Tent recommendations needed

[plonker]

Can anyone recommend a good family tent?

Ideally we would like a touring caravan, but our bargain buy fell through this week and we haven't got enough money at the mo to look for another, so are looking to get a tent instead.

We will be eventually be buying a tourer, so can't afford to go over the top on a tent, however, in the same respect, we don't want to waste money by getting one that we'll regret ...it could be a few years before we can afford our own caravan.

We looked in Outdoor World today and fell in love with this Vango Columbia 600

Has anyone got one of these? Has anyone got any thoughts about it?

It is the layout that we really like on it - does anyone know any alternatives with a similar layout - or has anyone found that this layout hasn't worked for them?

There are five of us (me, dh, 3 dd's 9, 6, 2) and our GR dog. I have been told (think it was on here the last time we looked at tents??) that you should add 2 berth onto the amount in your family, so ideally with 5 of us, we should get a 7 berth tent, however, there seems to be a huge leap in price from 6-7 berth so tthought maybe a 6 berth would do

What do others with similar family set-ups have?

Also, I was also told (again think it was on here) to go for a 5000 HH, or as close as we can get. This one has 5000 HH so jobs a good 'un ...anything else I should be looking for?

Lastly, any thoughts on how easy this is to pitch? It says flysheet first pitching - is this good/bad? Have no idea what it means

I'm sure I've got a thousand more questions, but I'll stop there for now

Thanks in advance

flysheet first means the outer bit - as opposed to inner (bedrooms) first which get wet if it's raining, so it's good - sometimes you can keep the bedrooms attached when decamping so it's all-in-one next time too

I've been told 3000hh is minimum really for this country - so 5000 is fine

no idea about pitching

have you looked on uk campsite reviews for your tent - they have most makes and models

I have no clue at all, as only just come back from using our little bargain trailer tent for weekend.

All I will say is there was a lot of outwell tents

The tent you've linked to looks like the Outwell Montana 6 which has excellent reviews and is available for about £400 I believe - I don't know how they measure up on size though

that looks a nice tent only thing I would check is the size of the bedroom pods - what will you all be sleeping on? can they all fit (have been caught out before)

some 8 man are not hugely dearer.... heres one cheaper but slightly different layout..

www.outdoorworld.co.uk/khyam-ontario-8-tent-p-1583.html

Khyams have a good reputation ....HTH

LewisFan - So the flysheet first is a good thing then, brill, thanks
I've registered with uk campsite - looks a great site!
The Montana 6 looks fab, but I think is a little out of our price range

Thanks Lisad - the montana's sound fabulous (looked at reviews on uk campsite) but seem to be a little out of our price range, we still need to get roof box for car etc too.

3rdnparty - the ontario looks great, but I prefer the layout of the Columbia 600. Not really sure why ...?
Great advice re the sleeping compartments btw, I wouldn't have thought of checking, so thanks for that!
I've looked and it seems that 2 of the compartments are 140cm wide (280 altogether) so would fit a standard double airbed - the other is smaller, but would fit dd3's travel cot

My slight concern atm is to whether the columbia would be big enough for the dog.

I don't want to get a mahoosive one though as I've heard that you may need to book two pitches??? Can anyone confirm this?