Over the years we've bought and used everything from really, really, expensive tents to supermarket bargain ones.
Tbh, even the expensive ones weather done, just that their waterproofing and pegging out points are better made.
I think it depends on where you are likely to use the tent. With a youngster along you might well end up on sites that are hard on your groundsheet and you need decent porch space for wet/muddy boots and jackets, as well as somewhere sheltered to cook if necessary…even just boiling up a kettle. That quick warmth is a very good thing when you have little ones along.
Anyway, the last one I bought was from Argos. It has taken everything we've thrown at it, from sandy beaches to howling winds on Skye; from a week's non stop rain (and it didn't let in once
) to used as the store tent for kit for a week's work away from home. It was bought knowing that I was going to be on a site with loads of open fires and horrible stoney/gritty soil underneath and I didn't want to chance ruining a tent that cost several hundred pounds for a week's Summer jaunt. It's sheer practicality and comfort (even HWMBLT likes this one, he can sit in peace and comfort of an evening inside and no midgies bothering him
) mean that it's had a tremendous amount of use.
Bog standard design, seperate inner dome with front groundsheet attached, the outer shell goes up first and keeps everything else dry
Cheap enough too that when I finally saw the porch groundsheet was letting in (camping on sandy soil knackers these woven groundsheets) I just bought another one
and we still use the original when on crap soil, I just bought a spare over groundsheet for a pound in the poundstore.
It's a three man tent with a seperate inner, and the porch groundsheet isn't sewn in. That means it can be chilly in the porch, but, and it's a big but, you can wipe rain, mud and grit and grass and leaves
out of it very easily,
and you can roll it back to have a safe space for a wee stove too.
I bought a couple of those little folding stools and one of the flat suitcase stoves (the kind that lorry drivers use in their cabs; rock solid stable, easy to use and easy to acquire fuel bottles (4 for under a fiver) and it works really well.
The inner tent has both tubbed groundsheet and a zipped door to stop draughts and a mesh netting that stops midgies
….and spiders, slugs and jennylonglegs too.
I think Allan has it right, away and have a looksee in Decathelon or Gooutdoors, and try them out. If the tent is big enough for you to stand up in, then it's pretty huge, and generally not a one man putter-up type job.
Brush on or spray on fabril can make a huge difference to even a cheap tent, but poorly sewn on tabs for the guys are a very bad thing.
Personally I wouldn't spend hundreds on a tent for car camping with a youngster, not for the first season out anyway. Maybe if it becomes something that is well used, and a firm favourite pastime, but not just to kick off and see how it goes. I'm pretty sure the tents I bought cost me under fifty quid each. A total bargain for the sheer amount of use we've had of them. They pack up tidily into one neat zipped bag too, and are easily draped over the whirlie when we get home to dry off thoroughly.
atb,
M
