Vango Nile 800 Tent Reviews and Details

Tent Reviews: Vango Nile 800

Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Vango > Nile 800 Reviews

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

Discontinued
8 (more 8 berth tents)
58.14 KG
Ł550.00
4
Fully Sewn-in
Fly first

Average User Rating:

6.86/10 from 7 reviews

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7 Reviews of the Nile 800

By: Moongate10 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 8 from 10

We love this tent, its roomy, light, quite easy to put up once you've don't it a few times, is sturdy and strong.

BUT!

The downside for me is the HUGE stupid design flaw. The front canopy isn't full. Its a sunshade.Okay, but: The material finishes about a 1/4 way down the pole, leaving the sides totally uncovered, this offers no protection from the elements, and also makes this area unsuitable for storage. This means when it rains and water gathers on the roof of the canopy and you go to open the tents front door, (bottom front left corner)with the tugging movement, the rain runs from the canopy roof, down the 1/4 sides onto your back or head and you get soaked, rain water leaks into the tent and everything in the vicinity get drenched. I have looked everywhere for a full canopy, or a canopy extention but they don't exist, even tried Vango direct, no joy. Why on earth tent designers make half canopies with no sides is beyond me, it would cost them pennies to make it a full canopy with sides, call it an extention then,. But it would mean you are A) protected from the elements, B) can use the area for storage or for cooking and C) you wont get wet trying to open your tent door, its not rocket science Vango! its frustrating and its the only thing stopping me from giving it full marks.

1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

By: BUGGYBOY Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 9 from 10

Bought this in the sale last year and boy what a tent !

Had 3 great trips away so far including 2 weeks in Hayle, Cornwall, where it stood up with no fuss in a pretty bad storm.

The tent is a little difficult to put up with just 2 adults, takes us about an hour now including all the guy lines out.

The living space is VAST !

We have 2 inflatable sofa's, 2 coffee tables a tv etc and there is loads off room left for the kids to play in. When we were in Cornwall I even moved the trailer in there so we could pack up in the dry !

The side pods are a great idea, we use the smaller one as the entrance porch and the bigger one to store all the other bits and bobs.

We have had no issues with water coming in through the zips so I wonder if the velcro covers were put down correctly on the other reviews ?

All in all this is the best tent we have ever had, it's home from home with the carpet down.

The only thing that I would have liked to have seen was on the storm skirt on the front of the tent to have a zip or more fastening points to stop the draft getting in , I bought some velcro and have fixed them along the edge and they work just fine.

3 from 3 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

By: GlenandTracey2805 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 8 from 10

Overall we are very satisfied with this tent. After a couple of camping trips in a small dome tent we decided to upgrade for the extra comfort and space. It is fairly heavy to erect and takes two people to put it up properly. It can be time consuming however having now used the tent 3 times we have it up in under an hour. We have used the tent in some pretty windy and rainy weather and it has held up well with no leaks and little movement in the wind. We had a problem with the side inner pod with a couple of tears when it arrive but this was down to poor packaging and the retailer sent us out a new pod. We are a family of four and the Nile 800 offers plenty of space, is well insulated for cold nights and was a great purchase. Our camping friends were so impressed that they bought one the next day.

2 from 2 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

By: Swordsman Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 6 from 10

This is a very big and heavy tent that comes in 2 bags. It is not the easiest to put up and takes us about 2 hours to fully erect it. It has an enormous living area with massive headroom across the full width of the tent, absolutely ideal for a family with a 6'4' dad! There is plenty of space for 3 tables & 4 chairs, and still have lots of room for the kids to play when the weather keeps you indoors. The zip on pods give it great versatility with various combinations of extra doors, bedrooms or cupboard space. With no pods attached it manages to stay within the Caravan Club size regulations. The enormous front door unzips in hot weather turning the living area into a huge veranda.

However it is not all sweetness and light. Apart from the weight and difficulty in erecting, there were a couple of leaks coming through the seams. Nothing major, just drips in what was pretty torrential rain, but annoying nontheless. We fixed those with seam sealant but noticed a couple more on our next trip. Unless the tent is totally taut rain can collect on the roof which you have to dispell by prodding the ceiling.

Due to the large fixed windows (which cannot be opened) the tent acts like a huge greenhouse and quickly heats up during the day, and you are constantly opening and closing the main door to regulate the temperature. Getting in and out when that main door is closed is a pain as you unzip it from the corner and stoop through the gap, getting wet if it's raining as this area is not fully covered by the canopy. The main door attaches to the ground sheet via 4 toggles (one of which was broken on ours) causing draughts. Although that door unzips to keep the tent wonderfully airy and cool in hot weather, it also lets in the mozzies and flies. In retrospect I would prefer a tent with a smaller conventional central door and windows with a mesh covering for ventilation.

So a large family tent then with some great features, but which is not faultless by any means. We would probably return it if it wasn't for the bargain price we paid for ours.

1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

By: Nickjcs Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 4 from 10

I bought a Nile 800 last week for camping this weekend. I previously owned a Vango Verona ( cheap but well made starter tent ). This was to be my first 'proper' family tent, and I must say I am really disappointed with it.

The weather in Poole this weekend was not great and within a couple of hours of rain the tent started to leak. It leaked badly through the pod zips on both sides ( on the horizontal sections ) Water was also dripping though the fabric onto the lamp that was attached to the central support.

