Higear's a bit of a rubbish make for a tent isn't it?

[AppleAndMelon]

Tent hunting - (trying to resist the new inflatables) - is higear cheap and cheerful?

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Not had a tent sorry but dh had higear walking boots which fell apart within a couple of wears and were never waterproof. Wouldn't buy higear again for anything I wanted to last (and keep me dry).

[AppleAndMelon]

Thanks pourquoi.

[Ineedmorepatience]

TBF my Dd1 and her family have a Hi gear Kalahari 8 which they bought second hand.

She, her partner and their 3 children have had some great short camps in it and I borrowed it once too and it was great.

We had 9 of us in it one night in the rain and no leaks.

I have actually had some good experiences with Hi gear equipment, so long as you remember it is cheap and cheerful and have expectations to match then I dont think you can go wrong!!

Good luck

[MsRyanGosling]

I always see lots of Hi Gears when camping and some of them look beaut. Never head anyone say anything bad about them. I have a Vango at present but could easily be swayed into a Hi Gear Nimbus 8

[ViviPru]

It's not really a standalone brand in itself, it's just Go Outdoors' own brand. They've tried to improve the quality to compete with the likes of Vango and even Outwell in recent years; a camping twitter buddy of mine who is a staunch Outwell fan is enraged by what he considers to be Hi Gear producing direct copies of Outwell tents.

IMO they offer good value and decent, practical designs. The quality isn't as high as the big brands but then the price is fair and reflects that. We had a Hi Gear Gobi 4 which saw us right for a good 4 years, I'll be camping well into my dotage if our new fancy-arse Outwell provides such a good cost-per-camp ratio!

[PoppetPants]

We borrowed my friends Hi Gear tent and had a great weekend in it, it threw it down and no sign of a leak. Allowed husband to persuade me that we should get a vango rather than a high gear and we've had to buy a replacement pole as it split after three trips out. Rubbish.

[Pixel]

They do seem very popular, I've seen lots of them in sites in the last couple of years.

[TheGonnagle]

Can't go wrong with an Outwell.

[youbethemummylion]

The door on our hi gear tent wouldn't zip up I googled and seems like all this particular tent had doors that wouldn't zip up. We have now replaced with a Vango and the quality is far far better. Got our Vango from Argos and the price was not that different to the Hi Gears.

[darkness]

got a vango at same time my friends got hi gear - they're still going strong - we've waterproofed - repaired and are now looking in the sales for something else - so entirely different than mummylion

[youbethemummylion]

I've been trying to remember what our hi gear was called I think it was a Corado 8 it was more like a marquee than a tent obviously other Hi Gears probably don't have the zip issue.

[exexpat]

For the price, they are not bad. I have a hi-gear 5-man one I use for festivals, and it does the job: relatively lightweight for the size, sensible design, easy to put up, has withstood heavy rain and winds and so on. But I only use it for a few weekends a year, and if it lasts five years or so I will feel I have had my money's worth (it only cost about £125). If you want something for heavy-duty fortnight-long family camping holidays it might not be up to scratch.

[AppleAndMelon]

Thanks all - it's such a difficult decision. What does everyone think of Coleman?

[DoristheCamel]

Hi Gear are an ok make imo.

I fo think they are trying to improve the quality of them

I have yo say in recent years the big names have seen a drop in quality. IMO there is not a polyester tent on the market worth the high prices some charge.
At the end of the day ALL polyester tents have a very limited shelf life as their coating breaks down with uv exposure. There may be slightly variations in tent life between some brands but not enough to warrant the extra cost. No polyester tent will last as long as canvas or polycotton and we are all being ripped off by the cost of polyester tents mass produced in chinese sweatshops.
You can read a lot mire zbout differ brands of tents and the problems owners have had and fab experiences on ukcs forums. The forums give a wider view than the tent reviews imo.

[Springcleanish]

Yes, hi gear is cheap and cheerful, but we've got an amazingly spacious ten man tent that we could never otherwise afford, and as we only use it twice a year for a couple of weeks it's already paid for itself. We worked on it lasting four years, it's done three already, including some horrendous wind and rain, so we are very happy with it. It really depends what you want your tent for.

[scrappydappydoo]

We have a coleman - brand new this year. It leaked badly Not impressed at all from a brand that I thought was good.

[AppleAndMelon]

I'm surprised Scrappy - we have had our Coleman for about seven years and never a drop inside.

Thanks Spring - in some ways I don't really want an expensive tent as I don't want to be constantly worried about the children playing around and ripping it or breaking a pole. There's no way I could buy one of the £1500 tents I've been looking at on-line.

Doris I've noticed tents have really gone up in price in the last couple of years. I'm sure we'll be paying a couple of hundred more than I expected.

[scrappydappydoo]

I know - it wasn't even just a drip through the seams either. Have emailed the shop - hoping its a one off problem. I think sometimes it depends on style rather than brand.