Side entrance tents

[Dan_b]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, although I've been lurking around for a while. After spending a few days in the south of wales in a single skin halfords tent last weekend, I am looking for a new tent! I've just really gotten into bushcraft and have some great gear already, but there are a few essentials I need to upgrade.

I am really keen on tents that have a side entrance, it seems to me that they make much better use of porch space. I also want a decent size porch to fit a medium bergen and boots in. Although these are all 2 man tents, I will be using most of them solo, but with 2 people occasionaly.

Here are the few that I've narrowed it down to:

Vango TBS Spirit 200+
Which I can get for around £180. I love this tent, the porch is huge, but it's quite a long tent considering I'll be using it solo most of the time.

Vango Tempest 200
Much cheaper at around £90, but lacking the big porch, and it has a front entrance. Everything else about this tent seems great though, especially at this price.

Jack Wolfskin Lighthouse RT I
Took me a while to find this one, at £168. This looks great also.

Aztec Summit 2
£158. I really like the layout here, it looks like such a good use of space. Big porch but not too tunnel-like. Problem is I can't find any reviews or feedback on this tent. The poles look a bit exposed, and it looks like it might be tricky to pitch. Anybody had any experience with this one?

So does anyone have any comments/warnings, or other completely different suggestions? At the moment I am heading for the TBS spirit 200+, but it's pretty pricey (in comparison) and the tempest is so cheap... I keep changing my mind.

Many thanks,
Dan

 

[Bunnerz]

I really like the look of the TBS Tempest 200. As long as the porch is big enough for my boots and a burgain I'd be more than happy as sometimes tents struggle to even compensate for that!

I think I may be interested in the tempest 200, and although it will be a while before I can even afford a tent being a student...I will keep it in mind. Cheers for sharing the info!

Regards, Bunn

 

[Bunnerz]

What do people think of this tent? Looks a bit odd...but very spacious although not very light!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AZTEC-EXPLORE...ryZ36118QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[pierre girard]

I liked the looks of the fourth tent on your first post.

As most of my camping has to do with canoes, I've gotten very tired of small tents. I like somthing I can stand in. I ordered two of these this autumn:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-EUREKA-TI...ryZ36119QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

 

[Deleted member 4605]

I bought a Eurohike Kent for £50 from Millets earlier this year for our Scout camps, and have been pretty satisfied with it.

 

[Big John]

A few thoughts Dan, the Tempest looks like a really small porch, whereas you could probably cook quite happily in the Spirit should the weather turn bad (being careful not to set fire to it, obviously).

The Aztec is really quite heavy compared to the others - how far are you planning on carrying it?

I'm not to sure about the quality of Vango's anymore. In the good old days of the Force 10 you knew you were carrying a quality tent (you could tell by the weight if nothing else ), but these days I think they're probably made in China along with the Millets and Suncamp ones - could be wrong.

Regardless, I like the look of the Spirit, it's alloy poles (stronger & lighter then fibreglass), fly-first pitching (handy when it's hacking down with rain), a good weight and reasonably big. The Wolfskin might be slightly better made, they don't do any really cheap tents, but that doesn't really mean anything!

I'd go for the Spirit - in green though!

If you want more info then try the Field & Trek website they have a bit more info about the tents (the Vango website is useless), and a few other makes.

Hope that helps!

 

[Andy]

I looked at the vango 200 one as the 200+ was too much for me. In the end I went for a stormshield tent which i got really cheap but i do wish it hand a porch.
If you expext to use it a lot in bad weather then I think more space is worth paying for and worth carrying. If it's mostly for one person and you expect good weather or you can set up a tarp for cooking under then it may be worth going for the cheaper one.

 

[rik_uk3]

I'm not sure about a side entrance tent, long zips means more area for water to find its way in, as it has a habbit of doing.

 

[big_swede]

I'll just mention some experiences I've had with side entrance tents (or tunnel tents). Try to get one where the outer tent is connected to the inner one. So you don't have to pitch it in two moves. And as you said, make sure you can cook in the porch (or abside as we say). An important factor with these kind of tents is the direction of the tent relative to the wind. Make sure you pitch the tent pointing against the wind (this is always covered in the manual.).

Make sure that the tent is ventilated enough, you shouldn't get condensation inside, unless you get caught in a rainstorm.

Model, make doesn't really make so much difference, the tents of today are all pretty good.

 

[Zodiak]

Vango TBS Spirit 200+
Which I can get for around £180. I love this tent, the porch is huge, but it's quite a long tent considering I'll be using it solo most of the time.

I love the TBS system, its can take a bit of getting used to but you can get a really nice solid tent on most ground conditions in all weathers.

I used to rate Vango above all other but I have heard a few stories that since they started manufacturing in China the quality has sufferred. I used a Delta a few weeks back and that was fine but I didn't think that it had the pure air of quality like their tents from a few years back have.

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

I did this with my side entrance tent.......

Makes it a twin skin, and i have a place to make a brew etc

HTH

 

[Newbie woodworm]

Hi Dan,
I currently own the wolfskin 2rt and have nothing but praise, well designed, good quality materials and well made. One in luxury, two in comfort and the third in an emergency. As it is larger than the one you mentioned I have not attempted to carry it solo, but between two it was ok. However on standing camps I do use a plastic foot print as I feel the flooring material needs additional protection when possible.

Hope this helps;

 

[Dan_b]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I thought the aztec was too heavy for solo stuff, the tempest wasn't quite big enough for what I wanted. I found a tbs spirit 200+ on ebay, and got it for £165 brand new (inc. p&p) so I went for it!

Should be here wednesday (in green!)

 

[bilko]

I have the tbs spirit 200 and can say that i am very impressed overal. i do have some seriose negatives for you to think about though.
It's not at all easy to put up/down in a short space of time because the long slips that the poles go through are just too small. This makes the material grab the poles and the whole thing of getting one pole through becomes a bu&&er!, let alone 3!. Also this is because the run or slip for the pole runs the whole lenght of the fabric instead of being 3 inch odd spacers.
Also the fly and inner are detachable but if you want to get the poles through you HAVE to remove some of the inner.
The tent is carryable by one person quite easily but the minute you add more kit you realy start to pile on the weight.

Saying all that though the porch is simply excellent. I have cooked with trangia in mine and had loads of room. As well as that there is even more room to store your bergen or we gear.

The tent is as long as a VW polo which can be difficult to find a flat pitch for. Also there is no groundsheet for the porch or storage area so you need a cheap solution. Because there is no groundsheet for the porch , the webbing straps get clogged with mud .
If it was raining you and your tent would be getting very wet whilst putting it up.

I would say it takes me and my boy 15-20minutes to put up and 20 odd minutes by yourself.

If i was doing it again i would opt for a hex 3 or something.
Good luck.
Ps here is a page of clearance tents by tera nova , also look at clearance on the left hand side.
http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/epages/terranova.storefront/456b05d6005893742741ac100140061a/Catalog/C1