Hello people!

Does anyone have any experience of the 2-person Vango Force 10 tents (Mk2)? They don't make them any more so info is scarce...

Mainly wondering how much space you actually get in them, especially given the lack of ridgepole - do you need to get them up perfectly in order to avoid them sagging? There's only going to be me in there but I'd like to be able to do things like sit up!

Cheers!

Laura

Very, very solid tents (often used by expeditions back in the days of porters and enormous moustaches) but heavy and, due to the a-frame design, not as roomy as a comparible dome/geodesic, although there should be plenty of room for one. You should always put up your tent perfectly, no matter what type it is!

Essentially: good tents, but outdated.

Matt

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I've had the 3 man version since the 70's and still use it every year. A really solid reliable tent. Hand on heart the modern geodesic stuff is better but only if you're talking high end geodesic. I'd still take the F10 over a £50 glassfibre poled Chinese geo.

The three man version is perfect for two so I'd guess the two man should be great solo. The main problem is the sloping sides but sitting up if you're in the middle of the tent shouldn't be a problem. Mine is 4ft high (130cm) in the middle but the 2 man is probably a bit lower.

Mine certainly has a ridge pole linking the two A frames together and the inner hangs from the two A frames and from the middle of the ridge. Without the ridge pole the whole set up can't be very rigid. You can probably do a basic setup in 3-4 mins as it doesn't need guy lines to stand but the sides will flap and adding the guys to sort that out will double the time.

There are two versions of the F10, one with a cotton flysheet and one with a nylon one. The cotton one is heavier but the sides flap less. The nylon fly sags a bit when it gets wet (I've had 3 and they're all the same) so peg the sides if it looks like rain, don't if it's dry. The main thing mine lacks is a mossy net door so it can get a bit stuffy in hot climates



The picture is using the F10 on a trip to Corfu more years ago than I care to remember. It's without the flysheet or the ridge pole on a quick overnight stop

Hi Laura
The Vango force ten was the tent to have during the 70s/80s it was bye far better than most other tents of that era,Two A frames and a ridge pole made for a very sturdy set up, with a fly sheet that had a zipper down the front.
The mk4 was ok for two persons with kit, as long as your leaving the panniers on the bike, lets say its cosy,the tents downside especially compared to todays models is the weight and it takes ages to dry,although as already mentioned you can get Nylon flysheets, the origional ones were cotton as is the inner.

Rick Nottingham

Hi Laura,

I've had a MK2 for years and its a really good, sturdy weather tight tent, and it's really small when packed and light weight at just under 2 KG's. I've used it for backpacking and mountain marathons. The problem is the lack of ridge pole as you suggest but it is really spacious for one and you have a large porch on it for storing gear or cooking in wet weather etc. You can sit up near the A-frame with limited head room if you want to cook in the porch, it really depends how big you are !
I'm 6ft and fairly wide shoulders and I coped OK, but its not a tent you would want to lounge about in as most of the time you are lying flat as the ridge slopes down fairly sharply to a small vertical pole at the rear!

Awesome tent for the weight and very strong against the wind.

I can dig out some photos and post if you want to see them !

Iain

P.S I've just bought a MK4 cause they are proper tents ! They do a MK3 which is a 2 man version but weighs about 6 KG and is not very small when packed.

hi, the mk2 is great for 1 and a dog a bit tight for 2. Mines still going strong after far to many years! Its rather to heavy for backpacking unless you dont mind a bit of extra weight but is perfect for car camping or a weekend static camping. I can just sit up in it but im 6' 2". great tent get one if you can

I think I bought my Mk3 in 1972 when I was still at school. It's still going strong. It is heavy compared to modern tents but back then I used to carry it all over the Pennines and Lake District. Sometimes we used to split it if there were two of us sharing.

40yrs old and still going strong. I'm tempted to say they don't make them like that these days but then we'd have to wait another 40yrs to find out. It says a lot about the quality of construction of Force Tens but not much about Vango's business model where once you've sold one the customer doesn't need another for 40 yrs. It can't have done a lot for their long term profitability - and it's not even as if there's much of a need for spare parts. Great for the consumer though.

Even at 40 it's not the oldest one around - the Mk 5 in my 2009 picture above belongs to a friend and beats it by a year. It's also still in regular use summer and winter. Here's a pic from Greece in 1971 -





and a decade later on the Elephant rally (with a DIY extension) -





My Mk4 is a relative newcomer as I only bought it in 1976 but despite now having somehow collected seven other tents I still the Vango regularly. No pics from this year to hand at the moment but here's one from the Horizons Mendips rally last Sept -

Merdina Conqest Vango 2 Man Tradition Cotton Framed Tents Used Ground Sheet Pole | eBay

Old, but still good.

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40 GBP actually seems like quite a good offer