Buying The Best Tent

There are a few things you should look out for when you’re buying the best tent for your needs. Whether you’re camping in the back garden or heading out on an expedition, the range of tents on offer can be bewildering. In our quick and handy guide, we give you a few tips to help you narrow down your selection.

Tent Buying Basics

Lets start with a few handy hints that can instantly help you reduce the number of options when your buying a tent:

1. Buy a tent that is designed to hold at least one person  more than you think you need (unless you’re going to be carrying the tent, in which case you might want to reduce weight by sticking to a tent hat exactly matches the number of occupants)
2. Try to actually view the tent, fully setup, before buying. It’s useful to physically get in, out and around the tent to get a feel for the size etc. You can always find the best model, then go home and search for it online to get the best deal.
3. Pitch the tent in your garden prior to going on a big camping trip. Completing a first time setup in calm and controlled conditions is better than trying to pitch your tent for the first time in howling wind and rain out on a campsite.

Useful Features

Independently Pitched Inner

Being able to pitch the inner tent by itself can be very useful in hot and dry climates, where your main problems are flying insects rather than sheltering from wind and rain. The inner of many geodesic tents can be self-supporting for simple pitching, while the inner of some tunnel tents will require the use of guy lines. Many models have also been designed so that the inner and outer tent can be pitched together as one. This makes it much easier if you’re pitching your tent in a hurry.

Types of Tent

Ridge or A-frame Tent

This triangular shaped tent used to be the most common, with a horizontal pole across the top. It was often made of cotton-canvas, but modern materials have rendered this obsolete. The shape could be reasonably stable, but the entrance could be awkward and depending on the wind direction, the whole tent could behave a little like a sail. Probably ok for kids to play in around the garden, but not recommended for actual camping trips.

Dome Tent

One of the most common tent designs today. Super stable and offering good internal space for their weight, dome tents are a great option. Small models are easy to erect, and use only a few poles, and are usually very spacious. The only caveat is that very large dome tents can be just a tiny bit less stable than smaller versions.

Frame Tent

These tents can be very box like, but for car-camping they can work well, especially if you’re basing yourself in one location for the duration of the trip. They usually have good headroom and are often divided into multiple internal rooms.

Geodesic Tent

These are similar to the classic dome tent, but with cleverly crossed pole designs for improved stability. WHere larger dome tents can be a little wobbly, large geodesics remain solid and are also good in windy conditions. These models can cast a little more than some others.

Tunnel Tent

These large tent designs have flexible U shaped poles that don’t cross over like the geodesic, but are parallel, making the tent look a little like a mini aircraft hangar. Often very spacious inside, with large porches and huge doors, they usually also pack up very small and light.

Yurt

Famously used by nomads, this design of tent is becoming more popular as a semi-permanent camping option, with many campsites offering Yurts for hire. The wooden lattice frame is typically covered by canvas, and the design can allow for a wood-burning stove, which can mean cosy Winter camping trips are easy to achieve.

Maintenance

Look after your tent and it will last a long time. if it gets dirty then give it a clean with lukewarm water (but not soap as this can destroy the water repellent coating). It’s a good idea to check each pole and peg after each trip, and always ensure that the tent is completely dry before packing it away. Repair any tears with seam sealant.

Summary

We hope this tent buying guide has given you a useful starting point to buying the best tent for your needs, and we’d love it if you could share this page!

Why not take a look at some of the fantastic offers we have on our wide range of tents.

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Choosing the Best Base layer

Whatever your chosen outdoor activity, from walking or climbing to running or snowsports, choosing the best base layer for your activity can make a huge difference to your comfort and performance.

One key benefit of base­lay­ers are their ability to dry quickly, trans­porting mois­ture away from your skin. Depending on the material, they also often resist odours, and they can be softer on your skin than some other types of fabric or clothing.

This all-important layer that is often not changed for days on end and acts like a sec­ond skin is no place to skimp. Our guide will help you learn how to choose the best base­layer for your needs.

Base layer Mate­rial

The choice of base­layer fabrics really comes down to a couple of options: syn­thetic fabric or wool. Each of these options has it’s own advan­tages.

Wool Base layers

Wool has been used in clothing for cen­turies, and is well proven as a base­layer. Most good wool base­lay­ers use some mix of merino wool as the main fab­ric com­po­nent. It is some­times blended with small amounts of poly­ester, or other syn­thetic mate­ri­als to increase the prop­er­ties of the garment.

Merino Wool is also well known for its abil­ity to dry very quickly and resist odours. Some merino base lay­ers include acti­vated car­bon addi­tives to enhance the wool’s wicking and quick-drying prop­er­ties even further. An added bonus of acti­vated car­bon treat­ments is they tend to fight odours even more effectively than just merino wool alone.

