Tent for family of 5

[youretheonethatiwant]

We are going to start (hopefully yearly) camping adventures this summer with our 3 kids (6, 4 and almost 1). The issue is that we need to get a tent. We want to spend the least possible to get a good, spacious tent, but also one that packs down to a reasonable size. We will be camping in the UK and France mainly. We also want a tent that will last us until the kids are bigger (at least 10 years).

We're considering a second hand Hi Gear Kalahari 8 that's had minimal use or a (probably new, unless one comes up very soon on a second hand site!) Berghaus Air 8 Nightfall. We would get the porch with either.

I appreciate one is a pole tent and one is an air tent...we could deal with either I think. The other difference is the waterproof rating - Hi Gear is 4000 (and the tent is 5 years old) and Berghaus is 6000. Are there any other factors I should be thinking about? Any words of wisdom or personal experience of these tents?

Thanks!

Get a zip in or sewn in groundsheet. That is all!

Also be realistic about the space camping gear takes up. With three kids you are going to need an absolutely giant roof box or a trailer, unless youve got a van.

We did camping as a family of 5 in a car and roof box. Although we did get a trailer in later years which was fantastic!
A 5 year old tent isn't going to be waterproof in another 10 years though.
Inflatable tents are so easy to put up but much bigger and heavier than standard tents. We have a Kyham and it's lovely but hefty.

We have an Air tent. I do love ot but it’s huge when packed down and very heavy. If we were going abroad I would go for a lighter pole tent. They do take a little longer to put up but realistically it’s not that much longer.

We have the Berhaus 6XL and its massive packed down and extremely heavy. Takes up most of our boot!

We have a Eurohike air tent we use for 5 of us but only for weekend trips in UK. We literally sleep in it, and sit outside it. Despite it being an incredibly basic and pretty small air tent it takes up an incredible amount of boot space and is very heavy. However it was chosen on basis I could put it up alone with the kids 'helping'.
If we were going to camp abroad I'd want a smaller packing tent and I guess if we were putting it up for a week at a time, it wouldn't matter if it took an hour to pitch. I'd want a 8-10 berth for 5 of us, at least 2 separate bedrooms and decent living space with full height plus porch.
We always go on Eurocamp holidays and I do love the idea of taking our own tent abroad, but i'd want to be as well kitted out as possible!

Older tents will need reproofing. My 5 year old outwell which was brand new when I bought it has just needed reproofing and was barely used.... it was really easy, will let you know how it holds up to rain. I wouldn't get too hung up on hh ratings, as long as its over 4000 it will be fine.....and all of them degrade with exposure to the weather.

My advice would be get a tent with a decent living room space and a built in porch. Such a faff in crappy weather to have to add the porch on....and from bitter experience it's easy to forget it if it's another bag. The porch gives you space at the front for wet gear and also a covered but an area that can be opened for wet weather cooking.

Also look for flexibility in the bedrooms, ours has 3 rooms but the dividers can be unzippef and dd still wants to share with us because a dark tent is too scary for her.

I've heard good things about Hi Gear and Berghaus tents. I would consider Vango as well my last Vango tent was fantastic. I prefer the layout with the bedrooms all at the back rather than vis a vis tents because the porches are built in. I have had an add on porch before and they have a habit of flapping about a lot in the wind.

We’ve got a poled tent, I wouldn’t be able to lift an air tent, they’re huge.
With young kids that wake early I’d try to get black out bedrooms. You’ll be more comfortable in an 8 man tent, more space the better.
I'd doubt any tent will last 10 years. We’ve got a vango, it’s a good tent, friends have got Kampa tents, they are good too.

A 5 year old second hand tent will not last you 10 years. Unless you are v v lucky.

I wouldn’t spend more than I was prepared to invest in one summer’s camping on a second hand tent.

Tents have a certain life span in sunlight and the fabric degrades.

Fabsil replaces the beading if rain on a tent, but won’t help once the waterproof layer on the inside starts to fail or the fabric goes ‘crispy’. Fabsil Gold protects your tent from UV light / damage, as does a roof protector.

An inflatable tent will be far more bulky, and if you are organised a tunnel design poled tent isn’t really hard to put up.

The Hh is important, don’t go less than 3000 , and the dernier of the fabric too, higher is better quality / longer lasting.

Second hand tents: you never know how many weeks they have already done in sunlight, whether someone has washed them in detergent or used aerosols inside it every day: deodorant, fly spray (all of which will affect the inside waterproof layer as well as leaving a flammable residue).

For longevity a cotton canvas ot polycotton tent is best, and then you have to look after it, but they are not cheap or compact.

Totally agree. I can’t lift our air tent either. With the pile tent and young DC I could manage camping without DH, there is no way I could manage the air tent without him and there wouldn’t be room on the car.

And also agree on blackout bedrooms. Our DC are older now but they are still great and also means that the DDog doesn’t wake us at the crack of dawn

OP This is an interesting article about the dernier of tent fabric, the longevity of tents , and explains my scepticism about a 5 year old second hand tent!