This morning I ventured into the depths of our roof space and came down with two more tents to have a look at.
The first to go up was a Vango Banshee 300 which has plenty of space inside but next to nothing in the way of a porch on one side and absolutely zero on the other. Great if it’s guaranteed not to rain and your bike kit can be brought into the tent but that’s a big risk to take and I wouldn’t want water running from my bike kit onto the floor where it would eventually get onto my down sleeping bag.
The second was a Vango Chinook 200 which is a lot smaller inside with just about enough room to spread a few things out next to the sleeping bag but two decent sized porches where wet kit, boots and luggage could be kept. Probably much better in damp conditions but you wouldn’t want to sleep two in there even though it’s supposed to be a two man tent.
Both are what I’d describe as slightly above the ‘budget’ market and I’m confident both would take a hammering from wind and rain without leaking. Both pitch with the inner and outer joined so less chance of getting the living space wet while pitching in heavy rain.
I’m now left with a decision to make regarding my imminent holiday where I can take either of these tents or go back to the trusted Terra Nova Quasar which has plenty of external storage because I’ve got the extended flysheet but it pitches inner first which I can deal with when pitching it but packing up has a high chance of getting the inner wet.
There’s also the left field option of the Gore Tex bivvy tent with a tarp and mainly use it for wild camping where I can pitch it under trees and erect the tarp in a useful position. It’s not that stupid an idea because of the small pack size, quick pitch time, small footprint and it’s less than half the weight of anything else I own. Using any of the others excludes a tarp because tent and sleeping kit have to fit into a 40l bag.
I don’t help myself
The first to go up was a Vango Banshee 300 which has plenty of space inside but next to nothing in the way of a porch on one side and absolutely zero on the other. Great if it’s guaranteed not to rain and your bike kit can be brought into the tent but that’s a big risk to take and I wouldn’t want water running from my bike kit onto the floor where it would eventually get onto my down sleeping bag.
The second was a Vango Chinook 200 which is a lot smaller inside with just about enough room to spread a few things out next to the sleeping bag but two decent sized porches where wet kit, boots and luggage could be kept. Probably much better in damp conditions but you wouldn’t want to sleep two in there even though it’s supposed to be a two man tent.
Both are what I’d describe as slightly above the ‘budget’ market and I’m confident both would take a hammering from wind and rain without leaking. Both pitch with the inner and outer joined so less chance of getting the living space wet while pitching in heavy rain.
I’m now left with a decision to make regarding my imminent holiday where I can take either of these tents or go back to the trusted Terra Nova Quasar which has plenty of external storage because I’ve got the extended flysheet but it pitches inner first which I can deal with when pitching it but packing up has a high chance of getting the inner wet.
There’s also the left field option of the Gore Tex bivvy tent with a tarp and mainly use it for wild camping where I can pitch it under trees and erect the tarp in a useful position. It’s not that stupid an idea because of the small pack size, quick pitch time, small footprint and it’s less than half the weight of anything else I own. Using any of the others excludes a tarp because tent and sleeping kit have to fit into a 40l bag.
I don’t help myself