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Tent Reviews: Vango Aspen 700DLX
Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Vango > Aspen 700DLX Reviews
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Discontinued
7 (more 7 berth tents)
£550.00
3
Fully Sewn-in
Inner first
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Average User Rating:9.3/10 from 30 reviews
Viewed: 104137 times
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30 Reviews of the Aspen 700DLX
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By: Solitairefan1 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2006 Rating: 
I love this tent! This is the best tent ever made from Vango and we have been through a lot of them.
When this tent is up it 'ain't' moving anywhere. We used this for camping one summer and one night was howling winds, and this tent did not move!
There is plenty of space, the bedrooms are a very generous size, and the smaller of the 3 rooms we used for drying stuff, storing food and all the camping essentials you need. The pole overhead was brilliant for drying towels and coats.
The living area was very spacious and we could cook easily without tripping over things.
In the morning we tended to do the cooking in the porch area and leave the living area free. We didn't have the DLX model as when we first got ours, this type hadn't come out, but we were fine as it was, size wise.
The pockets are so handy for storage and should be made compulsory in all tents!
The only downside of this tent was the weight of the poles, and the erecting of this tent.
The poles are extremely heavy and are in a separate bag, which takes a lot of room in a car (we have an estate).
The erecting of this tent is quite difficult and fraught,
It was these 2 factors that made us downsize to a smaller tent. We only ever do long weekends or short weeks of camping.
We really didn't want to get rid of this tent, but weight and space was the factor here. Its a brilliant tent though and if you do 2 weeks of camping this is the one to get.
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By: Irene44 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2007 Rating:
Very difficult to erect first time but once you master the art it becomes easier try tying four made up guy ropes to the front and back frames to hold in place ,also put the two red roof poles that go from front to back once you have erected the legs.
It is a wonderful tent with plenty of space and stays up to bad weather we had two storms in a week and it never moved.The only gripe I have is I wish they could have made the living area doors with windows in so that you could look out .
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By: Caroline1302 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2005 Rating:
Like other reviewers, we love our Vango Aspen 700. We purchased 'our girl' in 2005 - it was love at first sight!
It took us three years to finally find a system of putting her up that works. The original erection instruction from Vango just didn't work for us and we struggled every time - it doesn't help that I'm vertically challenged - and I'll be honest, at one point we thought we'd have to sell her on because we just couldn't get the knack of putting her up in less than an hour.
The turning point came when I emailed Vango in desperation - they sent me a link to a video (which had been on their website at some stage but I've never seen it since). It was a revelation. The key is to think of it as a tunnel tent, but with extra bits front and back. It is such a good video I 'bluetoothed' it to my mobile phone so we always have it for reference should we forget a stage. This is how we do it:
Lay out the inner tent with the door where you want it to be.
Insert the three colour-coded side-to-side roof poles.
On one side only - fit the three colour-coded leg poles to the ends of the corresponding roof poles.
Then attach the leg poles to the ring and pin
Repeat the same action now on the opposite side
Now lay the three 'loops' one on top of the other - think concertina. The front door needs to be on top
Use the steel V channel pegs to secure the back corners of the inner tent to the ground
Then holding the three loops, lift them up so they are vertical and walk to where you want the front door to be ie as you are walking away from the back of the tent (which is secured to the ground) space out the loops as you go
Use the steel v channels to peg out the front corners of the inner tent - it will now stand up on its own! Promise!
Insert the two poles that run from the front to the back of the tent.
Insert the blue fibreglass pole
Again, as before doing one side at a time (in other words do the front first), attach the colour-coded leg poles to the corresponding roof poles. Attach to the ring and pin
Repeat the above for the back
Secure the inner tent to the poles with the clips, secure the inner to the ground
Throw the outer cover over, secure to the poles by bows
Attach to the outer to the ring and pins
Stick in your porch pole
Do your guide ropes
Job done, whilst inflating bed open wine/beer and relax!
Honestly this way really works for us, we can now get the tent up in around half an hour - and without any cross words!
Now onto the good bits about the Aspen. She is a huge tent, loads of flexible sleeping space and a hanging rail for your clothes! There are four of us, two adults and two (rescue) labs and we all fit in the sleeping area with loads of space to spare. We use one of the smaller rooms as a wardrobe/dressing area and the other as the dogs' room. Brilliant!
The living area is spacious and light, we can fit two chairs, two dogs beds, two tables and all our cooking gear in. This is a particular plus of the Vango because there have been many times when the weather has been appalling outside and we've been confined to the tent - but not once have we ever felt cooped-up.
There are fly screens on all the doors and windows which means no nasties can get it - and a particular plus for me is that is has a sewn in ground sheet.
The other really fantastic thing about this tent is how sturdy it is. We were in atrocious weather last August in Dorset - whilst other tents around us were collapsing and awnings ripped - our Vango Aspen stood up to it all - without a single leak.
