anyone know much about camping?

Doobz

I am looking at buying some camping gear and was wondering if anyone knows what sort of thing I should be looking at when buying a tent.

anyone know anything about Vango Tents and what they are like in terms build quality and keeping the rain out.

The tent will only be used for two adults and two toddlers

Slow Downcp

Buy the biggest you can carry/afford. I tried a smaller dome type tent with two bedrooms and it was okay for the odd weekend away with the kids but couple of years ago bought one of these:

http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/De ... ductSearch

It increased our enjoyment tenfold - they advertise as an eight berth, but to use it as such, you'd have to be on VERY close terms with those you're sharing with. Plenty of room in the middle for a table for evenings/rainy days, you can stand up when getting dressed, plus plenty of sleeping space. We went the comfort route and also bought items like electric hook up cable, etc which meant we could use a fan heater in the morning/evening if it went a bit chilly, plus we could plug in a 12v coolbox with a travel adaptor for milk, butter etc.

It all depends how much comfort you want.

ThatGuyOnABike

Vango is good choice, i've used other products of theirs and everything seems quality. but i use mainly coleman, their tents may not always look so good (style wise) but every flap and cord is for a reason and they seem to know what they are doing. or if on a budget, pop into decatlon for the price of a top brand tent you can buy two pop up ones that are top quality and your toddlers will enjoy the funky range.
but really for one large tent for four then try searching coleman on ebay, there are some real bargins. like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COLEMAN-Ridgeline ... dZViewItem

sorry 5 hours till end of auction but there are lots similar/same on ebay

Edit: guy above suggests coleman too (beat me to the post), no smoke without fire- coleman is great for your needs.

pieinthesky

We need to know a bit more about how you are going to use your tent?

Are you carrying it on your bike or in your car? How many people, what time of year etc

hammerite

I was also going to suggest getting a bigger tent, the toddlers won't stay toddlers for long! Plus you can then bring your bike into the tent when you go camping if you get a bigger tent.

One thing to be aware of though when buying a tent is the weight. Big tents are great, but can weigh a lot. Ours comes in a nice bag, trouble is it's 40kgs, so takes two people to carry it comfortably, but even then you can't carry it too far.

ThatGuyOnABike

pieinthesky and hammerite have a point cos a big family tent on the back of a bike is gonna be a real pain.

iainment

Doobz wrote:

I am looking at buying some camping gear and was wondering if anyone knows what sort of thing I should be looking at when buying a tent.

anyone know anything about Vango Tents and what they are like in terms build quality and keeping the rain out.

The tent will only be used for two adults and two toddlers

I know enough to say don't do it.

Mr_Cellophane

Millets have a nice large tent for £150
http://www.millets.co.uk/095607/product ... mbs=095607
It folds into a fairly small bag.

The is alway Decathlon for a wide selection.

Doobz

well It will only be the one bike and that will stay in the car. We are not going to be doing it every weekend or anything like that as I seldom get a whole weekend off.

My kids are 1 year and two years old and they sleep through anything and at that age we would prefer them to be in the same "compartment" as us.

We don't really need anything fancy but something practical thats not going to leak or blow away because its too tall.

So far I have found the Vango Venture 500 to be something that might get us through the next few years or so

ThatGuyOnABike

your vango looks good and a quick search shows it is not too pricey. don't let anyone put you off (iainment). enjoy yourself!

iainment

ThatGuyOnABike wrote:

your vango looks good and a quick search shows it is not too pricey. don't let anyone put you off (iainment). enjoy yourself!

Heh Heh

:twisted:

fast as fupp

why would a sensible person choose to live in the style of a vagrant when there is probably a hotel in the vicinity escapes me...............

Slow Downcp

fast as fupp wrote:

why would a sensible person choose to live in the style of a vagrant when there is probably a hotel in the vicinity escapes me...............

Similarly people could ask why I ride a bike when I have a car. Because some people enjoy it.

fast as fupp

enjoy living in dirt?

how ghastly!

Harry B

and what about the loo? Some nasty chemical toilet isn't going to be any fun for anyone.

Save the money you would have spent on a tent and spend it on your bike Then just go off on your own and enjoy yourself. Leave the kids to the wife, that's what wives are for

fast as fupp

well said Harry!

