Help me choose a tent!!

[TwinningIt]

I’m going round in circles looking at tent choices - help me please!

Here are my must haves:
6 or 8 berth tent (there are 6 of us)
Air tent
3 separate bedrooms
Sewn in groundsheet
Good HH rating (UK camping)

Really want something as compact/light as possible for a 6 berth. We will be doing weekend camping in the UK and hopefully be out exploring during daytime, so really don’t feel the need for enormous living area with lots of furniture etc.

We obviously need a bit of space to feed 6 people and have our stuff, but we tend to travel quite light. It seems the three bedroom tents are either enormous (7m plus) or the small ones don’t have sewn in groundsheets - I think we need this to help avoid the dreaded midges!

How about this one from go outdoors , I have bought lots of things from them in the past and found them very helpful.
I have no idea what your budget is but this one is not cheap !
www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15905687/zempire-aerodome-iii-pro-8-person-tent-15905687

Thanks, but it’s too big! 770 x 680cm and weighs over 50kg!

There seem to be lots of options for more compact tents sleeping 5, but not 6.

Decathlon?
www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-63-family-tent-6-man-id_8330639.html

If you buy a six person be prepared for the tent literally only fitting six people in the sleeping pods with no excess space. The only make I know that includes excess space in the sleeping pods (by making them longer) is Outwell.

Look for a tunnel tent.
They are still long but they aren't very wide. You will struggle to find a really small 6/8 person tent though. Could you get two compact 4 man tents? Or a 4 man and a little pop up tent.

As PP I think you need to consider alternatives like 4 man and 2 man or 2 threes just because the design for a 6/8 generally means there will be lots of indoor seating space. Having said that, you probably want indoor space unless you are exclusively camping in the south east. As a family we traditionally camped in the three wettest places in the UK. It's made me question the sanity of my parents more than once...

Hi, I have a large 6 man which comfortably fits me and 3 kids - Vango Icarus 600. You could possibly sleep 6 if 2 slept in the main living area. Plus points - I can carry it and it fits in the car. There is standing room - important for week long camps. I have a porch where I cook in bad weather. We can all be in the living area in wet weather playing games or watching a dvd. Downside - length of time to pitch and difficulty doing it on my own with the kids (easy with no wind and a compliant child but not so easy in the wind). Last year I bought a small inflatable 3 man - another Vango. I love it. So quick to pitch. It only has a bath tub ground sheet in the living area which isn't ideal but works. It easily sleeps 2, we put the third in the living area. It isn't a standing tent so probably not ideal for long stays but great for a night or two here or there. We take another small tent for me. Packing up is so much easier. Drying the tents at home if you pack them wet is a breeze. I definitely think you should look at two smaller tents - but it does depend on the age of those staying with you. (Vango, Outwell, Coleman, Berghaus are all decent brands. Maybe look at second hand as tents can be expensive new).

Have you looked at getting two four man tents that are capable of connecting? Vango is good for that. The issue with the air beam ones is that they are massively heavy. You ideally want a 8 person as 6 will be too small but an 8 will be almost too heavy to put up with two people let alone one.

Thanks for all the replies.

Two connecting tents could work - i’ve Looked at Vango but can only see awnings and extensions, not tents that connect as such, can anyone recommend how this would work?

turkey couldn’t work your link, but I’ve looked at the decathlon 6 man air tent before - it looks fab apart from the groundsheet and I think the doors don’t zip all the way around.

Are 6 man tents really not big enough for 6 to sleep in for a couple of nights at a time? Mumdiva I’d looked at your tent too, the sleeping space looks fab but the rest is all a bit too big for what we need, I think? Or am I really deluded? I don’t see us sitting around in a tent all day - it’s for eating and sleeping in, and a bit of hanging around in the evening!

If you have 6 people sleeping in the sleeping compartment you will need to put luggage somewhere. You also need space for the camping chairs and table at night, the boxes of food, crockery etc. It can be done smaller and more compact but it's less comfy. As for having space for 6 inside.....unless you are only going away in the best weather where will you sit when it rains - and it does rain in England. Where will you then leave all the wet coats, boots etc for 6 of you.

This is really why I say buy second hand - try it out and see how you get on. Then if you need to change tents you can invest in a new tent. You won't know what you like till you try it. -- it also depends on the sites you want to stay at and the facilities they have. Also the size of car you have - at the end of the day it needs to fit in there and that can be harder than you think!

