Vango Icarus 500 Tent

Purchased for two adults and two terrier dogs for summer trips. All seasoned campers in both caravans and tents.

It's easy enough for two adults to erect but ensure that the TBS straps are unclipped before trying to attach the poles onto the pins.

It is roomy enough for up to four adults. The main area is light and roomy.

The TBS system works reasonably well in side winds except there isn't one at the rear of the tent, this is the same pole that broke both guy rings and had a major split down the pole.

The tent ground sheet lets the wind under the tent, lifting the contents.

After one night in 25mph winds a guy rope broke and the poles bent to their limits. The second night through wind gusts of 35- 40 mph the TBS system works reasonably well except there isn't one at the rear of the tent, this is the same pole that broke both guy rings and had a major split down the pole. We also had a guy ring break and the beginnings of the splitting on the centre pole. Duct tape around the splits and additional guy ropes tied to the car roof bars saved the tent until the storm passed a couple of hours later but it would not have stayed up without that intervention

Both bedroom doors use a single zip which makes opening difficult without disturbing someone.

The side entrance door has a single zip starting at the bottom left and ending top left, meaning the doorway is either closed or wide open. A duel zipper on all these doors would be better.

The front opening only has zips either side but do not close across the bottom. They are difficult to open from the inside.

The tent did seem to be watertight, but we didn’t have much rain in the storm.

This tent may survive a light storm or two, but it won't last many holidays in Scotland or windy parts of the UK.

We have two Vango icarus 500 tents and have had no issues what so ever. They are easy to erect and offer sizeable living and sleeping spaces. Having I countered heavy storms the tents remain sturdy and waterproof. In good weather opening the entrances and side screens leaves the tent open and cool. In addition the insect screen on the main entrance is a godsend on hot summer nights to allow for ventilation. We have encountered no damages over 5 years usage.

We highly recommend this tent for it usage and overall value for money. You pay for what you get and what you get is quality, security and comfort.

Used this tent about 10 times and it has been erected for about 10 weeks. The one pole has snapped. The biggest issue was that tent canvas tears. It is so thin . Very disappointed and I will never buy another one again. I found it waterproof and sizeable but the tears were so great that I had to use gaffer tape.

I have been camping regularly with many different tents for about 25 years. This is the worst quality tent I've ever had. I have only used if 3 times and already 2 poles have snapped and a zip has broken. I spoke to someone else with the same tent on the campsite... guess what -- their pole had snapped and a zip was broken! I won't buy vango again.

A good winter tent, poor vents, get a bit of sunshine and your cooking.The zips are poor,1 zip for the whole door is not enough, as for the fly sheet zip its a pain. always catching on the main door.if you open the main door during rain the floor gets wet because of the shear angle of the door. i found on a morning i was having to give the tent a shake(to get the damp drops inside and out) to fall. Beware of the middle pole its weak.the whole tent gets a 4 out of 10 from me.

Having camped in Ireland over a very rainy summer on 4 occassions with my son I have to take my hat off to Vango. The Icarus is a great tent and looks good. You wont break any poles if you put your tent up properly and are not heavy handed with it. If you really have to bend the poles too much and are breaking poles, the poles are not positioned correctly when you push then through the tent material that holds them. They sometimes snag on the material which means the poles will have to be bent way over their limits to fit into the pins on the ground sheet. You can feel the tension in the poles if this happens and you know its going to break. If you use your hands and massage the poles nice and evenly along the material, no problems. If the guy ropes are staked out correctly also, the poles are very adequate and wont break when up. This advice applies to all tents. We camped one night through driving rain and wind and no problems. Next morning found a few drops of water in the corner which i reackon was blown through the air vent. I have total confidence in it after that. It passed the test as far as i am concerned. Funny thing the campsite owner asked us the next day how we survived because someone else on site with a new caravan had a very bad leak after the bad conditions. That made my day. Things i like are - its up for the bad weather, the blue colour scheme, the lights out bedroom area, orange ropes and toggles can be seen easily, quality of all the fittings and straps from base to pegs, the strap tension system inside seems to help keep it steady in bad wind, easy to put up, not too big packing it away in car and overall great value for money. To improve it I would like a some kind of porch so rain does not spill in from the roof when the door is unzipped. Thats the only bad thing i can say about it.

I bought my 2011 tent in 2012 and made a good saving. However, no saving was worth a tent that is about as waterproof as the proverbial sieve.

The tent leaks in a number of places and it appears that a number of the seams are to blame. I initially bought the tent due to the previous Vango good reputation but it appears that they are living of past glories.

Vango really need to get their quality control sorted as the internet is awash with people complaining of leaking tents. Remember, these are not budget supermarket tents with a 1500HH but are supposed to be good quality items with a 3000HH.

I really cannot recommend this tent to anyone at any price and will be returning mine for a refund.

the tent is ok,its not a world changer but its a cheap-ish tent and have lived out of it for a week a couple of times and its still good to go.thats it nothing more to add!.

"These tents are designed for use in late spring to early autumn in what is widely regarded as fair weather seasons"

"we consider poles to be the consumable part of the tent"

These are both direct quotes from my e-mail correspondence with Vango after two (out of 3) poles split lengthwise during the last weekend of MAY. My tent was 10 months old at the time and had been used for around 10 nights.

I suspect the issue is wind rather than time of year, but I have used revious tents in much windier conditions and not had a pole split, ever.

It is a lovely, spacious tent, easy to erect. Just note this issue with the poles. Vango's own product description does not highlight these facts.

This is almost a great tent but it's just not quite up to the job. I've had a number of poll breaks and although lashing a walking pole to the broken section and there after carrying spars has got us though Vango really should upgrade the poll system to something a bit tougher.

For the price I can't complain and this tent did successfully introduce my reluctant girlfriend to try camping. However for the 2011 session she wants to buy a more expensive model with alloy polls. Just goes to show that the cheapest is not always the best value in the long run.

A great shame for a company with a heritage of some fantastic mountaineering tents