I don't restrict myself, I'd be more restricted if we had a larger tent. I want to be able to use C&CC sites too. I want to be able to go anywhere, without the worry or wondering if we'll fit on a pitch or having to pay for a larger pitch.
Hence why we purchased the Inspire as it has everything we could want in a tent. If the weather is rubbish we'll be eating inside as we're a little bit wussy
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Leeds123 - I'd really suggest you have a look at both tents if you can. We saw the Evoque first at a local tent show, really liked it and headed off that day to buy it.
Then saw the Inspire - we spent far too much time walking between each tent comparing them and finding faults in both! Coming from the huge Maritsa we knew we'd compromise on space, but we feel the Inspire/Awning gives us the same level of space we had with the Maritsa.. and we can still add a tarp at the front to give us a canopy!
Hi, We cooked just inside the front door, with door wide open. However, we are fair weather campers so this was not very often. The point i'm making is that if there are only two of you then this canopy area may be enough, but don't forget the rain usually comes down at angle so you will lose at least another 1-2ft of usable space if it rains.
The sun canopy is far greater in area allowing us to have the table and chairs out without getting wet and to cook under.
We have looked at the Vango tents as well - Eclipse / Inspire / Evoque. We opted for the Evoque 600 with front awning - as that offers a slightly smaller tent for shorter trips, and a larger set up with a front area that can be enclosed or opened up depending on the weather.
We've not tried it yet (picked it up on Saturday) - but hoping that the combination will be good for the mixture of camping trips we go on.
We did try the Kampa Filey Air 6 - but 2 tents had various issues so we lost faith. We liked the space and ease of set up, so the Evoque and awning was the next option.
One thing you need to be aware of...stock availability... The Vango's will be sold out everywhere soon (all three styles mentioned)and the front awning, footprints and carpets are already hard to get hold of.
------------- Gary Cross - The masked camping guru.
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To be honest time is running out for us to go camping this year (so many weekends already busy!) so this may turn into next year's project. Am I better waiting for 2015 stock or buying now? I'm guessing the airbeams don't go in any sales so still tempted to buy now.
There's bound to be something new next year but you would be hard pushed to beat any of the big Vango styles and no there will be no spare stock being cleared. I would advise you make sure if you are buying a polyester inflatable tent to go for a 150 denier fabric, if you are paying this much and the 70 denier tents are only £100 or so cheaper I think you might as well go for the 150 denier fabric.
Prices will not be going down, the only way prices will fall on these products is if features are taken away or fabrics are not as good.
------------- Gary Cross - The masked camping guru.
As an evogue owner i think it's a great choice for the flexible reasons stated. Let me know how you get on with the awning as we went for the sun canopy. The awning looks great but why put a sloping door on front grrr
------------- atko
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I have a utopia 400 along with the extension/canopy. Really love it especially as its polycotton. Only used it twice so very upset that we are selling it due to health issues. The extension make it a large unit that is great.for 3 adults so do what hubby does and buy one way too big as it can limit pitches available
We've got the vango inspire 600. We bought it for the size of it as there is 5 in our family. The living area easily has our huge table in it if it's awful weather and that's with everything else we have in it. We've just been to Abersoch in it and wow it was windy. The porch did not balloon or the tent move at all. It stood fast in 84kph gusts. It rained heavy whilst we were there and I still cooked in the porch area. We are going to purchase the side awning for next year as we wanted to be able to sit in the front porch so the kitchen will be going in the side awning. I agree with the comment about pitch size.... just go to sites it's not a problem! There's plenty out there. We looked at the evoque and although it's a great tent the sheer size of the inspire swung us.