Help me choose a tent?

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

Would like to start camping again (after about 10 years away from it!) but no idea what to look for in terms of a tent.

It's me, DP and DS, but we would like the biggest tent that we can afford that's also reasonably easy to erect as sometimes it'll just be me and DS (who's 4yo). I can copy with difficult tents, but I need something I can put up by myself.

Would like something that we can stand up in, and that has room for a table and chairs inside if needed.

What brands should I look at? I've thought about Quechua but am not keen on the designs and they look like they'd go v saggy in the rain (or so my mother tells me )?

*cope - not copy.

We have had several Quechua tents, all pop up, over the years, and they have never sagged in the rain - and we have suffered plenty of it. They are all easy to put up and, once you have the "knack", to take down again. I think all of them could be put up by one person provided it wasn't blowing a gale, but hopefully then some nice neighbouring camper would offer to help....

However, we also have a 5m bell tent and I can say from experience you can put this up on your own as I have done on more than one occasion. It takes longer of course but still less time than most modern, non-pop up tents.

I would suggest you look again at one of the Quechua family pop-ups (as large as you are comfortable with) or join the ever-growing MN fanclub and get a bell tent - both of these will have enough space for a table and chairs.

I've never seen Quechua in the flesh, are they hard to find? Would like a good nose around one really.

Will have a Google for bell tents..

Ah, should have said that storage is an issue as we don't have a loft, shed or garage! What ever we get will have to fit under the bed or in a small cupboard! Much as I would love a bell tent, I think canvas will just be too big to store.

I have a Quechua 4.2 Base Seconds and it's stored under my spare room double bed. It packs away flattish and round. Haven't actually used it yet mind as still accumulating the rest of the kit and bought it last autumn. HTH in some small way

The 5m bell tent is not too big to store in my opinion, we have our sitting in the bottom of our wardrobe, it would easily go under a tiny section of a double or single bed too! They are wonderful tents and extremely easy to put up, I could never sleep under nylon again, the difference to camping just being in a bell tent is amazing!

(it stores like a fat short sausage in its own nylon bag)

We keep our bell tent in a wardrobe stored on its end. It fits fine.

As for the Quechua pop up, as mrswimpeydimple says, they should store fine under a bed. Ours is a Family Seconds 4.1 (currently down to £99). It has one bedroom which DH, DD (2.5) and I sleep in together, and a smallish living area. There are other bigger ones with two bedrooms though. They are sold in Decathlon stores.

Ah ok, that sounds promising! What sort of size does it fold to?

Is it very heavy when wet, and if soaked through would I be able to take it down myself?

You can find dimensions of bell tent once packed on soulpad website.

It does get heavy once wet but if left for a couple of hours the worst dries off, once you take the central pole out you could fold tent in on itself and put in bin bags to get it home.... Then when youre home get DP to help you hang over banister to dry and then fold a few days later once bone dry.

And Decathlon are online too: www.decathlon.co.uk

Another vote for Quechua here. We have the 4.2 pop up and I can vouch that it fares very well in some fairly torrential rain conditions and dries out quickly. It is easy and quick to erect and put down again and stores in a flattish disc that slides nicely under a bed. It is warmer than a bell tent as well as the bedrooms don't have the high ceiling, this year there is also a model with a larger centre living area although we all managed to sit in ours in the bad weather last year. My one other thing I like about it is the seperate sleeping areas, as the DS' get bigger there is no way they would share a sleeping space with me and their father

I have this one but really really covet this one but apparently I'm not allowed another one

Really the sausage it rolls into isn't that big! It would be worth you looking at dimensions :D

Ooohh.. this is interesting.

Funnily enough it was almost a Quechua tent for me until I discovered bell tents and bought one 24 hours later LOL, the bell tent is extremely roomy inside and you have the option of buying a quarter or a half inner tent too but we didn't bother !

Has anybody got any experience of the T6.2 XL?

Not a tent I'd expect to put up by myself (though probably could with a bit of a struggle) but the amount of space for £300...

I am worried about drying off canvas - I know how manky it goes if you leave it, even for a short while, and we don't have a garden big enough to pitch a tiny 2 man hiking tent, let alone a 4-5M heavy canvas thing :) Thinking quechua is winning at the moment..

I have a Vango Oregon 800 and it's fantastic. I can put it up on my own but you do need 2 people if it's very windy.
It's really roomy and it stayed up when half the campsite blew down last year. Though I suspect that might be due to my superior pegging technique (preen) and the fact that they all put theirs up when half pissed.

I also have superior pegging. My tent stayed up at Glasto 97 when many others didn't. Poles went all wonky and it was still nailed to the ground

Think I might borrow the parentals Mega Dome and go camping with the boy when the weather improves

Jareth, why not get 2 tents? We've got a big gelert for long stays but I've just joined the quechua crew with a 2 seconds xxl for short trips. Only put it up once so far, in the garden, but it went up and down quickly and easily on ky own, can't wait to try it out in May.

Now ive thought about it, I'll be liberating the mega dome for short trips, its dead easy to put up and easy by myself.

It's an enormo tent for week + long stays that I'm after