Blast From The Past: Vango At The Outdoor Trade Show

One of the surprises at OTS (Outdoor Trade Show) was seeing Vango, a brand I hadn’t experienced since I was a boy scout and then doing my DoE (Duke of Edinburgh Award). The orange canopy they have reminded me of the Force 10 Expedition tents I used to pitch up and sleep in.

I managed to get a 15 minute chat with marketing manager Andrea, who managed to squeeze me in for an impromptu presentation on the new things Vango have coming out.

Couple of things jumped out at me straight away. The new tents looks great, and were light and packed away small. I really liked the look of the Nevis:

I also found they still do the classic Force 10.

Sustainability and recycling

They were very excited to talk about talk sustainability and recycling efforts. I was impressed. Who knew you could make sleeping bags out of recycled fishing nets? And they feel like goose down.

I also loved the fact they have small roll mats. One that ended up the size of a coke can. Bonkers. They self inflating ones looked great and I will definitely be getting one as they are massively long. I have not been able to find decent sized one. The other element that stuck in my mind is that they were made with heat reflective technology so warmth leaving the body hits the mat and come back.

The final blast from the past they had at the show were the Trangia cooking systems. Again, some thing I lugged around for miles walking on various Expeditions growing up.

The Trangia is pretty timeless and we joked that there was very little new with Trangia. Mainly because it was such a perfect piece of equipment, there wasn’t really much more you could do with it. I will be saving up to get a full cooking kit.

If you haven’t looked at Vango products for a while or had totally forgotten about them like I had, then you should give them a revisit. It was a great walk down memory lane for me and still had some great products for preppers.

About The Author

Article by the Prepper Weekly editor. Prepper Weekly covers practical, UK-focused preparedness – from emergency planning, power cuts and flooding to food, water, kit and outdoor skills – without the fear-mongering. Find out more about Prepper Weekly.