Tents

What are your opinions on the Vango Zenith 200 tent? I am looking to buy a lightweight 2 person tent and saw the Vango range.

Have you ever see this Chinese Tent (light grey model) , it is either sold by Amazon, this is for me the exact copy of the great Big Agnes Fly creek.

mayake wrote: Have you ever see this Chinese Tent (light grey model) , it is either sold by Amazon, this is for me the exact copy of the great Big Agnes Fly creek.

Very good replica from the pics, however, you are taking a massive gamble if you buy this. (Opinion)
350$ USD for the real thing versus 90$ for this replica.
If you do buy it please post a review after use?
found a review...sortof
better review

Nicolaas wrote: What are your opinions on the Vango Zenith 200 tent? I am looking to buy a lightweight 2 person tent and saw the Vango range.

Seen a few used, never owned one myself. Great 3 season tent and even better if you and a buddy share the weight.

Hy Coeta. I have bought one from Amazon-Spain 105€. Is is very similar from the original of one of my friends. The chinese one is a little wider and larger, fabric is best for me because it is 20D (15D I guess the original) thus more waterproof. Therefore a little heavier. Only bug, I don't like the color (light grey) which too transparent and white for me. But the green or orange model don't have the same fabric, a little heavier. I have added diluted silicone to all the sewings.
I changed the strings with lighter and thiner ones and use my own set of titanium pegs.
And you know both are "made in China" and maybe in the same factory. Who knows. I find that has been a good choice for me.
I don't know weither the "fly creek" is sold out or not thru their Big Agnes site or elsewere.
Hoping it will help you.

backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/46644/

I am going to make a tent similar to this for my next project. Based on two people using 2 360 degree lightweight ll's, which are similar in design, on the escarpment recently, I have already decided to add snow or storm flaps.


I haven't decided on single or double wall yet... Any thoughts.. I do know the pros and cons of each...

Anything else in the design that might be better with a change? I must admit that I don't particularly like tents, necessary if there's no cave and weather dictates. I have the inner and outer door open unless there's a storm raging or it's really cold...

Any other thoughts on the tunnel design in general?

Thanks
Papa D

Cool, I can't wait to see this project Papa Dragon! Are you wanting to make your own to try and save weight, or to tweak the tent design to suit you? If you're not going to be using the tent except in dire need, I would go for the single wall design. If you're wanting to use the tent more often (not just in emergencies), I would go for the double wall design. I haven't had a lot of experience with this type of tent, other than seeing the 360 degree lightweight II pitched at an outdoor warehouse when my dad was thinking of buying it. I do remember that the headroom was pretty limited and the liveability not great, but if the tent is just as a back-up then this doesn't have to matter that much. I agree that you should start your own brand of hiking equipment - your stuff looks so professional

I use a tunnel tent in the Berg (Hilleberg Nalo 3). In my experience, 2 things to specifically take note of. Since you don't have a frame supporting the structure, make sure your anchor points are very secure as it will take all the tension in case of high wind. if they fail the tent will collapse. 2 years ago at Centenary hut we had incredibly high winds and my short tent pegs pulled out on the one side, so the aluminium poles had to support the structure. Fortunately they were very strong, but the large hoop at the front got bent into a 90 degree shape.

Thanks for your input Ruth and Riaan.

I want the tent to be a light 1 man tent, with room for kit etc, so not just for emergencies.
Design changes that I already had in mind, different to the link posted, and the 360 degree,
are a more sloping footbox, for better wind deflection, and definitely more guy points.

I am tending to lean towards double wall, but given that I like the door open if conditions permit,
do you think condensation would be a big issue if single wall? Single wall with sewn in
groundsheet would make pitching very simple.

Thanks for the input and any others
Cheers
Papa D

It would be interesting set up an FEA (finite element analysis) on the tent to see the effects of wind. I wonder how many manufacturers do that. I created a simple model and applied two loads. I'm no expert, and of course to set up an accurate model would take hours to get any meaningful results, but fun to mess around. Fluid dynamics is not my strength but I'm sure playing with the angles would give some interesting results, if they would be useful at all given the variables on a tent. FEA is a lot more complex than doing reasonably easy ones like this on a shell model and constraining all bottom edges as fixed. Just a thought: