Vango Classic Instant 300 tent | Tested and reviewed

The Vango Classic Instant 300 clearly isn't a tent to carry up a mountain for a spot of wild camping. You'll want one of these backpacking tents for that. But it is a decent option for festivals or casual summer camping.

It's not technically a pop-up tent, but as a quick-pitch option it belongs in that sort of category. Unlike some of its contemporaries, though, it comes with a double-skin design, while it also has a much stronger set of features.

The interior space is roomy, there's great headroom and you even get two doors and porches.

Of course, a tent of this kind tends to have a few setbacks. It's heavy and not the most portable, while it's also a little more fiddly to put up and put down than out-and-out pop-up tents.

Want to know more? Here's our full review...

Pop-up pitching and packing away

The 'instant' in the name is a little misleading. The Vango Classic Instant 300 takes about five minutes to pitch, which is reasonably quick for a normal tent, but far from the quickest when it comes to pop-ups.

For comparison, the Eurohike Pop 200 and Mountain Warehouse Pop Up 3 Man Tent take literally one or two minutes, so they're far more rapid.

The Classic Instant 300 doesn’t use a classic pop-up style, either. Instead it uses a different type of technology.

It works like this. First you have to remove everything from the large carry bag and lay it out on the grass. You’ll have a separate flysheet, two strut poles, the pegs and then the inner bedroom with an integrated hub pole system.

Take the inner and locate two red pull loops, one each side of the tent. Using quite a bit of force, you need to pull each of these loops outwards, towards yourself. This movement opens up and expands the tent structure, with an umbrella-like, concertinaed effect.

Once you’ve popped out both, the tent develops its vertical structure (you don’t need to anything with the internal poles – they're in-built and pre-connected).

Next, you need to peg out the inner and, hey presto, you have the main structure in place. The inner is part-mesh and not waterproof, but it’s a wonderful shelter – and can be used on its own, without the flysheet, in good weather. This approach is excellent for stargazing on clear nights.

But, if there is a risk of rain, you’ll need to throw the flysheet over the top of the inner structure. It doesn’t matter which way round the flysheet goes (both ends are identical), which makes things easier.

Once the flysheet is neatly lined up you can attach it to the inner structure via a few toggles and then you need to peg it down to the ground.

Next comes the strange bit. There are two strut poles, which are supposed to be placed inside the inner at a diagonal angle, one at each end, on opposite sides.

These are designed to give the hub pole structure a bit of extra stability. They're held in place by little Velcro tabs and a small sleeve at the base. But, in truth, they don’t seem to do much and are rather fiddly to install.

In my eyes, they seem a bit redundant and the design itself seems a bit clunky and awkward, with the poles not really fitting that well or seeming to provide much extra strength. Unless the wind is particularly strong, I'd suggest you might be able to ditch them entirely.

Packing away the tent is reasonably efficient, but takes a bit of getting used to and it can be a little tricky to get everything flat, smooth and taut enough to fit into the bag properly.

The fact that the bag is top-loading only – rather than having a zip – serves only to exacerbate this issue. If so desired, it's possible to leave the flysheet attached during the packing away process, so that on your next trip the tent can be pitched all-as-one.

Internal space and tent shape

The official internal dimensions of the rectangular interior are: 215cm long, 195cm wide and 140cm high. Vango states this tent’s shape and design creates “an easy to use beginner tent, perfect for festivals, weekend camping and ideal for first time users”.

This tent’s biggest selling point is the interior, which is wonderfully spacious. The walls are high and near-vertical, providing excellent head and elbow room. You get good length and width, too, so there’s ample space for two or three campers to sleep side-by-side with decently sized sleeping mats.

Plus, there are two trapezium-shaped, good-sized porches. Both porches have footprint groundsheets, meaning anything you store in the porches (bags, boots, camping stoves or other items) will be protected from the wet, muddy ground.

The addition of two entry/exit doors – one at each end – also adds to the sense of comfort and means you don’t have to climb over someone else to pop out for a midnight call of nature. All-round liveability, therefore, is first-rate.

The tent has quite a distinctive triangular shape, known as an A-frame. This is a heritage style, like a throwback to a golden bygone era of camping, and hence the 'classic' in the tent’s name.

This shape is created by the tent’s integrated hub pole structure, which features criss-crossing, X-shaped poles forming a tall structure. These poles are Vango PowerFlex fibreglass poles, which the brand says deliver a “strong yet light and reliable structure”.

