I have always just went camping at festivals and the odd weekend with mates and always had the same tent, a 15 year old Eurohike 5 man tent, which has done the job perfectly.
I have now got married and have got two boys 6 yo and 4 yo. We have done the odd weekend away in Sark but as the wife and kids like inflatable mattresses it's a bit cramped.
So it's now come to the time to purchase a family tent, maybe a 6 person tent with a a living area and either two or three bedrooms. I have been looking on e-bay and various camping websites but not sure what to get. I have a budget of approx £150, but I have noticed that a lot of 6 person tents are well over 20kg in weight and as I will have to carry it sometimes especially when I go to Sark I would like a tent under the 20kg mark. Also I would like to have a tent that pitches fly first and is very waterproof . Any suggestions.
The makes I have seen that look interesting are Outwell, Sunncamp and Skandika Jasper, I would like one with a SIG if poss which I don't believe the Skandika has.
Any help for me to make a decision would be greatly appreciated.
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hi shiva i have for sale a 5 birth outdoor revolution vrx500 tunnel never been used for £75 you can find the tent in the shop section it may be of use to you
The 2007 Vango Oregon 600 has a SIG and weighs in at 21.30kg, but is a little over budget; £184.95 at Outdooraction. If you could do without the SIG, the 2006 version weighs 21.30 and costs just £119.95. Also on this website, the 2005 Campus (Khyam) Yale, a SIG tent (but inner-first pitching) weighs just 17.5kg and costs just £89.95, which has to be worth considering?
Hi Quong, I know I've asked this before but must have missed the answer - you always seem to have a really impressive knowledge of the Sunncamp range of tents, and often of the ones on sale at awnings.co.uk.
Do you have any particular connection with Sunncamp or just a dedicated fan? No probs either way but its just nice to know where people are coming from! Cheers. MT
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
I agree with M.T. that it's nice to know whose views are independent, and who is speaking from a retail perspective. If nothing else, we then know whose advice to seek on issues relating to manufacture, guarantee or customer service issues.
Hi shivadread ( great user name by the way - must come from all them years going to festies??)
You are going to struggle to find something of carry-able weight for 4 - this usually puts you into a higher price bracket for something with alloy poles like the Robens Double dreamer. If carrying- weight is an essential consideration (and camping on Sark sounds fab!) then maybe two smaller tents would be best, though you would be unlikely to have standing height with such an arrangement.
If 16kg is carry-able, then I second the Sunncamp Ventura suggestion.
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
Thanks for all the suggestions. I've got my choices down to these:
Sunncamp Invader 600
Sunncamp Evolution 600 (worried about the leaking issues)
Wynnster Mallard 6
Sunncamp Ventura
Any recommendations on the above, really like the look of the Evolution 600, does anybody know whether the leaking now been sorted out on the 2007 model.
Hi there,
I have an Evo 600, and love it! I have last years model which was apparently leaky, but never had any issues with water ingress, even in the tail end of a tropical storm that we experienced in september last year in cornwall!
Only niggle I have with it is that the pitching can take a little time to get used to, but other than that its a good 'un!
This is it getting slightly distorted in a 20mph side wind