Anybody fancy helping me find a tent?

[JennyPennyNAPPYWEB]

I really want to get a tent but getting so frustrated with it, everytime I think I have found one I want I see bad reviews! I don't seem to know enough about tents but can't afford to buy one that won't last us a few holidays.

It is for 2 Adults and 2 young children (when we go next year they will be 1 and 2) but plan to camp at least once a year.

I have just been looking at the Gelert Michigan 8 and have found some good and bad reviews.

Off to do some more googling but would be really grateful of some help as it is a mindfield! We went camping last year and borrowed a 4 man gelert tunnel tent from my Dad and it was great but we need a bit bigger now as we are going for 2 weeks and both DC will be active (DD1 was only just walking and DD2 was a newborn when we went this year). So a bigger version of that seems perfect but wanted to check with you more experienced campers first!

We have an Outwell Montana 6 which I love!

There are 5 of us (2 adults, 3 kids 9,6,2, and a GR dog!) and it's plenty big enough, although we are very tempted by the extension and will most probably be buying it ready for next summer

We also have the carpet for it, which makes it so cosy underfoot

Would thoroughly recommend.

hth

We have the Outwell Hartford XXL 2007 which is ridiculously huge bu we love it!

It has a central area nd 4 bedroom pods - each sleeps 2. One room for me and DH 2 children shar and we have 2 for storing stuff leaving the big central space to play, live in. We also have the canopy which makes cooking a lot easier if the weather isn;t great. All our friends laugh at how big it is but they don;t complain when they get a cooked breakfast in the rain!!!

You can get smaller Hartfords and the latest models have pods that sleep 3 I think. The XL has 3 pods (probably should have gone for that one really) and L has 2 pods.

We know several people that have this range of tents and all are very happy. Would do a link but I've just finished working and am knacker, will try tomorrow! Hope that helps.

Oh yes - got to get carpet - lovely and cosy (well as cosy as it gets!) also doubles up as a huge picnic rug for the rest of the year!

Do you have a Go Outdoors near you? We were new to camping this year, also with 2 small children and after masses of research we bought this. I'm SO glad we did - it is fantastic, with loads of space. The only thing I found is that it is too big really for short stays - we went for a one night trip which mostly seemed to be taken up with putting up and taking down the tent! But on the other hand I'm hoping to do some longer trips next summer and I do think it would be fine for a couple of weeks, especially if you bought an extra canopy (it already has a built in one).
We also liked having two bedrooms next to each other that could be made into one big one - we ended up with one big room mostly as DD (4) got a bit spooked.

we have an Outwell Idaho which is large but fantastic for young kids. we had some hideous weather in Cornwall in the summer and there was plenty of room for the kids to play inside. i also get claustrophobic so couldn't have a tent which was low and dark. This tent is light and has plenty of windows and vents, and i can stand up in it easily. Outwell were recomended to us by friends who have been camping for years.

Wow outwell seem really recomended here! Have looked at all the links and like the look of the Hi Gear Corado 6 Family Tent the best, although that isn't outwell! lol. Its the one Tikkabilla has linked to.

Tikkabilla - is it hard to put up? Could you do it on your own? Just thininking DD2 will only be 1 and DD1 will be 2 so really one of us will be busy with the girls. We won't need it for very short stays so I am not worried about that but also don't want to be spending hours putting it up. Love the idea of having enough space for the children to run about in, and the build in groundsheet sounds good. Does it come with any build in storage pockets or anything? How many times have you used yours? Sorry for all the questions!

One thing I liked about the 8 man tents is that most have a 4 person bedroom for us all to sleep in and then a 2 man one which we could use for storage. But I guess it doesn't really matter.

The outwell ones seem a bit too expensive for us. Our budget was originally £100 but keeps growing when I see something new I like

Thanks for all the replies, much appriciated!

A sewn in groundsheet is an absolute must in mu opinion. Stops the wind and creepy crawlies from getting in (well to a certain extenet - you are camping after all!)

You may be abel to get laast years models cheaper, or look on ebay for 2nd hand ones, we got ours from there and very good it is too.

Ours does take the 2 of us to put it up and we got it down to about 35 / 45 mins now, but we tend to let the kids play around us or give them a snack to keep them busy whilst we do the main bit.

Another outwell here- we bought the michigan xl which has 3 bedrooms in September. Did a lot of research to find out which was best for us. One room for dh and me one for dd(15) with room to take a pal and a room for ds and dog. Huge space in the middle and still cooking space at the front. Bought the carpet too.

Now planning our first summer trip, am very excited.

We can get it up and down, as complete novices, in about 45 minutes( although we did practice in the garden first)

OOhhh its soooo confusing!

Well we've only managed two trips so far and the first time we ended up with several friendly camping neighbours helping us put up the tent as it was SO windy - and like you I was mostly having to look after the kids who were a bit wild after a long journey - it was a bit of a nightmare and we were cringing at what obvious family camping virgins we were!

But once we'd worked out HOW to put it up (we should have had a dummy run really!) it really is straightforward and we found that DH could do most of it himself with me pitching in here and there while child wrangling at the same time. Easier with two but just about doable for one I'd say.

Built in groundsheet is definitely a plus especially for us with hooligan small boy who would disappear through the smallest gap in a zip - am SO hoping he is a bit calmer by next year!

