Looking at buying a light wieght tent for my gap year (going across world) and for my Gold Duke of Edinburgh in the Lake district this easter. So looking at very lightweight, durable, waterproof and decent tent. Which so you recon is best? Nitro has a bigger porch but Helium is much lighter for back packing. Looking at 200 version... Erm found Helium for £179.99 and Nitro for £199.99. Any one have one and a preference?
Welcome to the OM forum there Rob! Better not to have your email as your OM name though, or else you risk nasty silly folks spamming you I am afraid mate! We sadly get our share of trolls online here too I am sorry to declare!
I haven't used either of those I'm afraid, but looking at the specifications, if you are going to be sharing the tent, then I would go for the Nitro, due to more room and slightly more headroom. I would say a lot depends on where you are travelling (the gold dofe expedition is not too long so putting up with discomfort for that isn't too bad, but you want something comfortable for round the world)
For example, if your traveling in summer, and only ever plan to get in late at night and get up in early morning (spending very little time in the tent), then I would suggest the Helium due to the low weight. Whereas if your expecting to have to spend longer than that in your tent (i.e sitting in it during bad weather) then a tent with more headroom is defiantly worth it.
Also I would say look for a tent with a non-mesh inner (couldn't tell whether the vango's had mesh inner or not) unless your traveling round the world and in warm climates all the time (but for the lake district in easter, I would defiantly prefer a non-mesh inner).
It would certainly be worth your time to try and get to a shop which stocks these/lots of tents, to try them out for size, as often I find you can't really tell how big a tent will seem from the specifications.
Overall I would say try to try out some tents, but Vango do seem like a good make. Though the only tent of theirs I've used is a Spindrift, and I only used that on a few calm nights, but the reviews of them seem good.
I have a Nitro, not bad, a bit long and narrow which makes moving around awkward, wouldn't want to sit out bad weather in it. Seems well enough put together but the red inner tent is a bit..............
............ not sure what, unpleasant would probably describe it best, seems to make it seem more claustrophobic than it is somehow.
Not exactly light either at 2.2kg. If I was buying nowI'd go for the Jack Wolfskin Termite 11 or one of the Saunders Spacepaker range. Both similar (or lighter) weight than the Nitro, both more spacious and with more versatile door/porch arrangements.
One other thing, it may be worth checking out the lightwave clearance, as I got a t1 trek (just over 2kg and very spacious and very strong for just over £100
AH! Don't know what to buy. Best very lightwieght 3/4 season tent under £200 then. Prefer a lighter 3 season than a heavier 4 season.... There you go, the challenge is set!
Well as a lot is down to preference, I'll list a few that I would consider:
Terra Nova Superlight Voyager - 1.85kg - £199 (theoutdoorshop) Vaude Hogan Ultralight - 1.8kg - £185 (hike-lite) Big Agnes Seedhouse 2 - 2kg - £150 (hike-lite) Vaude Taurus Ultralight - 1.9kg - £195 (hike-lite) Lightwave t1 trek or ultra - Whatever is available in clearance usually about £100ish + the vango nitro and helium
Any of those should be reasonable for what you need. Though you will have to consider whether you want a mesh inner or solid, and whether you want inner pitch first or pitch as one.
Welcome to the OM forum there Rob! Better not to have your email as your OM name though, or else you risk nasty silly folks spamming you I am afraid mate! We sadly get our share of trolls online here too I am sorry to declare!
