So when I was camping at "Wells-Next-The-Sea" one bank holiday it was VERY windy, so windy in fact that several tents ripped/snapped/were flattened/ blew away.
Mine was one of the ones that snapped (I think I counted about 7 tents that were damaged) 3 out of the 6 poles snapped. This left us in abit of a sticky situation - after about 20 min of re-pegging, running repairs & and general struggling - we sort of had the tent up ... we used the "awning" poles to brace the snapped parts, lashed it together with some Para cord I had in my bag - and VOLA - 1 sort of tent.
Anyways after the weekend phoned up Oswald Bailey (place where I got the tent from) filled out the RMA form - and after a few days they arranged to have the tent picked up and I was refunded my £££. Top service and effort on their part - I fully recommend them.
This left me without a tent, this been some what of a problem I started on a hunt for a new tent.
I wanted something that was going to last more than 1 camping trip this time. I decided that I was going to have to pay more than £60 (what I paid for the tent I had just returned).
After a few days of reading reviews and general searching, I had decided on this tent. The Vango Equinox 350 TBS. I placed the order at some website i cant remember, and waited.
The main reason for me getting this tent was the room it had in the "living area". Me liking gadgets and such, I often take ALOT of things with me; more than any sane person would need anyway. Its also a 4/5 season tent - so it can stand up to good old British weather and then some. It also had this "TBS" thing ... after abit of reading up on it I was like "oh wow I could have done with that last time". "TBS" stands for Tension Band System. It helps keep the tent stable in high winds.
So few days later the tent arrived (along with a few other goodies), I immediately proceeded to erect the tent in the front room.
The first thing that I noticed was the thickness of the flysheet, its the sort of stuff that was on the ground sheet of my previous tent. The flysheet has a HH rating of 4000mm, which means the fabric will support a column of water 4000mm tall before it starts to leak. I was quite impressed so far. the Then I noticed the poles (all nicely colour coded Aluminum to patch the slives on the tent) - very small and light. The pegs were unbelievably light as well. I guess that 5 of these new pegs was the same weight as 1 of them "cheap" wire hook type pegs you normally get.
What can I say ... I was impressed. There were lots of nice little features;
The ground sheet - instead of guessing where to put it, pegging it out and it ending up slightly lopsided / in the wrong place. This beast of a tent has little clips on the corners of the ground sheet to hold it in place.
Instead of trying to struggle putting the "ring and pin" bit in the end of the poles ... you can looses them off from the fly sheet,"ring and pin" them in, Then tighten the flysheet up. job done, sorted.
All 3 of the doors (internal & external) have 2 layers... 1 of the bug mesh... and 1 of waterproof fly sheet.
So you can have your main door open - but still keep bugs / prying eyes out of your tent - but at the same time let light & air in.
In the sleeping compartment, instead of 2 little pockets, this has like 16 going all the way round the compartment.
Overall... one hell of an awesome tent.
I can put this tent up on my own in about 10-15 min with no problems.
- Peg few of the points at 1 end down
- Put all 3 of the poles - all colour coded, into the sleeves tighten up.
- Stretch the tent out - and peg the other end in
- Peg rest of the points out, peg out guy ropes
- Hang the inner tent
- Open beer
Packing up is exactly the same - only in reverse.
10/10 from me
Labels: Camping, Holiday, Review
