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Hi all

Another newbie asking for advice im afraid!!

Off to Burrowhayes in a couple of weeks with my 5 yr old in our new Vango Beta 450 - cant wait. The OH, who always vowed she would never go camping, is v impressed and is threatening to give it a go next year.

I therefore need a bigger tent to accomodate 2 adults and 2 children and a dog. After a bit of looking around,I quite like the look of the Coleman Mackenzie X6 but have not seen one in the flesh so to speak - wondered if anyone out there has one and what their thoughts are?

Also does anyone know if the divider between the two bedrooms can be removed to create one big room?

Thanks and congrats to all on a great site

Hi Number six

Thanks for the info - will check out the tents you mention.

Tricky Tree

Hi JNMPIN

Thanks for the info - thats great news about the divider. Hope all goes well in France and look forward to seeing a review!

Tricky Tree

Hi Rufistar

Thanks for the tips - most helpful. Will look forward to the review when your back. To be honest have my heart set on one so unless you say it was a complete nightmare will prob take the plunge..take your point about the price though, thanks again

we posted similar questions about a month ago prior to purchasing a Coleman Mackenzie X6 and since then we have had 2 camping expeditions without any major calamities... in fact we had a great time despite wet weather on both trips.  Here's what we've learned...

The bedrooms are removable.  The front room for 2 people just gets in the way so as we only have 2 adults and 2 kids, we have now removed it and packed it away.  The rear 2 rooms are in one big removable section; there is a zipped divider between the 2 sections that was easily opened by a 2 year old hell-bent on saying good morning at 6am (the closed zips are a foot level so a kid can reach them).

The tent is relatively easy for 2 peope to put up.  When helped by the kids, it took less than an hour (some time was lost when one child buried all the tent pegs... oh how I laughed (not)).  Without the kids, the last time we got the tent up it took about 20 minutes to be up and secure.

There aren't any smart or clever storage things built into the tent unlike, I think, some of the Vango tents, I wish there were. 

I don't know if the quality is really super-duper as our tent seems to have one of the toggle connector things sewn into the wrong place.  Also, the free canopy we got is looking a bit dodgy to me already with the straps looking ready to fall apart... the canopy is a nice-to-have rather a vital part of the tent.

Does the tent leak - no but we've found that where we have fed the electric cable in the front, leaves a wee gap into which water can get in.  In the 7 days we've been out, probably 5 have been wet days in Scotland but we've no complaints. 

Most importantly, we managed to fit the tent and the poles in a wee Honda Jazz in the space between the front and rear seats.  This meant that we had the whole boot in which to put the sleeping bags, inflatable beds, tables chairs etc.

Do I recommend a Coleman Mackenzie X6... Yes but to be honest I've never had a proper big-time tent before so don't have any substantial knowledge with which i can make a fair comparison with other manufacturers' products.

Hi tootsmaginty

Thanks for the comprehensive review - most helpful- did you find that there was enough room for you all? Good to know that it held up against the rain but hopefully for you youll get some dry weather next time out!

Hi Rufistar

Thanks for the additional points- I will make sure it has a proper inspection in the garden first. Thanks once again

ok then to answer the questions above...

footprint - I went to B&Q and bought a big 7m by 5m tarpaulin for about £12 and laid it out on our back garden.  We then pitched the tent on top and cut the tarpaulin down to the right size with scissors.  Apart from keeping the tent clean, it has been very helpful to lay out the tarpaulin on the ground so that we get the tent in the right tent on the pitch, not too far back, not too far left etc etc.  Now that it is folded up again it is squashed in the bag with the tent until next time.  If I was you, I would go straight to B&Q and buy a similar tarpaulin.

Amount of room - yes I would say there's loads for 2 adults and 2 kids.  We bought one of the folding table/chair combos from argos (these are excellent for about £20)and with this in place, there is still enough space for a couple of chairs for the adults and space on the floor for the kids to fight over the jelly babies.  Seriously, with all the doors closed but the front bedroom removed, there's usable space of 9ft wide by about 11ft long... that's more than enough.

Standing up to winds - the tent was fine in windy and wet weather, we never worried about being blown into the sky.  The pegs supplied with the tent are ok but about 5 or 6 have already bent.  I also got 10 pegs from poundland (for £1 surprisingly) and another 10 from Mountain Warehouse for £4.99 which are no better than the poundland ones.  I think taking care to make the tent straight and true is more important than the brand of pegs.  If  I was doing this all again, I would buy 50 from poundland for a fiver and just chuck ten in the bin after every trip.