton, the latter of polyester.

Can anyone enlighten me as to which would be better or offer any advise on the real benefits of ploycotton over polyester.  I think the polycotton is likely to be heavier and therefore less flapy in windy weather and possibly cooler in hot weather, judging on my own experience from camping under vango force 10's which I think were cotton based.

Also does anyone know if the Norfolk Lake has a cable entry point.  It's not listed on the outwell website, but it suggests that it has cable tidy straps.

I have 2 small children (ages 6&3) and both my wife and I are 6ft tall, hence the need for high bedrooms and why we're looking at this style of tent.

Any experience and guidance on either would be gratefully received.

Many Thanks

Paul

Sorry everyone, clearly got this into the wrong area - was hoping it would have appeared in the tent advise section.

have you looked at gelert quebec 8 + 4? it has high bedrooms

Hi

I would checkout the pack sizes first as the Norfolk lake maybe to big when packed down

The main thing you get with the poly cotton is how long the fabric will last which is 4-5 time longer than a polyester.

The poly cotton will be far cooler in hot weather. Poltester tents can be very hot in warm weather.

The poly cotton tents are far more breathable than the polyester tents.

But the poly cottons are biggerwhen packed down, cost more, and need a bit more looking after ie you need to dry them out far quicker if packed down damp or soaked.

Gary Cross

thanks for such prompt replies - the gelert one is not really what we are looking for, the outwell ones seem to offer better visibility via lots of windows.

We have the Norfolk Lake, The Ground sheet zips in, not sure on the cable entry points or if we just left a small gap on the zip to pass it through, but didn't have any issues getting the cable in.  The ground sheete is like a shallow bathtub and zips around avout 3/4 inches off the floor.  It is a very heavy tent but doesn't move in the wind!!

Bertie,

Not too worried about weight, I'll just have to go to the gym a bit more to lift it.   How big is the pack (s)? 

How do you rate it?  Do you like it?  Is it worth going for the ploycotton or would the Vermont XL in polyester a good cheaper option?  Just cant quite decide on whether to blow the extra £300 and get it?

Thanks for advice

Paul

hi we were like you we recently borrowed a montana 6 which was great with the high winds but a little small with 2 children and a dog so we've been looking for something bigger the outwell wolf lake 7 which is also a polycotton and is very tall but expensive so at the moment were looking at the Vango Zanzibar 800 polycotton but the only thing thats putting us of is the windows in the roof havent seen any reviews on it yet but its cheaper than the outwell models have a look on summits online for the zanzibar its not a bad price on there.

dawn

Hi Paul, if you have camped alot before and definately enjoy it I would go for the Norfolk Lake as you say the £300.00 is alot to pay if you don't get full use out of it. 

 Size wise the pole's and canvas are in seperate packs approx 4ft high and about 18in diameter each , the weight is the problem we have been unable to lift them up the loft where we normal store our tents.

Yes we love it, we use the outside bit as the kitchen area and the inside as a lounge for privacy and time away from the site, we also bought the canopy for the Montana (I think), put this out the front for a shaded area to sit under and extend the front, the main front door is opened first thing in the morning and stays open all day.

And the carpet on the inside makes it really cosy!!

Sue

Hi Paul

Just got back from a weekend away in our new vermont XL, absolutley delighted with it.  Previousley went away the very windy bank holiday and got flatened in our Khyam ontario, so decided we wanted a little more support and opted for the Vermont because of the steel poles.  Had a fab time, it was fairley easy to put up for such a large tent, we had tonns of room for us and four kids, and used the front porch as a kitchen so didn't need to take our dayroom, fab durring rainny spells and even feed the kids in there as it has a removable groundsheet.  Also bought the side extenshion and were very glad that we did as we spent a lot of time in there and even used it to cook/bbq in when it was raining. It drew so many admiring looks and comments from people passing we were practically doing hourley tours.  Wardrobe is a lovely idea, I put a cupbord and all our bags in there too and we used it to get changed in at times.  Loved all the windows and the different variations you can have, loved the way you can totally open the windows too. We bought the carpet and were impressed with the way it makes it feel so much more homely.  We decided not to go for the polycotton as were told can take longer to dry and we always seem to have very rainly hols, that and the price, we felt we were better off with a biger tent.  Must say it was the most comfortable holiday we have had so far, tons of space and no leaks even when it was tipping down.  Can't wait to go camping in it again would definitley recommend it and also the side extenshion and carpet, Kids slept well and we were all lovely and walm.  Can't wait to use it again, good luck choising

