I am going to start this tent review with a rather strange confession. I HATE camping! Yeah, I know this is a tent review… perhaps an odd opener. The thing is, I do LOVE festivals and while I personally think camping sucks; for me a festival wouldn’t be a festival without spending the night under canvas.
So this is where the Skandia Helsinki tent comes in. Could this be the tent to make me love camping? Well, let’s see.
The first thing that the Skandika Helsinki tent has in it’s favour is that it is really big! I thought our last tent was big enough for the three of us, but having spent four days stooped over because it wasn’t high enough for us to stand up, it wasn’t! This versatile tunnel style tent sleeps up to 6 people so is perfect for families and especially perfect for tall people like us!
This image is courtesy of Skandika (I felt it showed the internal space more than I was able to in my shot)
After taking stock and figuring out what went where, it wasn’t too difficult to put together. We made a start, when Mr Hubby had to take the car back to the car park, leaving Baby and I with the tent. Never one to wait, I tried to crack on myself, with Baby watching (and probably chuckling) from the comfort of our old Quinny. I almost had it popped up when a gust of wind nearly took me and the tent across the campsite. Luckily a group of men who were pitched opposite us came to my rescue and pretty much did the rest.
I was so happy to see that I could stand up in it! Whoop! The tent was sturdy and so spacious inside. The lack of space was another thing that drove me mad the last time we camped, as it meant we couldn’t organise things properly and the tent ended up in a mess.
One of the best things about the Helsinki is how versatile it is. You can configure the inside space to suit your own needs. There is a sleeping compartment that can be divided into two or left as one larger space as we did. The front wall of the tent can be zipped into one of two positions; either giving you either a large inside living area or attach the wall further into the tent to create a porch at the front of the tent. Ideal for seating or cooking.
The tent is robust and has a water column reading of 5000mm. This means nothing to me, but I am told that a tent is considered waterproof at 1200mm, so this seems pretty good!
It’s made from tear resistant material, has taped seams with reinforced eyelets and tabs and has shatterproof flexible poles.
Included in the box is a carrying bag with assembly instructions, guy ropes, tent pegs and also a repair kit.
I can’t tell you what a different experience it made having all this lovely space. I am not totally converted to camping, but the Helsinki is going to made camping at festival so much more appealing.
I love our new tent and can’t wait to try it out at out next festival this summer.
Disclosure: We were sent this tent in return for an honest review.