The Camping Forum

[markybates]

Hi all,

I am totally new to the idea of camping and am looking for some advice from the experts. We are a family of 6 with the kids ranging from 3 to 8 and are looking to get into camping as the price of other holidays is getting ridiculous! I have a few questions to get me going.

We went to a camping show room at the weekend where the very nice salesman showed us his range of Outwell and Vengo tents. From that and reading a few posts on here would I be right in thinking that Outwells are considered one of the best tents ? They did seem quite expensive. What other makes would be comparable and is the extra expense really justified ?

The very nice salesman also suggest that we should budget for around £1,000 to get completely kitted out with the essentials for camping ie cooking, sleeping etc (including the tent obviously). Would that be a fair assessment ?

Finally does anyone know of a place to hire tents or borrow tents so that we could try it out over a weekend to see if it is for us.

I know these are a little vague as questions go, but any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance
Marky

[Wayne]

Hi Marky and welcome.

In my opinion, It has to be Outwell, its tried and tested with my family and the wife will only do Outwell. Others will be along soon and possibly suggest other makes, which they can recommend from there own experience, but check out how many people on here use Outwell as there main tent .

Check this out, my post at the bottom of page 4 on how bad a tent can be when you buy the wrong one.


Depending on what tent you go for, £1000 would only get the bare essentials, after all you need 6 sleeping bags and mats and a tent to sleep 6, also its a lot of equipment, what vehicle do you have, that already has to carry 6 people .

Stick with The Camping Forum, between all of us I am sure we can help you get a concise list of equipment you will need, help you find a tent that is right for you, and avoid you spending money on the wrong equipment and equipment that just isn't needed.

I'm not sure about hiring tents, someone else might know the answer to that.

I'm off to bed now, but there will be plenty of feedback for you tomorrow, please don't be afraid to ask any question, or to ask for anything to be explain differently, they're all good people on this forum and extremely knowledgeable, I have learned so much myself here.

What part of the country are you in

[Rob-merlin1973]

Hi Marky

I can only agree with wayne.

There are six of us and we started camping for the same reason as you

We have a Outwell Hartford XXL

And have to admit they are amazing tents but there are many other types out there just make sure you get in them and have a good poke about.

As to equipment have a poke about the forum and at In-a-tent becouse there is an amazing amount of information available between the two sites.

If you need any help or advise mate just ask ask ask

[Wayne]

When we purchased the Outwell Vermont-L at the end of last year, I was determined to give sprayway a chance as they had a lot of big tents at good prices. I showed the leaflet to my partner, who agreed there were some nice tents. When we went to the campshow and viewed the models we were interested in, the quality just wasn't up to the Outwells in both our opinions, our 11 year old daughter even commented on a few points and we noticed they had sustained more damage from the heavy amount of traffic passing through them.

Out of interest do you have a Yeomans Camp show and/or Decathlon near you.

Here's 6 tents worth looking at to compare:
Always compare the Hydrostatic head (how waterproof it is) and try not to dip below 3000.
Most have SIG (Sewn in Ground Sheet), try to stick with a tent that has a SIG.

Outwell Hartford XXL, priced around £470 and with 4 sleeping pods its classed as a 12person tent, Merlin might say 8persons comfortably though ?. This is a multi-dome tent, possibly a little harder to put up and pack away and I think uses fiberglass poles. Again Merlin will comment better.

As a smaller option there is also the Hartford XL Priced around £400 and sleeping 8 (but again 6 comfortably) its just got a pod less than the XXL

Outwell Vermont XL Priced around £650 and with 3 sleeping areas it claims to sleep 7, but again I would say 6 comfortably. This is a tunnel tent and uses steel poles. I can say its easy to put up and take down.

Outwell Sun Valley 8 I'm not too familiar with this model, but I'm sure its the one In-a-tent and Keeley has and can be checked out here on his web site along with a lot of other good stuff.

