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we are looking to buy a second tent, has anybody any comments or information on this tent model

Hi, theres a bit of info in the tent reviews section

Andy

I had a look around a Vango Icarus 500 yesterday, and thought it was a great little tent. As with all tunnels, it will be pretty simple to pitch and especially as all three poles are the same length. It has good headroom, impressive bedroom inners (which stay attached) and a SIG. The divider is only a curtain partition, though, and not a zip up affair as per makes such as Outwell. This model has the Vango tension band system. Overall, it looked a well put together small tent, which was light and bright inside and very smart.

I'd recommend you try to see one in the flesh, if you are thinking of buying.

Quote: It has good headroom, impressive bedroom inners (which stay attached) and a SIG.

I've just come back from my first camp with the Icarus 500.

Yes, the sleeping pod does stay attached, even when you pack it away so it isn't a silly question at all. It is my belief (but I could be wrong) that in the bigger version (Icarus 600) the bedroom pod is attached after pitching and removed before packing (the pitching video on youtube certainly has it that way) and I would imagine that it's due to the heavier load the poles have to push agains't should the pod remain in. But in the 500 the whole thing is put up in one go, which makes it very easy and quick to pitch. It wouldn't be possible to remove the pod in the 500 as the groundsheet is all one with a divider sown across the middle of it (between bedroom and livingroom).

My first thoughts, having spent the weekend in this tent, is that it is very well designed and very roomy inside, but there's only three of us in my party (me and a 12 and a 13 year old. We filled it to capacity and on the 2nd night my eldest slept in a pup tent. The resulting space in the bedroom, with inner removed, was brilliant. Plenty of space and very airy.

I think this tent would be ok for 4 if 2 of them were small kids, and as a weekend tent. 4 people would really need something alot bigger for a longer stay.

We purchased the vango Icarus last year, What a fantastic buy. Really recommend it. Take a look at the tent reviews on here. The only query was the front door had a tendency to leek in rain and windy weather,easily resovled by putting strong velcro patches on the inside of the tent. Problem solved.

Happy camping

Fernsider

The Icarus 500 was a best seller last year, and this year will be even better I think.

The amount of tent you get for the price is truly amazing. Whilst it doesn't have all the "bells 'n' whistles" found on some other tents you can forgive it for that given the price. They also have TBS (Tension Band System I think) which is a very simple, but clever, method for dealing with strong winds that could distort the poles too much.

Try to get to some tent displays near you, the Icarus is very popular. It also has a decent set of extras like canopy, carpet etc.

Quote: Originally posted by Northerncrew on 18/4/2010

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My only concern was when I was trying to locate the pole end into the ring & pin, the fibre glass poles started to make a noise like it was going to break, however all was fine. I decided that before I took the tent down I would detach the bedroom pods so that next time I pitch there would be less weight on the rear poles ( I might invest in spare poles as a precaution as well).

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Hi Norbert 57

We bought the sticky patches from the local B & Q. Make sure they are the large sized ones,made by Velcro.

Happy camping

Fernsider