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Hi,

Having only ever done a bit of camping when backpacking, I've decided to give family camping a go.

We've looked at a few tents and like the look of the Vango Icarus 500, and the Vango Tigris 400. Noticed that a few Icarus reviews mentioned the toggle fastening of the main door can let water in, also remember reading about snapping poles with the Tigris. Otherwise, they both seem to be a similar size a meet our needs.

As we're only starting out and OH isn't sure if he'll take to it, we don't want to shell out lots of money (yet) and £160 would be our budget. The tent would be used for weekend/week long trips for 2 adults and 2 yr old twins.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi

Vango have added a toggle to the base of the 2010 Icarus door to address the issue.

There was a new Icarus 500 on ebay from a retailer the other day for £109. Don't know if its still there...

Helen

STOP!

The general rule when choosing tents is go for 1 or 2 berths bigger than the intended requirement. On that basis the Tigris 400 would feel too cramped and your OH would not take to camping after spending the weekend tripping over you, the kids and all the paraphernalia that goes with. The Tigris 400 DLX would be marginally better.

The Icarus 500 is a wiser choice and I would advise you consider the extension to further enhance your camping expereince. It frees up the living area from the kitchen equipment and gives a space to store bikes, pushchairs or to spend evenings sat outside the tent.

Love the Outwell Virginia 5. It is similar to the Icarus in style but has the eyebrow porch on the sidedoor and windows to the extreme.  It is a tad more expensive than the Icarus though.

We bought the Icarus 500 and extension in Go Outdoors 20% sale and paid less than the Virginia 5 for both.  It is our weekend / short stay tent, otherwise I could have justified more expense on the Virginia.

You may also want to consider the Icarus 600. The space inside for 2 adults with 2 toddlers would be very useful if you end up stuck indoors due to bad weather.

We ended up going for the Icarus in the end... The slightly bigger bedroom area swung it, especially since we hadn't seen the Virginia up. Also ended up finding a good deal at Camperlands which had them for £125.

Had a practice putting it up in the garden this weekend which was easier than expected. Managed to get it back in the bag but think that area needs a little more practice. OH was definitely impressed with it, I think tents have moved on a bit since his school days!

We're hoping to use it next weekend, Overall things are definitely looking promising.

Thanks for your posts, very helpful!