Vango Avington 500 Tent Reviews and Details

Tent Reviews: Vango Avington 500

Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Vango > Avington 500 Reviews

Current Model?
Berths:
Weight:
RRP on date added:
Bedroom inners:
Living area groundsheet:
Pitching Style:

Yes
5 (more 5 berth tents)
19.80 KG
Ł340.00
1
Fully Sewn-in
In one

Average User Rating:

9/10 from 4 reviews

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4 Reviews of the Avington 500

By: Hebburndave Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2017 Rating: 10 from 10

I have had lots of different tents over the years from cheap to expensive including my fave tent of all time the Vango mk3 force ten which was bullet proof. We never went camping for a few years and started again with my grown up sons and family. One bought the van go Langley 600 and I was taken with the quality. I only had a octagon 8 but was not happy in bad weather so I got the avington 500xl and never looked back. Usually only two of us so don’tt use room decider and we like our comfort we are in our sixties. I cannot find any fault to talk about. We regularly camp in the Lake District and as most people know can be realy bad. We have had every think possible thrown at us and the tent took it all in it’s stride. Bone dry and solid. I cannot comment on pegs because I always use good hard ground pegs because the places we use. As for the canopy we have sat in it while it lashed down and remained dry and the groundsheet extension is a nice little addition. I bought the footprint and carpet Well worth the money so protect your valuable buy. I would recommend this tent to anyone and even persuaded two nephews to invest in Vango

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By: Mikeymustard Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2016 Rating: 9 from 10

The tent in the picture is in fact the Avington 500xl - the 'excel' range has an extra panel to provide twice the living space. There's a smaller 500 still available which is cheaper so beware. Since this tent is still being sold (in 2018) I thought I'd give my thoughts on it after a couple of years of use.

I couldn't say if it would actually fit 5 adults, because there's only two of us, but whoever buys a 5 person tent for 5 people? Well, maybe someone who doesn't yet know the 'code'! That said, you could easily fit four full sized camping chairs into the living area without too much hardship.

Layout is fairly standard for a tunnel tent with living area at the front and a bedroom that can be partitioned into two if needed. The bedroom is a separate entity which, if kept as a single area can fit a full-sized blow up bed, with space to walk around. The main part of the tent has a side door with a net screen, a window in each side of the front section and big widows in the fully vertical front. The double-sized front door is very nice and with the windows makes a very bright space. There's one small niggle here: the front door doesn't have a screen.

The icing on the cake is the large built-in, full length sun canopy right across the front door area, which makes the large front door very useable. We've had tents with big doors and sloping sides before; one of them had a sun porch too - lovely idea 'til it rained then the canopy would pour water into the sloping doorway!

This is a good strong tent; we nearly lost it in a weird squall once, but if we'd had better pegs I doubt it would have been a problem (tip for newbies: buy stronger pegs than the ones provided!). This tent has Vango's TBS2 'tension band system', I have no idea if it helped when our mini tornado hit, but we did put them up.

I have two, admittedly small, or at least surmountable, niggles about the interior of this tent: the first is that due to the layout with the many windows and side door there's no built-in stowage pockets apart from round the bedroom area. The second is provision for light fitment: I don't know what other people do about lighting, but since it has velcro along the bedroom pole seam, I'm guessing the designers thought the best place to put a light would be against the bedroom. Wrong! Well, not me anyway, I like my pendant in the middle of the room. I'm guessing this is probably just a 'glitch', where they've added the extra section for the enlarged living room and not thought any more about it.

I've made a lot of my minor niggles but they are just that - very minor. Otherwise, my partner and I love this tent; it's spacious and light, so you never feel claustrophobic or shut in, even when it's raining.

I feel a bit mean giving it only 9/10 just because of those niggles, they're not deal breakers. Everything in life is a compromise: if the Avington had storage, then it might not have had the windows or extra door. I can buy or make storage options, but I couldn't add a window!

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By: Sunshine76 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2015 Rating: 9 from 10

We spent 2 weeks in this tent in Wales. Myself, partner and our dog. It was easy to put up and it stood upto rain and wind with no problems.

We didn't use the bedroom separater as we wanted our dog to sleep in the same pod as us. She is a lively boisterous dog so needed to keep an eye on her.

We had loads of room in the sleeping pod for our single airbeds and a dog bed plus afew bits of clothing and wash bags. The main living area was spacious to, we had two chairs, a small table plus if it was raining we had our stove complete with stand. We also kept boxes with food in, shoes, rucksacks etc. The canopy was invaluable as the stove went in one corner and a table in the other. Even if it was raining things kept dry unless it was raining hard. It just gave us a sense of more room without the need for a windbreak.

This will be a tent we will use for years to come as we don't want to change it.

The only small thing that would make it even better would be an inner mesh door on the front as we didn't really use the side door unless it was really warm.

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By: Icecubeinhell Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2015 Rating: 8 from 10

2015 model with 4000HH

All in all a very good tent, just spent 2 weeks in this tent and its been sunny, windy and very wet during that time and this tent has stood there and taken the lot.

Total pitching took me around 45 minutes, that's including pegging out all guy lines and getting the inner put in for the first time which I didn't think was too bad for the first time.

It hasn't let any water in at all and the last couple of days has been horizontal monsoon rain at times, its also been very windy at times with gusts up to 30 mph and its stood there and taken the lot, before buying I was worried about the front porch area catching wind and causing problems but nothing at all and at one point the wind was blowing straight into it.

The only niggles I have are: The front door hasn't got a mesh inner, I think it's time to just put a mesh inner on all doors.

Vango still using the same clips to secure the bedroom area to the floor, these clips are near on impossible to open and take the bedroom area back out, however cheep enough to replace with some cheap carabiners to make life easier.

The guy lines don't use the line lok runners but use basic runners, not a big problem but its the little things!

Lastly the tent pegs supplied well they are still in the bag, get yourself some rock pegs I use 6'' around the base and 8'' for the guys, it makes pitching and taking down so much quicker and easier.

Apart from the little niggles none of which affect performance of this tent it is very very good, the reason its only got an 8/10 is because those little niggles.

Yes I would buy again and I would recommend

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Manufacturer's Description

A favourite family camping tent is back for 2015, the Avington range. The five person tent is the perfect combination of style and functionality, that also offers a generous double section living space, meaning you can bring everything plus the kitchen sink! Other features include a full mesh side door and our patented TBS II® for extra stability. If this amount of space wasn’t enough, the Avington also comes with a pre-attached front extension, to give your family more space to lounge whether you are on a short break or a long holiday. A groundsheet for the extension area is supplied with the compatible Avington Footprint. If you are looking for an affordable, large family camping tent, then the Avington is perfect for you.

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