We have just bought a Outwell Woodlake 7atc. Looked at many different tents and this best suited our needs. We haven't used it yet but plan to put it up to check it over before we go away the start of August.
Maybe something else to look at as it is the same price range as the Vango above. Not sure on the kayham.
Good luck in your search.
Have you been camping before, a mistake some people make is spending a small fortune on all the top camping equipment, only to have a poor weather weekend and decide it's not for them.
If you can I would recommend borrowing a tent to see if everyone enjoys it before splashing the big bucks.
On the tents themselves you are not going to be short of space, will you be looking to stay on an electric hook up pitch, if so the tents might be too big for some sites, but you will have plenty of others to choose from.
Whichever you choose I highly recommend having a practice pitch before going away, it will make the holiday go much more smoothly.
Thank you for your responses. I have been camping before but only with a little 2 man tent and I found so many things I would do differently next time round as it did effect our stay but my reasons for bigger and better are just longevity really I just want the one tent if there is such a thing.
I would admit it is excessive for a first major tent but space is priority
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Oft overlooked in the enthusiasm for erected tent facilities is packed size and weight! - will it fit your vehicle boot and can you move it! Airbeam tents are notoriously heavy because it's an all in one package, whereas poled tents can be spit into flysheet and poles to make handling easier.
The Vango is L82.0 x H54.0 x W60.0cm and a hefty 52.3Kg (115Lbs/8.25St)! That's a small persons weight!
The Khyam is 84 x 67 x 67cm but an almighty 67Kg (148Lb/10.5St)!!!!! That's near the average UK adult female weight!
My caravan airbeam awning weighs around 20Kg, and even as a strong hefty bloke, that's as much as I want to shift on my own, as an awkward load that is mostly lifted/carried one handed by nature of shape and handles. We've also got a 6 berth poled tunnel tent, that's around 25Kg and pushing limits for one to carry!
I'd question whether either of the tents you have shortlisted are manageable unless you have two strong adult men to handle! ... and even then, quite a challenge!
The other aspect of tents that erected size is, are you limiting the pitches you can book? Not all sites can/will accommodate extra large tents! Don't forget you need around an extra 2m on footprint dimensions for guy ropes!
oh paper the kyham is the better tent, however, both are air tents and as such if i ws looking to buy i would be avoiding them like the plague esp with those price tags. why? well in under 2 years when you come to needing replacement air poles i doubt either company will have them available. read on here many many times of tents around that age and the owners are then stuck with an un useable expensive tent - where as a poled tent replacement poles, even if you had to shorten one to fit would actually still work. the other side of things is the overall weight, you know the one where you get to your site and have to lift it out the car/trailer, the kyham esp is going to take a min of 3 people to lift it! where are you going to pitch it? most campsites wont have the size required for either tent, then once home how are you going to get them fully dry? is your garden big enough to fully pitch the tent and leave it up for what could end up being a couple of days to make sure its 100% dry, the sort of money your planning to spend you dont want mould growing on them which can happen if even slightly damp
Thank you these are all excellent points and to be honest things I didn’t take into consideration at all so thankful you have shared real life experience as ultimately this has deterred me from wanting the largest size and potentially even the air route.
I did not realise the air models had such common issues after 2 years “typically when the warranty runs out”
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Depending on your budget, if you are after longevity I can highly recommend Karsten Tents (Queue a collective groan from the UK campsite community!) they are not cheap, but you definitely get your moneys worth.
They are modular canvass air tents that have been on the go since the 80's, my tent is 8 years old and still going strong. Google the camping travel store for the UK dealership, the owners are really helpful if you have any questions.