The Vango Icarus 500 Deluxe is a classic five-person tunnel tent aimed squarely at family campers and couples who like a bit of extra room. Vango is a well-regarded name in UK camping, known for practical designs that cope with typical British weather without blowing the budget.
This version of the Icarus offers a generous living area, a flexible two-room bedroom setup and solid waterproofing, making it a strong candidate for weekend breaks and longer site-based holidays. With a user rating around four stars from over 40 reviews, it is generally well liked, though not without a few niggles.
Priced in the mid-range for a family tent of this size, it gives you a robust spec and an easy 20‑minute pitch time, which will appeal to families who want straightforward camping rather than wrestling with complicated kit.
The Vango Icarus 500 Deluxe suits families of four or five who mostly camp on established sites and want a comfortable base rather than an ultralight expedition shelter. The tunnel layout with a big porch and decent headroom is ideal if you like to bring camping furniture, bikes or a dog bed and still move around freely.
It is a good fit for couples who enjoy longer stays and prefer extra living space, perhaps with a bedroom left as a walk-in wardrobe or separate guest room. The option to split the sleeping area into two rooms gives some privacy between parents and kids or between friends sharing.
With a 15.6 kg weight and a fairly chunky pack size, it is designed for car camping rather than anything you would carry far. That makes it well suited to first-time and intermediate campers who want a reliable, easy-to-pitch tent at a sensible mid-range price, rather than enthusiasts chasing the lightest possible gear.
Festival goers who travel by car will also find it appealing, especially the large porch for muddy boots and kit. However, solo campers or those constantly moving between wild pitches will be better off with something smaller and lighter.
The standout strength of the Vango Icarus 500 Deluxe is the amount of usable space it delivers for a family. At 470 cm long and 315 cm wide with 195 cm peak height, most adults can stand upright in the living area, making it far more comfortable to spend time inside on wet or windy days.
Weather protection is reassuring, with a 4000 mm hydrostatic head polyester flysheet and a 10,000 mm groundsheet. Combined with the sewn-in floor, this helps keep out heavy rain and stop draughts and groundwater sneaking in, which is important for early and late season trips in the UK.
The living and sleeping areas are well thought out. Two external doors, both with full mesh panels, give flexible access and help with airflow and bug control. Inside, the sleeping compartment can be split into two bedrooms, offering privacy and better organisation for families.
Ease of pitching is another plus. The tent goes up in one piece with pre-attached guylines and PowerFlex fibreglass poles, so once you know the routine you can realistically be set up in around 20 minutes. The oversized carry bag makes packing away at the end of the trip far less of a struggle than some rivals.
Vango’s AirZone ventilation and breathable inner fabric round things off, helping to reduce condensation build-up and keep the interior more comfortable during warm spells.
At 15.6 kg and with a packed size of 72 x 31 x 31 cm, the Icarus 500 Deluxe is not the lightest or most compact five-person tent. It is perfectly manageable for car camping, but carrying it any distance from the car park to the pitch can feel like a two-person job, especially if you are also juggling other kit.
The fibreglass poles, while strong and flexible for typical use, are not as robust or long-lived as alloy or inflatable beam systems found on some higher-priced family tents. Care is needed during pitching and packing to avoid splintering, particularly in cold weather.
User ratings around 3.9 out of 5 suggest that while most owners are happy, some have encountered issues or niggles over time. These are likely to be around general wear, pole durability or condensation, which are fairly common complaints in this price band. It is also worth noting that, although the waterproof ratings are good, this is still very much a three-season, site-based family tent rather than a full-on storm shelter for exposed mountain conditions.
There is no mention of blackout or darkened bedroom fabric, which many modern family tents now offer. Light sleepers or families with young children who wake early with the dawn might miss that extra feature.
Living with the Vango Icarus 500 Deluxe is straightforward, which is exactly what most families want on a campsite. Pitching is a familiar fibreglass tunnel process: feed the poles through the sleeves, raise the arcs and then tension with the guylines and internal tension straps. Because the tent goes up as one unit with the inner already attached, you are not faffing about with multiple separate pieces in the rain.
