Shopping for a tent (Poll)

How big is your tent?

  • 1 person

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • 2 person

    Votes: 23 35.4%

  • 3 person

    Votes: 20 30.8%

  • 4 person

    Votes: 19 29.2%

  • for more than 4 people

    Votes: 2 3.1%
  • Total voters
    65
Afan

Afan

... and this is my real name.
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Messages
521
Location
Urbandale, IA
Bike
1998 ST1100
STOC #
8832
Guess what!?! Shopping for a tent! :D
Doing some research. Searched through big number of posts on this and other forums, as well as amazon/youtube reviews. The list is huge and to shorten it I need your help. So, to make it short I need your help: How big tent you're using?

Thanks for your help.
 
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Mine's a 2 person and it's not long enough....Eureka, great tent otherwise....should have got the 3 man, 6 inches longer........it does pack very small though.....good luck on your search, should be discounted this time of year........ff....BTW, not much time before WiStoc...see ya there.
 
I have a 2 man, 4 man and 6 man. Depends on whether I'm alone or have the SO along as to which tent gets packed.
 
REI is having their Labor Day Sale now.

I have both a 1 and 2 man tent. I carry the one man when the probability of good weather is highest. The 2 man is obviously larger inside but almost as important are the 2 large vestibules for storing stuff out of the rain.
 
No vote box for 2 and 3. It depends on where I'm going. I have a 2 that I carry most of the time and a 3 for when I want more room and a sturdier tent.

Mountain Hardwear Drifter 2 usually because it packs smaller.

MOUNTAIN PASS 3XTE for rainy stormy and lots of room. Both fit in a 1300 sidebag.
 
We have a North Face 3 man that my wife and I used for years, then we moved to a big 4 or 5 LL Bean Tent - the Vector, I think, that takes either a queen air mattress or two cots with room down the center (for car camping). This summer I bought a Big Agnes 4 man tent - roughly 8' x 10' foot print, just a bit smaller than 8 x 8 for the tent floor. For me, it was important to be able to stand up in the tent instead of pulling my pants on while on my back.

For selecting a tent, I picked my criteria (height, and enough floor area for a single air mattress + room to spread my junk out, a large vestibule for shedding wet gear in rain, and hooks to the tent poles (no pole sleeves - they are a pita)), sorted by price, and then looked at all the tents in that price range that fit my criteria. Ended up weeding some tents because they missed one or more of my chosen features and ended up w/ the Big A. I like it.

Your needs/wants will, of course, vary.
 
2 man Kelty Logic for me and a 3 man Marmot Lime lite for the wife and I. The kelty is great for warm weather with a lot of fly screen and roll up fly. The Marmot has seen a lot of rain and works well but not as breathable as the Kelty for warm weather. Oh, also have a Colman 6 person tent for car camping, inexpensive and roomy.
 
I have a Slumberjack Trail Tent 4. It's a really nice size tent, and allows me to get my britches on, without having to lay down n slither into them. Lots of room for all my gear and my Kermit too. I really enjoy being able to have the chair in the tent, especially if it's raining.

Only drawback, for me, is it has fiberglass poles. Try to get a tent that clips to the poles. That's especially important it you have to put it up in bad weather.

There are a lot of tents to choose from. You don't have to spend big bucks to get a good quality tent. I would however try to avoid WalMart again.

I believe I got it off Amazon and the price wasn't that bad either. Check around they're good deals out there, especially this time of year.
 
I used 2 man tents for years and got tired of being cramped. Now I use a Eureka 4 man Timberline. A queen size air mattress with floor space left over. The vestibule is nice for storing things.
 
I have a 2 person tent, but as not yet has been said here (or I missed it) that really only is room for 1 person and some gear. Just enough for me though, and it packs small.
You've seen my tent set up. I've seen what you bring camping too :grin:
If you want JUST enough for one then look over the 2 person tents, or maybe even 3 person tents for a bit of extra room.
If you want a lot of room then a 4 or more person tent is the way to go. But be aware that many 3 person and most 4 person tents don't pack very small for packing on a bike. OK if across the back seat, but that size packs better if you pull a trailer.

Some important things to keep in mind:
-aluminum poles won't snap in cool weather... or any other weather if well taken care of
-look for clips to attach tent to poles
-You want a rain fly that comes down to the ground on all sides (some favorite tents I've seen at STOC events don't have this but are well enough made to get away with it in all but the worse storms)
-it's nice if there is a floor saver/foot print/ground cloth (what ever they want to call it) that is made for the tent model
-also nice is 2 vestibules, one on each side, for extra gear that doesn't need to sit inside the tent... but that you want to keep dry in case it does rain. A vestibule adds space where you can put things so the inside of the tent doesn't have to be as big.

