Which tent should I go for? Vango beta 350xl or Khyam Freelander?

[NannyR]

Can I pick your brains about buying a tent?
I'm wanting to buy one for short uk camping trips. I want a three berth tent (even though I'll be camping alone) as I'd like the extra space and I would like a tent with enough space and headroom to be able to sit inside in case of inevitable bad weather, and it needs to be fairly easy to pitch on my own.

After researching online I've narrowed it down to two choices vango beta 350xl and
khyam freelander
The vango is about £125 and the khyam £220. Both are within my budget, but is the khyam worth the extra £100? I'm on a budget so ideally I'd like to get all my camping kit fairly cheaply but I don't mind paying extra if it's going to last longer, stand up better to bad weather and be significantly easier to put up and take down.
Or are there any other tents that might fit my requirements that anyone can recommend?

Thanks

I frequently put my tent up on my own, and I replaced our old tent because it had cross over poles like the Khyam - it drove me mad threading the poles and it was awkward because of the crossover - but it was a bigger dome tent than that one. I no longer like tents I can't stand up in - it's all right for a bit but then I get tired with bending down all the time, so I wouldn't choose the Vango Beta - but then I am tall.

I have just bought a Vango Kalu which looks easy to pitch alone:

. And I bought a footprint too, for easier management if taking the tent down on wet ground.

My easiest-to-put up and take down tent is my Quechua 2 seconds llll XL but that has annoyed me by being not tall enough and not having a sewn in groundsheet in the porch, and generally not having enough features like double zips on the doors for mesh, and windows, etc.

I don't have any knowledge of the two tents you link to I am afraid, but if you are anywhere near a Decathlon store, this one looks pretty good and very cheap: www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-family-41-tent-id_8294502.html#avantages.

Quechua tents always seem to be good quality and last for ages (in my experience). I only have their old pop up version of the 4.1 so don't know how easy this particular one would be to put up and down on your own, but I have to say their tents usually are pretty straightforward to erect.

This one should be tall enough to both sit and stand in bad weather.

We have this type of tent from Decathlon (discontinued now but available on ebay as you see): www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quechua-Base-4-1-Pop-Up-Tent-/111600638627?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19fbea9aa3

They are great tents and easy to put up and to take down once you have the knack. Worth considering if you can get one for a decent price (to give you an idea, they used to sell for between £99 and £149 IIRC at Decathlon depending whether they were in the sale or not).

Looking at the reviews of the Khayam, it does look as if my prejudice against pitching crossover poles is unfair for this tent.
And it has good headroom.....

In fact now I have studied the Freelander properly - no threading of poles at all. A big plus!
Looks good...except looking at several pictures on different sites, it appears to have no ground sheet at all in the porch area, let alone a sewn in groundsheet. A footprint would solve that and give it a non-sewn-in groundsheet in the porch - depends on how important to you this aspect is.

After the great damp summer of slugs 3 years ago it is very important to me!

Hmm... Decisions - I saw a similar size tent to the vango at go outdoors today and it seems just too low inside. I think I will probably go for the khyam, although the fact that I would have to buy a footprint would add to the cost. It does look incredibly easy to pitch though and I found a 10% voucher code to make it a bit cheaper.

Also I want to get one of the really thick self-inflating mattresses - can anyone recommend a good one?

Thanks for everyone's advice!