Vango Zambezi 700 DLX Tent Reviews and Details

Tent Reviews: Vango Zambezi 700 DLX

Tent and Awning Reviews Index > Vango > Zambezi 700 DLX Reviews

Current Model?
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Weight:
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Bedroom inners:
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Discontinued
7 (more 7 berth tents)
56.00 KG
Ł550.00
3
Fully Sewn-in
Fly first

Average User Rating:

7.78/10 from 9 reviews

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9 Reviews of the Zambezi 700 DLX

By: Francisb Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 8 from 10

This is an excellent tent, it has a large footprint, which has made it impractical for most current campsites, this is unfortunate, as it really does the job. We have used ours twice now, the second time we had high winds and heavy rain, however we slept through all of that, secure in the knowledge that our tent was dry and secure. Our fellow campers were seen chasing tents, which had been uprooted and blown away. Our tent could have been pitched better, as large puddles of water gathered in the roof of the main living area, these did not leak into the tent, as one would expect, and we had a fun time pushing out the torrents. The tent has very strong/heavy steel poles, which form into a crossover structure. This is quite tricky to erect, but once you have done it a few times it becomes easy, however you will always need at least 2 people to erect it, once should be quite strong. This pole structure gives a very stable tent, and even if the wind is howling though, the tent stands its ground. Not really a criticism, but the front porch area does not repel water as well as the main living area, however there is plenty of room to keep things dry. The tent is very heavy and bulky to carry around, and has a big bag on wheels with the flysheet and pods, and a heavy bag of poles, which is the worst part of it. I thoroughly recommend picking one up, as it will probably be cheap on ebay, and you will have a very good tent, bearing in mind the size and weight considerations.

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By: Ditzeeblonde Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

After 5 years we have sadly had our last camp in our beloved Zambezi, this tent has had approx 35-45 days use each year & has protected us from torrential downpours, tail end of hurricanes & even a bit of the white stuff!

This tent has been fantastic to me, OH & our 2 kids, given them both a pod each with plenty of room to sleep, play & chill in. The living area is huge, we have had 8 people around a table with all the chairs & still had plenty of space.

It does take a while to pitch & is not small once packed into its bag, this was a serious error on our behalf of falling for a big tent without realising the size bag it would come in, hence very soon after buying we got a roof box, thne trailer!

The crossover design of the tent means its very strong in the wind but also means rain puddles in the square made by the poles crossing over & has very rarely caused a small leak!

We have had many admiring looks on campsites due to the design & size of this tent, it is a big pitch size & I am guessing this is one of the reasons this style tent is not really seen anymore, with a tunnel tent you can get the same living space on a smaller width pitch, although we've only really had 2 occasions where we've had to pay for 2 pitches.

If your lucky enough to get your hands on one in good condition its definitely worthwhile as a family tent. Both kids cried when we took it down at the weekend for the last time & I hope that our new Wolf Lake 7 will also offer the same happy, well protected memories that the Zambezi has given us!

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By: Craigywaigy16 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

Excellent tent got off ebay for 170 very spacious, two people needed to pitch takes half an hour when you get used to pitching, due to its size you may need to speak to the park you are visiting before you go to see if they can accommodate. The tent itself is very sturdy and waterproof however the two end bedrooms can only accommodate 1 adult in each comfortably. This is however my only real downside to the tent as it is excellent.

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By: Quen7770 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2009 Rating: 10 from 10

Family of 4 here - and our first time camping since we were children. I spent hours looking and researching tents, as well as viewing all of my shortlist. Its fair to say you get what you pay for, and the Zambezi is not an expensive tent for its size and features. You can always sell any tent if camping is not for you. We have used our Zambezi 700DLX 3 times now and are just about to go to France with it. Its brilliant. In a force 8 storm it stood up well - lots on noise inside the tent because of the fabric its made of - but sounds worse than it is. It is packed with features, and after putting up a couple of times you do get used to how it all works. It is vital you get the poles in line and the inner groundsheet flat so that the inner pods are not under too much tension - so spend a couple of minutes ensuring the tent is square on the ground. I love the fact it has 4 doors - so if the weather is bad on one side you can open the door on the sheltered side. You do need to be quite tall to reach the centre of the tent - I am 6ft and can only just manage it. I almost bought the diablo 900 too and am glad I did not. The zambezi is worth the extra money - it has more room, more storage, more height, more windows and light, and it also looks lovely. My wife wanted a luxury tent if I was to persuade her to go camping, and not stay in the usual Gite! She loves it - but we also have all the accessories as well - you need them if you want to live in comfort. My final comments would be these - research your tent and budget. Then if you can, go to a tent superstore and actually see your tents up - I went to 2 companies where they had over 150 tents on display - there should be one near you. Get a bigger tent than you need if you want comfort - we have 2 kids (9 and 8) and they have one pod each - but they have also had sleepovers with friends in their pods! so it was worth getting the larger tent for us. 2 negative points. We did have a very small leak and told the tent supplier. The tent was picked up and replaced within a week! Do not let this put you off - all tents will leak, and it was a hell of a storm. Secondly, it needs a tall person to put up! Practice, practice and practice again - it does get easier! Also I found this website to be very useful in helping me narrow down my choices - which is why I am happy to share my experience. Youtube has some good examples of how to pitch this tent. Oh yes. Blackout inner pods would be better in all tents as you get woken very early because of the daylight, and lightness in the tent fabric colour! but I did not find a tent (apart from Canvas) that would solve this problem. Happy Camping!

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

We bought one this year to go camping in Devon, (Big Mistake). The tent is very large and had plenty of space for me and the wife plus 4 kids, We wanted a tent with lots of room, 3 separate bedrooms(Not One With A Dividing Curtain),Sewn In Groundsheet, Plenty of storage space, Light and bright and big enough to stand up in. This Was Ideal for us, in the tunnel part we had a fridge, kitchen with gas cooker, BBQ. As you can see in the pics.

