With the awning securely in place, however, we were confident that our cooking equipment would be just fine… Our first outing in this tent proved to be something of a baptism of fire on the second night, we were presented with a severe weather warning (wind and rain) and the promise of truly testing conditions. The Capri 500XL is not vast, so we decided to add the awning for a little extra space – specifically in order to house our food-prep table, stove (when not in use), cool box and kitchenware. In principle, adding a bespoke extension onto the side or front of a tent is a great idea – it gives you more storage space in which to organise things which, in turn, ultimately adds to your comfort. There are also plenty of pockets all around, which come in handy for storing things like books, torches, teddy bears(!) and more besides. There’s plenty of space in the sleeping area itself, which comes with a removable toggled inner divider – perfect for partitioning the space for privacy. These lead to a single living area with the bedroom area at the far end. Such a delight! This is thanks, in part, to the excellent double-action pump supplied with the tent.Īccess is granted via two doors – one at the front (a covered entrance with bug-stopping mesh) and one at the side (which does not feature mesh, sadly). Gone are the frustrations of lengthy setup/pull-down times and having to wrangle multiple poles through flapping canvas sleeves in practice, each of the four inflatable tubes of the Capri 500XL took less than a minute to reach its suggested pressure. Those of you familiar with Vango’s AirBeam technology will appreciate that it makes a huge difference to the start and end of any camping trip. In many ways, it can be thought of as a no-fuss, practical shelter suitable for 5 people (as designated by ‘500’ in the name), with enough space for comfortable camping without compromise. The first thing to say is that convenience is one of this tent’s biggest selling points. Some were ideally level and sheltered others were on a slope by necessity and rather more exposed than we would have liked.īut at the end of the day, you have to make the best of what you’re presented with and trust in the equipment. Everything from baking-hot days and muggy evenings to afternoon downpours and thunder & lightning storms raging throughout the night. Weather-wise, this setup has had to contend with a lot. The picture above shows the awning in situ. This is a relatively spacious model in its most basic form, but we chose to add on the separately-available side awning with the following dimensions – Length: 155cm, Width: 345cm, Height: 212cm. As we draw to the end of the fair-weather camping season, it’s time to reflect on the tent which my family and I have used for each of this year’s week-long (and weekend) magazine feature trips – the Vango Capri 500XL AirBeam.
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