Vaude and Robens Tents

Anyone have one from either of these manufacturers? What are your thoughts?

We had a two-man Robens tent (Lemon Grey) for years. It was great. We’ve not used it much since the kids came along but I bunged it up in the garden over the summer and it was fine. It did look like the seasm could do with re-proofing but it is over ten years old.

I get the impression that due to Robens being relatively unknown in the UK, they’re very good value – a lot of tent for the money.

We’ve had a Robens tent for about 8 years, it did require the seams sealing initially but after that was done it’s been great.

I have checked them out. They are pretty light, but seem rather expensive in comparison to other tents.

I compared a cheapo £20 tent with the Vaude. It was the same size packed but bigger inside (full rectangle footprint inner). No vestibule though.

Both had separate fly and i couldn’t feel any significant difference in weight.

If you want a serious ligthweight tent, i’m sure you will get something just as good as the Vaude, but for about half the price.

You could spend £300-£400 if you want something weighing in under a kilo, but I just can’t imagine these superlightweights withstanding rough weather. IMHO, this is a huge premium to pay for shedding a kilo or so of packed weight.

The money you save you could spend on a couple of nights in a hotel when the weather is rough.

Vaude make some of the best small back packing tents i have used. Incredible light and very good in a storm but it did suffer after many weeks of being pitched in the sun. Not really what it was designed for.

It’s the family size ones I’m interested in. We have a Terra Nova tent for backpacking (not that that happens anymore) and a huge Wild Country family tent, that is too large for standard pitches on some campsites and is massive when packed. We’re looking at a tent suitable for family hols in Europe that don’t take up loads of space so the trailer can be left at home.

Had a few tents, had a Robens triple dreamer for a while, nice tent but vastly overpriced..

Had a Vaude Space2. Great tent, well made, not too heavy. Died when the kids came along 🙁 and played with it in the garden. I liked the Robens too, but neither are cheap options. Will you be carrying them, cycle touring or car? I’d probably spend less if the latter.

Have a Vaude Taurus ultralite which has been fantastic

From what you have said we’re looking for the same thing. High quality fully stable geodesic family tent. Moon on a stick I think. However I’ve been waiting and waiting for some details on the new Alpkit tents ‘cos they look like they may fit the bill 🙂

I wouldn’t bother with an expensive brand tent for family camping.

If you want a small packed size, go for the smallest family tent which will give you adequate space.

The bigger the tent the longer ot takes to pitch. I fell foul of this and our group all stopped going because of we all got fed up with the huge amount of faffing and the volume of gear we found we were carting there and back.

So, smallest sized dome/tunnel with porch you can get away with. Coleman, Vango, Outwell.

This sort of thing. Coleman 5 berth tunnel I like the all in one outer and groundsheet – less faffing – a bit expensive though. I’m sure you could find something like this for a lot less money.

We’ve had a few tents and are seasoned campers. We’re on our second Wild Country and the Hyperspace is a fantastic tent. I prefer to spend the money on something with quality that I have faith will stand-up to adverse weather as it invariably pi**es down at some point. We’re just thinking of something that we wouldn’t need to use the trailer and get all the gear in the car for the hols to be able to drive quicker and cost less for ferries etc.

we used a vaude taurus 2 tent for a 4 month cycling tour of nz

by the end it was only just holding together. The alloy poles had suffered spiral cracking at the ends from being put up and down everyday. – i had 4 or 5 repair sleaves on and some duct tape in other places where there was cracking – all pretty much happened in the last couple weeks of use ! – vaude offered to replace them but i decided not to bother , despite using a foot print i had some holes in the floor and some of the stitching was coming away – decided if i was to rely on it again would be foolish and a new one would be a wise investment !

on the whole it was a good tent for the money – iirc it was 90 quid.

Take a look at vango, some good tents there. What sort of things are you looking for from the tent? Size? Tunnel/dome? etc etc. I work in an outdoor/camping shop so do fire me some questions if you need to.

Ryan.

We had a Wild Country Homestead, now have a Halo. I’d prefer geodesic because of the stability. I’d also like alu poles and a small packed size as this is the compromise for the Halo, which is huge but a great tent for spending two weeks in. When we camp in the UK we take the trailer generally but for going to the continent I’d rather not tow. So the Vaude Badawi looks like it could fit the bill, I’ve also looked the Robens Dreamer range which are tunnel construction.

I use a primus bifrost 4, not cheap but I like it. Packs reasonably small but plenty of space for 4 and you can stand up in it.

I’ve has a Robens Double Dreamer for rhis sort of role. I would say ot was Ok but not great. We had a few bits of stitching to sort and the ground sheet wasn’t neda water proof. But we still did alot of successful camping in it. Eventually it died on the Isle of White, but in a very strong wind. Ihace seen the canvas version of the double dreamer. Its heavy and expensive but brilliantly put togther with really strong looking poles

We nearly bought a family geodesic as camp on the Isles of Scilly every summer where there is no plan B if it all goes wrong. The cheapest we could find was this.

vango sentinel

But its alot of money and we thought lacked the flexibility and bell options we wanted. So now we have this

our current tent

Its a Vango equinox 450. A tunnel that is either a giant back packing tent or tiny family tent depending on your perspective. The fly material seems a league ahead of the Robens Double Dreamer. It cost us £250 and still seem to be available for this price. We’ve used it for 2 extended periods as a family of 4 (including flying with it to Switzerland). The space between the inners is big enough to cook and live if its wet.

But its not quite a whole hearted recomendation. It comes with poles which looked to me a bit flimsy, a good size for a small tent say 9mm, but a little thin looking to me. So i made up a new set of poles from the twisted remains of the Doble Dreamers poles. It now feels solid as a rock and we have a full spare set of poles. We only slept in it once with the standard poles. It tried rigging a tarp to to extend the cooking area. A light puff of wind bent a pole. We were probably unlucky/stupid but you can see why I mention it

here is the double dreamer on St Agnes

here is the Equinox in the same spot a year later

inside the equinox

ampthill – that looks like a great spot.
A few question re your vango
1. can the inner be completely removed from the flysheet?
2. does it have a full or part mesh door?
3. do the poles have ferrules on the tips which fit into reinforced holes on tape? I have a Robens Dreamer (or possibly a small Dreamer) and the pole ends are hollow – a ferrule thing is attached to a split ring on tapes attached to the flysheet

The Vaude Hogan is the best tent in the world ever. End of thread

1. can the inner be completely removed from the flysheet?

yes both parts can be removed independently, its just hocks and bunjee

2. does it have a full or part mesh door?

Just the top halves of the door are mesh in the inner. The fly has full mesh doors.

3. Yes the poles are male into a metal ring (female) in a tape attached to the tent. My homemade poles are held in place by an upside down tent peg that goes up through the metal ring and into the hollow pole. So not like the Robens system

When the poles on my 3 year old Vaude bent beyond repair in a rather nasty storm on the side on a scotish mountain. Vaude replaced them free of charge no questions aked.

I lived in my Vaude tent for a solid year taking it up and down nearly every night (probably around 300 ups and downs).

It still works and I reckon i’ve stayed in it for another subsequent sixty nights since then.

I have re waterproofed it once and the ground sheet is looking a little thin, but in the last month or so I’ve started using a groundsheet protector and it was fine last month at cape wrath.

I think they are an excellent brand and their customer service is good.