Vango Capri 400XL
We've had a few different tents and it's fair to say that none have been just right for us. The Gelert Seattle 4 was a better size for the 2 of us, compared to others and it was easy to pitch, it was just a bit too small inside, with the sloping front reducing the usable space in the main living area.
Having not done as much camping the last couple of years, we were keen to get back to it and reintroduce some long weekend trips, rather than just doing the 1 full week. Therefore, we decided to sell our 2 existing tents and invest in a new longer term 1 and with the inflatable/air tents becoming more available, we thought now was an appropriate time to look at them.
We went looking at a variety of makes, but we seemed to find that all the cheaper, lesser known brands didn't have the fly mesh on the doors. To most this may not be that important if you are going to save £100, however from experience I knew this was something I personally didn't want to compromise on.
Taking the fly mesh into account and the size we wanted, we'd pretty much decided the Vango Capri 400XL was the way to go (the XL part doubled the living space in comparison to the standard 400).
We'd already looked at several places, but my wife had mentioned outdoorworlddirect.co.uk, however again with such an investment, I would rather go see them. That's when she told me they have a warehouse with showroom, so we went to look. Sitting down chatting with David confirmed that not only that particular model was the one for us, but by sticking with a well-known brand in Vango, you were also getting a standard 2-year warranty, which David gave us a leaflet and told us to register online and it would be increased to 3, plus you’re getting the reliable customer service if the tent did get damaged. We were happy we'd done sufficient research and that was the one, so having it in stock, we bought it there and then.
Knowing we were towards the end of us being able to get a camping trip in, we were not only keen to try it out, but also check it over before it was packed away until next year, so we quickly looked for a site and found Wolds View Touring Park (review and photos here).
It was raining when we arrived on site, but had eased off, so not ideal, but not as bad as we'd experienced in the past. First, we laid the Vango groundsheet designed for our tent that we'd got in the deal, straight forward, this helps keep the underside of the tent clean, reducing the chance of mud/water being packed with it. Then spread the tent on the ground, pegging out the corners of the floor, but not too tight. Now came the fun part, each beam (there are 4) has a valve on it, the provided pump (shown below) connects with like a twist lock and then one end goes into the valve on the beam and again twists and locks. It takes quite a few pumps to get the beam inflated, starting out we did each one enough to get it up and pegged, before then returning to each to put a little more in and as advised by David from outdoorworlddirect.co.uk, we stayed within the green section on the pressure gauge to ensure we didn't over inflate.
All pitched and pegged it was relatively easy and 1 reason we liked this tent was the location of the main door being at the front, which was under the tents built in canopy, sheltering us from the rain that had now intensified whilst we unloaded the rest of our stuff into the tent.
We've had a few different tents and it's fair to say that none have been just right for us. The Gelert Seattle 4 was a better size for the 2 of us, compared to others and it was easy to pitch, it was just a bit too small inside, with the sloping front reducing the usable space in the main living area.
Having not done as much camping the last couple of years, we were keen to get back to it and reintroduce some long weekend trips, rather than just doing the 1 full week. Therefore, we decided to sell our 2 existing tents and invest in a new longer term 1 and with the inflatable/air tents becoming more available, we thought now was an appropriate time to look at them.
We went looking at a variety of makes, but we seemed to find that all the cheaper, lesser known brands didn't have the fly mesh on the doors. To most this may not be that important if you are going to save £100, however from experience I knew this was something I personally didn't want to compromise on.
Taking the fly mesh into account and the size we wanted, we'd pretty much decided the Vango Capri 400XL was the way to go (the XL part doubled the living space in comparison to the standard 400).
We'd already looked at several places, but my wife had mentioned outdoorworlddirect.co.uk, however again with such an investment, I would rather go see them. That's when she told me they have a warehouse with showroom, so we went to look. Sitting down chatting with David confirmed that not only that particular model was the one for us, but by sticking with a well-known brand in Vango, you were also getting a standard 2-year warranty, which David gave us a leaflet and told us to register online and it would be increased to 3, plus you’re getting the reliable customer service if the tent did get damaged. We were happy we'd done sufficient research and that was the one, so having it in stock, we bought it there and then.
Knowing we were towards the end of us being able to get a camping trip in, we were not only keen to try it out, but also check it over before it was packed away until next year, so we quickly looked for a site and found Wolds View Touring Park (review and photos here).
It was raining when we arrived on site, but had eased off, so not ideal, but not as bad as we'd experienced in the past. First, we laid the Vango groundsheet designed for our tent that we'd got in the deal, straight forward, this helps keep the underside of the tent clean, reducing the chance of mud/water being packed with it. Then spread the tent on the ground, pegging out the corners of the floor, but not too tight. Now came the fun part, each beam (there are 4) has a valve on it, the provided pump (shown below) connects with like a twist lock and then one end goes into the valve on the beam and again twists and locks. It takes quite a few pumps to get the beam inflated, starting out we did each one enough to get it up and pegged, before then returning to each to put a little more in and as advised by David from outdoorworlddirect.co.uk, we stayed within the green section on the pressure gauge to ensure we didn't over inflate.
All pitched and pegged it was relatively easy and 1 reason we liked this tent was the location of the main door being at the front, which was under the tents built in canopy, sheltering us from the rain that had now intensified whilst we unloaded the rest of our stuff into the tent.
Whilst pitting the tent up, we'd been checking everything was ok and as should be, but unfortunately 1 pole clip (front porch/canopy is the only part using poles) was missing (photos below). However, this was the exact reason why we'd wanted to pitch and check it, so we contacted outdoorworlddirect.co.uk and they responded very quickly, providing details/options on getting it sorted.
We had been given the option for new, but as we'd checked the rest of the tent and were happy with it and in no rush to use it, we saw no reason to replace it for new and agreed returning to Vango for repair was fine. We could either have it collected or drop it off ourselves and as my wife was passing them a week later, she decided she'd drop it off. The tent was repaired and returned about a week later.