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Topic: Vango Airbeam Kinetic canopy

c12hud

07/9/2013 at 8:52am
Location: Bishops Stortford Herts
Outfit: Vango Airbeam Kinetic tent

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Was very excited to go camping last weekend to test out our new canopy for the Vango Airbeam Kinetic. Inflated the two beams in the canopy then struggled to see how to secure the canopy over the main body of the tent. The vague instruction in the canopy bag said to attach it to the second air beam using the two clips, but there were no clips! And the guy ropes on the main tent were in the way of the canopy. We managed to get it erected after a fashion but I'm sure it wasn't right as the rear end of the canopy stretched over the roof of the tent and wasn't supported on a beam. It was very Heath Robinson! So glad it was a dry and calm day it would have blown away in any wind.

Does anyone know how to fix the canopy to the tent properly please?

Post last edited on 07/09/2013 10:20:30

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Cross Camping

07/9/2013 at 9:31am
Location: Hertfordshire
Outfit: Anything I like !!!

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Hi
It just fits over the first tube then guys down at the side, dont pull the canopy to far over the tent, just enough to make a link. I think the instructions are for the front canopies such as the Icarus 500 tent which has glass fibre poles where a strap goes from the canopy to the second glass fibre pole and clips on. With the airbeam on the Kinetic you cant really do this so the guys just peg down the side of the tent. Its not the best solution but thats how it fits.
Gary Cross

c12hud

07/9/2013 at 10:25am
Location: Bishops Stortford Herts
Outfit: Vango Airbeam Kinetic tent

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Thanks Gary. We will probably pitch it in the garden this weekend and have another go. It doesn't sound ideal so we may end up getting a bigger tent if the canopy looks too insecure. The whole point of an air beam for us is to get the tent up with minimum messing about!

Cross Camping

07/9/2013 at 11:04am
Location: Hertfordshire
Outfit: Anything I like !!!

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My way of thinking re the inflatable tents is you only need one tent. What I mean by this is most people have a large family tent for longer trips and a smaller weekend tent. With the inflatables you need to go for the biggest tent you feel comfortable with for the amount of people sleeping in it. The reason for this is it is really so simple and easy to pitch (no always so much quicker) you only need the one tent.
Also the new Vango tent's have zip on canopies now as do the new Outwells, I wouldnt go for a canopy for an inflatable that rested on the top of the tent. Its strange that the inflatables are mega stable but I dont think canopies that rest over the tent work very well on them, they work better on steel framed tents, the zip on canopies work so much better on the inflatables.
2014 is the year for new designs and its well worth the wait to see them, seeing a big display with lots on show from different brands will be worth the wait thats for sure.
Gary Cross

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mcguire6078

07/9/2013 at 11:44am
Location: London
Outfit: Kampa Frinton 4 Classic Nevada M

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Gary I don't suppose they will drop down in price next year..? On average you seem to be paying around £500 extra in comparison to a similar frame tent?

Cross Camping

07/9/2013 at 11:58am
Location: Hertfordshire
Outfit: Anything I like !!!

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Prices are going up, not a lot but a tent that was say £950 this year will be £1000 in 2014. Remember it's not just the tent is inflatable but most are made of a 150 denier fabric (twice the denier of normal tents) and have better quality groundsheets. If you take a Vango Eclipse 600 at £999 for 2014 the same tent in a 75 denier fabric with a steel frame would be say £600, if it was made with the same fabrics it would be say £700 so the premium for the air technology and the work involved is not as much as you might think.
Gary Cross

c12hud

07/9/2013 at 6:18pm
Location: Bishops Stortford Herts
Outfit: Vango Airbeam Kinetic tent

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The way to go is second hand. We were new to camping and were seduced into buying an Outwell Wolflake 5. Sold to us as the Rolls Royce of tents. A very beautiful and worthy tent but far too much for us as beginners as we would only ever spend a few nights in it. And the weight and size of the two bags it came in was amazing. Should have changed our minds at that point but the salesman had it in our car before we could say no. Our fault but very sharp selling. Paid £1200 for it with carpets etc and sold it on eBay 1 year later for £450' having pitched it in the garden once and slept in it once. Will not buy new again.

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Monkeydog

20/4/2014 at 11:31pm
Location: Nottingham
Outfit: Vango Kinetic 600

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Hi there
Just wondered if you'd had chance to test the canopy again to see if you can better attach it? Or how it coped with a longer camping trip? We have just purchased a kinetic 600 with canopy, assuming it was 2013 model but actually it turns out to be 2011, and have had the same problem. No clips to attach the canopy to the tent, and however we attach it using the guy ropes, it doesnt look like it would hold off any little bit of rain or wind? On another note the tent itself dipped down in between the beams and didn't look sturdy at all, although changing some of the peg positions and guy ropes helped a little, it just didnt look the most secure amd if pulling the centre guy rope forward too much it made the front beam dip in the middle?
We are condiering trying to return the tent as it just didn't give us the wow factor we were hoping for? :(
Any advice or comments welcome.

c12hud

23/4/2014 at 4:00pm
Location: Bishops Stortford Herts
Outfit: Vango Airbeam Kinetic tent

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We are fair weather campers and only go for weekends, which was the attraction of the blow up tent . We haven't been camping since last year and have our first weekend booked for Whitsun . We found through experimenting that the knack in getting the tent securely erected is to make sure the pillars are squarely anchored to the Velcro base before blowing them up fully. This involves crawling inside while it is half inflated but it's well worth it. Also good to check the inflation from time to time and top up if necessary. I don't think we will bother using the canopy if there is even a slight breeze!

Good luck with trying to return the tent, it's disappointing that you got an old model. The new ones have Velcro or zips to fasten the canopy to the tern which seems to be a more sensible solution.

Monkeydog

23/4/2014 at 6:36pm
Location: Nottingham
Outfit: Vango Kinetic 600

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Thanks for the advice... yes I had to crawl inside the tent to re position one of the beams so I know what you're referring to with that.
We went round looking at tents to compare it against others, and although I liked the look of the Kampa Air Filey 6 - it's similar to the kinetic but has the porch/canopy permanently attached - but the only problem is that it would probably be too heavy for me to lift without my husbands help, which was one of the key points to getting an airbeam in the first place so that I can pitch the tent with the kids and my husband join us later after work etc. So we decided that we would persevere with the kinetic and that it was the best option. We also discovered that although it says Nov 2011 on the tag, it's actually classed as a 2012 model which Vango themselves confirmed. And they also said that although the instructions state between 3-4 psi, that we should actually be aiming for between 6-7 psi which would obviously make the tent quite a bit more robust. Vango also said that they initially tested with clips to attach the canopy but found that in high winds the clips banged on the beam and created too much noise, so went for the guy lines instead - which they said should go immediately to the floor (which I think is what Gary advised you on this thread) and not towards of the back of the tent at all (we've seen some pictures on internet showing the lines going over the tent and towards the back, passing through the webbing that attaches the tent guy lines to the tent)... so we will try this method when we next pitch it and hope for the best.
Thanks again for posting back to me.

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