Slow Downcp

Don't use a chemical toilet - use the facilities on site instead.

pneumatic

My wife claims she has a better use for the chemical toilet. She muttered something about Harry B' s head . . . toilet brush. . . it all sounded a bit unpleasant, to be honest! :shock:

ddraver

I just bought a three man Blacks tent...and tried it at the weekend in ahowling gale and rain and it was fine - It was not as comfortable as a 250 two man tent but it was still fantastic given that i paid 95 squids fpor anf got a 50 squid sleeping bad free!!

One of my mates had one too, and his was fine

Brains

I know far too much about camping, I can be truly boring on the subject (allegidly)
Started knee high to a grass hopper with entire summers camping in France and ended up camping at up to 4,800m in the Alps, Andes and Himalayas

Still camp out for 30+ nights a year, only have 3 tents now and access to over 50 more. Did I mention i was an Explorer Scout leader, a Qualified mountain leader, a ..........

Basis what you are saying so far, weight not an issue, but space is, two growing toddlers and you want then close by (for now)

You want a tent of reasonable quality, but that does not cost the earth

The the Outwell range is the one to use as a benchmark

You can get some very good tents only used once off E-Bay, so no need to pay full price.

As there are 4 of you, I'd aim for a 6 berth tent

http://www.outwell.com/
is the site, 'tents' and look at the Montana 6.
Also available from e-bay for £150-250

Richie G

We go camping for a week or so a couple of times a year. Mrs G has always camped, whereas i never had and was a wary of the whole thing - we went for a long weekend at first and i loved it! We've got an Outdoor Revolution Scenic Vrx 5.0i http://www.outdoor-revolution.com/VrxScenic5.0i.htm We spent ages looking at various tents as we wanted something with plenty of room in case we have kids. Our tent is a similar spec to the Outwell Montana that brains recommended - we just preferred this one.

Basically, there's loads of choice. Your best bet is to go along to a camping shop that has plenty of tents already pegged out - that way it's easier to gauge whether you'll have enough room. Something we made sure we had on our tent is a build-in groundsheet. This means that when it's all zipped up the tent is sealed from any bugs, etc. We decided this was essential after ants got into our cool box!

Sorry to go on, hope this helps.
Rich

z000m

im sure building a bivwack would be just as easy as erecting a tent.

Anonymous

This one any good?

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/5709388004499

It says the ground sheet is detachable, but i'd prefer one with one permanently built in i think...

popette

I've been toying with the idea of camping recently - I'm guessing it'd be a cheap way of having a weekend away with the kids (but would I actually end up spending fortunes, as I do with cycling??)
I've got children of 10, 5, 3 and 1 and what I wonder about is the security? how secure are tents?? Can the kids easily escape when we're sleeping? What about belongings in the tent? do you have to take everything out every time you go out?
thanks x

pdstsp

Popette - we camped for years with tinies - they cannot really escape as the zips make a racket and unless you beat them they probably won't want to!. We always heard ours wake up - you are only seperated by a thin layer of fabric from the little loves inside the tent. Belongings- take the valuables out with you but we alwyas assumed no-one would nick our clothes (and we were right). This was all before I took up cycling so I don't kow what I'd do with a bike.

Its brilliant camping with kids - they get so much more freedom than at home, they make new friends and you can always bbq one if you run out of food.

Go for it.

hisoka

mmmmmm bbq toddler, been a while since I had that.

cr*p shouldn't say that in public, the voices tell me not to.

I just got back from a camping trip on the cycle, was great and my tent was a 2 man but large enough awning area to get cycle under cover and zipped up so couldn't see it from outside even/protected from the elements too. I think I will do it again, once I get a trailer to replace broken paniers.

richardast

If you're going to be camping for more than 2 days and it's likely to rain, you need a tent that you can stand up straight in.
Sounds daft, but from experience, that is the most important factor if you want to avoid a knackered back.

hammerite

Was due to be camping for our holiday this year, but the campsites in the area we are going (left it too late to get a pitch near Alpe d'Huez!)

So we've managed to avoid it and have an apartment in the area instead.

You are right though Popette, we thought it would be quite a cheap holiday. We already had the tent, but would have to buy all the other camping kit, roof box and bars for the car etc..... So as a one off would have cost as much or more than a normal holiday.

That said once you have the kit and have paid out then you don't really have to keep spending (apart from the campsite fees).