Vango Tigris 800 Not to be bias towards Outwell, Vango is also a good make. priced around £290 and with 4 pods sleeping 8. I don't know much about this tent, and wonder if it sleeps 6 more comfortably. Again fiberglass poles but with a tunnel style

Sprayway Valley 8 Priced around £500 and sleeping 8 people, it utilizes the Steel Poles and is a Tunnel style tent, but for me there's just something missing on the finish

Hope that helps to get you going, please fire any comments or questions back

[Admin]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.. I'll take a better look at this later and feedback further for you..

but may be worth you taking a look at www.tent2hire.co.uk they may be able to assist you.

cheers

Andy

[in-a-tent]

Hi,

We have a list of 6-8 berth tents here - http://www.in-a-tent.co.uk/tags/3/6-8%20Berth

There are quite a lot as you'll see.

We've got an Outwell and as others have said they are worth the money. The only issue we've had with ours was the pole shock chords snapping which was easy to repair.

There are 5 of us and we have an 8 berth to give us lots of space when it rains.

Anyway welcome to the forum and fire away with the questions, am sure somebody will have answer.

[dadsbeaniemad]

When we first started we chose the Outwell Hartford L (2 adults, 2 children now both just about teens)

I have to say that we nearly bought an eBay special (Rage) but thankfully reseached a bit more and didn't.

We had a good look about the internet - because believe it or not here in Cumbria there are not a lot of camping stores. We found a very good independant camping stre with an indoor display (Kendal Camping) and went to Yeomans (at Ambleside) and the staf there ver very very helpful.
Once we looked and felt the tents (and of course noted the prices) we changed our minds again, from Vango, and decided that Outwells seemed the best choice. Hunted the net for good prices and went to the local store and haggled. We have since bouth 3 tents from him and various kit so it was worth him doing us a good price for us

I then got hooked on canvas frame tents - could never afford new so bought second hand. Does it have to be a new tent? there can be some good deals around on a certain internet site.

You have to decide what sort of camping you are going to do - mainly weekends or weeks or a combination of both ?
How old are the children?
Do you want to sleep altogether or are you happy a different ends of the tent (vis-a-vis style)?
What is your budget for the tent?
Car space for transporting you all, all the gear and the tent? Roof box, trailer?


For a family of 6 you will be looking for an 8 berth really - though they say 8 if you are using air beds rather than mats then you will find it a squeeze in a 6 berth. Living area will need to be considered too because if the weather isn't too great then you may find yourselves spending a bit of time inside. Something that comes with it's own canopy bulit in or a small porch area is also a good idea.
If you have older children have you thought about a main family tent and maybe a smaller pup tent for one of the older children to sleep in. You can usually pitch a pup tent on your pitch for no extra charge.

HH is the figure to say how 'waterproof' the tent is. The higher it is then it should give more protection. 2000HH is OK for summer type camping but if going all year round then 3000+ would be better.
Better still would be the Polycotton tents (they don't have HH rating) and even better still Cotton (Canvas) tents (again no HH rating). For the latter 2 your £1000 would about cover the price of the tent.

SIG - sewn in groundsheet
ZIG - zipped in groundsheet
Footprint - not a complete necessity but very good for keeping the sig clean and far easy to clean when you decamp that haveing to clean the bottom of the tent. A tarp from a DIY type shop will do just as well but cut a couple of cm smaller that the tent footprint.
Carpet - again not essential, but it does make all the difference. Picnic rugs or similar will do just as well.

When you are first stating out there is no need to splash out on loads of gear. You will find you have lots of things at home you can take - we personally don't use sleeping bags but take duvets form home. We take pans from home and all sorts of bits and pieces.

Tent, something to sleep on and in, something to cook on, something to eat off/with, something to sit, lights and heating source on would be my basics - then there's the ehu if you go that route.
As you camp time after time you soon learn what works for you, what kit you would like to buy and what is usless and you dont need.