The only downside is the weight of the tent and poles - but having experienced the weather we did last year and having come out of it unscathed, it is a small price to pay.
Basically, the Aspen 700 is just a brilliant tent. Although we intended to sell her this year - having purchased a smaller Evolution 400 last year - we can't quite bring ourselves to do it (yet) because nothing else comes close to the comfort and security she provides.
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By: Wannabecamper Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2007 Rating:
We have just returned from two weeks in our Vango Aspen. Love it. Love it. Love it! It feels so big inside. When we took it down and saw the footprint in the grass, it didnt look big at all. I think it is the shape of the tent that makes it feel so big inside. We were three adults,three children and 8 month baby (started crawling while away), and didn't feel cramped even when raining. As a family tent it is great as the partition between main bedroom and smaller comes down to make big space sleeping 5. The partition between the main bedr. And next smaller one has a zip door, so in the morning we would open all it up, pass baby through, chat etc. The other reason this tent feels so un claustrophobic is the height of roof, I am 5'11'' and there was about 6'' more, even in bedroom. Found all the windows a bit fiddly at first as there are alot, with different positions for ventilation when raining etc. But soon realised the benefits when it got really hot and when it did rain. Fantastic ventilation when you open up bedroom area.I couldnt find the Vango DVD before we left, so we didnt actually watch it. The intructions in bag could do with more detail. I.E. It just says 'roof poles' and doesn't say which colours. I copied a description from one of these reviews which helped alot. It took us a little while to put it up but now we know how to do it, next time will be alot quicker and easier. For a tent of this size it is pretty easy to erect. My only complaints are the porch ground sheet kept sticking outside in a couple of places, hence catching rain. We just used football and swimming ring on rainy nights to keep it in. Having said that, not sure if it was the way we put it up. Other small niggle, the windows in main bedroom are right over your head and can be draughty, I tied the 2 windows together in the middle rather than use toggles, this tightened it and didn't notice it after that. All in all I am very happy with this tent.
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By: Mumanddr Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating:
We bought this not having seen it up but loving it from the pictures. It is a wonderful tent and not too difficult to erect (though definitely a 2 person job). So much room, our children both have their own bedroom and sleep wonderfully in it. Loads of space and fantastic if raining as can keep the inner bit dry.
You put the inner tent up first which could be tricky if it was raining heavily - not had to do it yet! My only other 'complaint' is it is a little dark with not too many windows. Will be fine in warm weather as plenty of doors though. Lovely tent overall.
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By: Swappy Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2007 Rating:
We are a family of four children aged 5 and 8. We all love this tent if you use a heater. You can go away early season as sewn in groundsheet keeps weather out. The only problem that we have had is we went away last may, we used a footprint which doesn't come with any instructions. If you don't tuck under properly, rain water can get trapped between footprint and groundsheet - after a while water came through seams in floor.
Other than that we have had no problems. Lots of room .Would recommend the DLX as extra space in porch is great for setting up kitchen out of children's way
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By: Deabnik Reason: I've used one Made in: 2007 Rating: 
Reading the last comment on putting the tent up, We got a DVD with exactly those instructions. We can now put the tent up in 40 mins, and my better half is vertically challenged. One note, we have been away in it 3 times last yr and it rained on each occasion when erecting the tent, because this is inner first this is a problem you may understand, so on our first outing we had 'that fine rain that soaks ya' Nikki had the great idea of laying the outer over the inner while the unit was on the ground, then building the legs in. This stopped the inner getting soaked, but bear in mind it did make erecting the unit harder because if you dawdly it gets very heavy with the weight of the rainwater. That said once up it took minutes to dry the odd patch of water that had managed to get into the inner unit.
This is a great tent, with tonnes of space. The outer has a front porch area(the DLX bit) this is great because it is outside the inner, you can cook, clean, toilet(at night) and it acts as an area to change in if wet before entering the inner tent section, keeping everything separate, clean and dry. If you have small ones the only niggle is that its windows are not big enough, I mean that once the kids are out it is difficult to keep track of where they are. Our friends have a tunnel tent with a 'picture' window (also a vango) Nikki is very impressed with that idea. If we ever get away while its sunny and you can open all the doors and windows the Aspen should be much better.
If you can buy the foot print ground sheet, its well worth the money. Cleaning the sewn in ground sheet after a camping trip is a nightmare.
The Zambisei is the Aspen replacement and is outer first, consider this before buying the Aspen. Outer first is so much easier to handle and erect in bad weather.
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By: Linda Margaret Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2007 Rating:
Just bought a new still packaged 700dxl. Only issue we have is that there is rain water coming through the floor of the inner tent seems as if its penetrating through the seam of poly and the other issue is how the hell does the ground sheet to the front porch area fit the ground space as it does not make any sense. I am unsure as to the year of make.
