Sewn-in groundsheet or not?

[surprise]

That's it basically. We have a tent that's quite ancient and are looking to replace it. Have seen a couple of bargain, but they dont' have sewn-in groundsheets (unlike our current one). Can anyone tell me really what a difference it makes? Does the inside floor get wet when it rains? Do you get lots of creepy crawlies in? By the way, if anyone has an Antares 17 I'd love to hear how tricky it is to pitch! thanks.

yes SIG. no draught, no leaks, no insects.
am niot really sure why you'd not want one sewn in? (that is a seroius question BTW. why would you not want a SIG?)

Well that's just it Nigella. I can't understand why so many tents don't have them, so assumed that there must be some kind of benefit to having a loose groundsheet. Personally I can't think why it could be better, but maybe there are some bright sparks on here who can enlighten me!

Having lived in a tent for 9 soggy months - get an sig.

We have a zig - so it zips out - when it's muddy underneath the tent we can remove it and pack it separately to the tent, then wash it at home.

Yes get a sig / zig though!

This has a zig as do the Lake series from Outwell

Definately SIG. They keep out the draughts. We bought a tent earlier in the year. I don't know what your budget is but we found Outwell and Vango were the main ones with SIG for around the £200 mark.

We got the 'outwell nevada M' Lots of doors and windows, SIG, all external doors have a mesh only option so you can let air in and keep midges out. We love it - poles to make front door into a porch were extra though.

most newer styles have SIGs nowadays. We had an older tent (about 5 years old without one which was fine, you could at least sweep the dirt OUT of teh tent. Our new tent has a SIG for 3/4th oif tehtent, but te front canopy does not. This is teh best of both IMHO. No damp/insects in the main area, easy cleaning in the 'wet room/front chill out' area

The benefits of no sig are that you can keep the tent cooler if you are somewher hot and you can sweep ditrt OUT. If you get a bug i a tent with a SIG it is harder and you also need a dustpan, not just the briush!!

Thanks for pointing out the advantages Crunchie. The tents we're looking at mostly have sig with separate groundsheet in the porch. Thanks everyone for your advice - think we'll def go for the sig.