Tent - I would be looking at Outwells Norfolk Lake, Wolf Lake 7 . If you can find a Sun Valley 8 that would do you well but it was discontinued in 2008. Hartfords, Idaho (I think) are good too but being pod tents they are wide and some site will chare extra - but there are way more sites that won't so you just choose your site to suit your needs.

A new range is the Kampa tents. I have no experience of them but from what I have seen and read then they seem to be very good. HH is 4000, well spec'd and they are very appealing to the eye.
Have a look at the Studland and Polzeath both 8 berth and very similar to the Sun Valley 8 and Norfolk Lake in design.

Then again - what if you don't like it???? Hireing a tent and trying it out first could be a way to go or buying a cheap Halfords/Argos family package and going in the middle of summer for the first camp could be the way to go and then once you decide it's for you and the family then you can splash out on something good. If you don't like it then it's only a couple of hundred wasted (well you can sell on and get a littel of your money back) rather than nearly £1000 wasted.

If you are not that bothered about buying new then there are lots of good things second hand but make sure you ask lots of questions and see lots of picutres and the owner knows what tehy are selling/have taken great care of it before you commit yourself. I have never bought a dud off the auction site (yet).

Hope some of this has helped - it's just from my experiences and not hard and fast rules

Good luck with your decision and please let us know how you get on/what you decide and don't be afraid to ask and ask and ask before you commit and then look around and haggle. Find a good independant dealer if you can as they will give good unbiased advice and you will return to them time and time again and they are more likely to move a little on price or throw in things as extras for the price they are asking because they would like you to return everytime you buy new kit.

[coachandy]

I think budget is quite an important factor in the decision making process for most people.

Although I know Outwells, Kyhams etc are fo great quality in terms of build, I also now that BMW and Mercs are better builds than my Rover! But our budgets wont stretch that far.

So when deciding on our new tent earlier this year (after catching the camping bug) it was a case of what we could get for our money. There is a lot of good information about ( and i wish I had come across this forum sooner) on the internet that enabled us to pick something that was (I believe) the best quality for the money we had. In the same way that I choose the Rover because of who made the engine.

My wife will just have to learn to live with here Tent envy for a couple of seasons..... ... but at least she has that new tent smell to look forward too in a couple of weeks.

[dadsbeaniemad]

For us that was the main consideration as well coachandy when we started out.
I have to say that we have only ever bought 1 tent brand new. 2 had been on indoor display for about 6 weeks total in a small idependant shop and we thoroughly checked them over before buying. One was brand new never used still in it's box with straps off eBay at an unbelievable bargain price and the rest have been second hand.
I only ever buy what we have spare cash for (given up on plastic and borrowing for things as it leads to all sorts of problems)

You'll have a Rover with the Honda engine then so the head gasket won't go (it is the Honda engine isn't it? - we had a Rover 600 before it got too small for the camping kit, but that was the reason we had the Rover too)
We use an old Volvo 960 (my tent collection is probably worth more than our car)

That's the beauty of camping - well I think - you can do it as and how suits you best.

I get tent envy all the time ........ my ultimate would be a De Waard Albatross or similar or maybe a Karsten but unless I win a few thousand it will all remain a dream (unless someone is practically giving one away on eBay at some point)

[markybates]

Hi all,

Firstly thank you so much for the quick replies. I'm not used to posting on forums where people get back to you so quickly and with so much information and support, so a big thanks !

I think we are going to try and go down the hiring or buying cheap/second hand route to see if we like it before committing to the big money.

Just another quick couple of questions:

Do people have a strong opinion between steel poles or Fibre glass in terms of stability or durability?

Also, we are undecided between tunnel and dome at the moment. I notice with some of the bigger tents people worry that they will take up more space than a single pitch. Is there a standard single pitch size, or does it vary from site to site?

Thanks again for the advice, it is really helpful.
Have a good weekend all, and for those of you in a tent right now, I hope the sky is blue and there is no sign of any volcanic ash !
Marky

[Wayne]

Now you've started a debate.

I have been in bad weather and had fibre-glass break on me and as a result I try to stick to steel, also I try to stick to tunnel because I find them easier to put up and take down and pack away.

