Advice required on choice of 2/3 person lightweight tent

[Jezrant]

One thing to consider carefully is the entrance(s). Some tents, like some Scandinavian tunnel types, have an opening on the side rather than at the front. A disadvantage of this style of tent is your view outside is very limited. Being able to take in the scenery without getting out of the tent is one of the little pleasures of camping (if it's not blowin a hoolie).

An excellent point. Which rather favours dome style tents with two entrances.

Thanks Sweep.
Actually, Helsport make a superb tunnel type tent called the Lofoton Pro Camp that has both a front and a side entrance. The two person weighs 3.1kg and has a big roomy porch for cooking in the rain and storing gear. They also do a super light ("SL") version that weighs 1.98kg. If you take good care of it, a Helsport tent will last many many years. Tamarack Outdoors in Lancashire sells them for £459 and £629 respectively. There are also 3-person versions that weigh and cost a bit more. Great shop btw.

[willem jongman]

Or the Helsport Lofoten that I bought for my son. It has both front and side entrances, and it was precisely the reason he chose this tent rather than the Fjellheimen.

[Thehairs1970]

One thing to consider carefully is the entrance(s). Some tents, like some Scandinavian tunnel types, have an opening on the side rather than at the front. A disadvantage of this style of tent is your view outside is very limited. Being able to take in the scenery without getting out of the tent is one of the little pleasures of camping (if it's not blowin a hoolie).

Blimey! You think you've written a clear email Andy then people keep mentioning the bits I've forgotten! So here goes. We need a 2/3man tent with large vestibule, 3 season, lightweight, good waterproofing, mostly for one night stays (we can cope with a little discomfort if we stay longer) and for use in Europe. It'll be split between two most of the time.

I have camped A LOT in my life; my wife and I did a round the world backpacking holiday where our home was a Macpac Microlight for much of the time. It's more personal recommendations of specific tents from experienced tourers I am after rather than a discussion about what the ideal features might be. No offence. Thanks for all your help so far. Are there any more to add to the list?

Martyn

[pjclinch]

One thing to consider carefully is the entrance(s). Some tents, like some Scandinavian tunnel types, have an opening on the side rather than at the front. A disadvantage of this style of tent is your view outside is very limited. Being able to take in the scenery without getting out of the tent is one of the little pleasures of camping (if it's not blowin a hoolie).

An excellent point. Which rather favours dome style tents with two entrances.

Up to a point, Lord Copper. The Hille Kaitum allows you to completely roll away the porches at both ends for an uninterrupted view ahead and astern. The GT extended-porch model has a side entrance at the back of the porch so you don't have to crawl through the whole thing to get to the inner, but there's a top entrance too and you can still roll away the head, like so...




This is a feature I like about tents with front and rear (or twin left and right) entrances in general, and is worth considering. More doors also tends to mean more venting possibilities and convenience in use, but it does add to cost, weight and bulk.

Pete.

[pjclinch]

Blimey! You think you've written a clear email Andy then people keep mentioning the bits I've forgotten! So here goes. We need a 2/3man tent with large vestibule, 3 season, lightweight, good waterproofing, mostly for one night stays (we can cope with a little discomfort if we stay longer) and for use in Europe. It'll be split between two most of the time.

I have camped A LOT in my life; my wife and I did a round the world backpacking holiday where our home was a Macpac Microlight for much of the time. It's more personal recommendations of specific tents from experienced tourers I am after rather than a discussion about what the ideal features might be. No offence. Thanks for all your help so far. Are there any more to add to the list?

Now, you say "large vestibule", but how large is large? I once engaged in a discussion where someone recommended a Quasar as having "2 huge porches", while by my way of thinking a Quasar porch is pretty much done once you've left your shoes in it. I would say a Kaitum/Nammatj/Keron/Nallo porch is "large", while the GT versions are "huge", but is one "large" enough or are the two "large" ones you get in a Keron/Kaitum okay, or do you want a single interrupted space? Or if you really want to go to town, get a Keron/Kaitum GT and you've got one "large" as well as a "huge". That you can temporarily dismount the inner in all-in-one pitches means you can have up to the whole tent as at least short-term porch space for cooking/eating/bike repair/garage space while you go out while an inner-first typically won't let you do that. And how the doors are arranged might mean that your porch is mostly a through-route to the inner so much less use (step forward the Quasar again...) or allows almost all of it to be used for storage/cooking/whatever. And if you're cooking in the porch how are the venting options? And so on... So even on the clear, straightforward "I'd like a large vestibule" there's plenty up for discussion, but this also reinforces why a test-crawl is worth any number of diagrams and recommendations form folk with different agendas.

Split between two people for carrying I'd suggest is possibly a no-no. While you want to split the overall packing between two I'd keep the tent in one set of luggage because then the tent-carryer knows where everything is and there's the option to e.g. zoom ahead in nasty weather and get it pitched ready for the slower team to arrive at a prepared shelter. So if one of you gets the tent maybe the other one gets the stove and crockery etc.

