Hello I'm relatively new to camping and would be very grateful for some advice please. I've got a family of 6, 2 adults 4 kids aged 8 to 1. I need a tent to sleep us all and would rather the bedrooms were blackout so have been looking at coleman tents but reviews on most seem conflicting. Good on here but bad on other sites. Can someone tell me their recommendations please. We are looking at poles rather then inflatable due to cost and packing size. Budget of preferably below £350 of possible. Thanks in advance
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You will struggle to fit all 6 of you in a 6 man tent, you might be better with an 8 man vis a vis style layout.
The Royal buckland 8 is highly recommended and the zip on side porch makes life much easier.
350 means second hand unless you get lucky on Facebook marketplace or gumtree ect
Blackouts are a bugger in the day, esp if wet & kids want to read,draw, play etc in bedrooms. Mate of ours had one. A bigger outwell, say Vermont xlp will do large family & you can pick em up used on Ebay for cpl hundred. Never had a prob with kids sleeping or waking early in our tents & none were blackout. U do need size with a large family tho
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Thank you for the replys. I don't think any of my kids have ever slept until 8!!! We went away last year for 1 night and they didn't get to sleep until gone 11 because of excitement and the light then we're up at 4am when the sun came up. They usually sleep in dark rooms so that's why id prefer that as I can't see a camping trip lasting more then a night otherwise!!
Quote: Originally posted by Potter10 on 15/7/2019
We went away last year for 1 night and they didn't get to sleep until gone 11 because of excitement and the light then we're up at 4am when the sun came up.
We generally find that on the first night, from night 2 on, they are fit to collapse from all the running round and exploring and sleep from 11ish till 8 at the earliest. It was close to 10 one morning last year and we were nearly getting worried about them, it was a dull overcast morning tho which helped.
The tent we have at the moment is the Hi Gear Kalahari 8, the newer model is 349 at the moment with darkened bedrooms, loads of bedroom space, plenty comfy/spacious for 6 but the living area is slightly smaller than we'd like, no issues in good weather as we spend most of our time outside and really only sit inside once it starts to cool down late in the evening.
When the weather isn't good tho it can be cramped once the table, and the camp chairs are inside tho.