What tents are good?

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by maviczap

Blimey good prices here, I was going to buy a pop up tent from Decathlon, for my campervan, but I've seen better options here for half the price.

Plus a brand new bike tent for AR11 as my last one bit the dust on route to AR10

I was going to buy one of theose but the pack dimensions are ridiculous, (think hula hoop...{the non-edible kind})

The spectre300 dan mentioned actually packs up smaller than the biker tent by the looks of the specs and is cheaper- reckon I'll go with that this year after losing mine at the gm *sniff*

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

I was going to buy one of theose but the pack dimensions are ridiculous, (think hula hoop...{the non-edible kind})

The spectre300 dan mentioned actually packs up smaller than the biker tent by the looks of the specs and is cheaper- reckon I'll go with that this year after losing mine at the gm *sniff*

Yep, even in my campervan I'd struggle with the Decathlon pop up, impossible on the bike

[sv4me]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

The spectre300 dan mentioned actually packs up smaller than the biker tent by the looks of the specs and is cheaper- reckon I'll go with that this year after losing mine at the gm *sniff*

Its about 10cm shorter when packed up, about the same price but doesnt have quick erect poles for lazy *******s such as myself

[embee]

I'd say it really does depend on what trips you have in mind and how long you want it to last.

Most practical by far is a tunnel design with a porch. When touring you really do need somewhere to put stuff and get out of the wet. For solo touring on a bike a 2-man is ideal. I've had dome types, and don't recommend them for bike touring.

To a large extent the smaller and lighter the packed size, the higher the price. If price is no object, can't beat a Hilleberg (I treated myself , Nallo 2 GT on special offer from Field&Trek).
Vango have a great reputation. A friend has a Khyam biker tent and loves it, the price from Somerset camping makes it very attractive. The 2-man+porch models pack quite reasonably small.

For me, packed size has been the deciding factor since I always want it carried in a pannier. Last one I had was a Phoenix which was pretty expensive but I got about 17yrs camping holidays from it, quality does count if you want it to last. If you only foresee needing it to last a few years and don't need very small packed size and/or light weight then don't worry too much about going expensive. After a couple of years they are effectively worthless because new ones are so cheap (unless it is a very sought after name).

Look for decent waterproof rating (3000+mm ?) and consider whether a "footprint" (groundsheet for the porch+room) is a high priority (it does make a big difference but isn't 100% essential).

Some you can leave the inner/outer/footprint "assembled", just remove the poles. This makes for very speedy erections, great for inclement weather.

[mister c]

Originally Posted by Treacle

Just brought myself a Khyam Biker. Was getting rather cheesed off with the old one that kept collapsing at the AR. Cheepest I found it was on there website for £110+p&p. Cheers for the pics Mr C been looking for a picture of it packed and on a bike for ages.

No worries. Had a friend that wanted to know what they were like packed on the bike, hence the photo. You wont be disappointed, they are really good quality & so easy to put up it's unreal. I did mine in driving rain & howling wind at the Isle of Man in July

Just had a look at the spec on somersetcamping, 3 person????? By eck, you would have to be good friends if 3 of you were in there lmao.

Go Outdoors have a sale on. Sometimes they clear out tents at a loss in their sales, if they've only a few left. I took a day off work to travel over to Wakefield to pick up a bargain Vaude tent from them, which was £250 most places online, snapped up for £70!

Its akward as im bringing my mate on the back so need something that dont take up the back seat lol i wanna take it in my panniers if possible, although seems difficult

went gooutdoors like phil said and seen the vango banshee for £90 looked on:http://www.outdoorclearance.co.uk/in...=147749#custom and is £50!! and the 3 man version is £63 tempting!!

Here is my tent folded up.



It fits nicely in this



No risk of loosing it on my travels,

My Vango 3 man jobbie is about same size, weighs less than 4kgs, which is why i bought that one.
Downside is its not the quickest to put up so if we was at a different destination everyday, it would be a pain.