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Camping

Vango Mirage 300+ Review

We’ve owned the Vango Mirage for a little under a year and it’s been used in the mountains of Snowdonia & Colorado, taken up and down & even had a bear check it out! It’s about time we reviewed it.

We bought ours from Black’s outdoors for £124, It’s the top of the range 3 man in the Vango range. If you’re reading this you may be also considering the banshee or the tempest. I’ve made a comparison between the three and you can jump to that by clicking here.

I’ve assed the tent on the features that I find important, if you’d like to know anything else about the tent let me know in the comments.

campfire by the tent

Structure

The geodesic structure means that you can camp in this tent without using any pegs. The only two essential peg points are to create the porch. It would be a little inconvenient if these were not in place. The porch area is a great size, perfect to leave shoes, bags, gear and saves the inside from any wet gear. I’m 6ft 5 and can crouch in it and take gear off with relative ease.

There is plenty of room between the inner sleeping area and the outer shell, which we were thankful for when the bear checked our tent out! 4.5/5

Ventilation

This tent is well ventilated with three ventilation flaps, two on the side and one of the rear. They have a little pop up utility to keep them open and Velcro to keep them closed. I would say that in strong winds this tent is a little too ventilated, the design means that there is a large gap at the entrance to the tent where the porch is created, which can funnel too much of an airflow. If summer camping is your thing then you’ll love this ventilation. 3.5/5

Setup

Setup can be done in 2 minutes and 18 seconds but who’s counting. There are 4 poles, which are made of aluminium alloy and have a great feel to them. They’re colour coded to show the sleeves they’re intended for. If you’re not camping in the rain you can leave the sleeping area attached for easy re-setup. 5/5

Ergonomics

Within the tent there are two pouches on either side, a good size for water bottles, knives, bear spray etc, there is a top zipper on the door to reveal a see through mesh. It’s weight saving I know but a completely transparent mesh layer is something that I would like to see. One thing that is lacking is somewhere to hang a light from the ceiling. 4/5

Performance

With a 5000mm hydrostatic head & a 7000mm hydrostatic ground sheet, this tent will take a beating. We used it in a storm in the Grand Titon National Park in which over an inch of rain fell overnight and we were right in the path of the runoff. Both the shell and groundsheet held up perfectly. 5/5

Design

Indicative of the name this is a three man tent, and would fit 3 adults at less of a squeeze than most other 3 mans, but for comfort I would still recommend this a two man tent. The tent is designed so your head is at the door and when you sit up the headroom is plentiful. The guide ropes all have reflective elements in them, very useful when making those midnight toilet runs. 5/5

Mirage 300+ vs Banshee 300 vs Tempest 300

First of all the cons of the Mirage vs the others are the price and the weight. You’re getting more tent, with the option to put stuff in the big porch there is more material which is a 0.5kg gain over the tempest and 0.9kg over the banshee. Price wise on sale you can grab this for near to the RRP of the tempest, while the Banshee will still likely win on cost.

The pro’s are that this tent is geodesic while the other are tunnel tents, that means you’ve got the added flexibility to be able to pitch this practically anywhere. The porch is fantastic if you know you’ll be taking lots of gear, as soon as you’re camping in the rain you’ll be glad you’ve got it, rather than having bags and shoes inside like you’ll need to do with the banshee.

Overall couldn’t be happier with this tent and hope it will continue to serve us well in the years to come.

By Will Cecil

I am an avid outdoors-man and adventure addict. I love travelling, I'm currently confined to being a weekend warrior and along with Emily seek breathtaking vistas and new experiences.

4 replies on “Vango Mirage 300+ Review”

Yes absolutely, we’ve used it in the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia in the wind and it was great. The skin is raised slightly from the ground in the porch (as you can see in the photos) so you’ll need to make sure you can face the rear of the tent to the direction of the wind for the best results!

Thanks so much for your review. Have been agonising over which tent to buy for months. Just bought this one based on your recommendation and looking forward to trying it out!

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