We've got the smaller version of the decathlon tent. Each sleeping pod is self contained and zips all the way round. The bigger one might be better but ours is a pig to pitch straight and get back in the bag after. It's the only big tent we've had (we normally do trekking) so they might all be as bad and I'm just incompetent at big tents!

This Decathlon one might be good. The back pod is subdivided. It looks like the front two person pod folds away so you've got a big living space if it pisses it down.

DEf go to the shops and look for your self. I had an outwell Montanna , ut found it tough to dry. (And then it wripped and hard to fix. )

Coleman make the best quality tents. We have three, one four man for me and DH and two three man tents for the DCs and then a dining tent with removable walls. The dining tent is our living space and without walls off is shade on sunny days, or with walls on, rain proof in bad weather.
We prefer not to sleep in same tent as DCs for privacy.

Are you sure you want an air tent? They are notorious for issues with the bladders and they weigh a ton.

We have a vango icarus, I can pitch it one my own.
We do also have a separate awning tent for cooking under.
It sleeps 4 plus generous kit and I've put 6 kids in it.

So I think we want an air tent as big tents take ages to pitch otherwise, and if we’re doing a couple of days at a time then it’s not worth it unless it’s fairly quick.

lekker that tent you linked to was my top option until I read that the groundsheet isn’t sewn in. We’ll be camping in Scotland a fair bit so rain and midges are a big deal!

I get the point about having space for luggage, wet clothes etc. But some of these 6 man tents are 7.5m x 4.5m or bigger - I’ve stayed in smaller campsite 6- berth mobile homes than that, and they have bathrooms and kitchens built in!

Does anyone have the Vango longleat II 800xl? I wonder if that would give us a bit of extra (bedroom) space for luggage, but without suck an enormous footprint?

Looks like a nice tent if you can afford it. I would definitely get the footprint and awning. My friends had a similar layout for their family - it was an easy to pitch tent with poles as well.

If you're doing 2-3 night trips, don't get hung-up on finding something only-just big enough or lightweight. You will find you need more space to be comfortable than you need, and you're plans to only use it for sleeping and eating will meet the reality of camping - early starts, long evenings, and more time spent sitting around the camp chilling out than you imagine.

And if you're not a fair weather only camper and predict camping in rain you will need the extra space to keep dry.
You mention six people. Start by working out who is capable of doing what - six teenagers/adults all pitching in can get camp set-up very quickly. If there are young children that need supervision then that costs you an adult for pitching.

Look at a tunnel tent than you think you need, or at least one that can be expanded later with more sections. Consider a camping trailer to carry it so you're less concerned about weight. Unless you're driving a large van derived vehicle you're going to struggle to get six people and all the camping equipment inside the same vehicle anyway.

Have a look at the Zempire tents.

Our 2 bedroom one is fairly compact for what it is and it's fantastic in terms of features and ventilation/fly screens etc

A 6 man won't be big enough for 6 of you. I have a 5 man for 3 of us.

Could you use a separate pup tent? Buy a 6-man tunnel tent, and a separate smaller one for the older kids maybe?

Actually, a 6 man will be ok for weekend trips, and then if you need additional space then a pup tent might be useful.

How about this

Vango Stanford 800XL Tent - Sky Blue
amazon.co.uk/dp/B07N6BKQRQ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_TYGPEbASYC66K]]

Not an air tent, but it would go up quickly.

Sorry

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07N6BKQRQ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_TYGPEbASYC66K?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I would go for two four/five person dome tents. We have one for one/two night stays. Takes 10 mins to put up which is useful if avoiding midges. We have used one 5 person (2 adults, 3dc) until last year when the teenagers took to a separate tent. Around Scotland we decamped every night so it was good for that. I will say though that the midges on the west coast still seem to get through the mosquito netting and so some of the family ended up in the car. We camp virtually everywhere but have said that maybe next time we go to the west coast we will rent somewhere. Mull was fine though, I think the breeze helps. The advantage of a dome tent is that it is fairly stable even in high winds.

How old are the kids?

www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15981456/berghaus-air-8-inflatable-tent-15981456

This sleeps 8 (so 6) and does not show the sleeping pods divided in the diagram but if you look at the photos the picture shows a divider across one of the sleeping pods.

But if it was pouring with rain you wouldn't all be able to cook and sit inside the living area.

You could get a tarp as outside area.

I would also get an electric pump for that tent, not the manual one provided.

Personally I like tunnel tents with a good adequate living area at the front, and tunnel tents shouldn't take ages to put up. Not if they don't have fiddly extensions etc.

Air beam tents are very heavy and bulky to pack.