Message Forums

Quote: Originally posted by Cross Camping on 18/7/2009

---

Hi
The Vango Icarus 500 has been the best selling tent this season for many retailers. If you purchased your tent from a good retailer you will of been told that this tent is a great weekender tent and is only for fair weather, ie you look at the weather on a thurs/fri and think "great, the weather looks nice so lets go camping"

The Icarus is £120 - £130ish. If you need a tent to stand up to stronger winds then you will need either a small 3-4 season backpacking tent (£200 - £400) or you could go for a steel poled tent like the Kampa Lulworth 4 or the Outwell Minnesota 4 etc (£250 - £350).

The price of the Icarus 500 is only the same as 2 nice shirts. Im amazed Vango etc can make a tent as good as this, ship it all the way from China then deliver it to the retailer for anywhere near this sort of money.

Its hard when your new to camping to decide which tent is right for you and the sort of conditions you think you might be out in so thats why visiting your local camping retailer is so important...A tent at a low price may look inviting but in the long run will it be right for you.

Regards

Gary cross

Retailer.

Post last edited on 18/07/2009 09:45:31

---

The price of the Icarus 500 is only the same as 2 nice shirts

We Obviously shop in different places - £130 for two shirts is flippin expensive in my book.

Typical retailer answer! Sorry to sound synical but....

We have also had similar probleme with the Icarus 500 resulting in several broken poles and damage to the fabric,(Been pitching Vango tents for 9 years in all weathers and never had a problem before!) told by the retailer that poles and any damage caused by them are nothing to do with them!

Vango claim that they are not aware of any problems with this tent(?!) and suggest that I take the matter up with the reatiler that we brought it from - Great why didn't I think of that!

I think Gary makes very reasonable - and fair - points, as does Val. The tent is marketed by Vango in their "Weekend" range and at that price point may fulfill that role very well.

Their "lifetime warranty" excludes inappropriate use, and pole damage. Most car makers do the same with tyre damage. It's just too user dependant.

Unfortunately there's not many makers who do family size 4 season jobbies, at least, at prices any of could afford

Interesting, is this another one of the "Vango dome tents collapsing in the wind" threads?  

Hi. We have both a Wynnster Pharaoh 4 and a Vango weekender ( Icarus) and like them both. But, the pharaoh is big and bulky, so we bought the weekender package. Like lots of people, we have to book our holidays well in advance, so can only hopr for good weather! We have just spent a week in Dorset, where we had strong winds one night. The tent stood up well, but the sun canopy came off, ripped and broke pole elastic! After initial thoughs of going home, we moved next morning to a less exposed pitch, and mended rips and elastic, and carried on for the rest of the week. I'm interested in what people say about pitching side on, as thought we should have pitched with the back to the wind. Thanks for all the advice.

Anne

Good points Gary.

Just to make you feel better, I'm not made of money, but my Gieves and Hawkes wedding shirt was £65 !!

And only wore it the once (once was enough )

"Bottom line is you can only do what you can do, and your tent can only do what it's designed to. If you want a tent that will stay up in anything you need to look at 2-3 man mountain rated 4-season tents, at eyewatering prices."

The issues here were resolved with different pitching.