Vango Sabre 200 (2013)

The Vango Sabre 200 is a new tent for 2013, and it has more about it than first impressions might suggest. It’s pitched outer-first with three colour-coded poles slipped through sleeves that extend around the outside of the fly. These locate in eyelets at the base and there are ladder lock webbing buckles, so you can easily pitch and tension the tent with cold, wet hands. The inner clips to the underside of the fly very easily and once attached can remain in situ. Once up the Vango Sabre 200 is very stable, and it’s made even more so thanks to a pair of internal tension bands that give extra support to the main central pole. There’s an excellent side door with double zip pulls and a small canopy so the top of the door can be used to ventilate the tent. The Vango Sabre 200’s side porch is quite narrow, at just 40cm wide, so it isn’t ideal for two sets of gear; but there are porches at each end of the tent that can be accessed by zip-out doors on the inner tent, beneath each of the small poles, so you can store boots or wet gear at each end of the tent outside the inner. These doors also allow the ends of the tent to be vented. The inner tent is also particularly spacious, so overall this is a good option for two campers.

Flysheet fabric Hydro Tex 70D Protex polyester

Inner tent fabric polyester

Groundsheet fabric polyester

Internal dimensions (LxWxH) 220x140x90cm

Packed size 46x13cm

Weight 2782g

Website www.vango.co.uk

Verdict

A very spacious inner coupled with creative end porches and a very stable design make the Vango Sabre 200 better than many in its class for two campers, but the drawback is a slight increase in weight.

Review by Graham Thompson

First published in Trail magazine June 2013