Pete.

[Jezrant]

One thing to consider carefully is the entrance(s). Some tents, like some Scandinavian tunnel types, have an opening on the side rather than at the front. A disadvantage of this style of tent is your view outside is very limited. Being able to take in the scenery without getting out of the tent is one of the little pleasures of camping (if it's not blowin a hoolie).

Blimey! You think you've written a clear email Andy then people keep mentioning the bits I've forgotten! So here goes. We need a 2/3man tent with large vestibule, 3 season, lightweight, good waterproofing, mostly for one night stays (we can cope with a little discomfort if we stay longer) and for use in Europe. It'll be split between two most of the time.

I have camped A LOT in my life; my wife and I did a round the world backpacking holiday where our home was a Macpac Microlight for much of the time. It's more personal recommendations of specific tents from experienced tourers I am after rather than a discussion about what the ideal features might be. No offence. Thanks for all your help so far. Are there any more to add to the list?

Martyn

I'd recommend my Helsport Borgefjell, but they don't make it anymore. It also has what I consider to be a small porch. The Lofoton is available with either a small or a big porch. The small porch version uses two poles; the big porch version three. If I was replacing my Borgefjell, I'd be getting the Lofoton Pro Camp with the bigger porch. It ticks all your boxes and much less expensive than a comparable Hilleberg. Pete's comments are pertinent. Best to have a crawl around the tent to decide for yourself.

[willem jongman]

And this year's Lofoten Pro Camp has more internal space because the two main poles are now of equal length. It is very comparable to our Hileberg Nammtj 3gt, but with slightly more space/length in the inner tent, and a bit less in the vestibule. For more space, there is also the Helsport Spitsbergen 3, their Keron gt alternative.

[Jezrant]

Another thing about the Scandi tunnel tents is that they are incredibly strong if that is important to you. I've been with mates up in Scotland in appalling conditions where others in less well designed tents have had theirs flattened, torn, poles snapped.

[MrsHJ]

Sorry misedited- see below

[MrsHJ]

Based on my own experience of family camping whilst cycle touring I’d enjoy the Kaitum. That’s because we don’t do huge distances when together so more time at campsites. My 10 yr old son and I camped fine together in the hubba hubba in summer but a 3 man would have been better. We have a Coleman cobra 3 for family cycle touring that I got when short on cash and it does the job but I find it rather low and a bit bulky on the rack.

As my kids get a bit older though we may lean towards separate tents.

[pjclinch]

As my kids get a bit older though we may lean towards separate tents.

Separate tents good, separate continents perhaps better... (ours are at the teenage stage!)

We found a mix of the Kaitum 3 and a Hubba Hubba very good. It gave them a separate bedroom and it gave us masses of space, and it gave us somewhere we could all get in together for eating or a slounge if the weather was pants.

Pete.

[Jezrant]

When the kids have moved away to Australia, you will miss them. Sorry, about the thread wander.

[horizon]

Blimey! You think you've written a clear email Andy then people keep mentioning the bits I've forgotten! So here goes. We need a 2/3man tent with large vestibule, 3 season, lightweight, good waterproofing, mostly for one night stays (we can cope with a little discomfort if we stay longer) and for use in Europe.

Did you mean 2 or 3 person?
Did you really mean lightweight (how heavy)?
What budget?
How large the vestibule?
Good waterproofing?
Is colour important?

There are lots of tents crowding into this market niche (2 or 3 person 3 season tunnel with extended porch) but defining those aspects will give us a sporting chance to offer some better advice (and indeed give you a more useful short list).

[Jezrant]

And this year's Lofoten Pro Camp has more internal space because the two main poles are now of equal length. It is very comparable to our Hileberg Nammtj 3gt, but with slightly more space/length in the inner tent, and a bit less in the vestibule. For more space, there is also the Helsport Spitsbergen 3, their Keron gt alternative.

I think you're getting the Lofoten and the Fjellheimen mixed up. It's the Fjellheimen that has the two main poles of equal length:

https://www.helsport.no/fjellheimen-pro-camp

The Lofoten still has the sloping roof design:

https://www.helsport.no/lofoten-pro-camp

[horizon]

For the purpose of this thread (and the benefit of our long-suffering OP) it might be worth separating the high-price tents (that's say over £500 RRP) from the standard budget tents (say over £200 RRP). There are a few tents in the middle but there otherwise seems to be a gulf betwen the two price ranges.

If we also agreed on two or three person we could also talk more sensibly about cost, weight and space. To say a three person tent has more space is nonsensical if weight and price are ignored.

Given that most of the designs are fundamentally similar (or we could stick to one perhaps) then we could focus on reliability, performance and the few remaining features that actually are different.