Come talk to me about Bell tents

[lisad123]

I keep seeing bell tents, and dh says we can have one :)
Seen loads online and not sure if there are better types, ect.
Seen a lot about soul pads, what's so special about them?
If you get standard bell tent, do you then have to buy their make of extras?

Best reviews for bell tents are on UKcampsite www.ukcampsite.co.uk/

the main thing to look for are the weight of groundsheet and the water pressure that they withstand and the seem taping/waterproofing.

Tent inners (bedrooms) tend to be brand specific but lots of stoves and other accessories can be mixed and matched.

IMHO Bell tent and Soul pad have very good tents and excellent after care/customer service and replacement parts.

enjoy!!!!

I have a soulpad and I love it!!! Used it three years now and not needed to re-proof it yet! I'd say get biggest you can afford, we have a 5 m ZIG. Buy one with groundsheet you can separate fir easy drying afterwards. Ours is draped over banister now as its airing after weeks trip. I LOVE MY BELL!

for sorry for typo

Hi Lisad123. Is it you that has a Montana Lake? Lovely tent! I previously had an Outwell Bear lake 6, which I really liked, but reluctantly had to sell, as I couldn't pitch it on trips where DH couldn't come along. Now that I have the bell tent I don't miss the bear lake at all. I absolutely love my bell tent. I knew the bear lake was a great tent, but I never had the same feeling. The bell tent is more fun! I prefer the light and ambience due to the cream cotton. I really appreciate the fact that I can easily and quickly pitch it by myself, but still have the space and airiness of a cotton tent. Plus the entire bell tent weighs about the same as just the poles for the bear lake.

I have a 5m SIG form Soulpad. I went for the SIG as it was the only model that came with a mosquito net on the doors (a must for me), and so far have absolutely no regrets. I also bought the bedroom inner, from soulpad, and a spare 5m groundsheet light, to use as a footprint. I went for soulpad as they were cheaper than belltent and I had only actually been inside a soulpad.

carla I don't know if they changed it since you bought your bell tent but the 5 meter zipped in groundsheet that I own has a mosquito net on the doors aswell which is great for keeping bugs/flies out!

Poppyboo I have only had mine for a couple of months, so I'm guessing they changed the design since you bought yours, although I cant see why they would . I really wanted the ZIG (hybrid) and specifically telephoned Soulpad to ask about the mosquito net doors, but was told that they were only on the SIG (deluxe) model. I even hoped the lady at Soulpad had somehow made a mistake and scoured the specification on the website, but couldn't/can't see any mention of a net on the ZIG model. Same story at Belltent. The only place that currently say they do a ZIG with nets at the door are Karma Canvas, but they are out of stock until late August.

carla how odd! Mine is three years old now though! So maybe they changed it! I think you can buy the mosquito doors as an add on now at least, so at least it's available.

Just checked website and it looks like they don't sell it as a add on, that's the soul shield I was thinking of which is a net for when sides are rolled up!

I have the 4m standard bell tent from, err, Bell Tent . I love it! Every now and then I wish I'd gone for a 5m, especially now I have a frontier stove, but at other times - like now, when the tent is spread out over the dining table and chairs to finish off drying after Camp Bestival and I can barely bloody move for canvas, and when I'm lugging it the short distance from house to car, I'm really glad I opted for 4m. But it's just me and 2 kids aged 8 & 5.. 5m would be better for a larger family.

I love our ZIG soulpad and am really upset to hear that they've stopped doing it with mosquito nets at the door (ours is 3 years old too)! However, it did have a rather significant design fault in that the velcro on the outer tent door flaps would very easily become stuck to the netting and rip at it (possibly that's just my/DH's cackhandedness, but we've both managed to tear it over the years) so possibly that's why they've got rid of it? Although why they do it on the SIG then is a mystery...

Anyway, back to the OP, we have a 5m and I love it, even though it takes an age to dry (especially in the current weather!) and is a bulky bastard. Soulpad had (back then, anyway) miles better customer service than Bell Tent which was why I went for them - I emailed BT with a question when I was looking at buying and they didn't ever respond, whereas Soulpad were really friendly and helpful, and have been ever since.

I have a quarter inner but I really don't like it, it spoils the look of the tent (imho) and makes it feel cramped. We bought another bag from Soulpad for the groundsheet as rolling the 2 up together in the only slightly dampest of conditions is a sure fire recipe for mildew . Also makes it easier to pack away and carry about! :)

lovecat how did the mildew happen? We keep always together and so far had had no problems but the last year we came home with it wet and left it on our banister for about 5 days as I couldn't be bothered to get it down before that. This time we got it home dry but we've let it air, again over banister for four days. Again, because we kept putting off packing it away LOL

My own silly fault, Poppy - we put it up in the garden to dry it out, it was beautifully dry, but there must have been a tiny bit of wet beneath the groundsheet when we rolled it (it certainly wasn't obvious to us when we did it) because when we next opened it up again this stream of dirty water ran out of it and there was mildew in the folds where it had laid . I have managed to get the worst of it off with Milton and then rewaterproofed it (a bloody nightmare job), but it's still a bit stained :(

So now we don't take chances, even if the tent is dry we unzip the groundsheet and roll/store it separately.

Lovecat [sob] hugs to you! Good idea about storing separately, I think I will take your advice xxx

We have a soul pad tribe, 5m and love it. Expect it to be big and bulky and heavy when wet, but when up it is just amazing and lying inside looking up is just so peaceful and relaxing.

For mildew Dettol mould and mildew remover (the bathroom spray) does the trick. Spray it on the mildew spots and it vanishes after about 10 mins