Large porch tents or tent/tarp combo?

[Tangled Metal]

What's your view on gaining space for cycle camping? Get a large porch version of a tunnel tent or buy a tarp?

We're looking at getting an extended tunnel tent but they're heavy unless you've got £420+ to spend. Even then you're talking 2.6kg. This is for a 3 person tent.

For £200-300 you can get a hybrid dome/hybrid tunnel tent that's a lot lighter. Tents like the new marmot vapour 3 man tent or the msr hubba tents or msr elixir 3 (also available a gear porch for it).

We already have tarps in various sizes from a 1.24m x 2.4m to a 4m square one.

We returned a wild country version of the extended tunnel tent and really don't like any others available at less than about £420.

It's great for shelter with a little one asleep on the main tent. Two rooms if you like. The tarp option might not work very well. IME the tarp is less stable in wind when pitched against a tent. We often have to collapse it in the night. This would remove the second room function we really want.

What's your suggestions? Budget is really up to £400 and preferably a lot less. Money could be tight after the European holiday it's going to be bought for so anything less than £300 is better.

[hamish]

I have got a Hubba Hubba with a gear shed. It's relatively new and have only used it a few times but it does work quite well.

The advantage of the Gear Shed is that you can leave it behind when you know you won't need it. The disadvantage is that it's a bit more of a faff than say one of the Lightwave extended porch options so if you know you want the space every time you use the tent then I think it's less attractive. The material used for the shed is not as light as that used in the main tent so the weight does add up a bit. The Hubba Hubba itself is a good three season tent.. Although I do wish they had made it with double coated silnylon rather than silicon/pu.

The Hubba tour looks interesting but there are a load of extended porch tents around..

[foxyrider]

2.6kg isn't particularly heavy for a 3 man tent and if the tent you really like is £20 more than your budget - well i'd find the the twenty rather than compromise my choice. (a few less Costas soon covers it). You have pretty much made your choice of tent over tarp so just get the most suitable tent - sell on some unwanted kit to help finance it.

Not really sure how the tent cost really affects post trip budget - the trip itself probably but the tent is an asset you'll (hopefully) use time and again. I certainly don't include kit and bike parts in holiday costs - only stuff specific to the trip. So a new sleeping bag doesn't get put to the trip, maps and guides do, camping fees do, spare inner tubes don't.

Hope you have a good trip

[Tangled Metal]

The more we can save the more money we have and the less we worry about money on and after the trip. Job uncertainty is almost putting paid to the trip. 55:45 in favour of the trip going ahead as planned. New to touring (I am bit not my partner) with a half tour last year. A split fortnight with a few 3 day runs.

This year we decided to take a full 2 weeks and tour somewhere with better weather on the continent. There's been talk of doing this for 3 years. Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Sweden and Germany have been discussed over that time. We're close to choosing one now then a few issues came up with both our work.

In my opinion we need to get certain bits of kit that aren't cheap but are needed. Tent and another sleeping bag are the main items. Not cheap so we need to be very strict with budget. extra 20 quid on the tent means 20 off the sleeping bag. This affects bulk which is our biggest issue. We're trying to ditch a trailer completely for easier train travel. Bulk will stop that plan so we have to accept a few hundred grams of weight in the tent to get a better sleeping bag. The bag goes into panniers but the tent sits on top of the rack. We can cope with more weight and bulk in the tent.

Well that's the theory but it's looking like our budget could be blown.

You actually get steps in specs at certain price points. £420 seems to get extended porch tunnel tents at sub 3kg. £350 gets sub 3kg dome or hybrid dome tents without large porch. Below £300 you get 3.3 to 4.1 kg extended tunnel tents.

We had one in this category last year until we had to return it due to failure. We're taking wild country hoolie 3, berghaus versions in standard and "pro" spec and wild country blizzard 3. The last one is a bit narrow compared to the others. I'm not impressed with WC quality and berghaus tents are rebranded tents of dubious source/quality. A bit like karrimor rucksacks since sports direct took over, some very good ones but a lot of absolute tat with a once great brand label.

If money was no object o doubt I'd even get a Hilleberg. So far i rate the £650 Lightwave extended tunnel tent (hyper T30xt i think) or the Scandinavian brands like nordisk and helsport. They all seem to come in with good spec extended tunnel tents at £650 mark. IMHO not much behind Hilleberg for about £150 less.

I think this is a fair summary of the current UK tent market. Oddities like luxe pyramid tents or eureka lone tree4 give space at lower prices but I don't like the idea of the top of the door being over the groundsheet. I've seen a very nice dome tent from Vango in the past, great on paper for space/weight. Then we saw it in a tent show pitched. It was a wet day so it was nearly zipped shut. We unzipped it to go in and immediate puddle on the groundsheet. Not good! I think it has transformed into the halo 300 now or one of Vango's orange tents called mistral or similar.

[Tangled Metal]

PS going cheaper with the tent gets one of us a PHD sleeping bag weighing below 500g! Not me BTW. I'm in a quilt with my ærse hanging out!

Next year it'll be me with the new sleeping bag.

[hamster]

Personally I'd save cost by a tarp - I wolud prefer a decent sleeping bag. But I happily tour with a £50 Vango 3 season bag - it's warm but the compromise its bulk. For summer camping though you won't need anything that special to stay warm - a light down jacket would be enough to give a light bag a boost in a cold snap.

[mercalia]

do you really need a porch? maybe just a wind break. since money is tight?

[hamish]

I have a lightwave T20 hyper tent. It's a good tent but don't rule out the trail version which is About £200 cheaper and not much heavier in the real world.....

[Tangled Metal]

We've got two sleeping bags that compress down to an average of less than a wide mouth 1 litre nalgene bottle. One is bigger the other is smaller than the bottle. The new one is currently in the sales at third off about. It's probably an even smaller pack size and 500g.

That makes 2 bags weighing 1150g and another is that on its own. All good kit. One day we'll all get this new 500g sleeping bag. As it is i reckon 3 sleeping bags would fit into one pannier. 2 of them are xl ones too. Well I'm 1.96m tall so I'm taller than standard bags.

So i reckon my tent choices are 3.65kg extended tunnel tent from wild country (taking a chance on a second one not falling in less than 2 weeks use). Dome tent that's under 3kg or very close to it (without an extended porch we'd need a tarp but storage is ok with 2 porches). A third option is a normal tunnel tent. This is likely to be about 2.5kg with a single porch which would need a tarp to give a sheltered space outside of the main part of the tent.

[Tangled Metal]

What we like about the extended porch tunnels is the space outside of the main tent. With a young child it gives two rooms as well as storage. The child can be playing away in the main part of the tent while we're cooking or doing necessary jobs. At night the child can sleep while we're in the porch chilling.

At least that's what we did in the wet of Scottish summer. Over in Europe we're hoping this "second room" won't be needed and we'll be sitting outside. However this tent will get use in the UK possibly a lot if it works out a good tent choice. So it must still give this second shelter space one way or another.