Vango Skye 500 5 Person Tent – 3000 mm Rating

Vango Skye 500 5 Person Tent is a tunnel-style 2-room structure with an impressive waterproof rating and an incredible price tag.

Key features

Where to buy

Check on Amazon, they have the best prices and the most efficient shipping service.

What type of tent is this

This Skye tent is a part of a new 2018 Vango’s series that includes this 5-person tent and also the Skye 400 4-person tent with the same features. So this is a tunnel-type tent and it is not freestanding. You have to stake it down first before you start adding poles and raising the tent.

The tent is with two separate sections, a sleeping zone which is a tent within the tent, attached to the external shell, and a sitting area under the shell. So from this you realize that this is a hybrid single-double layer construction, namely the sitting area is a single layer part.

This tent is also in the group of dark rest tents, they use the term lights out to describe this design. This implies that the inner tent is built from a darker fabric that reduces the amount of early morning light, see the picture.

Who is it for

Space-wise, this is a tent with the declared 5-people capacity. But this is a 2-room structure and if necessary it can accommodate more. The area is around 133.5 ft² (12.4 m²) and this includes 6.3 m² in the sleeping area plus 6.1 m² in the sitting area. So you have per person in total 26.7 ft² (2.48 m²). This is more than enough regardless of the type of camping, see the floor plan and the dimensions:

The tent is ideal for couples who want comfort, you can put a queen-size bed of any kind in the sleeping area. But it is also good for families with 2 – 3 kids.

Weight-wise, with 20.57 lb (9.33 kg) of weight, this is a lightweight tent and you will realize this from the comparison table below. The packed size is also very good (L x D) 27.5 x 9.8 inches (70 x 25 cm). So you can transport it in the car, on a motorbike, on a bicycle, etc.

Climate-wise and seasons-wise, this is a very enclosed tent with PVC windows, so it is very suitable for cold weather camping. This is why In a warmer environment, you have to rely on its vents and on the huge door. But as I said, I find it better used in a cooler area.

The waterproof rating is huge as usual with Vango’s tents, this is a Scottish brand. So the tent will perform great in cooler areas with lots of rain. 

The tent is with fiberglass poles which is not so great but you have the Vango’s TBS system to stabilize it against side winds, plus you have 10 guyout lines around so this should be good enough. But I would not use it at places where you can expect lots of snow accumulated on the tent.

Materials & construction

The poles

This is a simple structure with three Vango’s PowerFlex fiberglass poles. So the construction is stable and strong but fiberglass needs some care in handling, please see more about poles materials in my separate text. All is color-coded for intuitive pitching.

The fabric

The shell is Vango Protex 70D polyester with a 3000 mm hydrostatic head, so this is a very waterproof and reasonably durable material. All seams are factory taped.

The inner tent is a breathable synthetic with a waterproof PE groundsheet. They do not provide the rating for the floor but it is a very thick plastic and definitely even more waterproof than the fly. Note that the flysheet and inner tent pitch together, so you can keep the inner tent attached from inside all the time and pack it that way for a quick and easy pitch next time.

One interesting detail is that the floor is a linked-in type. The meaning is that the inner tent has the usual bathtub floor, but it extends into the whole sitting room, yet it is not sewn in there. You have buckles that connect it to the shell, see the picture below. There is a skirt as the part of the shell, it is some 20 cm wide, so the floor in the sitting room overlaps it and the ground is completely covered.

This is both good and bad. The good is that you can roll it towards the inner tent and leave there (or put it under the inner tent), and use the sitting room without the floor if you want to do the cooking and drying your stuff and do not want to take care about the floor. The bad is that although space becomes completely covered by the floor when it is linked-in, crawling insects and groundwater can still get in. But in any case, the inner tent is fully sealed from below and closed for insects from any side.

They claim that the fabric is weather tested to the European standard EN5912 and that this is certified by an independent test center. The same standards apply for its fire retardancy and safety standards.

The doors & windows

There is only one entry on the side and this is a D-shaped single-layer door, pity they did not add a mesh here. There are also two inner doors on the sleeping area and here you have mesh for ventilation, they are shown on the pictures above.

The tent is with two long and narrow PVC windows on the front, note that they are without any blinds.

Ventilation

The tent is with two large high vents, one on the front and one on the back. There are no floor vents, my guess is they assume that having a linked-in floor would add some draft. Without mesh on the entry door, such ventilation may not be good enough in a warm environment.

The floor area picture above shows you that the inner tent is everywhere well-separated from the shell, so you have air circulation between these two layers to fight condensation.

Other features

• High visibility guylines.
• Patented Vango TBSII Tension Band System. This includes two sets of straps in the living area which stabilize the tent in adverse conditions (one is shown above). Each is attached at three points, on the top and on the two sides. When not needed, they can be stowed away in special pockets on the walls.
• Lantern hanging points in the living and bedroom areas.
• Several pockets in the sleeping area.
• Handled carry bag.

Please see more in this video:

Specifications

• Type: non-freestanding tunnel type tent.
• Capacity: 5 people.
• Weight: 20.57 lb (9.33 kg).
• Dimensions: 173.2 x 124 in (440 x 315 cm).
• Area: 133.5 ft² (12.4 m²).
• Area per person: 26.7 ft² (2.48 m²).
• Packed size (L x D): 27.5 x 9.8 in (70 x 25 cm).
• Pitching time: 15 minutes.

Vango Skye 5 Person Tent vs Competitors

In the table below I show this Skye 5 tent side by side with two other tents built in the same style and with the same declared capacity. Now you can realize why I wrote above that it is relatively lightweight. Please follow the links to see more and to compare the prices.

Final thoughts

Please see how I rate it using the same criteria as for all other tents in the site:

Vango Skye 500 5 Person Tent

8.8

Area per person

8.8/10

Weight

8.7/10

Packed size

8.2/10

Protection

9.3/10

Ease of use

8.5/10

Features

9.0/10

Pros

• Incredible price.
• Excellent waterproofness rating.
• Solid windows.
• Lots of space.

Cons

• Fiberglass poles.
• No floor vents.
• No blinds on the front windows.
• No mesh on the front entry door.

Check at Amazon-US

Check at OutdoorGear UK

If you need more options of this type, please check in the category Tunnel Tents here in the site, there are tens of them described in detail. Check also my list with 5-person camping tents.

Note that this is not a sponsored text, I am not related to this brand in any sense. Thank you for reading, please use the comment box below in the case of questions or comments. Have a nice day.