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Thanks for the info, it's good to hear from someone who has the sun valley

How long did it take you to put up? Why did you choose it rather than a tent from the hartford range?

The other main difference to consider is that the Hartford goes up inner first, which means you are vulnerable in rainy weather, whereas the SV goes up all in one or outer first, so your inners are protected.

Having looked (longingly) around the SV8 at CCC acouple of weeks ago I have to say that if I was looking for a large tent, it would quite probably get my vote........

We have the Sun Valley 8 although we haven't used it yet.  The reason we liked it more than other tents with a sewn in groundsheet was the fact that it pitches outer first.  My other half will tell you that a rain cloud hovers over wherever I go therefore, I didn't fancy pitching inner first.

We are not planning on using the small third bedroom in the sun valley thus giving us a huge sewn in living area. 

As my friend has decided to get married this bank holiday weekend we will not get away in it until the end of May so if you want any more info, ask me about it after that! 

i,ve just bought hartford x l it gets my vote.as for the door way in bedroom found main entrance ampal room and thats with 2 adults 3 kids {10,6,4} and two medium dogs

good look your choice

Tayorst, large tents which pitch inner-first (eg the Hartford) are the marmite of these boards. Some people love 'em, others really, really don't.

So you might find it difficult to get the sort of objective comparison between an inner first and a flyfirst tent that you would get between two tents of similar pitching styles.

The big question is - do you yourself like marmite, er sorry, inner first tents! Its a personal choice thing.MT

Taken the plunge and bought the SV8. Trying to decide between the 2 was starting to drive me insane! Thanks for the posts - found them v helpful. The SV8 looks fab (we love the porch area) and we are really looking forward to our first trip away in it. We are going to put it up in the garden tomorrow and sleep in it tomorrow night - sad, I know, but if we are putting it up, we want to use it! - and we want to see how the dog copes with camping life.

We also bought a coleman dual fuel stove. Will this be sufficient for a family of 4, with a barbeque, or do we need a griddle type thing? Your advice would be much aprreciated.

It's up & looks great!

We started with the back pole & moved forward, pegging as we went. Found it much easier to manage once we had put the horizontal poles in too. Took a while - but not too bad for a first attempt. We took it steady & didn't rush.

Question - what are the metalic loops for inside the porch area? Are they just for pegging down, or is there some other purpose we are missing?