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By: IanStewart Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2007 Rating:
Bought off eBay following excellent reviews and not disappointed.
Enormous and built like a tank, consequently also very heavy, particularly the steel frame.
Easy to erect with two 6'4' sons but when just my wife and I it requires some patience - not difficult just, big, heavy and time consuming.
Once pitched. It is as solid as they come withstanding all weathers.
Only once have we had a problem and that wasn't the tent but the ground. Ground became completely water-logged so much so that I could slid my hand into the ground beyond the depth of the pegs! Needless to say there was nothing holding the tent down when the wind got under it. We have since invested in 6 Delta Ground Anchors and though I doubt if even they would have helped in that extreme, we now sleep in absolute confidence no matter the weather.
Why not 10/10 - It's simply too heavy and it's pitched inner first. Vango's Zambezi fixed the inner first question, but sadly, that too is now discontinued.
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By: Dreamwolf Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2006 Rating:
We looked at various tents and it was during our trip to a camping place in Neston, Wirral where they had all the popular larger tents up in one place that we decided on the Aspen 700. We’re a family of three looking to use a tent a lot and therefore wish to be comfortable for stays up to a week.
The first thing you notice when you walk into one of these tents is how light and airy they feel, the light blue of the canvas makes them really light inside. They have a large living area to the front of the tent and you can have both side doors open too, so they really do have an open feel to them. In, say, the Diablo 900 I could image feeling a bit claustrophobic with the living area being right inside the middle of the tent, plus it was darker inside too.
We went for the 700 because although the 500 looked great too, it’s only when you see them side by side that you see how much more roomy the 700 is. Also I compared bag sizes in the shop and there’s not much in it. You still lose just about the same boot space with the 500 so for the extra £65 we thought it worth it. That said, if there was no 700 I would have been just as happy with the 500, maybe still even over the Diablo 900 as that tent has such a huge foot print yet the 500 aspen still has that feeling of more space.
The other thing we liked about the Aspens too was the sheer size of the bedrooms, all three are big but the middle master especially is good and you can stand up in them all too, just look at the room…
The two tent bags are large and the pole bag especially is very heavy. I would not like to carry it much further than the front door to the car. Not really a problem as when you get to a site you just pull it out the boot and almost straight onto the ground.
I have a Mondeo and the pole bag would go across the front of the boot towards the tailgate, and the tent bag would push in lengthways along the side of the boot leaving a reasonable area for other stuff to go in, eg. Folding table, chairs, gas stove and bottle. Our suit case will just fit on top. That leaves bedding, mats, sleeping bags to all get squashed up in the back seat of the car with our daughter. Other bits to go under seats and in the front passenger well with my wife. A squeeze I know and not ideal but I reckon we’ll manage it.
Getting it Up!
We emptied the bags on the grass and assembled all the poles first, easy because they are wired so you just unfold them and push them all together. The poles have coloured plastic bands on them that correspond to coloured bands on the inner tent sleeves.
We unfolded the inner and layed it out nice and flatish and because it was a wee bit windy just lightly pegged each corner, no need usually.
Now taking assembled yellow and green roof poles we carefully slid them through the corresponding roof sleeves of the inner tent. Yellows and greens first which go across the tent (3 lengths) and then reds which go front to back (2 lengths), also a blue fibreglass pole that goes down the middle of the roof but doesn’t seem to fit, seems too long until you start getting the roof lifted up and supported then it can be closed in with it’s Velcro fastener. Take care pushing the poles through the sleeves, I supported the weight and pushed slightly while my wife fed them through. Two people can assemble the tent. Once all the roof poles are in place and lying on the ground it’s a case of lifting up the sides in turn to first attach the down poles or legs. Someone can stand inside to help hold the pole up while another fits the legs in turn, it can be a bit awkward but not too problematic. We just went around each one in turn, first the two sides, then the front and back legs were fitted until we had an awkward looking free standing inner. I say this because until they are attached to the inner tent and pinned down the whole thing is very collapsible looking *lol*
Just go around each leg in turn attaching the clips of the inner tent to the poles first as in the picture below, you can see the plastic clips of the inner hooked onto the leg poles and also the colour coding system is clearly visible too.
At this stage we got a bit worried because when we looked inside the tent it was all distorted looking and the bedrooms were all “pulled” tight across the middle. Part of the problem was the inner was still pegged out at the corners from when we first layed it out, undoing all these then just carefully going around the tent and adjusting where the legs sit on the ground and just generally pulling it about here and there (being careful mind) got it all looking quite nice. When finished your erected inner tent then should look like this. Note the outer tent sitting in front waiting to be pulled over (above).
