Please help: tent awning or event shelter

[GColdtimer]

We have a Vango Icarus 500 and didn't buy the awning for it and are regretting it. We are now wondering whether we should buy an event shelter instead to cook under and sit under in the rain and pitch it close to our tent, like an awning. There are a couple of suitable awnings on ebay but am thinking an event shelter would be more versatile anyway.

Is this feasible, have others done the same? Thanks

Event shelter, imo. More flexible than the awning.

We bought a tarp to go with our tent instead of the awning.

I have found it works better for us as more versatile as can be put up wherever is best on each site, dependant on size of pitch, view, wind etc.

For me, I prefer an extension or canopy. You don't get wet going in from the tent and you don't have to pay extra. Depending on where you camp, pitches aren't always big enough for event shelters either.

I do have an event shelter too but rarely use it for anything except creating shade and definitely wouldn't use it for cooking as its very open and I wouldn't leave the equipment in.

We've got the Icarus 500 and have just got the awning for it - we're off next week so I can tell you then what it's like!

Both!
Awning so you can get in and out in the dry and store stuff, events shelter for shade/cooking/lovely evening space/everything else.

Nice idea sleep but funds may not allow!

Thanks pottering please do. Where did you buy it? New or eBay? I'm intrigued about the how the front guy ropes work when the awning is on... Have fun!!

We got it from go outdoors in the end - we'll see how it pans out!

Kahului, might look at a tarp too, sounds like it could be a good compromise.

We have a couple of great tarps from Decathlon but have just sprung £50 for a coleman universal canopy from Amazon (can't link sadly) which you can rig up on any tent. Haven't got it yet but it gets good reviews apart from making a lot of noise in wind. But tarps do that so I can't see its a major downside.

We're just back from camping, and had great success with our canvas tarp, which provided much needed shelter from the sun on saturday, and rain on sunday... It was quite windy but it didn't flap and rattle, and was the envy of the site - we fit three families under it at one point. One of my best camping purchases. I find it a very flexible thing to own - it came with two sturdy king poles, and in can be made into a basic ridge tent on its own, or any number of different configurations with a tent or tree nearby to hook onto.

Ours is a Human Comfort brand, bought here (scroll to bottom of page) a few years ago when it was much cheaper (£60 i think?) nearly got the obelink one, but it was sold out at the time...

Great, really helpful thank you. :)

Ours is a canvas one so not much noise. It came with the 2 main poles and we have since bought 2 height adjustable poles that we attach to the corners on one side, if that makes sense. It gives us more headroom inside and saves me ducking going under it! Those poles are fantastic and well worth the money.

As Beckm said you can fit more than one family underneath so lots of possibility...

Where did you get the poles, kahlua? Was thinking we could do with a couple more, to give us yet more options! Guess they're a fairly standard item, but am all browsed-out... (I can obsess for hours over the purchase of the simplest thing, so sometimes would prefer just to be told what to get)

We actually bought ours at the onset camping shop in East Fleet Farm, Weymouth but I guess you could buy them anywhere.
Amazon sell them as just checked.

Has anyone tried those ones they're selling in Halfords?
They look quite sturdy.

Just got back, awning was awesome and definitely worth buying!

I like having an awning and having a space to sit and cook when it is raining. We have a blue Icarus 600 and found it impossible to get a canopy. We bought the blue Lomond canopy off the vango eBay site as they claim it fits. It's not perfect, but it fits well enough, is a different shade of blue but is okay.

I have a practicable Army Tent in my Garden. For Example like the ones you can see on www.r-zs.com/en/space-solutions/military-and-relief-agencies/army-tents/ but we painted and colored it with some Childs from the neighborhood. Looks pretty sweet. Its mobile too, but its a bit of a afford to buid it up. But when it stands, it stands safe. Could you imagine to have a big military tent in your garden like the one i showed to you? Didn´t cost much at all, so that was a good solution for finding space for Kids to play and so on.

Regards