What (family) tent? Must be easy to put up!

[breamster]

Bit dull but needs must.

We need a family tent. Requirements are three sleeping areas, not too heavy and a reasonable living area.

The biggie - it must(!) be easy to put up preferably by one person.

Any ideas?

We own a Coleman Weathermaster XL which is huge, heavy (>50kgs) and difficult to put up even with two of us if there is even a slight breeze. It has thoroughly put me off of camping for a few years but looking to try again.

Any recommendation? Budget <£400.

[vladcjelli]

We have a little 3 man pop up tent from Decathlon that we use as a better beach shelter. When we were looking for it, some of the bigger pop up ones we wandered around looked very impressive to this casual camper.

Might be worth a look for ease of use, but I shouldn't imagine it'll be Everest scaling quality.

ETA there may not be a three area option, sorry.

Edited by vladcjelli on Tuesday 2nd July 22:21

[sunnygym]

What about a small trailer tent then a couple of pop up tents for the kids?

[sunnygym]

What about a small trailer tent then a couple of pop up tents for the kids?

[chopper602]

Check out the Kyham range. Very easy to erect ;-)

[henrycrun]

or 2 slightly smaller tents ?
Some kids love having their own.

[tenohfive]

I wouldn't touch pop up tents. Fine for BBQ's and kids play areas, but I've yet to see one that'll withstand any sort of stiff breeze - which is possible (or probable) anywhere you camp in the UK.

[sherman]

Dont buy a pop up tent. Yes they are easy to put up but they are a right royal pain in the arse to get down if you fold it even one mm wrongly.

I find the best thing to do is to have a practice at setting the tent up somewhere before you go.

[breamster]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Will look at Khyam. Have also seen a Quechua one that looks quite good?

Kids too small for separate tents so need to be one tent only unfortunately.

cheers.

[forty-two]

Don't own one but having seen them in a showroom I doubt there is anything easier than a Vango Airbeam

http://www.vango.co.uk/tents.html?catid1=1#catid1_...

[SwanJack]

henrycrun said:

or 2 slightly smaller tents ?
Some kids love having their own.

But by having more than one tent, your pitch fees go up.

[anonymous-user]

I have a large Quechua one which is great for occasional camping (I go about twice a year and the tent stays up for 1 week at a time). It is pretty much the biggest they do, but doesn't have separate sleeping areas so this might not be an option for you.

Great tent and well thought out though.

[boyse7en]

I've got a Outwell Montana 6 that is pretty easy to put up. I can do it by myself if it is not windy. It's a big tent (especially if you get the front extension) but it only has 2 bedroom areas.

[dirty boy]

We've just bought a 4 man tent from Lidl.

Tested it in the garden yesterday. Should last a few years, but for £69 can't grumble.

Reasoning was that our other 'long stay' tent was too much trouble for just a couple of nights, so we got this. Needs some adjusting on the sleeping compartment (the rings are too stretched) nothing a bit of string won't sort, just to ease the tension.

No built in ground sheet on the main tent, but it's ideal for our weather.

[breamster]

forty-two said:

Don't own one but having seen them in a showroom I doubt there is anything easier than a Vango Airbeam

http://www.vango.co.uk/tents.html?catid1=1#catid1_...

Very cool but how much!!! Bit beyond my budget.

[dfen5]

It's really frustrating looking at tents and the reviews or them. 9 out of ten reviews invariably say the tent's brill, 1 says it's like a sieve with the wind tolerance of tissue paper.

So tempted by the vango air beam but the price - and fixing of such - has put me off.

Think it'll have to be an outwell Montana 6. Or a vango Astoria (6000 hh).

Decisions decisions - and I need it or next weekend..

Forgot to say check out ukcampsite for reviews and don't neglect halfords - they have some good deals on

Edited by dfen5 on Wednesday 3rd July 22:08

[tenohfive]

dfen5 said:

It's really frustrating looking at tents and the reviews or them. 9 out of ten reviews invariably say the tent's brill, 1 says it's like a sieve with the wind tolerance of tissue paper.

So tempted by the vango air beam but the price - and fixing of such - has put me off.

Think it'll have to be an outwell Montana 6. Or a vango Astoria (6000 hh).

Decisions decisions - and I need it or next weekend..

Forgot to say check out ukcampsite for reviews and don't neglect halfords - they have some good deals on

Edited by dfen5 on Wednesday 3rd July 22:08

If 3 sleeping compartments aren't an issue I can recommend the Gelert Horizon 6 - it's stood up to a borderline gale with the expected amount of rain to go with, as well as several days in a boggy spot on at least one camp site. If I damaged it I'd be straight out to buy another one.

[GreenDog]

boyse7en said:

I've got a Outwell Montana 6 that is pretty easy to put up. I can do it by myself if it is not windy. It's a big tent (especially if you get the front extension) but it only has 2 bedroom areas.

I have the Outwell Hartford L which also has 2 sleeping areas and a large living space, although they do an XL model too with an extra sleeping area at the back.
Think I could just about put it up by myself as long as it wasn't too windy.

[DoctorX]

We've got the Montana 6 and it's great. But only if you're going away for a week or so IMO. it's a big tent, comes in two very heavy bags and fills a good proportion of the car boot. Could put it up by myself but not easily and very tricky if breezy. Imagine the bigger 3+ room tents must be worse still. Just can't be arsed for a night or two so currently looking at the Vango Icarus 500 or Wild Country Aspect 4 as a more practical alternative for some weekends away this summer.

[billzeebub]

A couple of Coleman Instant Tourer 4 (they do sleep 4, but only one room and would be very cosy!) I usually use it when going away for 3 nights or less., as I also have a large tent. Last summer I was in Cornwall camping during a Red Weather warning and despite the big winds and lashing rain this tent was perfect. It goes up (and down) in seconds with just one person erecting, fabulous design, I love it