Which tent?

[Lucy1971]

Hi I'm looking for a small tent for me and DD (8). Needs to be something I can put up on my own. Any recommendations?

I can recommend inflatable tents. Not the cheapest, and not lightweight, but I can put one up with a 1 year old 'helping' in a few minutes and put it away again. Decathlon's range is very good.

Vango Beta 3XL.

It's a tunnel tent so put the three poles in, peg one end and pull out. Peg the other end.

I can do this one myself. It has an attached bedroom area, which prevents condensation, and can be pitched in one.
I got mine in Decathlon for under £100.

Any tent you get should have a hydrostatic head of at least 5,000mm. Also get at least one person bigger than the actual number of people using it - Ie 4 man really means three men and their kit.

I got the Vango Beta 4XL, for DD (then 10) and I. I mostly use it on Cub camp (where I am alone but need loads of "leader emergency" gear, and have had DD come in to sleep some nights). Or when DD and I have gone camping alone (DSis came for 1 night once).

While it is easier with someone else helping put it up, I've put it up alone quite a few times now (usually all 4 Cub leaders are struggling to get their own tents up in a short space of time while Cubs are busy and before it gets dark). Although as 1 other leader has the same tent, we sometimes tag team on both.

As Fairfax says, it is handy having a separate sleeping room (I leave my "bed" laid out and have my personal gear in there, but have "Cub gear" in the main space - art supplies, spare blankets, first aid etc) - so no Cubs need go into my space. And when just DD and I, we keep the kitchen/cooking gear in the outer space and sleeping/clothes gear in the other room. And on rainy evenings, I can sit out in the main part while DD heads to sleep earlier in the bedroom - I can read or play some cards or something without disturbing her.

I do like the look though of a similar tent (I don't think it was Vango - the same tunnel shape but the door was at the front end of the tunnel rather than 2 sides) as I think you'd rig up a tarp for a porch easier there, and you could then actually hang a multipocket holder on the side wall (not really possible in mine due to door layout and the need to get into the low end for storage).

I have a Quechua four man pop-up tent that all four of us use even though it is snug. We are never cold and it literally takes minutes to put it up and put away. I often go without DH and I can easily manage on my own. We have another pop-up shelter that we sometimes take for somewhere to sit up at night if it's too wet to sit outside. I LOVE it.

This is a Vango Berkeley 400, which is a compact dome tent with a small porch, which you can put up alone in about 15 minutes, and actually has standing room inside. I bought mine 2nd hand on eBay, but I think you can pick a new one up from an online retailer for around £110.
The porch is big enough to do a little bit of light cooking over a camping stove, and the indoor area will give you plenty of space for your stuff if you sleep on regular inflatable camping mats.
It's my 'chuck-in-the-boot' , easy peasy weekend tent if I go camping alone with the DCs (2 of those).

I second the recommendation for an inflatable. I have a large awning for my campervan and it takes 10 minutes with 2 kids 'helping'. My old one took 25 minutes and oodles of swear words plus losing the baby multiple times to go up.

Think mine is Vango

Don’t get an inflatable one the tubes disintegrate really quickly and then you are stuck. Happened to a friend who treats and stores her tents properly, guy at campsite said they see it all the time with the inflatable ones.

Thing about the Berkeley Adult is that the poles cross at the top. These can be far harder to put up alone than a tunnel tent.