Waterproofing, wind resistance and breathability

The Vango Classic Instant 300 has good waterproofing stats compared to most budget pop-up tents. The 100% polyester flysheet is made from Vango’s Sentinel fabric, which the brand describes as “strong and durable” with “great quality and performance”.

This fabric has a hydrostatic head waterproof rating of 3,000mm, which is pretty solid and (obviously) superior to many other pop-up tents I've tested recently, which have 2,000mm or 1,500mm grades.

You also get a waterproof groundsheet with a 'bathtub' design, which means the waterproofing material extends up the tent sides (in this case by 10cm). The tent’s seams are also sealed with tape.

All of this means the Vango Classic Instant 300 should, in theory, offer good protection from rain – although, as with all festival-style tents, it’s clearly better suited to laid-back, summery conditions than full-on blizzards.

One flaw with the design is that you don’t get enough clearance between the flysheet and inner. Instead there’s just not much of a gap and, if the flysheet sags even just slightly, it will touch the inner.

This happens because there isn’t any kind of pole structure or mechanism for keeping the two apart. The flysheet is simply draped over the inner and kept in place with a few toggles, but not sufficiently separated from it. The end result is that, in heavy rain, you might get drips hitting the inner, which is obviously far from ideal.

This is a two-skin tent, combing a flysheet outer and a bedroom inner, which means it shouldn’t suffer from condensation as badly as single-skin pop-up tents. You get two vent windows (one on each side of the flysheet) for added airflow and each vent can be propped open with a little Velcro tab.

The presence of two large D-shaped internal doors means you can unzip either, even just a little, to create a trickle flow of breathability.

In terms of wind resistance, this tent is perhaps a little vulnerable. It has a very tall profile with high walls on both sides. During my tests, I found these had a tendency to catch the wind like a sail and they clearly don’t have the low-profile, aerodynamic shape needed to cope with very gusty conditions.

Having said that, there are loads of pegging-out points on this tent, so you can really secure it down to the ground precisely and strongly. Two guylines, one on each side, help with this process.

Vango says its line-lok guyline runners will “lock securely, [are] simple to release and [deliver] high performance in all conditions”.

Weight and pack size

This tent is very, very heavy. It clocks in at 7kg, which is far higher than many other pop-up tents (the Eurohike Pop 200 is just 1,620g, for example).

Consequently it’s not suitable for carrying up a mountain and far from ideal if you’re travelling to a festival by train or coach. But, equally, it’s not too bad if you only need to cart it a short distance from a car park to your campsite pitch.

The carry bag has a shoulder strap to make lugging it around a tiny bit easier, but I certainly wouldn’t fancy doing so for longer distances. If it’s a 2.5km walk from the train station to the music festival, for example, you’ll probably end up cursing this tent after just a few minutes.

Once packed away, the Classic Instant 300 is humongous, too. Sized like a tall, chunky cylinder, its dimensions are 150cm by 25cm.

This might not fit particularly easily into your car’s boot, depending on its size specifications, so that’s something worth checking. And if you’re travelling by public transport, this tent will almost certainly feel cumbersome and clumsy as luggage.

Features

I've covered all of this tent’s main features above, but there are a few minor design touches left to mention. The tent comes with 16 pegs, a peg bag, two fibreglass strut poles, a pole bag, a few repair patches and then the main carry bag with shoulder strap.

The inner tent features Vango’s "Lights Out" technology, which apparently creates a darker and blacker interior for a better night’s sleep. But there’s so much mesh on this tent’s inner (and mesh lets in light), the fact the other fabric features blackout technology doesn’t really make much difference.

You get two internal, D-shaped doors which are also partly made from mesh. This enhances airflow and ventilation a little, while also keeping bugs out.

On each side of the interior bedroom you get two mesh pockets for storing smaller camping and personal items such as a phone, head torch and toiletries. You also get one hanging loop on the tent roof.

The Vango Instant Classic 300 is available in three colours: orange, deep blue and "geo pattern" (a multi-coloured blue-y purple pattern).

All of the tent fabrics, no matter what colour, feature Vango’s ColourLok Eco technology, a process which increases colour retention and protection against UV light while using up to 60% less water in the dying process. This helps to improve the overall eco credentials of the tent.

Verdict

A quick-pitch tent with superb liveability, a clever design and good features – but it’s super heavy and bulky to transport.

About the author

James Forrest writes regular features and route guides for Trail and has been one of our main gear testers for the last few years. James is based on the edge of the Lake District so when he isn’t off on his latest crazy adventure or challenge, he’s walking in his local fells.

Don't forget to subscribe to the Live For The Outdoors newsletter to get expert advice and outdoor inspiration delivered to you inbox!