Help me buy a tent please!

[Lou573]

Hi, can anyone knowledgable recommend a 4 person tent please? My husband has requested a new one for his birthday and I have no idea where to start - all he’s mentioned is a separate fly sheet? If you were going to buy a 4 person tent right now which would you go for? No particular budget but would just like good value. He currently takes one daughter in a 2 man but myself and the other daughter may join them in future. Thank you!

Vango icarus 500 is good.

Don't go for less than 3000 HH waterproofing.

What ever you choose if you actually want 4 people to fit in it buy a 6 man tent.

Thanks all, really helpful. Kids are small at the moment - youngest 10 months, so will be in with us for a while yet! Can always put them in existing 2 man tent later on. We’re not very frequent campers, but husband has taken dd several times this summer and she loves it, so I’d like to try joining them with the baby. It will likely only be limited to good weather though! Given that it’s short trips and having to put up tent while supervising young kids one that’s easy to put up is probably quite important. Will look through all the suggestions, thanks again.

Honestly all of you recommending canvas bell tents have never staying in a modern tent. Where's your socialising space? I've stayed in canvas tents that rain inside. Modern, blackout inflatable all the way unless you care more about image than comfort.

If there's four of you get a six man.

After camping all my life in every sort of tent possible I would go for a Dutch pyramid tent. Canvas is so much nicer to camp in. Bell tents look nice but are not practical
Dutch pyramid tents look amazing and are much more practical

I would look carefully at your boot space and budget. With young kids, I would definitely go for the black out sleeping compartments and something like a Vango. Being able to stand up in a tent is a blessing when dressing young children.

I am a bell tent addict (the canvas blocks out the sun and they are a doddle to put up). However, they are bulky, heavy when wet and you MUST dry them out before storing them away to prevent mold. Don't even consider them if you have no space at home to spread them out after a wet camping trip.

@CoffeeRevelLove, we have a 5m bell with inners that nicely splits the tent up. Plus a sail awning if it's a weekend getaway or a standing events shelter if going with friends and family.

Standing room
Fully sewn in groundsheet
HH 3000 or more
Mesh insect screen door

Be aware that if you go for inflatable it will take up loads more space in the car. A small simple 4 or 6 person tent is pretty quick and easy to put up.

This is what I want to buy, just for two of us plus dog

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BFVKP4Y?ascsubtag=pfb-P01-V01-O3-T1-LO-QOC1YI&ref_=pfb_465e78c1kee51441l9ac19m38n34&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

There are some great suggestions and advice here but even though it's a birthday present I would be tempted to get him involved in choosing the tent. Go and see some, agree what your priorities are and what space you will have in the car etc.

I wouldn't want to be there on every future camping holiday with DH hinting that he wished I'd chosen a smaller/larger tent with a porch/blackout bedrooms/different layout/different colour/different fabric...

We've just come back from a week's camping in a Vango Orava 600XL. It's a fab tent for our family (2 adults, 2 DCs aged 7 and 9) because there are 3 generous bedrooms, a huge living space where we can put a table and play games, and a lovely porch where DH and I can sit and drink beer and read books and look at the stars when the DCs have finally gone to sleep. We upgraded last year from a smaller 5-man tunnel tent because the DCs were no longer capable of sharing a bedroom without squabbling (one wanted darkness to go to sleep, the other wanted to stay up reading with a head torch, etc). So for us, a big living space, a generous porch and separate bedrooms for the DCs were our priorities! I agree with PPs, though, that you and your DH should discuss what's important to you - will you have another living space (like an event shelter or gazebo), so the tent is just for sleeping in? Or do you want something bigger where you can do more activities and store stuff? Is car space limited (we just have a hatchback and a roofbox!) or is your car big enough to fit a bigger tent in? (Canvas tents and airbeam tents are both bulkier and heavier than poled synthetic ones.) Where will you store your clothes/kitchen/food? And so on!

You're stupid and an absolute fool with the IQ of a dead fish if you buy a tent with poles/strings and not an inflatable one.

Oh and always add an extra bedroom for storage. We have a 4 man tent for 2 people and the second bedroom has our clothes etc in instead of them being in the eating area

2155 Even inflatable tents have guy ropes.
What a ridiculous post.

vango tents are great. We have a two bedroom one for two people, we use one bedroom for storage and getting changed, one for the teenagers, and then use the main area as a bedroom, it makes the tent tidier.
The inflatable pole ones are huge, it's like trying to get a bouncy castle in your car I watched a couple yesterday try to get one in the back of their car, it was quite entertaining 😂

Another recommendation for air tent rather than poles. Much more sturdy and easier to put up / down.

Pack away slightly bigger but really not much at all.

If you've got young kids the bit where you arrive at the campsite could do with being as stress free as possible, inflatable will definitely help with that!

@InTheWings

Not ridiculous at all. Although you probably want to get your tent checked out if you have guy ropes because that doesn't sound quite right

@jiffyjackfruit

My 4 man inflatable comfortably fits in front of the passenger seat in our Audi A3 so I wouldn't say they're all huge

I don't want to hijack the OP but really most tents do have guys/"strings". Are you quite sure you haven't misunderstood?

@2155User

You're stupid and an absolute fool with the IQ of a dead fish if you buy a tent with poles/strings and not an inflatable one.

I'm surprised I can even type, seeing as I have the IQ of a dead fish

@longtompot

Quite clearly it was a joke. I'm sorry that you lack a sense of humour

[quote 2155User]@jiffyjackfruit

My 4 man inflatable comfortably fits in front of the passenger seat in our Audi A3 so I wouldn't say they're all huge[/quote]
Fair enough but it's huge as far as I am concerned if it has to take up a passenger seat. We go camping in a small car and wouldn't use up the space with an inflatable. We can get the tent, pillows, sleeping bags, camping mats and cooking stuff in the boot of our little car so one item taking a seat is too big!

@2155User no, it wasn't obviously a joke. I do have a sense of humour, thanks, your post just came across as aggressive.

@jiffyjackfruit

In front of the passenger seat, as in tucked away on the floor in front. Not an actual seat

[quote 2155User]@InTheWings

Not ridiculous at all. Although you probably want to get your tent checked out if you have guy ropes because that doesn't sound quite right [/quote]
Is this another joke?

I don't get it