Vango Icarus 800 Tent

Review Score

Price Guide

Vango Icarus 800 Tent Photos

Our Review

The Vango Icarus 800 is a large tunnel tent that's ideal for the bigger family.

an ideal choice for a large family

The Vango Icarus 800 is an 8 man tent from the Vango family tent range.

With four separate bedrooms, plus an ample sized living area, this is an ideal choice for a large family.

Features

• Four bedrooms
• Blackout material in sleeping pods - I wish more tent manufacturers did this
• Separate the sleeping sections - great for getting to small kids in the night
• Storage pockets
• Sewn-in groundsheet

Add-on Options

It's always good to know that you can get extras for your tent, even if you budget for them the following year.

Vango Icarus 800 Footprint

With the Vango Icarus 800, you can get a footprint to provide additional ground protection.  The Icarus already has 10000HH in its sewn in groundsheet, but this extra layer of protection will help if the ground is wet or muddy, especially when it's time to take the tent down as the bottom should be quite clean and dry.  A tarp may be a slightly cheaper alternative, although the Icarus Footprint isn't that more expensive than a tarp of a similar size, and at least it will fit your tent without any bits sticking out (which could be a problem with a tarp as that could lead to pools of water under the tent).

Vango Icarus 800 Tent Carpet

A tent carpet may sound luxurious, but we would highly recommend, especially if you are planning on camping when it is not glorious sunny weather (see Tent carpets - are they worth it?).

The Icarus 800 Carpet may not be styled to everyone's taste, but it will help with ground insulation.

Side Porch

This is an investment we highly recommend for British camping, even if not when you first purchase your tent.

As you can see, the side canopy doubles the living space, and with a tent that can hold 8 people, that may be an important consideration for you.

But the real essential feature is the ability to use this side entrance as a wet/dry zone, providing the perfect place to get wet gear off and leave it so that your main tent can stay dry no matter what the weather is doing.

Pitching

The simple tunnel tent design means that, despite its size, it is an easy tent to put up.

Vango claim on their website that the Icarus will only take 15 minutes to pitch.  I would take this with a big pinch of salt, as I suspect this doesn't include all the guy lines.

Although tunnel tents are easy to pitch, one thing I do find that takes time is slotting in the tent poles into the sleeves. The Icarus partially solves this by not having full-length sleeves, using clips on the lower part of the poles.

Video

Here's a video that Simply Hike have put together to walk you through the Icarus 800.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr42RShKdg8

Details