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Hi All,

As some of you know we are the proud owners of a very lovely Sunncamp Grange. We are thrilled with it, in the last 12 months it has coped with everything the English summer can throw at it. Even this last weekend it coped with the torrents of rain and a howling wind in a very open postion at the top of a hill in Northants.

Kit and I pondered through last summer about what to do for breaks of three nights or less. So earlier this year... without asking for advice and guidence from you lovely people I bought a Leben Lingen 8 from ebay . Now after reading about them and looking at the weather forecast for last weekend... We decieded to leave it at home (even though home was only about 25 miles away!). I am not sure that it will in fact ever leave its current resting place amongst our camping kit in the garage.

We went camping for two nights with another family very new to camping. Like when I picked the Dad up to leave early Friday to go pitch the tents before the kids arrived their Outwell Vermont L was still in the box it was delivered in!! Our tent is too labour intentsive for two nights (and too big in the car for "light camping").

We are a family of four and I must admit I have fallen in love with the Outwell designs. It also meets the family need for a bit of space if its too wet to play outside for the kids. I like the fact that although still large only take about 40 mins to erect much better than the hour and a half the Grange takes start to finish.

Would anyone suggest anything diffrent? Although not hardup I am currently contracting for an educational trust and so I don't have quite so much spare cash as this time last year. Must get a proper job!!

We figure that we would never part with the Grange, but would use it when breaks are of a more sensible length ie over 5 nights! The Outwell being used for eveything else.

Sorry about the legnth of this topic... Not my normal couple of lines, but I want to make sure that I get this purchase right, don't really want to buy another tent just yet. Two in one summer is enough.... even for me

Thanks in advance

Gio

You really can't go wrong with the Vermont L if that's the Outwell that you choose. There were some bad problems last year with the Vermont line, but all seems well this year. We had the L with a leaky problem and was offered any tent from the 2008 Outwell line. The only reason we chose the Bear Lake 6 is because we had the opportunity of a lifetime as the Bear Lake is very expensive. Other than that, we would have chosen the Vermont L again, it's a perfect family camping tent. Plenty of living space and sleeping space and we loved that we could use the enclosed porch as a cooking space and a great area to sit when raining.

We had camped with it in some really bad weather and it always held strong, so I do trust Outwell's quality.

The vermont L is still a big tent for a weekender , most people have them as their long stay tent and something quicker to use for weekends. But as you are already used to having lots of space you may be like myself and wouldn't want something very small for weekends either.

 The outwell nevada xl is an 8 berth, and takes less than half an hour to put up, I use it for weekends or long stays.

.Friends of mine have just bought a sunncamp global, will be using for the first time this weekend, may be of interest to you , as it is similar design to the vermont, steel poles and with a front canopy and is only £250 at outdoor megastore. There is a thread on at the moment about it

The ideal compromise between fast pitching times and usable space are the four or five pole tunnel tents like the Vango Albany/Yukon, or the very similar ones you can find in most tent ranges. I have both the Vango Oregon 600 and the 800 (almost identical to the two above) and I can pitch the smaller one solo in 20 minutes, and Hubby and I can pitch the bigger one in the same time. Small pack space, relatively lightweight and for the 4 of us there's so much space in the 800 that we're intending to take it (plus canopy) away for a multiple short stop touring holiday of six weeks next year.

I'm a Vango fan, of course. Not keen on Outwells!

Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 25/6/2008

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I'm a Vango fan, of course. Not keen on Outwells!

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My concern would be that there have been so many complaints on this site about leaking Outwells!

The designs are really good, but what point is that if you are sitting in a puddle caused by leaks or heavy condensation?

Quote: Originally posted by JK98 on 26/6/2008

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If you like the safe & secure feeling that your Grange gives, why not buy a small second-hand frame tent? We use our large Cabanon Elody for longer stays (trailer job!), but for short stays we take a Cabanon Julie which takes less than half an hour to erect & peg down, and it fits in the car with all the other gear too. 

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Thanks for the advice guys!

My bank card and I are going for a little drive tomorrow. Going to look at a smaller frame and all the outwell options. Will let you know which way we jump.

Gio