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A
tent is an interesting piece of equipment.
The most obvious use for a tent is a home away from home when
you’re out on the trail. But
if the weather turns sour your tent becomes a critical piece of
equipment to offer you protection.
This
guide has been designed as a Tent 101 primarily to help you select the
right tent for car camping, camping, backcountry, or mountain climbing.
This guide will not be reviewing larger “family” tents which
hold eight or more people and stand over ten feet in height.
OutdoorPlaces.Com makes a strong attempt at having an agnostic
approach to our gear guides, and we do not endorse or recommend one
particular brand or style. OutdoorPlaces.Com
does sell quality tents at our Outdoor eStore which you can visit.
Tents
range from department store no-name brand pup tents to specialized
single wall construction made of specialized material for assaults into
the death zones of the world. There
are a number of variables to consider when selecting your tent.
You don’t have to have a large budget to get a quality tent,
but you do need to do some research and understand what you are looking
for.
Before
buying your tent ask yourself a series of questions:
-
What
is my budget? A
reasonable amount of money to spend on a quality tent for two people
ranges from $150 to $300. You
can find bargains for less, and of course you can spend a lot more.
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What
kind of camping will I be doing?
Will you be car camping, camping at a primitive site, or
hiking in the backcountry? If
you plan to do car camping the ability to set up a tent in the dark
isn’t as critical as say a tent used for camping or in the
backcountry. Further,
if your car camping and the weather turns sour, you can always head
to your car if things get really soggy, you don’t have that luxury
in the backcountry.
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What
is the weather like where I will be camping?
The needs of a tent if you are desert camping is very
different from your needs if you will be camping in Olympic National
Park in Washington state. Your
needs will also be different if you will be camping in the plains of
the mid-west, or in the unpredictable weather of the Presidentials
in New Hampshire.
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How
much space do you need? This
is a personal decision. If
you plan to hike in the backcountry with a friend do you really want
to hear them snoring? Do
you tend to move around? Remember
the larger the tent you carry the heavier it gets.
USE
Tents
come in two basic styles for use, but some can serve double duty.
You will hear tents called three-season and four-season.
A three-season tent is generally used in spring, summer and fall
conditions in a temperate climate.
A four-season tent can be used in spring, summer and fall, but
also has features like full-cover rainflies, vestibules and window
panels that can be zipped closed. They
also tend to be heavier with more poles to withstand both wind and the
weight of snow that can accumulate on a tent.
Four-season tents can also be called mountaineering or
high-altitude tents.
You
may also hear tents called summer tents or screen tents.
Summer tents are made of light mesh and have a basic rainfly.
Designed for the warmest of climates they are good in southern
and desert regions, as long as it doesn’t get too cool when the sun
goes down.
Finally
in looking for a new tent you might here a tent called all-season or
convertible. Convertible
tents are designed with a number of options that make them good for a
variety of conditions. They
may have an optional vestibule to use in bad weather, or extra poles for
use in the winter months. They
also may have large mesh windows that can be zippered open or closed
depending on the season and whether you want a breeze to flow through,
or the heat to stay in.
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