Tent with a large porch, <£200, <3kg?

[pjclinch]

Obviously no owner reviews out there for the Vango Pulsar 200, but the predecessor Spirit 200+ has some out there and again there are mentions of pole breakage:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Van ... t-200+/873

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=67934

Is this just something to be expected with modern lightweight tents with alloy poles? I have not had this with my old Vango and Eurohike tents with fibreglass poles.

A decent alloy pole should do a lot better than a fibreglass pole.

There are some good practices for pole longevity that are widely ignored though, so...

- It's very common to see folk put shock-corded poles together by giving them a good shake and letting the shock-cord pull the sections together, but this tends to encourage cracks at the ends. If you always connect gently with a hand on each of the sections you're connecting you should avoid that.

- Alloy poles are hollow so if they're stepped on they may dent or kink, which weakens them considerably, so make sure you never stand on them.

- Alloy suffers from salt corrosion, so if you've been parked on a beach then give them a soak in warm water in the bath before final re-packing once you're back home.

Pete.

[niggle]

The Wild Country Duolite Tourer looks to fit the bill exactly.

Looks good but a tad over budget unfortunately

[Joe.B]

Hi Niggle,

I'm looking for a tent meeting the same criteria as you need. Although I won't be buying for a couple of months I think I've settled on the Wild Country Hoolie 2 ETC. I'd be interested to hear what you chose in the end.

[RobMac]

The Pulsar is such a new model you can only pre-order at the moment and no discounts when I looked. However it is very similar to the old Spirit 200+, but cheaper already at full MRP- weird.

You took the word right out of my mouth (Ive got a Spirit 200+) as for the cheaper price a bit odd given that the Spirit uses a 3000 fly and the Pulsar 200 uses 5000?????

[RobMac]

The Wild Country Duolite Tourer looks to fit the bill exactly.

Looks good but a tad over budget unfortunately

And a tad over-engineered

[pjclinch]

The Pulsar is such a new model you can only pre-order at the moment and no discounts when I looked. However it is very similar to the old Spirit 200+, but cheaper already at full MRP- weird.

You took the word right out of my mouth (Ive got a Spirit 200+) as for the cheaper price a bit odd given that the Spirit uses a 3000 fly and the Pulsar 200 uses 5000?????

People get a bit hung up on hydrostatic head numbers: once it's over 1000 it's basically waterproof.
However, fabric and coating technology has been advancing considerably so it isn't really surprising it's getting cheaper and better, just like other technology.

And a tad over-engineered

How so?

Pete.

[RobMac]

How so?

Pete.

Just look at the number of parts/joints in the poles for instance and all those clips overly complicated and more to break/go wrong and I doubt it'll be the fastest tent to put up as well.

[pjclinch]

We have a slight clash of meanings... "over engineered" is usually used meaning sledgehammer to crack a nut, or in tent terms a Quasar for your kids to spend a calm summer night camping in the garden.

But on to the Duolite and its notional over-complexity...

Look at how a three-way pole joint works and it's usually a hub part with three spigots that join in to the poles. The weak part is exactly the same as in any pole joint, which is the open end of the hollow pole section. So a 3 way join won't particularly induce more failures than a two way one. The MSR Hubba family is one of the most successful and popular designs of recent times, and is based on three way joins in the pole sets... in other words they have a proven track record.

Clips... again, they're used by lots of people and are proven to work well. Hillebergs maximally bomber geodesics rely on clipping to external poles, Vau De have been clipping to external poles for years, and so on. Done well it can be rather more convenient than faffing about getting poles through sleeves, and it means you can pitch the outer first which not only makes life a bit quicker but also makes it less important how quickly it does go up.

I've not pitched one in person, but I suspect you really do need to try it before writing it off. The Duolite appears to have got a solid reputation for itself and I can't see how it would have done that if it was a pain to pitch and frequently failed!

Pete.

[niggle]

So my final decision was to buy a Coleman Pictor X2. One major factor was price: I have just jumped in and bought the last one from Ebay at £75 plus £4.95 P+P: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261106524534? ... _351wt_952

I think the Coleman should meet my requirements for space etc., I generally think Coleman tents are similar to Vango in terms of build quality and price, my friend uses a Phad X3 which impresssed me, apart from the guy line adjusters which he seemed to have trouble with, but replacing those with Line Loks would not break the bank.

[Sweep]

Thanks for the update - do let us know how you get on with it - I'd be interested, particularly as on a casual look it seems similar to the Vango Spirit 200

(I'm the person who started the link thread referenced above on the Spirit 200+ pole problem

[mercalia]

have u thought rather than a new tent - add a tarp - I got mine from Halford for £20, makes a big difference, not sure about exteme weather though.


click for bigger copy

[niggle]

have u thought rather than a new tent - add a tarp - I got mine from Halford for £20, makes a big difference, not sure about exteme weather though.

I gave this sort of idea some brief thought previously then concluded that it would be unfeasible just when I wanted it the most, i.e. in bad weather.

[niggle]

Thanks for the update - do let us know how you get on with it - I'd be interested, particularly as on a casual look it seems similar to the Vango Spirit 200

(I'm the person who started the link thread referenced above on the Spirit 200+ pole problem

As far as I can tell the main difference is that the Pictor X2's porch is a tad shorter at about 1.2m compared to that of the Pulsar 200, at about 1.8m, (Spirit 200+ = about 1.7m).

This I dont mind as the Pictor X2 looks big enough for me and cost me £80 compared to the best price of £140 that I can see for the Pulsar 200: http://www.e-outdoor.co.uk/2269099/prod ... tAodUAQAog (all prices are pre-order at the moment)

£60 would be a lot to pay for about 0.8 square meters of tent space that I don't think I need, and which looks from the pictures to be accounted for by a longer sloping section so no gain in shoulder space IMO, plus the Coleman has a porch groundsheet, which is a featue I like. The Pictor X2 is available for £85 + £6.95 P+P from another seller on Ebay at the moment: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coleman-Picto ... 2384wt_721

[Sweep]

Yes the large porch is very nice on the Spirit 200+, partucularly as I'm a somewhat messy sod. I could keep stuff in the sleeping bit but I do like it out of the way in the porch.

Other reservations about the 200+ stand.

I will reply to your other post on the related thread.

Look forward to your updates.

[niggle]

I loosely assembled the Pictor X2 in the lounge today, looks like it will be absolutely perfect, generous sleeping quarters with enough head room and loads of space in the porch. It is a bit heavier than the Vango Pulsar 200, i.e. 3.35Kg compared to 3.18Kg, but most of the difference is accounted for by the Coleman's removable porch groundsheet which weighed 143g on my kitchen scales. The guyline adjusters are fine, though I can see how some people would have problems if they used them incorrectly.

Over all build quality is fine, no dodgy stitching evident and materials used look up to the job. The flysheet does seem to have quite a gap at the bottom around the porch area but should not be a problem IMO: testing in the field will confirm this. I would have preferred a more subdued shade of green instead of the somewhat garish standard Coleman 'Granny Smith' colour but it is not a major issue.

Obviously the next thing to do is try it out for real, but the weather is going to have to improve a bit for that.