Calling all seasoned campers!

[pancakeboobies]

We have camped the last few years in a fairly budget tent that has now got to the end of its life and is also a bit small for our family. This year we will be camping for 10 nights and are hoping to get a decent tent for approx £250 which will last us a few years and be comfortable enough to spend time in if the weather does its worst and we end up sitting around for large parts of the day.
Vango and Outwell seem out of our price range for something big enough and we seem to have honed in on a Hi Tech or Coleman one.
I think a tunnel tent would be our preference for height/ light and space and I would really appreciate any seasoned campers views on either of these or any other tents you know of that are in our budget.

Oops link should be hi gear not hi tech, sorry

spotted a couple of vango's in your price range...
the icarus here
and the tigris here

mmme.... what about a polycotton from obelink?
for the same money you could get this...... I know mumsnetters and ukcampsite people really rate their service (for delivery to uk) and quality of tents.... looks like a bargain to me!

It's worth looking at the reviews on ukcampsite, not only the scores but which tents have lots of reviews i.e. plenty of people have them.

the Hi Gear Corado is similar in style to the Outwell one we have, (about a quarter of the price - bargain!). We like it very much for long holidays, space, weatherproof, good to hide from rain in etc, but it's big and heavy and hard work for just a weekend - too many blimmin' pegs and layers. We have a smaller tent for a weekend. Check you have room in your car for the bags.

My first impression of the Coleman is it looks lighter/smaller to pack and quick to put up but looks a bit big for its bendy poles, how would it fare in bad weather? (i.e. normal UK summer). Nice big porch though.

Have you seen either of them IRL at a shop or tent show?

Thanks Hettie,
The Vango's look good.
Have just seen what appears to be a great deal for a Gelert Morpheous 6 including a porch here
A little worried about making such a big purchase on Ebay though.
Any idea how Gelerts rate quality wise?

x-posted! I am always envying those Dutch tents at campsites.

Thanks Fossil too - sorry didn't see your reply till after I posted the last one. Think we have now put the Coleman out of the running.
The High Gear reviews on UK Campsite seem quite good but there seem to be issues with the door. The Gelert seems great value for the 6 man plus porch but wondering if there is a catch? I guess it could be if we had a problem with the tent - lack of customer service etc

Crossed again!

I've had to return a tent (high end brand) and was very glad that I bought it from Cotswold outdoor. They were brill, even though it was over a year old and had no receipt (obviously) they sent it off to be tested and when it failed they gave me a voucher for full amount
Great customer service and boy was I glad, because as you say, it's a big ticket item...

DB's got a Hi-Gear Voyager 6 from Go OUtdoors that is on offer at the moment for about £170. It's a spacious 6-man tent that has a very spacious, light living area and you can also buy a porch for it. I highly recommend. DB reckons it takes him on his own about 20 mins to erect.

we have always used Vango tents, very good quality and our 5 man tent is under your budget. With outer porch too.
Beware of Hi-Gear, have seen a couple of big mishaps with them in bad weather on campsites, some of them are not as substantial as Coleman and Vango (looks like fabric quality issue imho, could be poles?)

We had a Coleman and it was brilliant - still be using it this year except we've bought a caravan.

Thanks everyone, we have now ordered the Gelert. Hope we have made the right decision - we are off late next week so shall soon see!
Cannot believe how many tents there are out there and the number of features they all have - is so hard to decide