Still the weekend was fun, even if the camping left something to be desired.
I must admit, I am disappointed that our tent (Vango Venture 500), allegedly (I wasn’t there to see it) failed to stand up to the wind at all. Reading up on comments elsewhere on the web, it seems that some people have extremely good experience with them in windy conditions, and other, really quite dire.
I think the problem may be partly resolved by adding decent storm guys. I bought some line for the purpose at Springfield Camping – nice shop, big, good range of stock, well displayed (lots of tents) and friendly staff too.
We may go back and look at a “more serious” tent. At the moment, Jax seems to be leaning towards buying a Vango Force Ten tent, on the basis that they may be the only thing guaranteed to survive a gentle weekend’s camping in friends’ gardens.
I want a more windproof tent, as mine is rubbish. Nicely bows in the wrong way, regardless of how I guy it. Maybe I’m just not guying it right, but I tried lots of different ways. Of course, better pegs that didn’t pull out the sandy ground would have also helped!
Our force ten tent just sits there in the wind. I love it.
Em, family camping tents, anything which is high enough so that you can stand up in it, are not going to stand up well to wind.
We are considering one of these, from Vango’s mountain range – on the basis that we would probably run for cover before we came near really needing a Force Ten.
I took the tent down before it blew down, but given that all but two tents ended up down that night, I think it was a good call. One of the poles seemed (I was without lenses or glasses so cannot say for sure) to have an S bend in it, which didn’t seem right.
I would like a better smaller tent – our big tent is great for a week, but I’d like something I really feel confident in for short times.
4 still up actually, but that’s not a good proportion of 9! Our little one – Khyam Mckinley: says 3 man, holds 4 kids no problem, and I’ve slept in it with them too! – had a couple of extra guys and was fine. The bigger one – Khyam Freelander – was just that bit taller and despite extra guys, that bit more flexible, and it seemed more prudent to take it down whilst awake than lie there wondering when it would fall down! Marcus & Michelle’s Sunncamp has similar geodesic design to the Force Ten, no large flat surfaces for the wind to hit against.
Sorry, thought I was told it was just 2 left! Might look at the little khyam as well, though I’m really not sure I can bring myself to desert Vango 😉
ps can you really put the mckinley up in 20 seconds???
You could have the dome bit clicked up into place in 20 seconds I expect, but there’s still another pole to put through, and pegs etc. Doesn’t take long though 🙂 We leave the bedroom hooked in when we put it away too.
Allie, which Force Ten?
Hm, it’s described as a pitch time in 20 seconds, and I would have included all poles and pegs in pitching iyswim. Wonder if there is anywhere where they will let you try them…
like the look of this force ten
My requirements are big enough to be inside during shit weather, able to erect on my own, fold up relatively small. Needs to be probably large 4 man, or 6 man (ie. for 2 adults and 3 children most), needs to not have one big flat panel at the back to catch the wind and bow the wrong way, which is the problem with mine now. Force Ten ones don’t have enough non-sleeping room I think. Too claustrophobic for more than a couple of hours trapped inside all together!
I wonder how ours would have done; it barely moved at Kessingland and would have done even better had our door flap not been head on to the wind, but it sounds like the wind was far worse this time!
I would be surprised if it had survived. But then, I think it is surprising any of the tents survived, the wind on Saturday was strong and sustained.
Khyam (on their web site) don’t seem to make any specific claims about the bad weather performance of their tents, and they don’t even have tent categories for mountain/alpinist/adventure. So since they seem to be aiming themselves at the family and summer camping markets I think it does them credit that the Khyam Mckinley performed so well. Pretty much the same goes for M&M’s Sunncamp.
Conversely, given that Vango rightly pride themselves on their reputation as a manufacturer of renowned high performance tents, I am disappointed that one of their products performed as poorly as ours did. In fact I think our six berth Vista, which they state is a summer tent would have performed a lot better. Okay, fair enough, they would argue that they market the Venture as a family tent and that if you want to go out in a gale, you should buy one of their more expensive models. Still, I am not impressed.
well, our khyams -frontier and now ridgipod – have stood up v well to the wind, and are pretty immovable.
our vango v500 also has. we damped in devon and pegged down the gazebo, v strong wind night, such that in the morning the wind had brought the gazebo to its knees – literally bent each leg at right angles. vango fine. we did have the front facing the wind, which might be the difference?
http://flickr.com/photos/scrumble/207796942/in/set-72157594225907437/
there was a really sturdy looking old style coleman weathermaster on the campsite. they got lots of good reviews. the new version looks flimsier on the web – might not be in reality?
oh, and in the past, the type of khyam we bought did have wind tunnel testing on their website. would move in a force ten, but not break [or so i recall]. this was the maroon and green series ridgidomes. they are a bugger to actually put up in strong wind though. [as demonstrated at wicksteed, even a mild wind and they tend to move until you have pegged down the 4 corners. then they are totally sturdy
oh, and last post, but i would love a job as a tent tester. take out for the weekend and see type job!