Shelters versus a gazebo

[Flappingandflying]

Hi. Been looking at the coleman shelters but they are expensive. decathalon have a cheaper alternative. I've also found a snazy looking gazebo with mesh sides in Argos that I reckon we could add guy ropes to. Does anyone use gazebos as opposed to a shelter specific to camping, and what is the pack size?

Any reccomendations gratefully received.

We use this Coleman - we paid a damn sight more than that for it though - that's bargain.

I love it, its mega-easy to put up and while not 100% waterproof, it's kept the worst off during some heavy rain.

That is an amazing price ViviPru. We have a Coleman Event Shelter (as opposed to the instant sort) and it is not 100% waterproof either as water gets in at the seams. As ViviPru says though, they do keep off the worst of the weather.

The problem with any of these shelters or gazebos is high winds. At Eweleaze last year there were very high winds and loads of twisted and ruined shelters including Coleman ones, and even tent awnings. Our Quechua Base XL was fantastic, perhaps because of its flexibility - it waved around a lot but never broke. Unfotunately Decathlon don't make them any more (although they appear occasionally on Ebay) but they do do a smaller Base Seconds pop up shelter.

Ideally, if you are going out or to bed and strong winds are likely, take the shelter down to be on the safe side. For that reason, an instant type of shelter (whether it's a bog standard pop up garden gazebo or a Coleman Instant) is preferable as you can put it up and down quickly and with minimal fuss. Alternatively, our friends left the frame of their Event Shelter up but took off the fabric and that prevented the wind causing any damage so was a good compromise.

Good advice - friends of ours had a standard gazebo from Homebase, good quality mind. We returned to Common End after a days walk round Dovedale to find it had been blown clean across the site and was in bits....

The Coleman Instant linked to has really fat, long, sturdy pegs (more like stakes) that go directly through the 'feet' and has quite good tensile strength so as Frozen suggests, we just take the fabric canopy off if temporary high winds threaten.

I use an Izark Trail Gazebo, much cheapness in the ASDA sale, think it was £30. Dead easy to put up, very compact when folded away...all four side can be open or closed independently...

Ozark not Izark!

I've just bought a Quechua Living area 3 x 3 from Decathlon (almost permanently out of stock but I managed to grab one).

www.decathlon.co.uk/living-area-3-m-x-3-m-fresh-id_8295843.html

It's a bit pricey but I figure it will also work as a tent extension, sun shelter, bbq area, eating out area, storage area etc. I like the fact that it has 4 removable sides. Have only used it once so far and am pretty pleased with it.