Also remember cheap can often mean false economy, I wouldn't buy cheap, certainly look at hiring.

[Admin]

:lol: Now you've started a debate.

I have been in bad weather and had fibre-glass break on me and as a result I try to stick to steel, also I try to stick to tunnel because I find them easier to put up and take down and pack away.

Also remember cheap can often mean false economy, I wouldn't buy cheap, certainly look at hiring.

We went cheap first also and had totally different experience.

Actually we did it twice.

1st we got a 4birth kit from blacks £100 /£150 cant remember exact price. tent, air beds, pump and sleeping bags

We used that in Brancaster had an excellent trip (even though we had no lighting or heating (it was cold in the morning)) we also arrived by night and pitched under car head light. had no stove, kettle or anything lol. Was only a single night stop over and we had full english on the beach via disposable bbq's was excellent.

2nd aware that the 4 birth was to small for when our daughter came on our next planned trip we got a 12 birth skandika from ebay (dome with fibre poles) we used that 3 weeks in Germany, Luxomberg and Belgium in 5 different locations. dont get me wrong I hated the tent.. way to big! and pain in the *** to pitch.. did'nt like water but we had an amazing 3 week holiday.. it had cost us £100 and as did you wayne the tent itself never made it home.. black bin liner on last pitch.. we had what we thought was enough experience to know now what we need to buy and we ended up with The Trout Lake which we really really love

but..........

Its still not enough! want the Quechua base 4.2 simply for the instant pitch so shorter stops quick pitch 4.2 longer stops troutlake and those quick one nighters travling the popup

You only need to look at those new members who have been camping far longer than some of us here and look at how many tents they own.

[Wayne]

Very true, I keep finding myself gravitating towards EBay looking for a bargain , just trying to find a good enough reason to justify yet another tent .

I agree you can have a good experience for little money, we certainly had a good 2 week holiday in our Rage,,,,,,,,or did we

Well it never rained once and there was no wind for the 2 weeks we camped in August, all our kitchen stuff just sat outside under the stars. But what if it had blown a gale, started to rain heavy and dropped cold, then we would have had a 2 week holiday cut short. Also after about 4 nights Sarah asked if we could swap sleeping places as it was hard to get to sleep, in her position it was claustrophobic and the tent material touched your face if you lifted your head slightly. So the pod was completely unusable for 2 of us, we ended up pulling it out into the middle of the room a little. ..............

Our Holiday was cut short the second time we used it, I remember the last night, our kids were in the caravan next door with my sister, and we were in the center of the tent, all the fiberglass in the pods had smashed and we had driven pegs straight through the pods to hold them down, we were just down to using the middle section. I woke during the night, it was raining on me, one of the main fiberglass center poles had broke and a pod had come loose, I was looking straight out to see over the cliffs we were up on, scary stuff. When we left the bins were full of tents, but there were still about ten standing and looked solid. Wished I'd clocked the makes, but I wasn't experienced enough to know the difference then.

I agree, don't go buying a Trout Lake or Wolf Lake just yet , but certainly look for a tent of good quality second hand or hire.

P.S, Andy.
Sarah has always loved the Trout from the moment she saw it pitched at a show, me too. Out of interest how long does it take to pitch. Wondered if you would give me a small pro's and con's on it. If only I could find one that some rich fool had brought and then decided they didn't do camping after all and was giving away on EBay

[Admin]

P.S, Andy.
Sarah has always loved the Trout from the moment she saw it pitched at a show, me too. Out of interest how long does it take to pitch. Wondered if you would give me a small pro's and con's on it. If only I could find one that some rich fool had brought and then decided they didn't do camping after all and was giving away on EBay

Topic split, Follow this question here

[canvaschris]

Andy

To be honest if hiring is something you want to try then Keycamp or Eurocamp et al do pre pitched tents with all the gear you need (except bedding but with camp beds) in various european places and all you do is drive to them dont know if this is something you might consider?