Vango Teepee 300 Tent Review
When planning to head off on my own to my first ever ‘festival’, where you camp in the grounds for 4 days, I realised that the tents we have are either way too heavy to be carted by hand or wagon a long way across fields, or too big for just me. The couple of one person tents we have are way too small to hold all the costumes and paraphernalia that I was planning to take, plus I wanted to be able stand up to get dressed.
I did a search around and came across the 2025 Vango Teepee 300. It seemed to have everything I was looking for so had a chat with the Vango PR, and two days before I headed off it arrived. I did a quick test put-up in the local park to see how everything works, and then I was good to go.
First Impressions and Pitching the Tent
Putting it up is beyond simple. Take it out of the bag, unfurl it, spread it out and pop in the metal pegs into the appropriate fastenings, and grab the included pump. Connect up the pump to the valve on the central air beam, which opens the flow, and pump away ‘til you hit 7psi, and the tent will rise. When you disconnect, there isn’t the need to rush to close the valve as it shuts automatically when the connector is removed, but I recommend using the back of the plug, which has a valve shaped hole, to turn the valve to the permanently closed position so that it can’t accidentally pressed open.
Next up grab the 3 pole sections. I found it easier to pop the central horizontal pole into the top of the door first before clicking in the side poles which clip to the tent via large plastic clips. In the bit where the end of the poles sit there seemed to be a metal prong that, when doing the initial peg out, initially puzzled me. It took a couple of moments to figure out from the instructions that these prongs actually go up inside the bottom of the door poles to keep them from moving away from the tent.
Once that’s done all that is left is to go round and tighten the pegs, and add the guy ropes, which are a handy bright orange. Due to the amount of space between tents I had to shorten the ropes more than I would usually have set them, so I didn’t create a major trip hazard for my neighbours, but even with that when we had a very windy, wet night the tent coped admirably. The tent has a groundsheet built in, so no having to faff about with fitting a floor.
Space, Comfort and Headroom Inside
The main section was big enough to hold two chairs, a table, a cooler, a large food box and a couple of holdalls. The chairs I brought were not small ones either, as I took both my Helinox and the rather large, but totally amazing, Nemo Stargazer. I brought them mainly for using outside, but when the weather got a bit chilly, my friend (who was camping across the field) and I headed inside and it coped marvellously with both in there.
As I mentioned earlier, head room was one of the major factors in choosing this tent as I am just a smidge under 6 foot and sick of stooping in tents. Plus I had some fiddly costumes to get on, and doing that in a restricted space just isn’t fun. It passed the height test with flying colours. I had loads of space to manoeuvre, and still had a good hand-sized space above my head when standing (even whilst wearing a pirate hat).
If you want to relax inside but still want to see the outside world, there are 2 windows fixed in on either side which are clear PVC. They do have an interior cover so you can have privacy if you want it.
Sleeping Area and Layout Options
According to Vango the tent sleeps 3, and in their diagram you would lie with you head to the back and feet to the doorway. I didn’t test out this configuration, but personally, if I was sleeping on a raised air bed I would sleep with my head at the door side because, with it being a teepee shape, the inner lining comes down at an angle that could make it a tad claustrophobic. Now I have no doubt that 3 average-sized people can happily fit in there, but if, like me, you are a bit bigger than average and like a bit of personal space, I would say that it’s a really great tent for 2 people.
The tent is bluey green, but like all tents daylight does come through, so when I saw that the inner sleeping section is made out of a black material I had high hopes that the break of dawn wouldn’t wake me, and in part it that was true - it definitely helps, but if you are light sensitive I would still recommend an eye mask.
The view from my bed in the morning showing the amount of light that comes through the black inner. You can also just about see where I hung my light.
I have few issues going on that mean getting up from the floor can be hard work, so I decided that comfort would be the way to go, and brought a camp bed, which meant positioning it in a side to side configuration.
This meant I could use the back of the tent for storage, and also a spot to throw all my worn clothes (I loved having a scruffy space that no one can see), and I also had space for a bedside table - a total game changer, and could store my luggage under the bed. I am pretty sure when Damian and I go out together that it would happily hold 2 camp beds, though if you go side to side someone would have to clamber over the first bed. On my next excursion I may test whether 2 camp beds back to front would work too (I’ll let you know).
With my Helinox table at the door side it gave me ample space to get up and put on clothes even before opening the inner door, as the tall airbeam means there is over 6 feet headspace at the front of the bedroom too.
Any Drawbacks?
There are a few of things that could be improved, and first up is outer vents. There are only two, one on the outside, low down at the back of the tent, that can be kept open or closed, and one right at the crest of the air beam, and neither gave a lot of actual ventilation. A couple more on either side would definitely be helpful.
Then there is a distinct lack of loops for hanging lights. There were only two that I could find, and both were at the crest of the main beam - one in the inner bedroom and the other facing into the main area. Now that is great if you are tall enough to reach up enough to fiddle with on/off switches (remember it is about 6’ 4” tall at this point), and you also have a really bright light that can illuminate the whole area (I recommend the Black Diamond Moji R+ Lantern), but a couple more loops lower down would be useful.
Lastly, the bit that niggled me the most, the door zips! I have been in plenty of tents where the main tent door and fly net door are attched together so you can open both together with one zip and in one continuous motion, but in the Teepee 300 there are 4 different zips to negotiate to go in or out which can lead to confusion - I found this out at around 1am in the morning when I had nipped to the toilet block, and on my way back my head torch ran out of power. Fumbling about in the dark trying to open so many zips (which are very noisy when surrounded by other campers in a quiet field) meant I ended up a bit befuddled and frustratedly ended up vaulting over a half opened door just to get in.
Also with many of the other tents that have the joined doors you can partly open the main door from the inside and just leave the fly net door to allow for more ventilation, but in the Vango it really isn’t an easy thing to accomplish from the inside.
Here’s what I really liked…
It was incredibly easy to put up on my own, and even easier to put down - just turn the valve to open and let it deflate.
The over 6 foot interior head height is amazing (it’s reaches 6ft 10” at the air beam crest!) .
The main living space and bedroom are roomy.
The dark inner bedroom made staying asleep easier.
It actually fits back into its bag with the pump, even with a numpty like me doing it. - I have struggled too many times to get a tent back into a just-big-enough bag, that has seemingly been designed by torture specialists, not to mention how good an experience this was!
Final Thoughts: Is the Vango Teepee 300 Worth It?
Overall, the Vango Teepee 300 proved to be a brilliant choice for my first festival, striking a great balance between ease of pitching, spaciousness and comfort. The generous headroom, roomy living area, and darkened inner all made it a pleasure to use, and it handled windy weather without issue. While the limited ventilation, lack of hanging loops, and fiddly door system leave a little room for improvement, these are relatively small drawbacks compared to the overall practicality and reliability.
If you’re after a lightweight, stand-up tent that feels much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside, the Teepee 300 is well worth considering.
Price: £375
more at » https://www.vango.co.uk/teepee-air-300