What is the best 3 man tent under £200?

[Dandus]

I'm looking for the best value tent under £200.
Mainly for wildcamping. Sometimes solo sometimes with one other person.
But it needs to be reliable. I've been in a bad situation at the top of skafell if it wasn't for my friends very expensive but strong tent, things could have ended badly. And I don't want that to happen.
What do you all think of the vango banshee? I've heard mixed reviews about bad quality and leaks.

 

[pieinthesky]

I bought a Vango Halo 300 tent a couple of years ago.

The door design is poor, when you open it up any water on the outside of the tent goes straight inside the tent. Also after a few weekends of light use the inner door zip is pulling away from the inner tent, so I am not too impressed with quality either.

So I wouldnt recommend Vango, even though my MK2 CN was fantastic and stood up to everything thrown at it during 15 years of regular use. It was only perishing of the fly from UV exposure that killed it in the end.

 

[Dave Dickinson]

I bought a vango banshee 300. It's not bad but not as good as the review's the floor in mine leaked on the first outing. I sent it back and got another that's held up better but only been out in 1 nights rain so far.

 

[petrochemicals]

For atop mountains you need a geodhesic pole combo like a vango nemesis or ostro, a bit heavier than other mountain tents but cheaper and within your price bracket. For other tents of the same type you'd be looking at 400+

I have a vango mistral and it's good, maybe less stable and more orange than the nemesis but it big. Don't go for a banchee type if you want to do anything other than sleep as the only way you can sit up is at the apex, go for a tunnel or a geodome. A route a lot of people have gone down is the expensive coffins before getting one that's a bit heavier with a bit more room!

 

[Allans865]

My vango banshee 200 has never let me down yet....4 West Highland Ways and 1 Hadrians Wall walk later.

Maybe I just got a good one!

Thanks,
Allan


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[dave89]

I bought a Vango soul for less than £50 and its been great exceeded expectations so i can't complain about the brand

 

[Dandus]

Anybody had a mirage?

 

[Bushcraftsman]

another +1 for the Banshee from me, I've had the 300 for a few years now and never let me down, done some pretty horrific weather in it too

 

[Paul_B]

You don't need to get any particular style of tent unless you plan some seriously bad weather nights out. Choose your pitch wisely and you can sleep out a storm in a tarp let alone a geodesic. I certainly have near the top of an exposed hill in the lakes. I've also used tunnel tents in storms without issue.

The vango dome tents I've seen have an issue with the fully opened door not actually covering the inner door opening. First spotted in a tent show at Keswick in a very drizzly rain that soaks you quickly. I noticed the vango dome tents had the outers partially closed. I opened it up and spotted the issue. The salesman then followed me round closing the flysheet doors slightly on a few tents with this issue.

My preference is tunnel tents. There's a few around worth looking at.

IMHO I don't worry about tent height. I'm nearly 2m tall so there's few backpacking tents I can comfortably sit up in. For solo use I tend to not sit up. I'm walking, cooking or sleeping. I don't generally sit out storms because I'm getting from a to b or I'm pitched. If pitched I'm cooking then sleeping. For that a low down tent isn't an issue for me.

Banshee is a decent tent, especially for the money.

 

[bobnewboy]

I have a Vango Hydra, of the original type. Its over 20 years old now, but it has been really very good. The much newer Hydra 300 is slightly different in design, but the cross over poles are strong and the tent stays up well in foul weather.

 

[Dandus]

So do you think the banshee would be ok in winter? I'm hoping to winter camp at some point or at least have the flexibility to do that.

 

[Shiloh]

Banshee 300 is brill, had one for years and never let me down. Its more a 2.5person tent tho, not much room for a third but then im 6ft 3