Medium sized tents with metal poles

[Tim Hall]

I'm looking for a medium sized tent. Something my Young Lady can stand up in, so 155cm head room. I'd really like something with metal poles- I've seen fibre glass poles bend horrendously in not-very-strong wind, especially on taller tents.  It seems to be really difficult to search with "metal pole" as a qualifier, with Google just sending me any old tent.

The sort of size I've got in mind is like the Vango Tiree 350. https://www.vango.co.uk/tiree-350 but that has fibre glass poles. Actually if push comes to shove, that sort of height is, without any reasoning or SCIENCE at all, is about as tall as I would go with fibre glass poles.

So, what do people suggest? Should I not worry about fibre glass poles breaking and get on with it?

It'll be lugged around by car, so weight isn't really an issue.

[Kim]

Seems to me that the bending in strong wind is what stops them breaking.  The BHPC timing tent^[1] has been subjected to some horrendous wind, to the point where the whole thing skews sideways^[2] and tries to close the lid on the laptop, and it just bounces back.

The only tent poles I've had break were both lightweight aluminimum ones, and one of those appeared to have a manufacturing defect.  I reckon anything of car-camping weight is likely to be sturdy enough to survive any reasonable Big Tent Camping conditions.  Which isn't to say that having your tent deform while you're trying to sleep in it is much fun.


_{[1] Ridiculous pop-up thing that's pretty much ideal for keeping Weather off electronics and Important Bits Of Paper: https://cinchpopuptents.com/shop/product/hub/
[2] Usually exacerbated by half-arsed deployment of guy-ropes, due to tarmac, fences, ditches and similar.}

[Polar Bear]

I think Coleman may do something but have you considered airbeams?  They are hilarious in high winds watching them slump and lay down then just pop up again.

Sorry if I'm going off course.

[drossall]

Seems to me that the bending in strong wind is what stops them breaking.

I was going to say that. Generally, it's overly rigid things that break. Apparently that's why skyscrapers tend to sway in winds, and can be unnerving if you're at the top. If they didn't sway, the top, and you with it, would end up at the bottom pretty quickly.

On the first Scout camp that I attended as a leader, it was metal poles that broke. So nothing's immune. I had to lash them together with a handy piece of rope. Remarkably, that lasted through the weekend.

[bikepacker]

Because of my PMR I find it almost impossible to use a low tent, and last year for York Rally I wanted a higher tent. So I got a Eurohike Sendero 4, it was relatively cheap for the size of tent but it did have glass fibre poles. Even so the tent and poles stood up to the high winds we had across the racecourse.

If or when I am able to return to cycle camping I shall go back to using a tepee. I have had a couple in the past and although not a huge fan of them one would now be the only lightweight tent that would fit my requirements.

[Regulator]

Vango do a range of family tents that you can stand up in.  We've got an old version of the Icarus which we use for car camping.  It's got fibreglass poles - the only time we've broken one is because Jon stood on it.

They now tend to come with airbeams in (although there are still poled ones available).  We've seen a number at sites and people seem to like them - but Jon's sister had an airbeam tent (not a Vango) that seemed to always leak.

GoOutdoors tend to do them at a good discount.

[Kim]

Air appears to work, and is presumably reasonably robust in the face of strong wind, but it makes for a very bulky and heavy package.  The key advantage over poles is that a single person can pitch the tent.

[Goldcrank]

heavy, a hassle to put away as you have to make sure it is 100% and bulky...

I am very fond of a bell tent for family camping. They are just nice. - and amazing in a storm, where others are being ripped out of the ground and flung across the campsite, the bell tent stands its ground.

[Polar Bear]

The Vango Harris 350 air is something that I considered before deciding on something slightly larger.  I believe they do a poled (fibreglass, naturally) version too.

[fimm]

This any good: https://alpkit.com/products/axiom-4?variant=40207971614825 ?
Aluminium poles. Not quite as high inside as the Vango.

[Little Jim]

it looks like the Vango technical tents still have metal poles.  We had an Equinox 600 with aluminium poles for many years and that was a great tent.  It is difficult to tell from their website but the photos look like they still have metal poles.