Good quality tent recommendations wanted for explorer scouts

[Lee Wright]

Hi all, we've got to a point where we have a few pennies kicking about in the bank account and would like to kit our explorers out with new tents as they are bringing their own at the minute and we had a disaster a few weekends ago where the wind flattened two of their tents and damaged them beyond repair.
We're looking at three man tents and would like them to be a reasonable weight so that if necessary they can be split between three people and carried in a pack if we decide to take them out on a trek, this avoids a support vehicle as we like to walk with them too The tents need to be stable in wind so looking for either geodesic or semi-geodesic or opinions on how wind resistant tunnel and banshee-style tents are.
Apologies for the rambling, any help appreciated especially if someone knows of a place that would be willing to do a cash discount on four tents Have a picture of the scrotes in question

 

[Lithril]

Hi Lee, what sort of price range are you looking at? I've used quite a few with DofE groups and there are options ranging £70 at the cheaper end to £200+

At the moment we're using these for the cheap option http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/inde...code/73110106/id_colour/108/group/857/level/3 but also have some of these http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/inde.../code/73110108/id_colour/98/group/857/level/3 for silver expeds, not quite as big but much nicer. Also depends on how much kit they're carrying, do they need a decent vestibule. If you've got more cash the wild country tents are good. I'm currently using an MSR Carbon Reflex 3 which would make an ideal group tent, easily enough space for 3 and 2 large porches to allow you to get out of either end.

Give us an idea of price and number of tents you're after and I'll try and help out a bit more

 

[para106]

The Vango Equinox range are a good bet too. I've used the 450 for several years & it's a goody. Have a butchers at the 350. Pretty good prices on tinternet too. Cheers

 

[Conan257]

Do you have a region/district shop?The District shop from my previous posting gave us a 15% discount on the already discounted prices... Worked out cheaper than most places and also put some pennies back into the District.

 

[Lee Wright]

Hi all, thanks for the replies! Short but sweet because I'm on my phone (sorting the heaters at the scout hut funnily enough!) I've been looking at the vango hurricanes as they look nice and sturdy but I don't think we'll be able to stretch to that if we're getting four tents, budget probably about £150 per tent tops.
Not sure about a regional shop, any specific scout/guide shop has always seemed more expensive than online as far as I have found!
More in depth reply later!

 

[Lee Wright]

Lithril - Thankyou for taking the time to post the links, the Alpha looks a little flimsy in all honesty although very good value for money it seems. The Spectre has definitely made the short list as it looks to have a good strong shape to it and comes in light enough to put into one persons pack without having to split it down. I have seen these for around £90 so four of these would leave plenty of cash spare to kit out with new stainless cookware, the idea being to run things like "patrol boxes" where Explorers will be split into groups and assigned a box with all necessary equipment in, they are then responsible for the return of a full, clean, complete box. One of the scout groups that feeds into us used Vango Equinox' for a good few years and we gave one of our less affluent Explorers one when they were replaced, on a recent windy night it was one of the only tents other than the Force 10's that didn't look like it would end up in another county in the morning! Porch would not really swing a decision for me personally but we'll be putting the final vote to the Explorers, I like the boot lockers in the Spectre though.

Para106 - As mentioned above, the Equinox is a very sturdy tent in windy conditions and they seem to have lasted through a few years of ham fisted/careless scouts too so they must be tough!

Conan257 - No local scout suppliers found unfortunately

 

[Andy BB]

Depends on whether you're thinking short or long term. the Vango force 10 Mk 5s are on sale on ebay at 299pounds, and will still be standing up to gales in 25 years!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vango-For...re_HikingCamping_Tents_JN&hash=item27c214248d

 

[yeha]

Can't comment on the sturdyness of the Spectre in a gale, but one turned up on camp a few years ago. I'm 6'5" and I had acres of room at both ends and could sit up without the inner tent touching the outer. My lad has a Banshee and it's nowhere near as good. He's under 6' but the slope of the inner means that he gets damp feet and head, and it's too low to sit up properly. With the vertical ends of the Spectre inner, dampness isn't a problem.

 

[PeterH]

Lee I would say look at the weights, a group near us has some Hurricanes which, IMHO, are over the top for Scouts and I cannot remember them being used other than once except by leaders.

