Tent campers - I know you're out there

[juligrl]

I've seen your posts so I know there are a few tent campers around. I'm in the market for a new tent - I've been borrowing and using hand-me-downs for a couple of years now, so I'm ready to start looking. Tell me about your tent - what kind/size is it, any neat features, what do you love about it, what would you change. I want to hear it all!

Thanks!

 

[CottontailCurl]

Hey there, the best advice I can give you is to do a search for "review" and the brand name of any tent you think you'd like to buy. We bought a tent that looked great and solid, had loads of room, etc. Before we were 2 days into the first camping trip with that tent, 2 of the poles were broken (one of my sons had insisted on bringing duct tape with us that trip, we'd never packed it before, but it ended up saving the day!) This was a Northwest Territory tent, when I did a search to replace that tent I found out reviews that mentioned many problems with it, but mostly breaking tent poles.

The tent we'd had for years and many trips before that was a Greatland, we'd never had any problems with it, easy to set up, lots of room for a family with smaller kids. We were replacing it to have more room for the taller people in the family. It was the longer, 3 room tent with the larger room in the middle and two smaller rooms on the side. When the kids were smaller they stayed in the middle room on one full air mattress, my husband and I on a single in one side room and the luggage in the other side room. When the kids got older, we moved to 3 singles in the middle room, our single, and the old luggage side became the space for one kid on a single. We just put each person's luggage at the end of their air mattress. It's a 9 x 13 and we covered it with a 20 x 10 tarp. (Oh, in our section of the tent we kept our suitcase and refrigerator/cooler at the end of our mattress).

Good luck searching.

(ps, thanks for the trip down memory lane, you've got me thinking about the kids all lined up on the air mattress as I'm telling them it's time to wake up to go to the Magic Kingdom. Easiest wake up ever.)

 

[mousebrain]

Right now the local target has a cabin tent on sale for 139.95. I wish my tent was tore up so I could justify getting this one, but o well, its in good shape even after 3 trips to the fort! I lived and worked at a campgrounds in the 80's and noticed these where very popular with many people. It can hold up to 9peeps, and be split into 2 rooms.

Have fun! The Fort is the best!
Mousebrain

 

[clkelley]

I have a Coleman 13x13 L-shaped tent and two Wal-Mart 9x9 dome tents. They all serve their purpose and work very well. Up until recently, I used the 13x13 for my annual trips to WDW all by myself and I use the smaller ones for friends at WDW, and I also use one of the smaller ones for short weekend trips with Scouts.

Unless your kids are very young, I'm a firm believer in setting up tents for everyone, that way you have plenty of room.

Most tents when they state sleeping room, mean just people lined up in sleeping bags. If you want any "stuff" at all in your tent, divide the number on the package at least in half.

I finally got my dream camper, so I'll be using the camper except for Scout trips when it is not feasible, and at Ft. Wilderness this October, some friends of mine will be using the big Coleman.

 

[TomM]

You might want to look at a Eureka. I have used the smaller ones for backpacking with groups of youth and they held up extremely well for several years. They have a rainfly and are sealed very well. Look at Campmor.com and I think Cabela's carry them. Hope you find the one you are looking for.

 

[BarleyJack]

I have a Coleman Tucana, bought it on sale at target. Its huge! 10 x 16 I think are the official dimensions. Overall it is pretty easy to set up, but the rainfly takes some patience. It's tall in the center so one doesn't have to hunch over to move around in it. I think it says it sleeps 10, but we like to spread out so its perfect for 2 people on long stays; we put the air mattresses on one end and a table set up on the other which will be great for TV/Fridge for those longer less "roughing it" trips. It has room dividers that you can hook from the ceiling for more privacy, dividing it into 3 spaces, we never use them. There is an electrical port to the right of the front door for extension cord access. The front door has poles in it, so actually swings open/closed like a regular door (there are zippers as well). We've camped in it a few times, during rain and have always stayed dry. Here's a link to the pic:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/im...61-6498063?ie=UTF8&n=3375251&s=sporting-goods

 

[juligrl]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/im...61-6498063?ie=UTF8&n=3375251&s=sporting-goods

That's one of the tents I've been checking out! Neat! Wow, 10x16 is pretty big - having never seen it set up, I didn't realize how big it is.

Thanks to whoever suggested checking out the reviews of the tents I'm considering.

The other two I'm kind of checking out now are a Greatland tent with a screen porch (I think they carry it at Target), and the Quad pole dome tent from Cabela's (probably the 5-6 person capacity).

I really wish there was a way to try a tent before you buy it. There's a business idea some enterprising folks.

 

[CottontailCurl]

I wonder if Eddie Bauer is a good brand? This huge tent is on sale at Target, too:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...-3935357?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B00079RN54

 

[wen8jr]

We bought a Wenger tent this year after TONS of research from Amazon and love it. Our last tent was a Coleman dome tent that we just out grew. We go hiking and camping at least once a month. We paid around $150 and caught a free shipping promo. Here is the description:

Wenger Lugano 16- by 10-Foot Two-Room Eight-Person Family Tent with Canopy

We use it without the canopy sometimes. It does not sweat at all, it is airy, it is VERY EASY to set up, easy to take down and the poles are durable. The poles have connecting poles, so you don't have to worry about not knowing how to do it the next time around. It will fit at least two queen air beds, we use 3 twins and have a lot of room to walk around. My DH is 6' tall and he can walk all around in it without any problem. I've never been more comfortable sleeping in a tent.

My advice would be to read all the reviews on ANY tent you plan to buy. You might be surprised at the bad reviews even bigger names and more expensive tents may have.


Good Luck.

 

[Katie Dawn]

Wow, that Eddie Bauer is a nice looking tent!

Just wanted to give you a on your quest...can't be much help here. We bought our 4 person (fits 2 people with their stuff comfortably) tent at Wal-mart (Ozark Trail brand) right after we got married (when I was still a little unsure about the whole idea of camping). It's not fancy but has held up well and we haven't had a good reason to upgrade yet.

Good luck to you!

 

[nuke]

We bought a Greatland 2 room tent about 10 years ago and it has worked out great until this year. For some reason it won't set up correctly and the roofline is crooked and it's almost like the fabric is twisted. We were kind of the market for a new tent anyways because the Greatland had metal poles and took up a lot of room in the car.

So we bought a Coleman Sundome and although it is smaller than the greatland it is so nice and easy to set up. It's 10x12 instead of the 10x14 we had before so we didn't lose that much room. It also packs up much more compactly.

 

[KristinU]

We have the same 13x13 L-shaped Coleman that CLKelley mentioned. Having been backpackers before, it still seems mammoth to us (we've had it about 4 years now). But, like Nuke mentioned, a bigger tent with more bells and whistles also means more setup time.

Our backpacking tent is a Kelty, which at 12 years of age, still seems new. It is in great shape and is really well made.

If we were to replace the Coleman, I think I'd look to a family-size Kelty...but probably not as big as the Coleman we have - I'm getting tired of all of the set-up involved with it...which is why I've been toying with the idea of building/buying a teardrop trailer...or if I had a bigger tow vehicle, a T@B like CLKelley's!