Thanks again to everyone for all the suggestions yesterday! I think I have now narrowed it down to 2 tents that tick all of our boxes. The only problem is, one is about twice the price of the other. The Maritsa actually suits us best in terms of design, but the sheer quality of the Vermont is very plain to see. This will be our first "proper" family tent, and we want it to last a long time. So I would really appreciate some opinions. I really didn't want to spend more than £400. But at the same time, I want something that is going to be very good quality and last us a long time. Is the Vermont really work the extra money, and if so, why?
Also, if anyone could provide the packed measurements of either it would be a big help as we don't have a trailer.
Thanks in advance for your help!
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Oh no, just seen that the Vermont doesn't have mosquito nets, which means we won't be able to sleep with the windows open. That could be a massive deciding factor for us.....we're specifically looking for something with mossie nets this time! :-(
I'm not sure whether outlwell have changed things between the Vermont L / XL and the new LP / XLP.
Although there are no mozzie nets on the windows, on our 2011 Vermont L you can have both side doors open with mozzie nets in place. This should give you more than enough ventilation and airflow.
There are vents at the rear of the tent that can be opened.
The inner door in front of the awning / porch area also has large mozzie panels. The only door that doesn't have a mozzie panel is the door of the awning / porch.
Personallly, I'd opt for the Vango, because I really like the layout, and the black out bedrooms. However, due to the reports on quality control, I would try to pitch the tent somewhere as soon as possible before your first camping trip. Give it a thorough inspection for any faults. If you find anything, take it straight back
That's my dilemma - the Vango seems to have a lot of bad reviews, whereas I haven't read a single bad one for the Vermont! But I guess you're right, we just need to check it very thoroughly.......
Vango are a premium tent manufacturer, like Outwell. They do seem to have suffered recently though with QC. Outwell aren't without their faults either. I've taken 2 Outwells back due to faults. One was a Wolf Lake which are over a grand these days and the other was a Missouri River. Both premium poly-cotton tents. The Wolf had a split seam, and the Missouri leaked like a colander. Maybe worth voicing your concerns to the retailer first, they may have a space you can open the tent up. You never know!
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No point in having flymesh on the windows in the Vermonts as the windows dont open. Lots of ventilation panels down each side though and at the back, two on the internal divider and both side doors have mesh panels. In the 6 years weve owned our Vermont never had any problems with ventilation
------------- Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Everything has been said before, but since nobody ever listens we have to keep going back and saying it all over again and again and again
Hi we have a Maritsa 700 and absolutely love the layout it's perfect for us, however we are now on our third as the others have all had problems, guy ropes frayed, missing eyelets, etc. On the first one the ground sheet was sewn in wrong and it pitched funny. Apart from the ground sheet the rest were probably classed as minor faults but when you are paying a lot of money you want things to be right, not looking for perfection (or maybe I am?!) just functioning! The Vermont XLP was our next choice, looks lovely but as you have probably read Outwell have there own issues, so.... we are sticking with the Maritsa for the reason above, as the other post says whatever you decide pitch it ASAP and return if any faults, the retailer we are dealing with (JR Leisure) have been nothing short of brilliant with us as have Vango. They must dread hearing our name now! Good luck!
Vango did have a lot of issues with the Maritsa 700 model 2010, however the 2011 was all sorted and no problems. We have one and its brilliant. Loads of space easy to pitch, stands very well in the wind. also looks good. We also have the porch for it and love every bit of our tent.
------------- 2012
June - Queens Jubilee week -
Blackbull Pickering
June/July - Turkey (no Tent)
Aug - Bank Holiday- Whitefield Forest IOW 10 days
Sept - Skeg
2013 Nothing as yet , trying to get new boyfriend to go camping soon. Selling Maritisa 700 , so we can put it towards a VW Camper.
Another thumbs up for the Maritsa. We've just returned form our first trip in ours, no issues with the quality, in fact we were very impressed with it.
Dead easy to pitch and as Cindy said it looks fab when pitched.
We also have the porch, which came with a faulty pole. Spoken to the company we bought it from and they have confirmed that Vango are sending out a new pole section, to me that is great customer service.
The black out bedrooms do make a huge difference, we were sleeping in till around 8am rather than being awake at sunrise and not being able to get back to sleep.
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We have both, the maritsa leaks, the xlp doesn't... And we used the carpet from the maritsa in the porch to the xlp and the porch is the same size as the main living area on the maritsa, with a better head height.
In addition however the maritsa has 20cm more space of bedrooms.
Overall the XLP is by and far the better tent...
This is the post showing the maritsa carpet fitting in the porch...
We have a Maritsa 700, we have used it 3 times now over the last year and we love the tent, its so spacious for me hubby and three kids. Everyone say's it's easy to pitch but we are still trying to find the "right and easiest" way (more our error than the tents lol) the only thing we find and this is probably down to us again and not the actual tent, is that when we have finally pitched it, we can't get the internal door to close, the mozzie net zips over fine, it's no biggy for us we can live with it, but it would be nice if we could close it!
Quote: Originally posted by annalou27 on 26/8/2012
We have a Maritsa 700, we have used it 3 times now over the last year and we love the tent, its so spacious for me hubby and three kids. Everyone say's it's easy to pitch but we are still trying to find the "right and easiest" way (more our error than the tents lol) the only thing we find and this is probably down to us again and not the actual tent, is that when we have finally pitched it, we can't get the internal door to close, the mozzie net zips over fine, it's no biggy for us we can live with it, but it would be nice if we could close it!
Hi annalou27
Just a thought as we experienced a similar problem with our tent and it's door. After reading somewhere on here, we zipped all doors closed before pegging out. You may be doing this already, but thought it might be worth mentioning
We have had a couple of outwell tents and now have a vango maritsa. The layout of the maritsa is just perfect for us and on its first two outings we have had torrential rain and winds and its performed brilliantly. Our outwells stood up to such weather just as well. In the end it comes down to what works best for you. The maritsa is worth its weight in gold for the blackout bedrooms alone. With a son who pings awake at first light they are a godsend lol.