HELP! I'm a complete camping novice and a real City Boy at heart, but my kids love the outdoors so I decided to take the plunge and go camping with them.
DW is shocked at the transformation.
Anyway, having done lots of research I took the plunge and ordered a Nevada L, with side extension and footprint groundsheet. This seemed to be the best combination of size, quality and price for us.
Or so I thought. It wasn't cheap and now I'm having second thoughts. Should I have gone for the Vango Tigris? Or the Colorado. Or the Gelert Horizon?
There are so many (apparently) good tents out there, and as I closed down all the open tabs in my web browser for each one after buying the Nevada I started to worry that I've made the wrong choice.
Can anyone help with my buyer's remorse?
And also set my mind at ease about the whole camping experience? Not done it in about 25 years since I was in Cubs, and not sure how I'm going to manage!
Any reassurance / tips welcome.
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One other thing I should have requested: any pitching tips for the Nevada L? The video on the Outwell site makes it look pretty easy, but then they wouldn't show some numpty struggling with the poles in the rain like I'll probably be doing, would they?
dont worry about the tent you have bought, It is a good tent
All you have to worry about now is spending too much time on here and reading about all the latest must haves for camping, seriously dents the credit card.
Don't worry about the tent they are excellent tents that tick all the boxes.
Don't worry about the pitching. The Outwell videos are pretty honest. They only usually take liberties when it comes to folding the tent back up to pack into the bag: by the miracle of editing all the trapped air (that makes folding a bit of a pain sometimes) simply vanishes - in the real world you will have to squeeze this out (well the Nevada M video is like this).
As already said the main worry is what you will want to buy next. But in the tent department, you are well sorted.
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It's good to know the video is accurate too. I know what you mean about dented credit card too... this little whim of mine to take the kids camping is proving pretty costly! Although probably no more than four nights at Center Parcs, so better value in the long run!
I'm already eyeing up a tent carpet and some electrical accessories.
One thing I wanted to ask was the necessity of spare poles. I won't have time to get any for this trip, so I'll have to hope that I don't break anything in my usual cack handed manner.
I've read on other forums that it's a worthwhile investment. Should I just get one of each size of pole the Nevada uses, or do I only need the 'structural' ones and can manage without others if necessary?
Also, is it worth investing in some extra strong tent pegs in the case of storms, or will the ones that come with the tent suffice?
Sorry for the dumb questions, but as I already said, I'm just a soft city boy!
It is allways handy to have some spare poles for emergency situations, hopefully they will never be needed though.
As for pegs, the ones that usually come with tents are pretty thin and easily bent so i would recommend getting some stronger ones, It would appear that most campers gather a collection of different pegs over time to deal with different situations.
depending on the ground you are camping on.
As for the carpet and electrical items, If this is the first time camping then dont worry about them, make do with what you can. you can then decide what things you need to make your camping trips better.
Just have a quick look at ebay for complete camping kits used once, that will tell you the people that have gone out and bought the whole lot and then realised that camping is not for them.
Indeed. In fact, if you keep an eye on ebay later next week, you'll probably be able to pick up a very reasonably priced, only used once, Nevada L with extension!
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