Force TenMK3 Standard - 2012

Despite being made in China ( I was a little sceptical when I read this ) this tent is better than I remember it when I had one 45 years ago. What is the same is the cotton which means breathable fabric and no condensation or moist heat, the beautifully simple and rugged pole system, the ease of solo pitching and the stable design. What have been improved are the anchor system ( a bit more adjustable ), the groundsheet has been upgraded in thickness, it has a little repair kit and a compressible stuff sack.Weight seems to have increased slightly but I've put this down to decreased muscle tone in the intervening years!Why did I buy it? I was fed up of cheap(ish) nylon tents having labels warning me about sunshine making the fabric brittle, and having only a few years life because you could not repair them. My children are reaching the age for proper wild camping and I wanted them to appreciate well designed kit and I still feel a bit of wanderlust so the Vango is perfect!

The side pegging points of the inner tent ripped off after the second pitching. That’s enough to merit zero stars for a tent whose predecessors were bomb-proof. Shame on Vango for selling this rubbish as a Force Ten. However, for those still contemplating buying for nostalgic reasons here are some more impressions.The inner seems to be made for a different, bigger tent. It sags awfully at the sides, even with the inner and outer linked and the side guys pulled tight. I rarely used the side guys on my old Mk3. If two people shared the tent then both would end up with the sides of the inner laying on their faces. With a bit of wind blowing through it the inner will flap and definitely hit the fly. It would be a wet, noisy and annoying experience There’s a reason that the original tent had two pegging points on each long side of the inner. This one only has one, half way down and it’s not enough to pull the side-walls of the groundsheet out along the full length of the inner - hence the droop. I’ve added four elastic loops to the inner so I can peg them and pull the side walls of the inner out - which works OK.There’s no hanging loop in the inner tent like my old Mk3 has - I’ve had to add one.The flysheet is noticeably thinner than my 30 year old original Mk3.It doesn’t pitch as taut or as firmly as the old one. I’ve never needed the end guys on my old tent, but I’ll put them on this one if the wind blows.It packs down bigger than the old one (and would Vango really go bust if they made the tent bag 1 inch bigger?). This is because the ground sheet is chunkier. This would seem to be a good thing if you’re car-camping, but I’m not convinced that it is better quality.The pegs that come with it (exactly the right number, no spares) are made of monkey metal. While I wait to get some decent ones I’ve swapped most of them with pegs from my dead Jet Packer Plus which are like moly-steel next to the Vango ones.The new shape of the inner door opening is annoying. More importantly, if you’re two up and it’s wet you can’t pull the inner doors fully away to the sides so you can both get into the porch for cooking and other firkling.The velcro on the fly zip flap is annoying and has been removed. It’ll probably flap in the wind, but I’ll take the risk.The good? Not much really. The pole feet fit into holes in the inner and fly pegging points, so it is possible to move it short distances without taking it down. But it’s a very poor replacement for a deservedly iconic tent and the design changes are about making it cheaper rather than maintaining or improving performance.

The best winter use tent, especially for winter motorcycle rallies!

Simply the best.