One of the heavy duty clips that hold up the bedrooms snapped, and some the stitching on the front canopy has frayed. I have lots of other niggles with this tent, but maybe the leaks have clouded my judgement!

It has only been used for 3 nights from new and I am not confident this tent would last for several years of regular camping. It is a shame as it really spacious and would probably be great for a rain free holiday.

I am hoping that I won't have any problems returning it to the retailer tomorrow.

1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

By: Cjh_ Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 4 from 10

Great size and superb living area, perfect for a long stay. The large front door is great when the weather is nice when you can open it up fully but conversely can be quite flappy when the wind gets up as it is held by only four or five toggles at the bottom.

It is OK to put up but is heavy and takes up a big storage area at home. It is easy to take down and, if you remember to roll up towards the front door so all the air gets expelled, it easily fits back into the oversized bag.

Now for the crunch - we were let down on the tent’s first serious outing, a two week trip to Cornwall in our wonderful British Summer weather. The tent stood up to some quite windy weather but.

…. It leaked badly through the zips at the horizontal sections on the pods, especially on the bedroom side where the inner attached to the toggle and put strain on the zip (removing the toggle slowed down the leak). I can't see how to fix these leaks with seam sealant as water was coming through the zip and I have been trying to think if we did anything wrong when we were pitching but this does seem like a design fault. We eventually had to move our son from the side bedroom to share with his sisters (!) and zip off the pod with the inner door in order to direct water away from the living area.

There were also leaks through several places on the seams and also through numerous toggles and window velcro pieces, one even dripping onto the EHU - it was lucky I woke up on the first night of rain and moved the electric. I could have fixed some of these with seam sealant but due to the major leaks described previously, I didn’t want to as I had every intention that the tent had to be returned to the vendor and / or swapped for a different tent.

All in all, I feel disappointed with the tent and it could so easily have ruined our holiday. We spent a small fortune drying towels we had put down to soak up the leaks. It was our second tent since rediscovering camping and our first, much cheaper, tent did not leak like this - it seems you don't always get what you pay for. The good news is that the shop where we bought it has been good and we have now swapped it for a Hartford XXL, originally our second choice when we bought in May.

1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

By: Anitashara@hotmail. Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

We bought this one because of the living space and generous accommodation. Unfortunately the first one we had leaked! Luckily we had set it up in our garden for our first weekend. The independent shop we got it from swapped it with no trouble at all. They were shocked as they had never had one that had leaked before - lucky us! We have now been away twice since in it and its fantastic. I even managed to pitch it by myself (only help with lifting the poles and stretching them out!) It does take almost two hours though to put up and fully kit out. Mind you we have four kids so we do have a lot of extra kit. There is ample room. We use one of the side pods as a toilet room and one of the bedrooms as a dressing room. There is still plenty of space in the other side pod for two single beds and the main bedroom accommodates a kingsize airbed and a junior bed! The zip opening front is great in warm sunny weather. The only downsides of this tent so far are that in windy weather the tent does get drafty and our neighbour did unhook the 'curtains' from the cooker whilst we were sleeping! However my dad has given us a handy hint to pitch just East of South and we should avoid this in future! The other downer is that we cant quite get the pod to fully pitch without pulling somewhat. Maybe the tent will stretch or we will get better. We are very pleased overall. We have had mostly rainy days and there was plenty of room to accommodate all 6 of us inside when needed. Plenty of room for visitors too.

1 from 1 people found this review helpful, was it helpful to you?

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Manufacturer's Description

Features:
> Protex® 5000 polyester waterproof, durable and reliable
> Taped seams for waterproof protection
> Storm skirt system waterproof exterior skirt system which creates dry comfort zones. Heavy duty oxford fabric used for strength and durability
> Flysheet first pitching inner tents are kept dry
> Guy tidy velcro holder allows guylines to be packed neatly, making re-pitching easier
> Colour coded poles match the poles to the sleeve tab for easy pitching
> Powerplus® steel poles reliable formed structure which performs well in all weathers
> PE waterproof groundsheet 5000HH minimum ensures dry inner tents
> Sewn-in groundsheet fully enclosed to protect against unwanted draughts and bugs
> 2 mesh doors reduces build up of condensation and keeps bugs out
> Air flow vent system new system of repeated small vents below skirt level ensures low to high ventilation throughout the tent when open
> Storm closure eyebrows poled vent covers can be closed when required or when weather dictates
> Storage solutions inner pockets and hanging organisers – keeps those essentials close at hand
> Double zip windows flexible internal cover allowing choice between - light and vent or vent only
> 2 cable entry points and tidies zipped entry point with isolator pocket. Velcro points inside the tents keep the cable and plugs tidy whilst in use
> 2 zip off pods the ultimate in adding space and flexibility. Pods are multi-functional - bedroom, utility, storage, etc. Heavy duty zips allow easy removal and attachment
> Flexible inners flexibility allows the inner to be removed if not in use creating additional living or storage space
> Flexible front door can be opened fully giving a verandah feel to your tent
> Zip-off porch canopy Heavy duty zips allow easy removal and attachment
> Roller tent bag oversized to ease the pack away and easy transportation

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