Oh bloody hell the decision process is getting harder now.

Dawn - The vango tent does indeed look good.  I like Vango tents - special place in my heart having spent many snowy nights inside them on Dartmoor.  Like the summits price too, seeing it comes with the footprint and carpet and looks like the tent also comes with zip in front canopy too.  Good write up on the outdoor megastore.

We've been a couple of times in the last year, Cornwall and Anglesey and loved it. So did the kids.  So I think the extra expense of a polycotton is probably justifiable, but BigMomma you've now thrown me into confusion again.  Funnily enough we saw one of the Vermont tents in Cornwall last year and thought, no thats far too fancy with wardrobe and all and its massive.  Alas we are rethinking our opinions, but god this is hard now.  So many good points about them all.

Come on, someone please make the decision for me....

Regards

Paul

Hi Paul

sorry to make life difficult, it's so hard desiding but you are doing the right thing getting lots of advice and not going for an impulse buy.  We were thinking of going the extra and going for one of the polycotton outwells, they are beautiful tents but we decided that knowing us but next year we will probally have fallen in love with another new design and convice ourselves we could use another tent "just for weekends" so decided to save a few hundred pounds and go for the vermont. very glad now that we have, though we agonised at the time which to buy.  We also concidered the Vangos but what swung it for us was the frount porch as the vangos we looked at just had canopys and although they were very nice we wanted to get away from having a seperate kitchen tent to errect.  It was lovely to pop into the kitchen for a brew in the late evening without fighting though two sets of zips in the dark and if the kids went swimming I herded them through the side enterence and zipped the living room closed while they stripped off to get dry clothes on.  Carpet is still unblemished as a result. The side canopy was so impressive we were able to sit in it and not get even damp durring heavey rain (which happened just a few times) and I think it made our holiday extra special. Must say though this is our third tent and we have never had so many people stop to admire and comment on a tent (and we have had some lovely and expensive tents prevousley.)  We felt so posh and really enjoyed showing off. 

Perhaps a score sheet would help, decide on your good and bad points for each of the tents and give a score out of ten, that's what we ended up doing.  ie Big windows, high bedrooms, compact footprint, easy to put up ect. You can adapt it to your needs as to what really matters to you.  Sometimes however you just have a gut instict as to what you really like and that is just as important.

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice.  After going to see loads of tents at a camping show the outwell's just didn't look quite as good to us in the field as they did in the shop, even though they looke great to us last year.  We've obviously become tent snobs now.

In the end plumped for a Vango Nile 600.  Got a great deal from Norfolk Camping and Leisure for the tent, carpet and footprint.   It got here 2 days after ordering (only 2 days cause I left it til late in the day to order) and it is now filling my hallway.

It's massive.  Haven't had chance to get it out and put it up yet, rainy Manchester weather not helping out here.  Have had to go and get roof bars and a roof box for my car now as it's so big, but hey it looks just exactly what we want and I stuck with my gut instinct on the Vango front.

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.  All booked up for another stay in wales 2nd week of August now and really looking forward to getting to grips with the new tent.  Have just ordered some delta pegs for it.  Guessed the number (ordered 10), so hopefully should have enough to get the main corners of the tent, etc held down firmly.

Now all I got to hope for is some good weather, hope that's not too much to ask for.

Thanks

Paul