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Camping

Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

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Original poster

Need a smaller tent - suggestions please

15 replies

Choufleur · 12/08/2011 20:05

We have a vango diablo 600 which is massive. Big central domey bit with two sleeping pods off and a porch.

It's a great tent but we only ever go camping for long weekends and it takes up so much space in the car. We're off tomorrow and I'm really not sure that we will get us, the crap that we take, the tent and the dog in.

I also want a tent that you don't have to pitch the inner bit of the tent first.

I'm hoping to get a maybe 4 man tunnel tent so we still have room outside of the sleeping compartments to sit in if the weather is shittty and somewhere for the dog to sleep in.

Any suggestions please? I quite like the look of a few of the outwell tunnel tents but not sure if they will actually save much space when they are packed.

OP posts:

YellowDinosaur · 12/08/2011 20:51

I'm looking for a bigger tent. Tell you what, I'll swap you for my7 year old proaction nevada 5 which is a tunnel tent with a bedroom for 5 (that comfortably sleeps 4)!

Original poster

Choufleur · 12/08/2011 20:54

Thank YellowDinosaur. DH won't want to part with the diablo though. He's still hopes that one day I'll agree to have our main holiday in a tent. He's going to be hoping for a long time - or at least until someone can make the weather in the UK somewhat like the med.

OP posts:

YellowDinosaur · 12/08/2011 20:58

Thats alright Choufleur I didn't seriously htink you'd want to swap your great tent for my outdated crap one . Have you seen the Quechua Base Seconds pop up tent at Decathalon? Haven't used it myself but know people who have who rave about them and they look fab!

Actually hoping for one of these myself for weekends once I've persuaded dh to buy a mahoosive outwell one for family holidays!

JetLi · 13/08/2011 08:22

Parents of JetLi have the Vango Icarus which is fab. Sis has the Vango Orchy - also fab as a weekend tent. Both SIG, sleep 4 & have headrom sufficient to stand up. The Icarus is tunnel, the Orchy more dome-y. The pop-up that Yellow links to is pretty fab - we had a mooch around one the other week.

PrettyCandles · 13/08/2011 08:31

We have a couple of pop-up tents (a Eurohike 2-man and a Quechua 3-man) and they are excellent. Quick and easy to pitch and strike, comfortable to use, easy to transport. I would take a serious look at one of the larger Quechua pop-ups.

OneHundredPercentFucked · 13/08/2011 10:03

I'd go for the Mojave 5. I love it!

CMOTdibbler · 13/08/2011 21:13

I've got an Icarus which pitches all in one very quickly and has plenty of sitting space - but it is a pig to get in the bag. We also have a Coleman bispace which is a nice small pack and v easy to pitch

babyocho · 13/08/2011 22:05

After posting on mnet, I bought a . It's very quick and easy to pitch and I do it myself - can wrestle it back into the bag in 5 minutes!

It's light at 12kg and small - tent, groundsheet and pegs all in the 1 bag. Fits nicely into my boot and it's pretty flat when in the bag.

Living area has good head height (although I am only 5ft2), sleeping area spacious.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 13/08/2011 22:09

Outwell Virginia 5, only available from Yeomans, currently in the sale, goes up in one, takes about 15 mins including pegging, sleeps 4, has a decent size living area and optional porch.

chipmonkey · 13/08/2011 22:13

How about the It's on my wish list!

Ineedalife · 13/08/2011 22:38

Depending on what you sleep on, you might want to look at a quechua base seconds 4.2. I also have the 4.1 and as babyocho says it is really easy to pitch and to get back in the bag.

However You can only get 3 single or i double and a single airbed in the sleeping area. If you are camping mat people then 4 would be cosy but possible.

The 4.2 has room for a double at each end and a reasonable space in the middle.

Good luck

Beamur · 13/08/2011 22:44

We've got a Khyham one with the poles already in - pitches quite quickly and we're getting better at putting it down, it's quite bulkly though.
We've bought a small tent this year for the same reasons, the Kyham is good but a bit too big for a weekend.
Have you looked at those new Vango inflatable ones?

PrettyCandles · 14/08/2011 11:16

The Outwell Fusion is very similar to my Quechua 3-man, but that guyline right in front of the entrance is just plain daft!

I was at a camping expo re ently, and saw a very clever tent, but can't remember the make. It was basically a tunnel tent pitching outer first, but the clever bit was that there was a zip in the middle and you could add on modules by zipping them into the tunnel. So you could have a 10ft tent for weekends, or a 15-footer, or a 20-footer, with more bedrooms/living areas etc for longer camps/more campers.

Original poster

Choufleur · 15/08/2011 17:19

Well we've just got back from a weekend camping. I still want a new tent dh doesn't. Think will leave it til autumn and see what's in sales.

OP posts:

YellowDinosaur · 24/08/2011 20:26

Prettycandles are you talking about the coleman evolva? I saw that recently and it sounds like the one you are describing. Pretty cool!

Well I've just bought an outwell fusion 400 (or the Argos knock off version anyway). It is fab - really easy to put up and easier than expected to pack up too (although you need to watch the you tube video A LOT first!). They have them for £86 in Argos but there isn't much stock - if you are lucky enough to have stock near to you I'd go for it! We still want a bigger tent but I also wanted something easy to pitch to go away on my own with the boys after this weekend finding that I was spending longer setting up and packing away than I was chilling with gin

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