Advantages: Breathable fabric keeps cool in the heat and warm when it is cooler Disadvantages: It is quite weighty and quite expensive
years to come and we also wanted a tent that we could stand up in easily and again the Bear Lake delivers this as it is 210 cm high in the centre. For these reasons, despite the premium cost price we decided that the Classic range, and the Bear Lake were most appropriate for us, and at £500 we felt this was reasonable value for money especially if it gives us both long holidays in Europe, UK and Ireland, and short breaks in the UK for the next ten years or so.
We actually looked at its big brother, the Bear Lake 6, which was only £100 more expensive at the time but rejected this on the grounds that there were only two of us, and we were unlikely to share our sleeping space with another couple! However the beauty of the Bear Lakes is that they have quite an extensive living and storage area so it would be possible to take a smaller tent ...
Advantages: Lots of space for everyone. Disadvantages: No longer made.
The Khyam Michigan 12 was only made in 2007 so can be hard to come by now. But if you are after a large, well set out tent, and you find one of these then grab it whilst you can.
The tent is an outer pitch first, or all in one. Personally we leave the inners in place which reduces the pitching time.
The tent itself is large and can be difficult and heavy to put up. Saying that I am under 5ft and have limited mobility so if me and hubby can put it up between us then I'm sure others could easily. We have reduced the pitching time to around 30 - 45 minutes now, which is not bad considering. One good thing though, is that although the tent is large it still fits on most pitches so no extra charges.
The tent has 3 inners. All or some can be removed if wanted. The largest is 6 berth. This is used by our 4 children and is just big enough ...
Advantages: Size, waterproof - quick to erect for size - smaller to carry/load compaired to others. Disadvantages: Pole ropes dodgy(?), tricky to shut zip without adjusting pegs, need to tether v. well.
This is our second Khyam tent as we loved the quick-erect system.
Generally we are pleased with it due to its size (family of four) - if the weather is rainy there is plenty of room. We used it last summer when the floods happened and it was also quite windy. It witheld the rain excellently - it is highly rainproof - another reason why we bought it.
On the negative side we have had the inner cables (ropes) go twice on the main poles. You can fix these fairly easily and Khyam replaced the ropes with no hassle and no expense but I query if there is a weakness here. It can also be quite tricky to set up perfectly to ensure the zip closes on the front door again due to its size - this gets easier with practise.
The only other comment is that when we used it in some quite high winds (floods again!) you need to tether it very well ...
Product Information for "Easy Camp Napoli 500 Tunnel Tent" »
Product details
Type
Camping Tent
Genre
Tunnel Tents
Sleeping Capacity
5 Person
Manufacturer
Easy Camp
Manufacturer's product description
New in 2005, a tunnel-dome with a difference! The Napoli 500 (an annual Neapolitan pub crawl) has an all-in-one inner tent with a sewn in groundsheet not only in the bedroom area but also in the living area. This gives total protection against the elements blowing in. This tent also features a large 4/5 berth inner (with dividing curtain) within the dome of the tent but also a removable single-berth inner which can be hung at the opposite end of the tent. The flysheet is seam sealed, 185T PU coated Polyester with a Hydrostatic Head of 2000mm. The inners are breathable Polyester and the groundsheets polyethylene. The poles are 12.7mm fibreglass.
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