We really thought this tent would give us many years happy camping. It took me and my eldest son about 40 mins to put up and we were very happy, The first night was great sitting in looking up through the skylight at the stars, then on the second day it rained and after about 1 hour it started raining in through the Velcro tabs that the cable runs through for the light. After a day of light to moderate rain it leaked through every seam, even the side windows leaked and the pockets that the curtain/blinds folded into filled with water. There was another family on our campsite with the same problem and theirs was a 2008 model too. We returned the tent when we got back and got a full refund. Vango no longer make this model which is a shame because if they sorted out the leaking problem I am sure they would sell quite a lot as this would be ideal for a lot of families like us.

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By: Mauser792 Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 10 from 10

We purchased a Zambezi 700 DLX early this year when they were available at a much discounted price after deciding to upgrade from a SunnCamp Stratus 4. The final choice was between the Diablo 900 XP and the Zambezi - I am so glad we picked the Zambezi! First time out with the new tent was May bank holiday weekend at Low Wray camp site, Windermere and the second we took the tent out of the bag the heavens opened with heavy rain and strong wind. It took two of us around an 1 Ľ hrs to get the main tent up and then around another 30mins to finish off. In good weather and with a bit of practice I think we would be able to put it up in well under an hour. One of the reasons it took so long to set up (apart from it being the first outing and the bad weather) was that the beginning of the instructions tell you to insert two green and one black colour coded metal poles across the tent… There is no Black pole, its Yellow… misprint in the instructions = 20mins searching of something that doesn’t exist in the pouring rain! The other thing that slowed us down was that we put the poles in the wrong way between the guy ropes, this is hard to explain, but we basically ended up with the guy’s on either side of the metal poles which caused it to pull on them, obvious once you have the tent up but an easy mistake to make. This was only corrected by un-tying the re-tying all the guy ropes. The reason I am glad we picked the Zambezi over the Diablo was that the couple across from us had a new Diablo 600 XP and with the Diablo you have an inner and an outer to put up. In bad weather this is not a good idea as all afternoon we could here them complaining about how wet the inner tent was, I don’t think they got it dry till the next afternoon… Also the Diablo 900 takes up as much if not more ground space than the Zambezi but most of that space (usable living space) is wasted due to the shape. I'm 6'2' and I can stand up without hitting the roof almost anywhere in the tent, but in the Diablo I could only stand up properly in the middle of the tent. Once up, the Zambezi is very sturdy , warm and without any leaks, we had 3 nights of cold, wet, windy weather and had no problems (none of the problems mentioned in previous reviews). The sewn in groundsheet is excellent keeping the warmth in and the drafts/bugs out. The brow canopies over the windows and doors are also a big plus point as they prevent water running in and the doorway area getting muddy, which was a big problem in our last tent. If you are looking for a tent with plenty of space and versatility go for this one, you wont be disappointed. Only one word of caution, this is a BIG tent with a big pack size (one very large main bag and two pole bags, the smaller of the two will at a push fit in the main bag but only makes it heavier!) this takes up ľ of the back seat of a Vauxhall Astra and is very heavy. I would also recommend bining the pegs that come with it because as with every tent i've ever had they are usless! Invest in some quality 6mm steel spike pegs, Gelert - 7' Groundhog pegs 4 for Ł1.99 these will not bend. If you want a quality tent with a huge amount of room and you’ve got the space to store and transport it, I would definitely recommend buying one.

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By: Scrappydiva Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 9 from 10

Having bought this tent in January we were looking forward to trying it out this week. THEN, I saw the other two reviews on this site and wondered if we had bought a lemon. We have just attempted to camp this week and had to abandon our camping mid-week due to the horrendous weather. Torrential rain, freezing temps and 24mph winds brought our trip to a premature end. HOWEVER, the tent itself was fantastic! Much warmer and less windy than our previous tent, spacious and much easier to pitch too. As for the weather, we broke a small fibreglass pole due to the winds but that was all. No water leaking in, no problems due to the wind or anything. I'm very impressed with our new tent and I'm happily confident that we will have many more successful camping trips with it. I only hope we can learn how to pick days that the weather is more reasonable too!

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By: Campbp Reason: I own(ed) one Made in: 2008 Rating: 5 from 10

We bought one this summer expecting a high quality tent that would last. The tent's size was brilliant loads of room for the kids on those rainy days. The only problem was those rainy days or 1 rainy day to be precise. The tent leaked from every toggle point and is now back with vango for testing. Hopefully it will be replaced with one which lives up to the hype.

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

This tent has taken over from the Aspen and for people thinking of upgrading don't. It seems very cold and windy compared to the Aspen and not being able to shut off the porch, the children find it very easy to escape. Just wish my Aspen did not leak and force our hand in excepting this tent.

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Manufacturer's Description

The Zambezi range is inspired by the nomadic tribes of Asia. The rigid steel frame and external poles offers exceptional room and living space combined with flexible inner arrangement.

> 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
> Pre-angled poles makes walls more vertical and improves angles of the walls resulting in more usable space and stability
> Flysheet vents with covers at front and rear allow continual airflow enhancing comfort
> PE waterproof groundsheet 5000HH minimum ensures dry inner tents
> Sewn-in groundsheet fully enclosed to protect against unwanted draughts and bugs
> 3 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
> Double zip windows flexible internal cover allowing choice between - light and vent or vent only
> Skylights light, bright living area during the day, stargazing at night. With internal covers
> 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
> Flexible inners flexibility allows the inner to be removed if not in use creating additional living or storage space

... there may be more info on their website

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