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 Topic: what tent to buy??? First Time Campers
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14/8/2013 at 11:24pm
Location: Northern Ireland
Outfit: Bell Tent Vango Coleman and Quechua
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Joined: 28/4/2013 Diamond Member 
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Welcome to the forum. You will need to consider a few things to do with your ideal tent. First of all, be aware that pitch sizes vary but if you get something too big (in terms of footprint, not height) you will find some campsites can't accommodate you, or they can but they'll put you across two pitches and charge you for two pitches. The two tents mentioned about should just about fit in to most sites, unless you are going to join the caravan and Camping club, they are strict about tent size and include the space that the guy ropes take up in their overall tent size.
Do you need a three bedroom tent because of kids, or are you hoping to use one for storage? If it's for storage there's tents like the Outwell Montana that have an additional side porch which people use not for access, but to store their camping loo, a foldable wardrobe or whatever.
A tunnel tent style tent is the most efficient use of space, and the style where you have a central living area and bedroom pods that stick out take up a lot of room and this is where you could end up with the double pitch charge again.
The Marisita tent mentioned in the last post is a Tunnel with a slightly bigger section in the middle, and would certainly be tall enough to accommodate your hubby. Look at the Vango Astoria as well, which has a central living area and bedrooms at both ends (which is called vis a vis style).
Decide if you want any porches/extensions available with the range of tents you decide on and order this at the same time as you get your tent. Models change from year to year and you may not be able to purchase the additional bits for it next year. Many tents now have built in porch areas, I like a porch because they generally have no groundsheet, or one that isn't sewn in and you don't have to use it. This provides a valuable wet weather area where you can put a dripping coat over the back of a seat and let it drip onto the grass, and you can store wellies there.
Try to view the tents you like the look of in the flesh, there's no substitute for walking around a tent and getting a feel for it.
Don't feel tied to a big retailer, smaller retailers often offer a discount and will give you better customer service too.
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15/8/2013 at 5:06pm
Location: Manchester
Outfit: Vango Maritsa 700; Isis 600 + canopy
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I'd agree that looking at the reviews and photos on this site is invaluable. I find the photos really useful, seeing how other people set up their tents in particular.
Then seeing the real thing set up in a showroom. I would then caution that they don't seem as big set up in a showroom as they do when you are trying to set them up yourself. Strange that. I had the same experience with a Christmas Tree, and I now own the biggest tree in the world, that pretty much fills my entire living room. I swear it wasn't that big when I bought it!
We have the Maritsa 700 as well. I think the headroom is good, but I'm 4'11" on a good day, so it's not something I really consider to be honest! It seems tall to me anyway.
However, it is wide at the back, which means that technically it's a bit too wide for C&CC standard pitches. By about 20cm I think, which is a bit annoying.
But it's got a built in porch, and BIG living area, which is what we wanted. To keep the kids amused when it's wet and cold.
But I think it does depend how you will use the space.
We did a trial run before we bought, with a pre-pitched tent. I think that was a Vango Icarus 500. For us, that was invaluable, because we learned about what we did and didn't need or want.
So, I might recommend that as well, several sites do it, or borrow a tent off a friend would be a cheaper way of doing it.
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welcome to the forum.
worth a look at the tent reviews section on here, top left hand corner!