Syn­thetic Base layers

Syn­thetic base­ layer mate­ri­als often use poly­ester as the primary component.

Although many manufacturers use their own special fabric technologies, the fab­rics themeselves are often actually very sim­i­lar across the different brands. Many polyester-based gar­ments blend other materials other syn­thet­ics into the cloth to add extra stretch. Some syn­thet­ic fabrics also include antimi­cro­bial treat­ments to help fight body odour.

When if comes to choosing between wool or synthetic, deci­sions are often made based on price point. Merino wool can be more expensive, however many peo­ple will still choose wool for its soft­ness and nat­ural feel.

Weight

Base­lay­ers are used in a wide range of weather con­di­tions and activities, from freezing ice climb­ing and snowsports to hot sum­mer runs. To accomodate all of these extremes, base layers can come in a wide variety of weights.

Light­weight Base layers

Many peo­ple select a light­weight base­layer as their first layer against the skin, no matter the tem­per­a­ture. Light­weight base­lay­ers help pull mois­ture away from the skin and are very ver­sa­til­e. Both syn­thetic and wool light­weight base ­lay­ers are good on their own for hot tem­per­a­tures, or under many other lay­ers in the colder conditions.

Mid Weight Base layers

A mid-weight base layer can be worn against the skin or over a light­weight base layer as extra insu­la­tion. Most mid-weight options are thick enough to pro­vide warmth on their own, espe­cially if used with a light weight shell on top. These lay­ers are a common choice in Sum­mer moun­taineer­ing clothing, around the campsite at night, or as part of a win­ter lay­er­ing system.

Heavy Weight Base layers

Heavy base­layer clothing is usu­ally just for win­ter use. Although they can be useful at other times of year as stand-alone tops, they gen­er­ally give too much insu­la­tion for warm weather activ­i­ty. Wear­ing heavy weight base­lay­ers close to the skin pro­vides an effective wick­ing layer that dries quickly and also insu­lates against the cold.

Com­pres­sion Base layers

Some base lay­ers are designed to be tight fitting. These lay­ers are called com­pres­sion lay­ers, and they work by reduc­ing vibra­tion and lat­eral move­ment in work­ing mus­cles, which research has shown can help reduce fatigue. Com­pres­sion gar­ments are pop­u­lar in running and oth­er sports, where you can see a ben­e­fit from this type of mus­cle sta­bi­lisa­tion.

Base layer Tops

From technical t-shirts worn all year-round, to heavy Winter options, base ­lay­ers are pop­u­lar tops for all sorts of activ­i­ties. They can be worn in a broad range of con­di­tions and most are designed to also look fashionable. Fea­tures to con­sider are long zip­s or but­tons under the col­lar that can be opened to release heat dur­ing aer­o­bic exer­tion, thumb loops on long sleeve mod­els and hoods, which can sig­nif­i­cantly add to the warmth and versatility of the layer.

Base layer Bot­toms

Sometimes also known as long johns, mod­ern base layer bot­toms are a fantastic piece of kit for Win­ter activities. A heavy weight bot­tom worn underneath a shell is often enough insu­la­tion for down­hill ski­ing or snowboarding, even on mod­er­ately cold days.

When choos­ing bot­toms, also take into account the weight of your other lay­ers. Will you only wear a shell over the bot­toms or do you wear insu­lated shell trousers? Insu­lated trousers need much less addi­tional warmth and a light­weight base layer will probably be better for all but the very cold­est of days.

Anti-mi­cro­bial Base layer Prop­er­ties

Most base­ lay­ers deal with body odour to some extent. Most com­monly, some type of antimi­cro­bial treat­ment or addi­tive slows the growth of the bacteria that causes body odour smells. While most manufacturers treat their base ­lay­ers in some way, some work better than others. It can be worth inves­ti­gat­ing the way the treat­ment is applied and how long it’s guar­an­teed to work. Some older treat­ments were known to wash out of gar­ments over time., while mod­ern tex­tiles are tested for antimi­cro­bial prop­er­ties through around 50 washes.

Sun Protection with SPF and UPF

If you’ve ever used sun­screen you’ll know about SPF, how­ever UPF is a slightly less seen rat­ing that’s also used for gar­ments. It stands for Ultra­vi­o­let Pro­tec­tion Fac­tor and many base ­lay­ers include an addi­tive to increase resis­tance to ultra­vi­o­let radi­a­tion. They will fre­quently list the SPF rat­ing of base ­layer shirts as part of the tech­ni­cal infor­ma­tion for the prod­uct.

As a comparison, a thin white cot­ton t-shirt will have a UPF rating of about 4, while a dark blue cot­ton t-shirt could be as high as 18. Look­ing for a UPF or SPF rat­ing on out­door cloth­ing guar­an­tees a measured level of protection.

