UKC

We're spending a few days camping in Ireland soon and want a large two-man or three man tent with a storage/ sitting area/ awning.
Must be: Easy to put up and pack away, flood proof, hardwearing. Not really after a budget tent as hopefully it'll get a decent amount of use by us and the kids.
Cheers

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Quechua pop-up tents. Absolutely brilliant. Beautifully made and v good value. Way ahead of the competition IMHO. Freda and I spent three days in a monsoonal gale in Hay on Wye in ours and remained bone dry. The tent scarcely moved in the very strong wind. And it really does take about 3 minutes to put up and take down.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

In my limited experience ive found pop-up tents a real arse to get back in the bag. :/ Worth a look in Decathlon though, thanks.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Yes, there's a real technique to it. You need two people. One does a kind of rugby tackle as the other shoves it in the bag. Once you've got it, it's a piece of piss.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

I'm assuming this is for car camping? I.e. take tent out of car, walk five metres and put up tent. We've one of the cheap models (forget which) but it only cost £70 and it's lasted nearly ten years including some quite strong winds. I don't think it would stand up to a winter storm on the Outer Hebrides but that's not what it's for.

I have to admit I was a bit sceptical about it but I've been impressed at what it's stood up to and would get another one to replace it. We got it to replace a Wild Country SuperNova which while a brilliant tent is over the top for most camping and also a bit cramped.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Vango Omega 250 / 350?

I've got a few friends who've got them and they always seem like good utility tents - there's plenty of room in the porch but they're not so huge as to be impractical on a car camping trip. Solidly made but not massively expensive.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

PS. Q have quite good video on line showing you how to do it. You fold up the tent in three sections so that the two main hoops lie on top of each other, then you push one 'side' right over (needs your full weight) to make a kind of clover leaf, then fold the other two 'sides' in - still lying on top of it, to stop it popping up again. The other person then 'fields' it into the bag. As I say, with a bit of practice, it's very easy.

In reply to Ramblin dave:



At Hay experience mentioned above, someone camping next to us had a latest Vango and, sad to report, got very wet. Have to say: the design of their tent seemed so relatively primitive, and arguably flawed, in that in a gale the outer went on to the inner. Can't remember what model it was.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


Thats not ideal. Not sure what the weather will be doing but I reckon Ireland sees its fair share of rain.
We're driving/ cycling and will hopefully have the estate available so packed size shouldnt be an issue.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

The Q non pop-up tents look v good too. (Anyone would think I'm an advertising agency for them, the way I'm going on about them, but they're just so well designed and made. Every detail so clever. Very, very advanced design.)

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Yes, west coast of Ireland (Donegal, Connemara, Kerry mountains) can be very wet, in the manner of the Lakes or Skye.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I've got the Vango Omega 350, I've had it up in a howling gale and lashing rain and whilst one of the poles is now very slightly pre-bent (it really was a howling gale), there were no problems at all with leakage. I'd recommend it

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

That's ok, we're going to Wicklow on the East coast

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Well, that's much drier I think. The only time I've been there it was overcast, slightly drizzly and very midgy

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Why not get a used frame tent off the auction site?

Roomy, very robust and good value. If it's camping in a field by a car you've got planned they are streets ahead of nylon tunnels and will last you until the kids have grown up. There are super large models available of course but also slightly more compact versions.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:


You're not alone:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2403467/Reading-Festival-2013--fetc...

"We never intended to abandon it but although it popped up really easily, it was impossible to get it to fit back in the bag properly. Everyone else was leaving their stuff behind so we did too."

Apologies for link to Daily Mail. Hopefully its not contagious.

In reply to roddyp:

Crumbs. What a mess :/

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Exped Venus III DLX Plus: good quality tent with lots of space. Two vestibules, sleeps three, pitches inner and outer as one at the same time, quick pitch, inner can be taken out.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I noticed while doing the GR20 that many of the refuges have Quechuas up for hire, and I guess they chose that make in that mountain environment for a reason.

In reply to Siward:

Frame tents are bulky, heavy and a p.i.t.a to put up. I had many years camping as a child with frame tents and I would not go back to them.

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Take a look at Cabanon? SIG and sitting area, couldn't be easier to it up. Single skin system, nt cheap mind but bombproof. We have the Barbados and love it.

In reply to The New NickB:

OK, to the OP, perhaps push the boat out and get a (not cheap) tent tipi. Fabulous tents.

http://www.tauntonleisure.com/tentipi/b152?gclid=CJSRmdTXq74CFZMQtAod6mcAdw

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


Hmm... Very different to my experiences with Vango tents. Always found them to be reliable and waterproof over the years and across numerous models, though admittedly I've mainly used their exped range rather than their family stuff. Also it has to be said, most of their tents have a design flaw of some kind (some very insignificant, other bigger), but then again don't most tents??

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I once booted an erect pop-up tent round the car park by the Robin Hood pub at Birchen, shouting and swearing at it in a John Cleese style after it nearly broke my wrist trying to get it back in the bag. That was after driving around with it in the car all day because I couldn't get it down in the morning.

In reply to Bob:

Same here. We have a Marmot £500 thingy which you crouch down to get into, is brilliantly made, very quick to erect and has lasted 12 years, but is cramped and you can't stand up in it. For the two of us, with seats and a table outside, if it doesn't rain, it is great, but for camp site camping from a car, for more than a couple of nights, you can't beat being able to stand up in your tent and having space to sit inside when it rains. You don't need a mountain tent for this. Look around a campsite and there will always be someone with a nicer tent than you, but something like this

http://www.campmania.co.uk/Item-7-0-cat-79-brand-3530-Vango_Arlay_500.aspx

would be fine for a family, or get something with two bedrooms if you prefer, or a cheap tiny/small tent for the kids to sleep in - they/you might like that. We use a Wild Country thing like the one above that I bought off here for £100.

In reply to The New NickB:


Same here, and now I camp with my kids in various nylon tents with fibreglass flexi poles. My dad needed a trailer to get our family camping gear off on holiday. Now it all goes in the back of Focus for our family (admittedly I have two siblings so we were 5, but have just two kids of my own making us a family of 4, so slightly less gear).

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

Another shout for Vango tents. I had a Beta 450 which lived a long and fruitful life. The ground sheet did seem to forever shed wee blue flecks of plastic but otherwise sound.
Now got an Orchy 400. No problems to report

In reply to mbh:

Good God man, are you mad?! We wont be sharing the tent with three kids. Id end up killing one or two of them in such an enclosed space!
We'll be in the local 5* spa leaving them to fend for themselves. It's character building.
£500 might be a bit of a stretch for what is something that we wont be living in full time.
Thank you for all your suggestions. Cant wait to see what Ireland has on offer

In reply to Jamming Dodger:

We never shared with the kids, in case they heard us doing what couples do in their tent after dark. That is, argue about whose stupid idea it was to come to this stupid campsite in all this rain in this ridiculous tent