Message Forums

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE VANGO LIGHTS OUT BEDROOMS ARE ANY GOOD? THINK THEY'RE NEW ON 2011 TENTS

 THOUGHT I'D DECIDED ON AN OUTWELL TENT BUT THEN SAW THE VANGO LIGHTS OUT BEDROOM THING AND IM HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS.

MY DAUGHTERS AN EARLY RISER ANYWAY BUT SHE GETS UP DOUBLE EARLY WHEN WE'RE CAMPING, LIKE 3.30AM EARLY!

WAS WONDERING WHETHER IT'S JUST A GIMMICK AND THE OUTWELL TENT HAVE THE SAME FEATURES WITHOUT MENTIONING IT. ANY ADVICE APPRECIATED. THANKS

we have Kampa with the sleeptight and YES it makes a difference!   we got at least an extra hour than we do at home, let alone that fact that we usually rise earlier in the tent!!!

would never go back now!

The Kampa sleeptite system has a silverized reflective coating to the inside of the front of the inner tent and on the inside of the flysheet around the inner tent in addition to the darkened inner tent fabric. I believe that the 2011 Vango tents have a darker inner tent fabric but not such a coating, so the insulation and darkening effect of the Kampa system is likely to be greater. I can confirm that there is a considerable darkening effect with the Vango Sleeptite system, although having a darkened flysheet over the inner tent and a dark coloured inner tent will have a notable effect on its own (as with our Vango Kairos).

With the Kampa Sleeptite system it is worth leaving a little of the mesh exposed at the top of the door of the Kampa inner at times of the year when condensation is a particular issue (spring and autumn) as the door isn't breathable given the silver coating.

Quote: Originally posted by sadkate on 11/8/2011

---

Speedcamp, I'd read that advice, maybe from you about leaving the door open in the Kampa Sleeptite tents but, in practice we found the bedrooms veritably breezy at night.

Maybe it's down to the design of each tent. Ours has a great big vent at the back of the fly which was letting in a right old draught. Or maybe I'm meant to shut that at night. I don't know. You will though?

---

We have a large vent at the back too. Technically speaking you are supposed to keep the vents open at night to extract the pint or so of warm wet air each adult breathes out at night. In practice, it is a matter of working out how much ventilation you need for the occupancy, weather conditions and time of year. You can shut them if there is a draft but the pay off could be condensation.. The bigger the tent the greater the condensation it will absorb and the windier the conditions the better the condensation dispersal. We've not had an issue even with the smaller Bude 4 most of the time, but at the start and end of the season when the air and ground conditions favour high condensation we found that the silver coating can be a magnet for condensation (as its not breathable) unless there was some ventilation at the top of the door. The first time we encountered it (mid. September on a very wet night) the inside of the inner tent door was almost dripping. A little gap at the top solved the problem as it permitted the warm air to escape and an air flow. However, it wasn't really an issue as the door dried out very quickly...