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Me and the family (wife 2 chidren 1 dog) have made the decision to enter the world of camping.  I grew up on a stable diet of caravaning with my accomadation later switching to tents as I grew older so I am convinced it will be a great way for us to enjoy many holidays together.

Now the reason for the posting - to seek advice and guidance.

I have spent the last few weeks looking at various tents and at present I am considering the Vango Diablo 600 (plenty of space and an integral groundsheet - both essential).  I would be very interested (and grateful) to here peoples opinion of this tent and other recommendations.

Many thanks to all that take the time to respond.

Cheers

Hi

Have you looked at the Outwell Sun Valley Range?  We have the Sun Valley 8 but don't use the small third bedroom providing a large enclosed living area and also a huge porch with loose groundsheet.

As other people always advise on here - always get the biggest tent your budget will stretch to.  It might be worth considering the 900.  We are a family of 2 adults, 2 children and 2 dogs and have a 9 man tent. 

We have enough extra bedroom space that we can keep everything out of the main living area that doesn't need to be there.

 We looked at Diablo's last year when we wanted to change our tent - they looked very good.  It might be worth considering the Outwell Hartford xl they also have a good following on here.

It's all personal choice at the end of the day!

Hi

We have the Diablo 600 (me, kev and lucy age 10) and it does us fine.  I think it would be fine too with 1 more child.  Great tent, lovely and warm with the built in groundsheet.  Plenty of room in the living area for 3 chairs, table, fridge and everything else.  Bedrooms slope which is a bit of a pain, but other than that we love it.

Michelle

The sun valley 6 is a lovely tent ,seen it arrected at Mitchells  !!

the pictures on the net dont do it justice they only show the side view

Hello righttrack. 

I've just been through all the thought processes your having.. look at http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=3&TopicID=36157&PagePosition=1    the guys on here gave me oodles of help, advice and more suggestions than I could keep up with (except how to shorten a link!)   And I've gone for a Hartford Xl  from basecampuk, which were the cheapest for Outwell kit - which I believe is quality.  if you phone them they are really helpfull too.

There's also a lovely site www.completeoutdoors.co.uk that has wee films of quite a few tents .. so you can 'walk inside' if you know what I mean.   It's OK if you have broadband. 

There's only 3 of us and the dog - the xl is supposed to be 12 berth or something .. it's big but not that big .. anyway I found it useful to print out all the plans and compare them (if your not techie.. then just right click & print picture).

basically we get 3 bedrooms .. we'll use one for storage..  7 the dog .. if he behaves!

Good luck.  Christine 

Following on from the earlier comments, get the best that you can afford else you'l lonly regret later.

Personally I can recommend the Khyam Ridgi-Pod range. Its flexible design means that if you fancy nipping off for a quite weekend lone without the kids you're not stuck rattling around in a huge family sized tent. Equally, if the kids want to take some friends then they can be easily accommodated.

It might cost more, but it really is worth it.

We are still quite new to camping and I got loads of advice from the "old hands" on here.

We bought the Sunncamp APS3006+ which is a fantastic tent. It takes just 30 minutes to erect completely (outer can be done in about 10-15 minutes even by us camping virgins!) and has LOADS of space!!

We took 4 children, 2 adults and the dog camping with us at Easter and the weather wasn't great! We set up the inflatable settee and also had a large table and 6 chairs round it all comfortably INSIDE the tent!

The 3 bedrooms are large enough to accommodate 2 adults in each and the living area measures 3m x 2m. Plenty of ventilation and the front door can either be roled up or used as a canopy to cook under.

Would definately reccommend you take a look.

HEJC72

I had not previously considered the Sunncamp range.  Having now visited various websites I am very intrigued, although the price is a little on the steep side.  Does the model to which you refer come with an integral groundsheet (SIG)?

Cheers