Talk to me about tents - large ones

[mumnosbest]

I'm looking for a tent or actually 2. A 5-6 man for me and the family and a larger 8-10 to share with extended family, must have sewn in groundsheets and a bit of height in the living area. We bought a really rubbish unknown brand last year so this time, I'm doing my research. However I am on a tight budget so looking for a bargain.
Any reccomendations?
Anyone used/have a 'Skanika'? They're really cheap on ebay.

Have never heard of Skanika. How tight is your budget exactly, to give us an idea of where to start looking?!

Sorry SKANDIKA.
Budget is as tight as possible. I've been looking at second hand on ebay but would pay up to £100 for brand new dream tent but don't want to part with that much cash

We had a skandika Scirocco 8 person, 3 bed, for about 4 years. It was a great tent for the money. We used it loads. Paid £120 on ebay I think.

It did blow over a couple of times in very bad weather conditions, 1 pole snapped, other tents were blowing over too. We learnt to pitch it head to the wind and use storm pegs.

After about 12 camping trips, 3 years use, it leaked during 48 hours of torrential rain. We re waterproofed it and it was fine. The newer ones are a much better waterproofing rating I think (ours was 2000).

We have upgraded now to an Outwell Bear lake tent, about 7 times the price but a fantastic tent. It will have to perform well to make the value for money we had from the skandika.

treadonthecracks - we have a Bear Lake 6 and love it. Really spacious and I love the canvas rather than the nylon. We got a good deal online but even that was expensive.

We have always found Outwell and Vango to be reliable makes.

Thanks all! The Skandika seems really cheap but I was worried about not having heard of it. Might be worth a look then. The better known brands are so expensive so I'm looking for a second hand bargain there I think. I've seen lots of Outwells on previous camping trips.