Vango Omega 350 Review – A Look At This Popular Tent

Product: Vango Omega 350 Tent
Available at: Go Outdoors
Design: Tunnel
Sleeps: 3
Season Rating: 3
Weight: 5kg
My Rating: 9.2 out of 10

The Vango Omega 350 Product Overview

If you are new to tents, then you may find it useful to have a look at this article on the many different types of tents and which types are best used for the activity that you will be doing.

The Vango Omega 350 is a great all round tent – I have owned one for about 3 years now and have been on many camping trips with it in the UK, both in Summer & Winter.

It is full of technology and will protect you from most of what mother nature can throw at you – thanks to its waterproof 5000mm Hydrostatic Head, breathable inner tent and strong TBS tension band system to ensure your tent remains rigid in adverse weather conditions.

I’m going to be looking at its pros and cons in a bit more detail below.

Specifications

• Type: tunnel tent, non-freestanding.
• Capacity: 3 people.
• Weight: 5 kg.
• Trail weight: 4.25 kg.
• Dimensions: 435 x 220 cm.
• Area: 9 m².
• Peak height: 135 cm.
• Packed size: 49 x 20 cm.
• Pitching time: 12 minutes.

Materials And Construction

The tent consists of an outer flysheet and an inner tent for sleeping.

The outer material is made of a very durable 70D polyester fabric and has a waterproof rating of 5000mm HH, which is more than triple the British minimum standard for waterproofing and also has factory taped seams – this should be sufficient for even heavy downpours and I’ve spent more than one night sleeping in it during torrential rain and have not experienced any rain getting through.

Equally, thanks to the breathable inner tent, I’ve not experienced any problems with condensation either.

The 70D lightweight polyester groundsheet is waterproof with a rating of 6000mm HH and is also very durable.

There are two large flysheet doors, opposite each other – one of them has a mesh, second layer.

There are also two windows made of solid PVC and they have shutters on the inside.

The inner door is O-shaped– making it easy to open with one hand and it is part mesh at the top for added ventilation.

Rigidity is achieved by the three alloy poles, which are lightweight and colour coded and initially they seemed very strong to me. However, I lent my tent to a friend for a weekend camping trip and he returned with one of the poles bent, albeit still usable (apparently, he didn’t realise they were colour coded and attempted to force the wrong one into the wrong part and ended up bending it…). So, this could potentially be a weak area of the tent.

The TBS®II Tension Band System ensures that the tent performs in adverse conditions, especially in strong winds and when tensioned, the bands brace the poles at 3 points, and prevent sideways movement.

Pitching

Pitching the tent up is fairly straightforward – it can be done by one person and I have set it up by myself (even in the dark, with a head torch) on more than one occasion.

The flysheet and inner can be pitched together and the colour coded poles make it easy to see what goes where.

Pitching time is officially 12 minutes and I would say that is probably fairly accurate, although it has taken me slightly longer in the dark.

There are ten guy lines that provide extra stability and ensure that the tent is stable, even in very windy conditions.

Space

The Vango Omega 350 is officially a three person tent – however, I tend to minus one person from the manufacturer’s recommendations. So, a two person tent would be comfortable for one with kit, a three person tent, would be comfortable for two with kit and so on.

I actually use the Omega 350 as a single person tent, this gives me lots of space for myself and my gear – but two adults with gear would be very comfortable.

It also has a decent size porch area that can be used for storing muddy kit and is spacious enough to sit in on a camp chair.

Season Rating

The Vango Omega 350 tent is a 3 season tent, meaning it’s designed for use in Summer, Spring and Autumn.

I’ve found it perfectly usable on campsites in British winters too – I’ve used it while camping in December at sub-zero temperatures while it’s been snowing and I’ve remained completely dry and warm during the night (the warmth coming from my snug sleeping bag, of course…).

It would, probably, not be suitable for more severe winters or for use while mountain climbing – for these types of activities, you would want a more sturdy 4 season tent of a geodesic or semi-geodesic design – have a read of our post on different tent designs and which types are best for different situations.

Summary Of Features

• Tunnel tent – Style provides the greatest space to weight ratio
• Flysheet and inner pitch together – Quick and easy to pitch and pack
• Entrance has a full mesh door which provides ventilation and keeps bugs out
• Protex® 70D polyester flysheet – Highly waterproof with a 5000mm hydrostatic head and factory taped seams for additional weather protection
• Clip-in riser porch groundsheet – Clean, dry storage area for boots and equipment while reducing draughts
• 70 denier, 6000mm lightweight polyester groundsheet – Waterproof, durable and reliable
• Diamond Clear windows – Maximise light and visibility
• Vango PowerLite 7001-T6 alloy poles – Lightweight, durable and colour coded for intuitive pitching
• Breathable polyester inner – Allows condensation to pass through, for a comfortable night’s sleep
• Patented Vango TBS®II Tension Band System ensures tent performs in adverse conditions
• O-shaped inner doors – Easy to open with one hand
• Part mesh inner door – Allows ventilation, whilst keeping bugs out
• Flysheet door vent – Open from the top to ventilate porch
• Inner pockets – Conveniently positioned pockets for organising essential items
• Fast pack tent bag – Oversized opening for easy packing and compression straps to control pack size
• Line-Lok guyline runners – Lock securely, simple to release and high performance in all conditions
• Multiple reflective points – On pegging points for visibility in low light
• Vivid reflective high strength guylines – Provides high visibility in low light
• Factory taped seams – All flysheet and groundsheet seams are factory taped, giving a water tight seal
• Weather tested beyond the European standard EN5912 by certified test centre
• Fire retardant fabrics – Exceeds European EN5912 safety standard

Conclusion

The Vango Omega 350 is a great camping tent and I’ve found it perfectly adequate and comfortable for camping during virtually any time of the year in Britain.

It has a good amount of space for two people with gear and the porch area is very useful for storing things that you don’t want to keep in the sleeping area, such as muddy boots and equipment.

It’s not the lightest tent, so if you’re backpacking it would add a noticeable weight to your load – there are very good, lightweight backpacking tents that would be a better option in these situations.

It would also not be a good option, as mentioned before, if you are camping in very severe winter conditions or on a mountain.

The one other drawback is that it can get very hot inside on a warm summer day (although, I’ve found it to be fine on summer nights) – the ventilation system helps to a certain extent, but to be honest, the majority of polyester tents have this problem and if, like me, you will be mainly using the tent to sleep in at night then this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

The Vango Omega 350 tent is available from Go Outdoors

I hope you’ve found this review helpful.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I’ll try to respond as soon as possible.

Mohammad