Intro:
Before you begin
Step 1:
Choose your design
Step 2:
Know your tent's fabric components
Step 3:
Choose your poles
Step 4:
Choose your price range
Step 5:
Go shopping (for a multi-purpose tent)
Step 6:
Go shopping (for a backpacking tent)
Step 7:
Go shopping (for a car camping tent)
Step 8:
Go shopping (for a family camping tent)
Step 9:
Go shopping (for extreme conditions or winter camping)

2torial #0500:
Learn2 Choose the Right Tent

Choosing the wrong tent can make your life miserable. Especially in the wilderness (where few of us are at home anymore) the wrong equipment can kill you...or at least send you packing down the road to a cheap motel. So take a few minutes to learn to buy a tent. You'll thank yourself many times on cold or rainy nights to come.

This 2torial discusses the different aspects of tent materials and design: as you read through it, consider what your own needs are and compare them to the options provided.

Following this discussion are four scenarios which describe how design and material choices translate to the outdoors experience. By the end, you should have a clear understanding of how to fulfill your wilderness shelter needs.

Choose your design

First, take into consideration design stability and overall effectiveness.

• The best of the larger tents (4 or more people) are often variations on the classic geodesic dome, providing a lot of floor space and exceptional strength.
• Good smaller tents (1 to 2 people) can be tunnel designs, half-domes variants or, less commonly, A-frames. Medium-sized tents (3 to 4 people) are the real wild cards. Companies come out with new designs yearly, but expanded Tunnel and reworked half-domes seem to be the basis for most designs.
• Family tents tend to use an umbrella or cabin design, which have a spacious interior and almost vertical walls. The trade-offs for those attractive features are: these tents are not very stable, weatherproof or easy to set up.
• Freestanding tents do not need stakes or guylines to remain upright. These are very stable and perform well in rocky or icy places. Be careful in heavy wind conditions, though--these tents can actually blow away unless they're staked out, and have some heavy objects (like people or backpacks) inside. Newer clip designs have the tent walls attached to the poles with nylon fasteners. They're also easy to set up and take down, and are very good performers in anything but extreme conditions. But when heavy wind is bending your tent walls almost parallel to the ground, traditional sleeve tents are probably your best bet.
• Capacity is subjective. People experience spaces differently, and what is adequate room for some folks, is claustrophobic for others. There's also a big difference between sleeping in a tent for a few hours a night, versus waiting out a storm for several days with three young kids bouncing around. Try to realistically assess your intended use: will you be miles from any alternative shelter, or a few hundred feet away from a game room?

Weight is a great concern when backpacking. A tent that weighs a pound less than its competitor allows you to bring an extra pound of food on your trip. Lighter materials that are still strong and durable, though, tend to raise tent costs significantly. On the other hand, if the tent is being set up in an established campsite, close to a car, it won't make much difference if the darn thing weighs ten pounds instead of four.

Know your tent's fabric components

Rip-stop nylon looks like a lot of little squares sewn into the material. It is lighter, more tear-resistant and "breathes" better than regular taffeta nylon, but doesn't retain waterproof coatings as well.

• The upper portion of the tent should be constructed of a combination of ripstop nylon and mesh panels for ventilation.
• The bottom of the tent should be taffeta nylon with a permanent waterproof coating (often made of urethane).
• A fly, or rainfly, is an outer layer of fabric that keeps the rain off the walls of the tent. It should cover the tent almost completely, and should be made of a tough, waterproof-coated material. Make sure that your fly is designed to leave at least one inch of space between itself and the tent surface when taut.

Zippers should be self-healing and the best mesh panels are generally described as no-see-um netting (very small holes).lipping.

Choose your poles

Poles are generally aluminum (or sometimes fiberglass), but aluminum varies widely in quality.

• Good aluminum poles are generally about 1/4 inch in diameter, flexible yet strong, anodized or coated in an electrolytic process, and are easy to fit together because they're held together with shock cords (thick, elastic bungee cords nestled inside the poles). The best aluminum is 7000 series, generally from Easton.
• Cheap aluminum poles are generally about 3/4 inch in diameter, inflexible, uncoated and not held together with shock cords. They're found on less expensive family camping tents.

Fiberglass poles are not as durable or lightweight as good aluminum, and again, are found on less expensive tents.

Choose your price range

• Cost can be the overriding consideration for many people. Families that camp once a year may not be willing to put the same resources into their equipment as a single person whose main recreation is living in the wilderness.

• Yet, the basic rule of "you get what you pay for" is especially true with tents. So there's one question you need to ask yourself: how much am I willing to pay to avoid being wet, suffocated, and cramped?

