What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

[busere]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

That sucks...

[TxHad]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

Everyone,
Thanks for all of the input. I hadn't thought about the hammock idea, but then I remember why after a family camping trip I had with my wife and 4yr old son last weekend. Not sure about what kind of bugs you got where your at, but we have mosquitos the size of buzzards but swarming like the swallows of Capistrano. We needed the retreat of a tent. Luckily I brought a screen house to hang out in so we weren't confined to the tent all weekend.

Since my first post I did pick up a backpacking tent from Academy Sports + Outdoors. They don't have stores where most of you are at. They are mostly located in Texas stretching to the southeast. Don't have a huge selection, but I think I might have found a gem. It's under the brand No Limits. 1person tent called Highland Peak. Has aluminum poles, and a nice rainfly. It's a little longer than most so if you don't want to keep you pack or boots outside under the vestibule you can store them by your feet. The best little feature of this tent is there is a "gear hatch" at the foot of the tent. If you do keep your pack in the tent with you, don't have to crawl into the tent to get it. You just unzip the little door at the foot of the tent and get what you need. You can even access it with the rainfly on, because the rainfly also has a zippered opening down there. I looked at other tents and there is a few similar to this at other stores, but for a lot more money. This tent was only $59.99. I was kind of skeptical about quality, but I tried it out in the back yard a couple of weeks ago and slept in the tent in a thunderstorm with constant rain for about 4 hours. Not a wet spot anywhere. Pole system is free standing so it seemed very sturdy. Pretty happy so far.

[Mike]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

The old rule of thumb remains the same as it always did:

-Lightweight
-Reliable shelter
-Low Cost

"Pick Two" ('cause ya can't have all three).

I was around when free-standing dome tents first became widely available. It was a giant step for mankind when we were able to move from A-frame pup-tents to free-standing dome tents. The BIG advantage was that you could set up anywhere - even on a rock escarpment. Dome tents were pretty simple then: rectangular footprint with two crossing poles to create the dome.

Things got crazy after that. Now, tents have multiple poles and all kinds of angles and wasted space geometry that looks cool, but adds weight and bulk but serves no useable purpose.

My advice is to stick to a rectangular geometry that allows you and your camp buddies to use every bit of space. Get it big enough that you aren't touching the sides of the tent when laying down, but you don't need more. Time spent in a tent should be for sleeping. If it's daytime and it's raining, you should have good enough clothing to be out of the tent hiking or doing something and not scrunched up in a tent waiting for the rain to stop. The point is that the tent should be a shelter, not a living room.

The tent should have a separate rain fly that covers no less than 80% of the tent body. It is odd that many tents leave the bottom walls of the tents exposed where campers are most likely to be touching the walls of the tent and causing water to seep in.

Vestibules are nice for keeping stinky boots dry and OUTSIDE the tent. If you can't afford a vestibule, bring a "shoe-bag" so you can store your wet, muddy, dusty stinky boots outside the tent.

Make sure the tent is strong to wind. More damage is done to tents by wind than anything else, second of course to storing the tent wet. If your tent collapses in a wind/rain storm and your poles snap, you will be in a heap of misery. Imagine being in 50 mph or 60 mph or greater winds and your tent pole snaps or the tent shreds. There you are in a howling storm with no place to go. If you are days into the wilderness, you could be in an even bigger heap of misery. It is times like that when you either say "I am glad I paid $350 for my tent rather than $35" or you say. "I wish I had spent $350 on my tent rather than $35.00".

[Logtec]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

I like the hammock idea, but in northern Ontario the bugs can be and usually are... Bad.
I use a "north face rock 32" it's packs up small, is light(5lbs) and is fully screened.
In the winter I use "eureka alpenlite" is lighter(7lbs) and packs up and is great in the rain/snow.

[busere]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

Actually...I've switched to using just a tarp from Bearpaw Designs, a piece of Tyvek for a ground cloth and 550 cord.

[Mike]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

Comparitively and relatively speaking, tents are cheaper than they ever were. When I compaire even the Walley-World tents of today selling for +/- $100, they are so much better than the tents that we used to spend big money on. The considerations still remain the same as does the old adage: Lightweight, weatherproof, low-cost: "pick two" (because you can't get all three).