It has some very lovely storage pockets (about eight of them) in the main living area which I became quite obsessive about, and it has a couple along the sides of each bedroom compartment. We found that the main living room was big enough to have a corner for storage/kitchen stuff etc without needing a separate compartment - and the bedrooms are both wide enough for a double airbed with space at the side for bags (we had two sleeping mats pushed together, plus a travel cot and junior ready bed in there and there was plenty of space - and one night had my DD's friend in there too on a single airbed!

I don't know if they do it in the winter but our local GoOutdoors (Bristol) has all the tents up outside - it's really worth checking them out if you can (and lots of fun trying out all the different layouts!)

I know nothing about camping ...

Dh took the dcs 6 and 3 camping in a Bell Tent. He put it up himself and the dcs seemed to like it.

The branded version is Soulpad. For Bell Tent, you can get them cheaper by ordering off a website in the Netherlands.

DH said he doesn't want to spend £250 on a tent I need to work on him lol.
We can only do it if we can borrow the money and pay it back monthly anyway, but I am hoping to do this if DH agrees

Aw, blueshoes. We used these types of tent for Guide Camps. Brings back nice memories!

It does seem like a lot of money to spend I know - but after the initial outlay camping holidays can be really inexpensive. Hope you can work on your DH!

I know, its so good in the long run. We are booking 2 weeks in Haven off peak for £88 for all of us! 14 nights!! And my Mum is paying for it for our Xmas present which is great. We paid £1500 for one week in tennerife last year and £40 for our 4 day break in a tent. I MUCH prefered the camping one but DH didn't come.

Thing is, DH isn't actually very keen on the idea of camping and said he doesn't want to be stuck with going camping for every holiday for the next few years. But I have explained to him, that while we have no money, it will be a camping holiday or no holiday I'm afraid. He never did it as a child or anything and always went abroad so doesn't know how fun it can be . Don't think I could go just me and the kids though as it would be impossible to put tent up or anything on my own with them, and wouldn't be able to go swimming or anything or even have a shower while they were asleep!

My Mum has said we can borrow the money from her and pay her back monthly.

we have an Outwell too (SunValley 6 sadly discontinued cos it is perfect!). I like a tunnel tent with the sleeping pods at the rear because they usually have plenty of living space. If you go too big you'll have no room on the average english pitch to sit and play outside and french pitches can be even smaller. Have you got a camping shop where you can walk around a big selection of tents and get a feel for the layout and sizes. You can then go online and find the best deal, and Ebay is great for tents.

we have an Outwell too (SunValley 6 sadly discontinued cos it is perfect!). I like a tunnel tent with the sleeping pods at the rear because they usually have plenty of living space. If you go too big you'll have no room on the average english pitch to sit and play outside and french pitches can be even smaller. Have you got a camping shop where you can walk around a big selection of tents and get a feel for the layout and sizes. You can then go online and find the best deal, and Ebay is great for tents.

The closest go outdoors is oxford which is about an hour away. I rang them and they said they do have some tents on display. BUT I just saw something online that if you want the discounted rates you have to buy a discount card online before you go for £4 otherwise its full RRP price only?

I know £4 isn't much but its a waste of money to buy it if I don't end up buying a tent from there and it's too far to come back and buy a card and go back another day

oohhh what does everybody think about this: www.gooutdoors.co.uk/tents/family-tents/gelert-horizon-6-family-tent/CORETFDBTEN282

Hi Jenny

We got the GoOutdoors discount card in the shop when we bought our tent - so I'm not sure that's right about only being able to get them online?

That Gelert one you linked to looks ok but personally with 2 small children, I like having them close to me which is why I love our tent as the bedrooms are just divided by a curtain that you can unzip and roll away.

I also think the ones that have the bedrooms at one end have a lot more light in the living area as you can open up the whole of one end of the tent - I might be wrong about this though.

Yay for your mum!

I know, I did think that about the bedrooms. Thats the thing I like about the 8 man version as it has one big 4 man room we could all sleep in while they are young, and 2 small 2 man ones we could use when they are older. BUT we could manage - I could maybe sleep in with the 2 girls and DH in the other room or we could have one child each maybe or something, untill they are a bit older. It is a fair bit cheaper (IF they have any in stock) and Gelert is what I was originally looking for.

Oh I don't know I think which ever one I buy I will be thinking "I wish I had bought x one".

Thats good to know about the discount card. Seems a bit weird to me.

The higear one do a 10 berth one for the same price. BUt think that would be toooo big? here shame there isn't an 8 man one for the same price. I am a bit of a hoarder and tend to take too much stuff "just incase"

an other one

this is the tent I really want I think. Although I would be greatful of any opionions. I love the fact we can choose to share with the DDs or have seperate bedrooms and could even have somebody else stay with us for a couple of nights if needed.

Just wonder if its too big? I am just a bit concious of having rainy days with 2 toddlers so want some space inside for them to run around. I am not too worried if we don't have much space outside the tent (although I know the site we are going to next year does). I am sure there will always be surrounding areas they can run around in. We have a good few years till they can play without one of us constantly watching anyway. And for short stays my Dad has a 4 man gelert tunnel tent very similar that we can borrow, but I doubt we would camp for less than a week anyway.