Go shopping (for a multi-purpose tent)

Dome tents are excellent for a wide variety of uses. They combine roomy interiors with sturdy contruction and light weight. Below is list of their general characteristics. The designs vary according to specific uses, which are discussed in later scenarios.

• Rip-stop and mesh upper section
• Floor coating that extends about four to six inches up the sides, often referred to as a "bathtub" design, which prevents the seepage of ground moisture.
• 7000 series aluminum shock-corded poles that do not obstruct entry/exit points. Even better--some poles are designed to be easily repaired in the field.

A tent fly that extends to within a few inches of the ground.

Go shopping (for a backpacking tent)

The main criteria for backpacking tents are quality of materials, weight and stability. If more than two or three people are going along, it can make more sense to use two small tents rather than one large one. Or, a larger tent's components (poles, tent, tent fly) can be divided among several people. With that in mind, here's what to look for:

• A tunnel or half-dome design (or modified versions of either)
• Rip-stop and mesh upper section
• Floor coating that extends about four to six inches up the sides, often referred to as a "bathtub" design, which prevents the seepage of ground moisture.
• 7000 series aluminum shock-corded poles that do not obstruct entry/exit points. Even better, some poles are designed to be easily repaired in the field.

A fly that extends to within a few inches of the grounding.

Go shopping (for a car camping tent)

Think of any situation where you don't have to carry your tent more than a few hundred feet. Suddenly, spaciousness and ease of use become more important than weight issues. Let's still keep in mind the quality and stability concerns, though.

• A dome or half-dome design (or modified versions of either)
• Rip-stop and mesh upper section
• Floor coating that extends about four to six inches up the sides, often referred to as a "bathtub" design, which prevents the seepage of ground moisture.
• 7000 series aluminum shock-corded poles that do not obstruct entry/exit points.
• Interior storage areas
• Adequate room to sit upright and read or talk
• A fly that extends to within a few inches of the ground, and possibly forms an enclosed area known as a vestibule to store things under

A clip-type fastening system for easy set up and take down

Go shopping (for a family camping tent)

How about those once-a-year (or sometimes two years) camping trips with young children? You want lots of room, and a tent that sets up pretty easily. You also want good ventilation and to keep everyone dry.

But cost can be a big factor with a family, and a lot of big, poorly made tents get sold to folks who don't want to spend a lot of money. If you choose to buy an umbrella or cabin style-tent, you'll do all right--as long as the weather stays nice. There will be room for cots, coolers and the family dog. Some have zippered interior walls and large screened areas. If these things are important to you, there's nothing wrong with buying a tent like this. Just be aware that if the weather turns bad, you'll be in a hot, humid, leaky enclosure that's liable to collapse in a strong wind.

An alternative might be to buy one or more high-quality dome tents. You'll give up the zippered walls, and you probably won't be able to stand fully erect, but you'll have a dry, comfortable stable tent that will last for years. You can also pack these into the backcountry by splitting up the components between the group, so take a look at this list of desirable features:

• A dome or modified dome design.
• Rip-stop and mesh upper section.
• Large mesh entrances/exits.
• Floor coating that extends about four to six inches up the sides, (often referred to as a "bathtub" design), which prevents the seepage of ground moisture.
• 6000 or 7000 series aluminum shock-corded poles that don't obstruct entry/exit points.
• Interior storage areas.
• Adequate room to sit upright, read or talk.
• A fly that extends to within a few inches of the ground, and possibly forms a vestibule (an enclosed area useful for storing gear).

A clip-type fastening system for easy set-up and take-down.

Go shopping (for extreme conditions or winter camping)

Some hardcore campers will camp in any kind of weather, at any time of year, and they need the most reliable equipment. By the time someone acquires a taste for this, they generally know exactly what they want in a tent. Still, it's a worthwhile to understand what's necessary for this type of use. In general, you're looking for:

• Full rip-stop upper section with mesh windows and entrances
• Floor coating that extends about four to six inches up the sides, often referred to as a "bathtub" design, which prevents the seepage of ground moisture.
• 7000 series aluminum shock-corded poles that do not obstruct entry/exit points. Even better, some poles are designed to be easily repaired in the field.
• A fly that extends to within a few inches of the ground, and forms a vestibule (an enclosed area useful for storing gear).
• Storm flaps that zipper over mesh areas.
• Extra, integrated poles to handle snow loads and high winds
• More vertical walls to shed snow more easily
• Sleeve fastening systems, rather than clip fasteners.

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