I don't think you have to spend a lot of money to get a reliable, useable tent today. Know what features you need most - prioritize them, and then do your shopping. For example, if you are a car camper, light-weight is not a big priority. Weather-proof is ALWAYS a priority unless you camp primarily in low-rain risk areas like deserts where your main concern is keeping bugs and snakes away from you while you sleep.

[busere]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

"Light weight" is a relative term...it really depends on what you consider light weight. It also depends on how far you travel with said weight...the further you travel, the more you start to reconsider your definition of "Light Weight".

[ppine]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

Weight is the most important issue, assuming you are looking at quality tents that will hold up.Say over $200 tents with a separate fly. A good tarp is worth considering. Or a hybrid tarp that closes up like a tent with no floor. They cost less and weigh less than a comparable tent.

[Mike]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

The old rule, like bicycles, used to be "Strong, lightweight, cheap" Pick two (because you never get all three.

However, good tents are getting so cheap these days that I think you CAN get strong, lightweight, cheap.

Look at this offering from WallyWorld. $29. 5' 7' Technically sleeps two, but let's call it a solo tent. 5.3 lbs. Full cover rain tarp. Jeeze, even if you bought it and applied a good water-repellent just to be sure. This is one heck of a buy for a backpacker:

[Mike]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

Weight is the most important issue, assuming you are looking at quality tents that will hold up.Say over $200 tents with a separate fly. A good tarp is worth considering. Or a hybrid tarp that closes up like a tent with no floor. They cost less and weigh less than a comparable tent.

Where I camp, insects - especially mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggars are a real nuisance. You can't sleep outside comfortably without netting, so a simple tarp just won't hack it in the well watered northwoods that border Canada and northward like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, etc.

[Irate Mormon]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

5 lbs is ridiculously heavy for backpacking, especially for a solo tent.

One can tarp camp with a headnet for a lot less weight penalty. OR, go with a single-wall tent. My two factors would be: weight (1), and protection (2). The latter has a lot to do with technique and site selection.

[ppine]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

A tent doesn't need to be fancy, but it needs to hold up and do what it is designed to do. If a quality tent is too expensive, buy a used one.

Tents are like shoes. Good ones are a pleasure to use and cheap ones fall apart when you least expect them to.
edit-
Mosquito netting can be added to a tarp.
Hammocks don't work for people with bad backs.
In Nevada, there are lots of great places where it is hard to find 2 trees to hang a hammock.

[immadman]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

Here in South Mississippi, although the weather permits sleeping under a tarp with some sort of groundcloth, there is the concern of critters. We do have an over abundance of crawling, flying, biting, stinging things that love our flesh. Some of these things also carry disease. As a seasoned (over 20 years now) paramedic, DMT, and general healthcare provider, I have seen the results of some of these diseases and it is not pretty. Granted, we take a chance anytime we go out of our homes and sometimes even in our homes. However, waking up with a cottonmouth or rattler in my bag with me is not something I like to think about. Not to mention some of the other things that might like to munch on me. ;-) That being said, here in the Southeast I believe I would prefer a tent over a tarp. Also given the propensity of what seems to be spontaneous thundershowers, I believe I would like a tent over even a hammock. Be that as it may, each person has his or her own preference some of which should take into account the environment he or she is in. Just my 0.02.

[Irate Mormon]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

The only critters I am afraid of are of the bipedal variety. I've got a cure for that, too :-)

[coloradowalt]

Re: What are the most important factors in choosing a backpacking tent?

I would suggest looking to see if you can rent tents. My local hiking/backpacking/outdoors store rents backpacks and tents. That way you could try out several tents before purchasing. Things to consider when looking at tents:

weight
single versus double wall
number of entry doors and location
size
vestibules
freestanding versus staked
how easy/hard to setup/takedown
airflow, does the tent breath (open and buttoned up)
tent reviews (pick thru them and find the gems)

Personally I have a Lunar Duo. Its a single wall staked tent that requires trekking poles to set up. Its lightweight (41 oz) with plenty of length for me (6'3") and width (I don't want to feel cramped). There are two doors so if two go one doesn't have to crawl over the other. Each door has a vestibule for boots and stuff. On occasion I do get some condensation but a simple wipe down in the morning takes care of that. This tent works for me. I don't mind carrying a tent for two when 99% of the time its just me using it. Others may want a single person tent that's lighter. Find what works for you. HYOH