Base layer Seams and Stitching

Finally, some tight fit­ting base ­lay­ers, especially com­pres­sion lay­ers, have specially stitched seams dur­ing their pro­duc­tion process, that help to elim­i­nate chafing.

Summary

We hope you found this a helpful guide to choosing the best base layer for you. Why not take a look at our wide range of base layers for some fantastic deals and special offers.

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Best Sleeping Bag Deals of 2016

Camping is becoming ever more popular in the UK, so to help you sleep well outdoors we thought we would share some of the best sleeping bag deals of 2016. With so many beautiful locations to explore in the UK, spending our holidays in the great British outdoors is a fantastic way to escape and relax, and staying warm and comfortable for a good night’s sleep is incredibly important.

Choosing a sleeping Bag

When you’re chooisign a sleeping bag, there a few important things to consider:

• Weight: will you be carrying the bag in a backpack, or are you driving to the campsite and using it as a “base”
• Fabric: Are yo ulikely to use the bag in damp or wet conditions, and if so is the fabric water/moisture replant?
• Fill: Down or synthetic? Down can become very heavy and loose its warmth if it gets wet, although there are some modern techniques that can make water resistant down. Synthetic can do better in damp conditions but can also be a littel heavier than down
• Shape: Check the bag is large enough if you’re tall, but also not too big to efficiently keep you warm
• Left or right zip: if you’re camping with a loved one, you may want to zip two bags together, and this is often possible with a left and right zip combo

Lets take a look at some of the offers available right now.

 

Coleman Big Basin Sleeping Bag

RRP: £59.99 current offer price £45.70

If you like plenty of room, or if you’re tall and need a larger sleeping bag than some of the standard designs available, then the Coleman Big Basin Sleeping Bag could be the perfect choice. Designed to help you stay comfortable even when it’s cold, the roomier design helps keep taller campers up to 6 ft. 6 in. warm from top to bottom.

Key Features

• Maximum size for taller campers
• Ideal for camping, caravanning or at home
• Coletherm insulation for extra comfort
• Size: 234 x 99cm
• Comfort levels: -13 to +7 degrees Centigrade

 

Highlander Echo 350 Sleeping Bag

RRP: £52.99 current offer price £31.79

The Highlander Echo 250 sleeping bag is designed to keep you snug and warm in colder temperatures. The sleeping bag is filled with 250g/m synthetic Hollow fibre, which is a feather shaped fill  that gives the bag extra loft without adding weight. It features include a 3D neck baffle, cowl hood and foot box offering extra protection and comfort to keep you warm from head to toes, and is ideal for those camping in winter or in cooler temperatures.

Key Features:

• Warm and very comfortable
• Soft inner fabrics
• 2 way anti snag zip + full length baffle
• Thermal hood with draw cord
• Shoulder baffle with draw cord
• 3D neck inner baffle
• Foot box
• Inner security pocket
• Hanging loops
• Shell Material Cire W/R Coated polyester Ripstop 260T
• Lining Soft Polyester 240T Microfibre
• Filling 250GSM (2 x 125GSM) QXF3D Polyester Spiral Hollowfibe
• Comfort Temperature 4 C
• Upper Limit 13 C
• Lower Limit (-) 2 C
• Extreme Temperature (-) 18 C
• 3 Season

Additional Information:

Rip-stop polyester outer
Soft polyester lining
The 3D neck baffle
Cowl hood design
Ergonomic box foot design
QXF3D spiral hollow fibre filling

 

Mountain Equipment Xero 550 Sleeping Bag

RRP: £400.00 current offer price £370.00

Mountain Equipment’s newly developed “Alpine Fit” mixes ground level seams and re-profiled down distribution to create the best thermal efficiency and minimise weight and bulk.

The high quality goose down is used alongside their lightest fabrics and EXL® technology for uncompromising performance and ensures incredibly high warmth-to-weight ratio. It’s one of the lightest bags of it’s type in the world, and the Xero range remains the perfect choice for anyone who needs to travel light and fast in difficult or remote environments.

Key Features

• A Good Nights Sleep Rating down to -11C
• EXL – Expedition Fit with EXL top lining to improve loft, thermal efficiency and comfort.
• Trapezium 4 – 4 baffle trapezoid foot piece with Bull-Eye technology for maximum down control and warmth.
• Ground Level Seams – Maximises insulation at the sides of the bag.
• Zip length with anti-snag baffle.

Summary

So there you have it, just a few of the great sleeping bag deals available right now. Whether you’re preparing for a camping trip this Summer, planning a bigger expedition, or looking ahead to some time under the stars this Winter, there’s plenty of great sleeping bag offers to suit all budgets and requirements. We’ll keep this page updated, so keep checking back to see more of the best sleeping bags of 2016.

Take a look at our full range of sleeping bags here