Adventure Bike Rider Forum

I am coming over to the UK in mid June this summer (if the Covid-19 allows travel) before heading over to Europe and the bloke who is lending me his 2006 Honda ST1300 PanEuropean also has an old Sierra Designs Firestorm 2 man tent I can use, but it is at least 15 yrs old. We all know how a tent's waterproofing degrades over time and I don't want to get on the road and find out it leaks like a sieve and the material is badly degraded. It isn't the most compact as it has 5 aluminium poles. I would also need a tarp and at least another large pole to erect the tarp, taking up more space He hasn't used it in ages, so am thinking on getting a new tent to use for my 55 days of riding around .
I am wanting something with a decent sized porch so I can take shelter from the rain so I will be able to sit in my chair and cook meals and not need to pack/erect a tarp to do so





I was looking at the Vango Omega 350 as it seems to check all the boxes, reasonable price, but being a Canuck, I know nothing of the Vango brand, nor this tent in particular

Can anyone enlighten me about this particular tent and/or the Vango brand?

Thanks, Dusty .... 1 of the Colonials

Loads of room for the chair & table you've pictured - I routinely sit in my chair in the porch area of the 350 and watch the world pass by when the weather does what it does best in Britain, rain

I use my 350 Omega if I'm staying in one place for a couple of days and it's excellent as a sort of base camp tent. I use a smaller Coleman Phad X3 or a Vaude Hogan 2 when only pitching for a night at a time when on the road. I use either of these becasue they are easier and thus quicker to put up and take down.

Re your mans offer of his "old" tent - I'd be looking to provide my own.

Steve T

Hi, and welcome, I have no first hand experience of this particular model of Vango tent ,but I would say Vango products are well made , I have had a couple of there tents & never had any problems generally good tents at a reasonable price.
Hope you have a safe & happy trip.

Ian.

Steve T wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:04 pm
I use my 350 Omega if I'm staying in one place for a couple of days and it's excellent as a sort of base camp tent. I use a smaller Coleman Phad X3 or a Vaude Hogan 2 when only pitching for a night at a time when on the road. I use either of these becasue they are easier and thus quicker to put up and take down.

Re your mans offer of his "old" tent - I'd be looking to provide my own.

Steve T

Thanks Steve!

Yes, I should have stated that my current plan is a mix of pitch and go, as well as a base camp scenario when in an area that warrants it.

My sentiments exactly about the old tent

Thanks for the input!

I had the Vango Omega 250 for a while.
Great tent and plenty big enough if on a trip the main tent area was ample roomy enough for me and most of my my gear, the porch area was used to keep the rest and was just tall enough for me to sit in on my camp chair and cook a meal whilst it was chucking it down outside.

The only issue i had was it was a bit much to be putting it up and taking it down every day, Idid try and leave the inner tent insitu connected to the outer tent this on the whole worked and saved some time.

Ideal tent if setting a basecamp for a night or two

We started out with a vango 250 banshee but found it a bit tight with all the bike gear so bought a 350 which has a separate internal porch. Great for 2 of us with space between the airbeds and the porch is great for storing luggage and keeping wet riding gear away from the sleeping bags etc.
Quick enough to put up for 1 night (leave inner and outer together and just pull the poles out) although we now tend to use it more as a base and move on every 3 days or so.

also look at these,



dave.

Vango Omega 350

I have had mine for a couple of years and find it a excellent tent plenty of room and has kept me dry more than once

Easy to pitch and a small pack size for all the room it has

I've had my Vango omega 350 since 2014, and still use it.
Excellent tent, when touring 2 up in France and on my own. Loads of room and waterproof.

I have had an Omega 350 and currently own an Omega 250 and 450 (they don't make the 450 anymore). Vango Omegas are very good tents. I use the 250 for winter camping and the 450 in the summer. The Galaxy 350 may suit you better as it opens at the end and has a bigger porch area. Here are some reviews https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Va ... y-300/3921.

All of these tents are three pole tunnel tents and you should get the appropriate footprint to go with the tent you choose. This makes packing up much easier as it keeps mud off the tent and protects the base.

Erection of tunnel tents generally is easiest as follows:
1. Lightly peg out footprint with rear end facing any wind if possible.
2. Peg out the rear end of the tent (typically three or four pegging points) using footprint pegs where possible.
3. Insert the tent poles.
4. Go to the front of the tent and pull the tent up into position and peg out the front guy lines.
5. Go round adjusting the position of the base of the poles so that the sides are not loose and peg out the rear guy lines.
6. Finally go round pegging in the rest of the points using footprint pegs were possible and peg out remaining guy lines.

This is the main problem with tunnel tents, whilst they are typically the roomiest tents, they do take a while to erect.

An alternative company you may wish to look at is Khyam, in particular their Biker and Biker Plus tents.
They can be found here https://www.khyam.co.uk/tents-c174/pole ... erect-c178,
Here are some YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... hyam+biker.

Happy researching
Cheers
Mark