Tent Advice

lynseydee

Thanks for everyone's comments, I have taken on board what you have all said.

I have decided to go for a second hand tent to begin with just to see how we get on with it. I have found a four man tent for sale locally and I have asked if I can see it before I buy.

[Deleted User]

lynseydee wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's comments, I have taken on board what you have all said.

I have decided to go for a second hand tent to begin with just to see how we get on with it. I have found a four man tent for sale locally and I have asked if I can see it before I buy.

Ask to try and erect it too. Not fully putting it together, but lifting the roof from the ground once the poles are in. If you are doing this on you own then it can be quite heavy to do (not sure if your son will be able to help as he may be too young).

dondo

We have an Outwell and it is great as a family tent so of those 3 I'd probably go for the middle one as it has a good porch area for storing stuff, taking boots off etc.

If you have a Decathlon near you they have some good tents- I had one of their Fresh & Black ones which have blackout lining so you don't get woken up by the morning light and also it reflects the heat so you don't get a baking hot tent.

The one I had was good but didn't have enough of a porch area so am thinking of getting this one next

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/air-seconds-family-4-xl-fb-id_8384154.html

Also look at this website http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/index.asp as it has loads of tent reviews on there

socks_uk

Whichever tent you go for I can highly recommend getting some Delta Tent Pegs. Even if you just get 4, one for each corner.
We have a Quechua 'pop up' tent and survived high winds last year in Cornwall. The tent kept blowing down but popping back up again but I'm not so sure it would have stayed up without the Delta Pegs.
Other people's tents collapsed!

13Kent

Inflatable air tents are expensive, but they are so much quicker to put up (although they do come in a heavy bag).

This site do factory seconds, we bought a tent with a really good deal as the porch groundsheet was missing ( we didn't need it). We were really happy with the delivery time and after sales service.

http://www.a2zcamping.co.uk/

Fennite

A tent that you can stand up in is handy but as others said will be colder. Tunnel tents are slightly harder to put up, as you ideally need 2 people to do it. There are some good free standing tents that barely need pegs to stand up in, like the Coleman Phad 2. A large porch is handy especially one big enough that you can fit two chairs and a little fold up table- my OH and I have spent rainy evenings in playing cards and eating. Perhaps look at the height of your chairs and see if they will fit into the tent.

If you are camping with others, consider that they may not have the same cold tolerance as you, so handy to bring a hot water bottle and have a hot chocolate before bed. :-)

FreeBear

My current favorite for backpacking & camping with - https://rab.equipment/uk/silwing

Not for everyone, but it is so light. In conjunction with a bivy bag, one can stay dry in some pretty foul weather.

ErasmusOzzy

I selected the first one, have a large area

bigisi

FreeBear wrote: »

My current favorite for backpacking & camping with - https://rab.equipment/uk/silwing

Not for everyone, but it is so light. In conjunction with a bivy bag, one can stay dry in some pretty foul weather.

Where did the OP (or anyone else for that matter) ask for advice on backpacking/ultralight tents? OP quite clearly states they're looking for a 4 person tent, your post is useless to this thread.

eamon

I think a 2 person tent should be more than adequate. The OP has a car for all the stuff and you can usually camp next to your car. The bigger tents are just more hassle to erect and take down. The Vango tents are generally good and I have 2 of them (really must give 1 away).

As this is the OP's first time camping, don't waste your money buying any bespoke camping kit. Just use stuff from home as per other threads.
It will be interesting if the OP returns with an update.