To me getting the inner up and getting it right is the main part of it all, once this is erected and free standing and secure the rest is a doddle, so I say take your time over the inner, don’t rush it or risk damaging it by over stretching seems and fasteners. Once the inner is right and even all round that’s 90% of it because the outer is just a doddle for two people to sort of throw over the front of the tent and roll it back over towards the rear, pulling it all down evenly and getting the stiched seems roughly in line with the poles and pegging it out. Also by having the inner tent erected correctly and sitting right means the outer sits correctly over the top of it too. So do get the inner tent up nice and right. It’s worth the extra time.
This tent has the ring and pin system to locate the lower inner ties to the bottom of the poles. It can be awkward and a bit of a stretch but basically you have to pull that pin downwards and hold the leg up to insert it from the bottom, it just sort of snaps up inside the hollow of the leg leaving the end bit outside. Go around doing this to all the pins, inserting them up inside the hollow leg poles. Not too difficult but can be a bit of a stretch.
On the front of the inner tent, porch area are two rings one either side with TWO pins attached, we couldn’t work out why there was two pins on these rings until we realised the long bendy porch pole uses one each side to locate itself and stop it’s ends springing outwards as shown, one pin is in the main steel pole and the other is up inside the fibreglass pole.
When erecting the inner, the instructions say to peg out the sown in ground sheet in the corners. At first glance this would appear to help in windy conditions but it serves another purpose we found. When erecting it was so calm we didn’t bother because you have to usually un-peg it anyway when the tent is up to get the tensions and dimensions correct. By not doing this we found it really difficult to erect the inner, the frame was just too sloppy and the poles kept falling over and coming apart due to too much movement. So we then pegged out the inner in the corners which this time just gave it that bit of stability to allow me to ring and pin before it all collapsed again.
Once the frame is up and standing on it’s own, it’s the ring and pin system that gives it it’s rigidity by connecting the inner tent to the frame at the bottom.
We found pulling the outer tent over from the front to the back the easiest method. Although the tent is high with two of us, one on each side we just kind of shook it over and allowed the breeze to give it some lift as we slid it back over the frame.
The outer tent also has some ties which tie around the steel frame poles, once pulled over my wife just sort of pushed up the outer and reached inside between the two tents to tie up the upper one and then when done reached up to tie the lower one to the poles.
Conclusion
She is a beautiful tent, very roomy and comfortable. We fitted everything in with space to spare. The porch area makes an ideal kitchen for the camping gaz stove etc, thereby also keeping the gas bottle out of the tent and sown in ground sheet area. We had two tables and three chairs inside with a 10” portable tv and electric hook up and room to walk around them. Due to the light blue colour she is very bright inside, so much so that even at night especially under a moonlit sky you can see inside really well. Very handy for getting up and using the chemical loo in the area of the third bedroom. It’s a handy room with a partition that divides it up into a rear toilet area and front wardrobe with hanging pole or it can just be used as a bedroom of course. This tent was as close to a home from home as tents get.
So I hope this is of some help to those thinking of buying or wanting to know how to put up an Aspen 700/500 series tent. It may look daunting but really it’s one of those instances where thinking about it is actually worse than just going ahead and doing it. It’s really not too bad to put up, just spend your time getting that inner tent erected nice and straight with the bedrooms looking right and the sewn in ground sheet sitting right and the rest is easy. The outer goes on easy by pulling it over front to back and just going around pulling it down and straightening it up, pegging down etc.
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30 User Reviews of the Aspen 700DLX - Showing 21 to 30 Page:
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Manufacturer's Description
A range of tents inspired by some of the nomadic tribes of Asia. The rigid steel frame offers exceptional room and living space combined with stability and weather resistance. Plenty of doors, windows and vents add to the comfort and flexibility for the family or group.
"The Aspen...plenty of light and ventilation...the living area can easily be sealed off against drafts and bugs...the separate porch area is ideal for storing wet or dirty equipment." CAMPING MAGAZINE
SPECIFICATION
Flysheet: Protex 5000
Groundsheet:Polyehtylene
Inner: Breathable H2O repellent Ripstop Polyester
Poles: Steel & Fiberflex
Design/Style:
• Rigid steel frame which ensures the tent is secure and provides a comfortable living space.
• Sewn-in groundsheet which adds protection, comfort and helps keep the bugs out.
• Seam taped flysheet which gives long lasting protection from the elements.
• Mesh ventilation on the inner tent reduces the build-up of condensation and keeps bugs out.
• Bathtub inner groundsheet which gives you total climate protection and prevents insects crawling in.
• Mesh side door which adds extra ventilation options.
• Fibreflex fibreglass poles which are though, sturdy & reliable.
• Colour coded poles which help you put the correct poles in their pole sleeves.
• Extended porch on DLX models with skylights on the front and side which increases the light and airy living space.
• Crystal Clear windows which allow the maximum amount of light through.
• Roller bag with zip opening for easy packing away and transport.
... there may be more info on their website
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