Once pitched, access is excellent. Having both a front and a side door means you can orient the tent to suit your pitch and prevailing wind. The mesh panels help keep insects out while still allowing air to move through, which is especially helpful when cooking in the porch or drying damp clothing.
Inside, the headroom makes a big difference. You can stand to get dressed, move chairs around and keep children entertained without everyone crawling or stooping. The porch area naturally becomes the zone for muddy boots, bikes and cool boxes, while the inner bedroom compartment stays cleaner and more organised.
Packing up is less stressful than many similar tents thanks to the oversized stuff sack. Rather than needing a perfect tight roll, you can fold and bundle the tent reasonably neatly and still get it back in the bag. The polyester fabrics are easy to wipe down, and the sewn-in groundsheet helps restrict dirt to the porch and entrance areas instead of spreading throughout the sleeping space.
In terms of weather protection, the Icarus 500 Deluxe is well specified for typical British family camping. A 4000 mm hydrostatic head flysheet offers solid defence against sustained rain, while the 10,000 mm groundsheet and sewn-in construction form a secure bathtub floor that resists puddles and damp grass. When combined with correctly tensioned guylines and internal tension straps, the tunnel structure provides good overall stability.
Ventilation is handled via Vango’s AirZone system, mesh doors and breathable inner fabric. This combination allows moist air to escape, reducing the risk of heavy condensation on cooler nights. For a polyester family tent, you should still expect some moisture build-up in certain conditions, but the design helps keep it manageable.
The interior layout is family friendly. The sleeping area is designed for up to five people and can be split into two bedrooms with zipped dividers, ideal for separating parents and children or creating a quiet corner for naps. Mesh on the inner doors adds privacy while promoting airflow, and the main living room provides enough space for a table and chairs.
The large porch is a real asset. It gives you an obvious place for wet coats, muddy boots and outdoor gear, keeping the main living and sleeping zone cleaner and drier. It also adds sheltered storage for bikes, pushchairs or a camping kitchen unit. Having two external doors makes the porch area more flexible and reduces the bottleneck effect you sometimes get with single-entrance family tents.
Construction uses PowerFlex fibreglass poles, chosen to keep the weight and cost under control. They are strong and have some give in gusty winds, but they do require some care, and using all the guylines and tension straps is important for best performance in bad weather.
The Vango Icarus 500 Deluxe sits in the mid-range for a five-person family tent, and its specification broadly reflects that. You are not paying premium money for alloy poles or blackout bedrooms, but you do get a robust waterproof flysheet, a high-spec groundsheet, generous living space and a thoughtful layout.
With a user rating just under four stars and over 40 reviews, it clearly works well for many families, though the score hints at a few long-term durability or usability concerns. Given the price point, that is to be expected to some extent, and most buyers will find the balance of space, weather protection and ease of use good for regular UK campsite trips.
If you want the very latest airbeam technology or luxury features, you will have to spend more. However, if your priority is a solid, proven tunnel tent that will comfortably house a family and does not cost the earth, the Icarus 500 Deluxe offers fair value for money.
The Vango Icarus 500 Deluxe Family Tent is a solid, no-nonsense choice for families who want a spacious, weatherproof base for campsite holidays without getting into premium price territory. It combines generous standing room, a flexible two-bedroom layout and a genuinely useful porch with proven waterproofing and sensible ventilation.
It is not the lightest or most compact tent in its class, and the fibreglass pole construction and lack of blackout bedrooms may put off some buyers looking for the very latest features. The slightly mixed, though generally positive, user rating also suggests that careful pitching and sensible care will reward you with better long-term reliability.
For car-based family camping, weekend getaways and longer stays on UK sites, the Icarus 500 Deluxe remains a strong, practical option. If you value space, straightforward pitching and solid weather performance over fancy extras, it deserves a place high on your shortlist.
