Hi. I am looking to buy a 2 or 3 man backpacking style tent. Have been looking at vango banshee 200\300 and robens challenger which I like the design of.
Has anyone had experience of these tents? Or
Any good alternatives at similar price point.
Many thanks
Oliver.
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hi scarffo ..I have a banshee 300 which im still waiting to use.. iv been inside a banshee 300 set up at a camping shop and its plenty big enough for me or possibly 2 people.. its smallish when packed away .. im not sure of the weight the dimenntions when unopened and haven't seen anything on the robens challengers..
Thanks. Yes the Banshee 300 does look good and very spacious for this kind of tent. Not too concerned about weight .Am thinking this could be good purchase. I will go to see them erected as well before I buy though.
Regards.
hi scarfo.. try and ring gooutdoors if you have one set up nearby were you live.. im sure that's were I saw them.i dropped on by ringing blacks then ringing go outdoors for a pricematch.. I got the 300 for the price of the 200 from about £100.00 down to £63.00..
------------- camperman
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They have both the Banshees set up in the Oxford go Outdoors store. I was there a couple of weeks ago buying the 200 as it's a great little expedition tent. They're very low; this means they're sturdy in bad weather but I can barely sit up in the 200. They're fairly short too; I sleep in the middle and have to position myself pretty accurately so as not to have either my feet or hood touching the top / bottom / roof and I'm only 5'8". If weight isn't an issue I'd get the 300 as you get a back door and more porch with it too but the 200 is great for backpacking.
I had a look at these at the local GO store. The 300 is a nice tent, dual porches, and plenty of room inside to lie out ( I am also 5'8") and store gear.
If I didn't need extra space to store motorcycle gear when touring I would seriously consider one.
Thanks for your post. I camp solo, I love it as well. Peace and quiet!
Not sure whether to go for more room or a nice cosy space at moment!
I don't mind mates coming along, but not to keen on tent sharing these days. Must be getting older!
If it's for solo use and you're backpacking (where the grams do start to add up) it might be worth looking at the Wild Country Zephyros tents. They're essentially budget versions of their sister company Terra Nova's Laser Comp tents.
Budget makes all the difference, my personal preference would be for the Zephyros 2 Lite at 1.3kg which is pushing £200, but the normal Zephyros 2 is still only 1.63kg - half a kilo less than the Banshee (and more than that if you go for the heavier 2014 version of the Banshee) and is in a similar price range.
Either Banshee or Zephyros is a good shout - they've both got good reputations for being solid tents - but I'd personally go for one of the Zephyros range as whilst not being an ultralight gram counter I do a lot of walking in the hills, and carrying unnecessary weight up high isn't much fun. In fact I would if I hadn't fallen for the Scarp 2 (much more expensive but good for winter wild camping up high.)
hi scarffo ...another nice little vango tent is the sigma 300+..completely sown in ground sheet and 2 porches front and rear of tent and a biggish sleeping/living area.. enough for 2 people you can store your gear in both porches of tent leaving room in your main area.
------------- camperman
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you probably aware of this anyways, but just in case or for anyone else reading...
i used to own a vango omega 350 tent. it was an excellent tent, packed up tiny, had a 5000mm hh and was light. BUT it didnt have a sewn in groundsheet in the area outside the bedroom.
one stormy night the wind was whipping through this " sitting / living area " and carrying the lashing rain with it making everything in there wet /damp and the bedroom was very cold as a result of the wind whipping into the tent.
i quickly sold it after that trip and bought a kampa minnis4 ( not suitable for your trips as too heavy ) but what an improvement over the omega350.
i still cant understand a manufacturer making a tent with excellent 5000mm hh flysheet and omitting a sewn in groundsheet. the flysheet repelled the torential rain that night without a drop coming in but as the rain ran down the tent sides running off onto the ground, the wind just whipped it right inside the tent through the gap between flysheet and the silly toggled in groundsheet soaking everything in the process. madness!.
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Thanks for your experience, yes you bring up a really interesting point. Some of the tents seem to have really infuriating designs . I haven't experienced that but my Lichfield treklite which is a good tent, is just to well vented and as a result if its windy its bloomin cold, brrrrr. No satisfactory way of adjusting it and particularly not from the inside.
I am wondering a bit if the Vango banshee suffers a similar problem.
I really like the look of the robens tents, they seem to be so well thought out, but haven't seen one erected yet!
I have a couple of other tents I can use, so I'm not going to rush into buying an upgrade without seeing it first and comparing a few good ones, finally learning from past mistakes :-)
Thanks for your comments, regards.
glad it was useful info for you. iv got now a Vango Ark ds400 for a small overnight tent - very easy to put up ( only 2 poles ) and a few guy lines.
its nicely put together and is very lightweight and packs down small - perfect for me for breaking a long journey for an overnight rest kind of thing.
it Does have a sewn in groundsheet both the porch and the bedroom area. the bedroom is supposed to sleep 4 ( like sardines maybe ) but is very comfy for 2 and very spacious for 1 person.
i got mine on sale for 49.95 ( they usually almost twice that ) and they are available in the 200 and 300 versions - have looky at the usual sites. Go had them on display last year too.
mine :-
the newer model ( black roof ) is available in the 400 version like mine here :-
hi scarffo ..yes the vango 400 ds ark is a nice tent..i had the 400 in a bright yellow colour but sold it to Julie zivadog . ive just been on outdoormegastores website and they are selling ds ark 200+ and ds ark 300+ special editions