Both Argos & Littlewoods have some very cheap tents....does cheap equal crap?

[Katymac]

Or might they be OK?

& tescos too

Yeah, mostly. Usually the really cheap ones have only one layer of fabric, rather than a waterproof outer and breathable inner, which makes them very sweaty.

I had one when I was a poor student and it got so humid in the tent that we had condensation on the inside that 'rained' on us!!

That being said, they do the job and are ok for short trips or in mild weather.

As long as they have

Sewn-in or bucket groundsheets,
Flysheet and inner tent,
At least 2000mm hydrostatic head (ie fairly waterproof, though may not stand up to the worst of British weather),
Taped seams,

they should be adequate for basic camping, even though they may not be the best designed or laid out, and may lack some features.

Thought so

I was looking at this

Doesn't say anything about hydrostatic head, but Coleman is a decent cheap make. Only thing, at a glance, that would worry me is that it doens't have a porch of any sort. The torouble with those sorts of doors is that any wetness (rain or dew) will roll straight down the tent and in at the door when you open it.

You could always add one of these.

I wouldn't say Coleman was a 'cheap' make, the general concensus on ukcs seems to be the Coleman is a good brand making quality products and well respected.

I would like to know that the HH is, but other than that seems a great tent for the money to me.

It is a shame it is 'pitch the inner first' as it is a bummer if it is raining, but tbh nearly all tents used to be made this way we are just a bit spoilt now.

Again re the door, yes the rain will come in, but the same can be said of our very expensive Outwell, as we choose to use the storm porch for storage! When camping getting a tad wet is not the end of the world.

Most of the negative reviews on Argos seem to be because they were faulty, 'pitted with holes' , not good in a tent , so I would want to pitch it before going away and give it a thorough check.

Have googled for you, it is actually a Coleman Canyon, must have been re-named for Argos, it has a HH of 2000, which is considered the minimum to be waterproof rather than showerproof. Here is some opinions of Coleman tents on ukcs, and here is some reviews of your (well the 8 berth but identical). The main complaint seems to be pitching, but that just takes practice, practice, practice.

Thanks Prettycandles

It is such a hard thing to buy when you know virtually nothing little about a topic

Katy - I think, cheap is ok if you have not been camping before/for a long long time and do not know if you are going to enjoy the whole experience, as long as you keep in mind with the whole tent side of it, if this troubles you camping, ie the humidity, the dampness, etc, that this can be improved further in the future with a better tent. There is no point spending a fortune on a tent if you go, and you decide you hate it and will not go again.

If you love it, which sounds like you will, then you can buy an improved tent at a later stage, or add to it to improve it. I find the winter a really good time to buy tents as people either sell theirs after realising they spent a fortune on something they have not used, or shops have sales. Our last tent before our hippy tent was a really good make (cannot remember it now) and we got it for half the price in the January and when we sold it we sold it to a friend for only £20 less than we paid for it

THIS is cheap "Leben Stuttgart 6 man tent reduced from £149.99 to £36.42 and kids sleeping bags were £12.99, now £3.99 @ Tentastic"

Well you do get what you pay for...

but if you think about how much it would cost for a week in a hotel for the family compared to buying a cheapish tent ... and if it lasts for more than a week so much the better.

Coleman are good, they're at the level below premier if you to trank them but that's like saying Waitrose isn't as good as made by craftmen direct fromthe farm: good quality and nice tents. On a par with Gelert which ime also make soem damned nice affordable tents and Royal, who also have a great rep.

We ahd an Argos Proaction for our first tent, cost £35 in the sale, lasted a week no problems whatsoever before we sold on to a very happy man and bought the old Galert Tahoma.

Check out the coleman site for a better spec, HH is important, and consider a small gazebo, tarp type thing or day tent

I don't mean cheap as in cheap-and-nasty, but at the cheaper end of the range. Their camping equipment is perfectly good and I would usually go for it over any more expensive brand. OTOH I would not say the same about Gelert. Just about every Gelert item I've ever used has been shoddy. Except for our Gelert sleeping bags, but then I was not looking for the same features when I bought them, as when I bought my lightweight, tiny-packing, 4-season Ajungilak bag. (Those were the days...)

DH has decided that he would rather have a slightly more expensive tent & be comfortable

?

We had an argos cheap jobby for 5 years and no problems with it, just got a bigger tent but still nothing wrong it.

If you can afford to spend a little more I think it is worth it, look on it as an investment.