Message Forums

If you are looking at these - have a look at the Vango Columbia 600 which has a similar spec to the Montana 6 (much higher than the Maritsa) and was Vango's premium tent version of the Montana in 2009. Given that retailers are using a photo with fibreglass poles whilst the tent actually has steel poles there are still a few out there (retailing for £250 - RRP in 2009 was £450 and would be over £600 today). Check out the reviews.

There are a couple of Vango Wide canopies new on eBay at the moment (very rare) but the canopy for the Samara 600 will also fit. You can join or cut down carpet from another tent to fit and similarly make a footprint (either from tarpaulin or from one of Vango's universal PE groundsheets).

You need 2 people to put it up given the steel poles, but you'll encounter this with any steel poled tent (including the 2 you mention). We've only been charged for a standard pitch with our Columbia 600.

Quote: Originally posted by bex7 on 18/4/2012

---

The man at Go Outdoors said these are both hard to put up

---

Hi there, i have a 2011 maritsa 600 and it is super easy to pitch!! the poles are heavy so we have developed a 'one at a time' approach which many campers do when pitching steel poled tents. It is rock solid in strong winds and after our first pitch time being over an hour, our second being around 45 mins, when we had our first camp in it we got it up in just over 15 minutes, and while i then put the bedroom pods in, my other half went round pegging out the guy ropes and fiddling with it! lol

i absolutely love it, especially the built in porch - this is what sold the tent to us, seeing as it has a proper sewn in groundsheet. We also wanted somewhere to keep the kettle and fridge away from our little one and it does it's job perfectly!

As for being charged extra, only some sites do that, and i would try and avoid them because i assume it means i am going to be squashed in next to my neighbours!! lol most places i have looked at charge by the berth of your tent, and then for extra adults/dogs/cars/awnings etc so just shop around, and the site search on here is excellent!  

So i would def go for the Maritsa 700 :) Everyone has a monty - go for something a little different

Hi,

We have a Maritsa 500 which I know is a bit smaller, but still the same principles for pitching it.  As long as there are two of you, you will be fine - we use the Cross Camping method which you will find on here if you do a search, and that works really well for us.  As Lauren says, the tent feels really nice and sturdy once it's up and I love my porch - all the kitchen stuff is in there and it means the main body of the tent, and most importantly my carpet, stay nice and clean as we can take our shoes off in the porch.

As I say, I know the tent would be a 700 so bigger than ours, but we haven't had any problems with sites charging extra, and if they did, I would just go somewhere else!

Enjoy doing your research and let us know what you buy in the end

Kate x

Hi, we bought a Marista 500 last year for the 4 of us (2 adults 2 children 2 and 5) but it was faulty (bedroom fixings kept breaking) we changed it for a Marista 600 but we found it much more difficult to put up than the 500(weight, and sizes of poles). We have since sold it and bought a Montana which I have pitched twice in the garden. It is so much easier and quicker to put up and take down.

This is what we found -
Marista postive points - built in porch, loads of storage pockets. Multiple electric entry points. Negative points - with all the different sizes of poles and width of tent was difficult to put up. When its raining you end up with water in the tent when you open the door because of the way they open/slope. Pegging open all the vents took to much time

Montana positive points - built in side porch which will be our toilet & boot room. Shape and poles all the same size make it very easy to put up. Vents quick to open.
Negative points - only one electric entry point, we have had to buy the awning for extra space on longer breaks.

The Kampa Filey 6 is worth a look at as well.