How to Buy a Tent
Making the Right Choice for Your Kind of Camping
Making the right choice while shopping for your tent hinges on a few simple, yet important criteria:
What is your budget?
Once you have your budget set, you can start to consider your options and narrow down the most appropriate tent for your purposes by reviewing individual product features. As you'll see below, prices can vary greatly, so make sure that you pay only for what you need by reviewing a few key questions before making your choice.
What is the purpose of the tent?
Depending on the season and type of camping you plan to use the tent for, you will need to look at the benefits of a 3-season vs. a 4-season tent. Hikers will take weight into consideration and look for something that is easy to carry with them as they move between sites. A family driving out to a campsite may have need for something bigger to accommodate kids and gear, but because their camping will be restricted to the more temperate months, they will probably have no need to invest in a 4-season tent.
What style and size best suits your camping style?
Size (and therefore weight) is mostly dependent on whether you will be carrying the tent long distances, or whether it merely needs to fit into your car for the journey to the campground.
A two-person tent will fit two people without much room for anything else. It is advisable to purchase a tent for up to two more people than you actually need it for. The extra room is useful for storing your gear without affecting your sleeping space, and for comfortably waiting out inclement weather. If you travel as a family with your kids, a design sporting a vestibule and storage might prove to be a more useful option for you. Vestibules provide more storage space for your gear, as well as an area to remove shoes or wet clothing. Many times they can be purchased as an optional add-on to a tent.
Some tents feature multiple rooms, which help provide parents with some welcomed privacy. Another useful feature to look for is built-in storage pouches that help economize space inside the tent and provide somewhere reliable to put important items like eyeglasses or cellphones.
Tents come in 3 main styles in varying sizes:
- Free-Standing tents are usually dome shaped and provide more floor space and headroom than Tunnel tents. They are quiet in the wind (their numerous poles keep the sides taut) and are easy to pick up and move around, or dump out excess dirt due to their structured arch.
- Tunnel tents are similar in size to free-standing tents, but less bulky and lighter. They are designed to hang from hoop or arch shaped poles and must be pegged out to form their shape.
- Cabin tents are usually substantially larger and heavier than both of the above. They can contain multiple rooms for family camping and are usually tall enough to stand up in. They also have large windows.
What seasons will your tent be used in?
Tents can be divided into 3 types according to the time of year you will be using it:
- 3-season tents offer good ventilation and adequate weather protection for Spring, Summer and Fall camping. They do not, however, offer shelter against heavy snowfalls and high winds. They are usually lighter, roomier, better ventilated and less expensive than 4-season tents. They are popular with hikers, bikers and paddlers.
- 4-season tents are sufficiently weatherproofed to protect against severe weather conditions. They are designed to sit lower to the ground in curved shapes, have a large rainfly, and usually require more poles and pegs, which adds to their overall weight. They are not suited for anything other than winter camping, mountaineering and ski touring.
- Single Wall tents are most useful for expedition and four-season use. They are unique as they are designed with no rainfly. They are best suited for cooler, drier conditions due to the fabrics they are constructed from.
What constitutes good quality in tents?
- Seams should be folded and double-stitched to prevent leakage.
- Zippers should be heavy duty to withstand frequent use.
- Noseeum meshing helps keep out the smallest of bugs.
- A roof vent creates circulation and helps eliminate condensation inside the tent.
- Stake loops, preferably fabric, should be big enough to accommodate the largest plastic stake available.
- The rainfly should come well down the sides of the tent for waterproofing.
- Tent floor should be one solid piece. Seams can allow water seepage from the ground.
- Understand the pro's and cons of pole sleeves and pole clips:
- Sleeves distribute the pressure over a larger area of the canopy fabric and can be easier to set up with gloves or mittens.
- Pole clips can freeze in cold weather and break, although they provide better ventilation as they allow more air to circulate between the canopy and rainfly.
Footprints & Tarps
Invest in a quality ground cloth to protect the tent's base from sticks and sharps stones, and to assist in further waterproofing.
Camping Accessories
A great variety of tenting accessories help make camping a lot more convenient and comfortable than it was in the old days. Who said camping was supposed to be hard?
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