The Camping Forum

[G & J]

Hi, I hope you all can help...

Me and my girlfriend are going backing around europe later in the year from June until November and want to keep our backpack size down, but want to bring along a tent. I Have been looking all over the web and cannot come to a decision for which tent to go for.
We will mainly be using the tent at campsites and would probably opt for a hostel if weather was particularly bad so the tent would not have to stant up to too much weathering. Wind and rain.

Our criteria is that the tent should be small once packed down and at a good price. Under £50 maybe? (but not limited to this). Most important is the pack size!
I have been looking at Gelert and Colman 1 and 2 berth options. We want the pack size to be no greater than 40cms but the 2 berth options all seem to top this size at around 50cm. Is it possible to fit the two of us in a 1 berth tent (we are both small build and around 5' 6")? or is there any smaller packed 2 berth tents out there? or should we just suck it up and pack less t-shirts...!! We will both be taking rucksacks- is there an advantage in splitting the pack up between the rucksacks to cut dow pack size?

Sorry for the number of questions but the more i look on the web myself the more questions I have.

All your help is appreciated.

Thank You,

Greg & Jenni

[Admin]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.. What an adventure... im a little green if im honest

Have you decided on any destinations yet? or are you planning on just going on the fly?

As for tents.. im not to sure to be honest on the small lightweight front.. however we have a couple of members that are but not so regular so i'll message them the url and ask them to jump on..

I have had a look tho.

http://www.quechua.com/EN/t2-ultralight-pro-4225812/
http://www.quechua.com/EN/files/assets/ ... pro-en.htm

This is not a pop up. and pack size as far as I can work out is less than 40cm. I would check that to confirm tho as its not clear. to be honest popups tend to be a little bigger packupsize than the small backpacking non popup

Little over the budget though at £79

Not sure about the space either. if your backpacing remember you need to have space for stuff as well as sleeping area. so a tent with a small area at the front is going to be usefull to you.. also means you have space to set the stove up for coffee in the morning

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/vango-bansh ... nt-p140006

this is also £79 and pack size is 43 x 12 x 13

I'll keep looking see what else i can find.. I think if you take into account your backpacks not sure a 1 person will be large enough..

Thanks again

Andy

[Kool Kamping]

Hi

We stock this tent

http://www.highlander-outdoor.com/partn ... nid=302144

Not as small as as some maybe but we have 2 in stock and we are selling them for £36.99 each

They are not on our website but if you need one you can pm me here or email me through the website.

[Rob-merlin1973]

Hi welcome to the forum

I have to admit i am not much help with the small tent camping but i thought i would point out Outwells new vision 200.
http://www.outwell.dk/TentMeasure.aspx? ... 1102&pid=1
It retails at just under £70, is a pop up.
Or their fusion 200
http://www.outwell.dk/TentMeasure.aspx? ... 1101&pid=1
Which is also a pop up with a small porch storage area.
Both of these pack in to a 85cm by 2 cm disk.
Outwells are a well known and well tested brand so should be able to stand up to most bad weather.
Hope this helps

[in-a-tent]

Hi,

We have a few 1-2 Berth tents listed here - hopefully one will fit the bill.

http://www.in-a-tent.co.uk/tags/1/1-2%20Berth

If you want a really lightweight (and prob more expensive) one these might be useful

http://www.in-a-tent.co.uk/tags/270/Lightweight%20Tents

Andy

[G & J]

Thanks for the replys.

Andy- we are landing in Amsterdam on June 2nd and pretty much have no fixed plans from there on. Want to try and get around as much as we can but our rough route stands as Netherlands to Belgium to France to Spain maybe over to portugal and back across to italy and then working our way back up to Germany through Switzerland and Austria- but who knows what way the wind will blow.

Thankyou everyone for all the suggestions and all others are really appreciated.

Greg and Jenni.

[Admin]

Thanks for the replys.

Andy- we are landing in Amsterdam on June 2nd and pretty much have no fixed plans from there on. Want to try and get around as much as we can but our rough route stands as Netherlands to Belgium to France to Spain maybe over to portugal and back across to italy and then working our way back up to Germany through Switzerland and Austria- but who knows what way the wind will blow.

Thankyou everyone for all the suggestions and all others are really appreciated.

Greg and Jenni.

Sounds like an amazing trip!

We spent 4 days in Koln Germany in 2008 and met a young brittish couple that were doing pretty much the same thing. using a small 2 person tent and hostels when they could. They done most travling by train. Talking of which their are some great train routes through switzerland with panoramic trains with roof windows and floor to ceiling windows that pass through the alps. I'll look the details up later when I get home. in fact actually you can get the same booklet free.. see this post for details. great booklet for ideas if your travling through and its free!

The outdoor show have stands from most european countrys offering travel advice and information could well be worth a visit to help with your planning. Im hoping to be able to offer some tickets in a competition as we did the Boat and Caravan Show. will let you know on that one closer to the time

[Admin]

In fact its. the Golden Pass line.

see here

 

 

 

 

This one is my list of must do's lol offers some of the most stunning views!

[G & J]

Thanks for all the help, we ended up getting the coleman avior X2. had a quick pitch in the garden this afternoon and it seems like just the job.

[Admin]

Nice one! Have to admit I do like those little tents I think the side opening is ideal for that size giving easy entry and exit

Sure Andy @ www.in-a-tent.co.uk would welcome a review when you have chance

Enjoy..

Oh how long did it take to pitch out of interest?

[G & J]

Hello again, it took us 30-45 minutes to pitch but were are complete novices. Now we've done it the once next time we will only get quicker. I recon an old hand could get this tent up in 10-15 mins.

Thank for the advice on the switzerland guid books- ours arrived the other day.

[Admin]

Hello again, it took us 30-45 minutes to pitch but were are complete novices. Now we've done it the once next time we will only get quicker. I recon an old hand could get this tent up in 10-15 mins.

Thank for the advice on the switzerland guid books- ours arrived the other day.

Yea the more time you spend doing it the quicker you become.

Guide books are great other than that you find you want to do it all lol

[tom12345]

Hi mate,

that sounds cool, me and my girlfriend are doing almost exactly the same thing but in my campervan. we bought a hi-gear evo 2 tent which is one of those pop up jobbies. Pitches in a matter of seconds, packs away in a relatively small carry case and only weighs around 3.1kgs. I would strongly recommend it.

pm me if you have any questions becuase our trips sounds pretty similar.