With some of this in mind you can browse a few 3 & 4 person choices HERE on Amazon. Pricing will be more than Walmart, but the tents will last.
Some Kelty tents are very good also and can be bought at Scheels or Bass Pro Shops in town here.

ps- my favorite currently is the Alps Extreme 2 or Extreme 3 tents. But for now my current MountainSmith tent is still serviceable and I will continue to use it until otherwise.
 
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I use a Marmot Limelight 3P for solo camping which is quick and easy to set up. When I am camping with my wife, we use a Eureka Taron Basecamp 4P tent that takes more time to set up. My friend has a Redverz Atacama Expedition 2P which was designed for motorcycle camping; it is has plenty of room, is easy to set up, but it costs a lot of money.
 
1 man bivy, 2 man Eureka (excellent for overnight), 4 man instant set for 1+ trips (it's my oasis and base camp, and allows room for my chair if I want!). Shrug... It's all about your personal comfort level. :)

Cheers!
 
I always (*) use a 2-person tent-- gives me plenty of room for myself and my gear. Currently it's an REI Half Dome Plus, after I wore out a Kelty Quattro 2M after 18 years of extensive use.

Some of the features of the Kelty were better (elongated hexagon footprint rather than rectangle, end entry and windows that could be opened without also leaving the screen open) but the REI has vestibules on both sides (which is to say, the fly extends a couple feet from the tent so there is a covered exterior space; but it's difficult to see how to enter or exit the tent without having both the vestibule and tent doors open at the same time- a less-than-desirable arrangement in bad weather.)

The Kelty never leaked on me; the REI put water on me the very first time I used it. Even after re-sealing the seams and the fly multiple times water finds its way in during a prolonged heavy rain.

Ventilation was better on the Kelty; the fly extended far enough past the doors that I could open the windows at least partway in even heavy weather even when the wind was blowing directly toward them. The doors on the REI tent are mesh only, so there is no way to open a window without also exposing the mesh to the elements. That's fine for desert conditions where rain, dew, and insects are at a minumum but not such a great thing here in the mid-Atlantic.

The tents are comparable in terms of packed bulk and weight. They are about the same in terms of ease of setup and solid feel.

(*I do have a cheapie Eureka! one-person tent that sees occasional use when I am bicycle touring but only for a few nights every couple of years when the weather is good. It's not really a tent I'd consider for prolonged use nor would I want to be in it during heavy weather.)
 
Regarding clips vs. sleeves. I've not really understood most peoples thoughts that clips are better. For me and my old North Face VE24, the aluminum poles in sleeves could not be easier or sturdier. Much better than my other 'clipped' tent.

Regarding size, the first thing I would look at is height/headroom in a three person tent. At least 4 ft.

Anybody ever refurbish a tents' floor seams? The North Face is old and the seams and floor show it. Dried/cracked seam sealer is basically all that keeps me from using it these days..
 
mcthorogood said:
I use a Marmot Limelight 3P for solo camping which is quick and easy to set up.
Click to expand...

+1 here. I too used the Marmot Limelight 3P before I went to a camping trailer. I was very pleased with it and if at some point in time I was to go back to a tent, prolly not, I would get the Marmot once again.
 
Since we're riding and not backpacking where size and weight are critical, I would go for a larger tent, i.e. at least a 3 man. Better to have a little extra room than not. I have a 4 man and the extra room is great for my camp chair and all my gear. In reality, a 4 man is barely enough room for 3. With two in there, with gear, it's pretty packed.

A few recommendations...

  • clips instead of sleeves to attach the tent to the poles... much easier setup IMO.
  • two doors... keeps your roomie from crawling over you to get out and promotes good airflow.
  • aluminum poles... they're lighter and last longer.
  • make sure the fly covers all the way to the ground, all the way around.
 
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:think1:Buy a $39-49 tent from Walmart...Use it on your outing(s)...(as you did recently)... until its fiberglass poles break or it "bugs" you in some ways or two...then leave it at campsite with a "FREE" sign on it as you leave to go back home...you make a finder & yourself happy!...next time...go to Walmart/Kmart/Target & get another/different one & repeat(buy tent close to rally/first campsite saves you from packing a "really $$ "good-tent" both ways)...just a thought...maybe even one of the $29 markdowns for "fun"?:tent3::):03biker:
 
4 man here. Nothing better than having extra room for gear and easier to get changed while inside. The taller the better is my opinion.

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