My closest ESU has a mix of donated group (ie 10-15) family tents and a massive Tentipi complete with stove, then for expeditions we have some Vango TBS Micro 200/250 from my old Scout Group that were a bit too technical for scouts (and most Explorers) and recently we have added several Tadpoles, including a couple I got at £100 each in the NF shop sale, we add the footprint to the tadpoles so they can be used fly only. We have quite a few older F10 cotton jobs, bombproof but quite heavy by modern standards although I carried one all round Wales at that age

 

[Paul_B]

I've had the Spectre 200 for a few years now as my car camping tent for solo use. I intend to use it in a month or so for 2 person use. It has bags of room in it for two and the 300 version should easily fit three adults in it let alone three explorers. I am 6'5" tall and whilst slim I do have the shoulders for my frame so tend to fill tents. I laid two full sized mats in mine and there was a good 2-3" around both. I then lay on one on my back noted where my centre shoulder ended. Then lay in the other side and there was seriously plenty of space for two of me. The length is quite good too. I was able to fit a bag in at the end of my feet and a spare sleeping bag in its storage bag as an extra pillow to my head.

The internally reached storage areas at each end easily take my backpacking sack and boots and bags of food when I use mine. A really neat feature that means the foot and head end walls are vertical and the space isn't wasted.

The whole thing pegs out securely without the need for guying up. If you do need to the guylines on all sides of the three poles together with the tension band system mean it copes with quite strong winds. Also bear in mind that tunnel tents cope with wind by flexing to absorb or deflect the wind's power. Geodesics work by being strong enough to take the wind's power without flexing. This means that you are likely to get pole snap when the tent has been beaten by the wind. Tunnels just tend to flatten when that happens then springs back up without pole damage. The evidence I have to support this is a Quasar tent with a pole snapped in the same winds as a Hilleberg Nallo which survived undamaged. Both tents are very high quality and price but the wind that night was too strong for the geodesic Quasar. However tunnels don't cope with snow loading as well.

If you do go for Spectres, which seem in your price range and ideal for the use (note it is DofE recommended too), then check out Kendal Camping. Not in your area but they have a website and you can call. They are great little shop. I have bought two tents from them (Spectre and a force10 vitesse). In both cases a price not matched elsewhere. My Spectre was half the SRRP at the time!!!!! Also he has some bargains on at the moment. Old styles or old colours (2010 design instead of the 2012 or 2011 design). There is a force 10 titan at a ridiculous price. Not what you need but it is a bombproof 4 man tunnel tent suitable for high mountain and arctic but it is something like £300 from about £500!! Also they have some vango geodesics in 2 and 3 man versions at very cheap prices for such a tent.

I am nothing to do with this company BTW just a pleased customer twice and a mate is too!!! Call them though as I don't think the website is up to date with the bargains and prices.

 

[Hetzen]

I'm sure you're not looking at tarps, but I thought I'd throw this in for another alternative. I've finally pulled the trigger on an MLD Trailstar after quite a bit of research. It's extremely light (700g with stakes), has ample room for 2, 3 at a squeeze. And probably has some of the best wind performance due to how all sides keep the centre walking pole rigid. Simple to set up, and easy to adjust from inside if the weather changes for the worst. Here's a review that gives you some good usage reports...

http://www.stevenhorner.com/?p=1003

 

[Lee Wright]

Thank you all for taking the time in writing your replies, they have all been considered and the Spectre 300 seems to have come out on top from experience on here, reviews on the internet, our budget and the fact that we've had good experiences with Vango previously.

Andy - I love F10's personally but 10Kg is a little high on top of gear already being carried by sometimes small 14 year old girls! I do agree with the fact that they would withstand a nuclear blast though

Yeha - Nice to know they're roomy inside, nothing worse than being cramped/damp! Your point about the banshee also echoes other comments on t'interweb.

Peter H - Thanks for the input, I noticed the weights on the Hurricanes and that added another negative for them!

Paul B - Thanks for that post, especially the fundamental principles of the tent designs, as that helped me decide that the Spectre would be the ideal candidate for what we want. I've looked at the Kendal Camping website and will be contacting them to see what they can do for us as we're looking at a bit more gear and it'll be a cash deal

Hetzen - Very nice looking bit of kit but I'd rather stick with tents as young adults can be quite miserable when their tent drops on their head in the night due to them not erecting it properly! Anything out of the ordinary may be a little awkward!