I am thinking of buying a Terra Nova Eclipse 2+ tunnel tent. Has anyone used one or know any reviews on them?

I'm gonna duck down behind a rock when I say this, but I find Terra Nova tents a bit old - fashioned and expensive. OK the Quasar is good, but it's been overtaken by newer and better designs in my opinion. As far as tunnel tents go, the most tried, tested, and reliable is the TNF Westwind. I've got one and I can't kill the beast. I once went off on a high - level winter trip and cleverly forgot half the tent pegs. Along came a really nasty blizzard. Westwind groaned and flapped but coped easily.

The Westwind has been around for donkeys years because it's so reliable.

The Eclipse is @£360 and the Westwind is £267 at www.cheaptents.co.uk. So it's a hundred quid more for a tent with a lot less of a track record.

I've never used the Eclipse, but I've had a good look at one, and it looks pretty basic, to me...

I've got a Macpac Minaret - also a stomping good tent.

It's all about what takes your fancy though...

Ah... Just noticed you mean the Eclipse 2+ tent, and I've been blabbing on about the Eclipse.

That makes a nonsense of my post.

No Nobel Prize for me this year - Damn!

I got given a Terra Nova Eclipse 2+ with money I earned from exams, so I didn't get to choose it myself, but I have been pleased with how it has done so far. I have used it in Corsica in July, and it performed well in the heat there due to the enormous airy porch and the fact that the inner can be "half-zipped" as it were. Since then it has endured very wet, windy conditions in Derbyshire in November and October and coped with ease. Pitching it is straightforward but i cannot cope on its durability yet as I have only owned it for a few months.

Also, to Colin, I think that hilleberg, not TNF, make "the most tried, tested and reliable" tunnel tents.

Yes Richard, very nice tents, the Hillebergs.

Shame about the cost