Need a new tent. Any advice?

[Dreaming of Disney]

We are a family of 5. DH, Me, DD (5), Twin DD's (3). We need to buy a new tent and we want something durable and fairly roomy. It doesn't have to be a palace, but I don't want to be sleeping on top of each other either. I would like to be able to put 2 queen size air mattresses in it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, could someone post exactly how I should take care of our new tent. Are there any special things we can do so it won't leak or get holes in it.

Thank you all so much!

 

[We4mickey]

There are some many differant types of tents. It would be hard for me to tell you what to buy.
1. how much are you going to spend?
2.check out online.
3. what mfg.
4. Then 1 room tent or 2,3 or 4rm.

Check your local target or any sporting good store and also a good surplus store. Price for tents can range from $100.00 to $500.00. It all up to you.

When you buy a tent it will tell you how to care for it.
Hope this helps...

 

[Gillian]

I don't know when you need the tent, but there are certain times of year when EVERYONE has sales on tents & camping gear. If you can wait, I'd get it on sale. The only sales that come to mind are for Father's day, but I know at times I'd pull the flyers out of the paper & all the outdoor stuff was on sale.

We have a 4 room from Target. It's very large & T shaped. We had room for an unzipped sleeping bag in one "room," & all of our gear in another. The 2 main rooms were open (we took down the curtain), allowing for a queen bed plus a big chunk of floor space. It was really too large for us (me, DH, DS 2). We set it up in the living room before we left, but decided all the space would be fun.

Target sells 2 brands - Eddie Bauer & the other one. our tent is the other one (sorry I can't remember the name!) It's not great quality and one of the zippers broke. The Eddie Bauer ones seem better. I would buy one & set it up (inside) to see how you like it.

We own 3 tents, this one, a cheap 2 man dome, and a 4 person Kelty. When you assemble them all at once, the quality of the Kelty is evident. But for 2-3 times the price, it may not be worth it. I know that tent will last for a very long time. It's got great ventilation, nice rain fly, etc. We can't use it right now, but it's a keeper.

I don't know if this is helping! If you want to keep this tent forever & have money to burn, check out higher end tents from a hiking store. Otherwise, look at places like sears & Target, but beware of really cheap tents

Oh, and for care. It will tell you, but you can also consider sealing the seams. The most important thing is never to store a wet tent! And it's a good idea to put a tarp underneath the tent to protect the floor, although they make the bottoms stronger now, so you don't really need to. Make sure it doesn't stick out from underneath, because if it rains, the water will be channeled under your tent.

Sorry this is so long!

 

[Debbie in Townsville]

Go to a camping store and look at the expensive tents, then shop around for one at the discount stores after you know what you want.

We ended up getting a Eureka, 12'x12' and paid $500 for it about 10 years ago. I was so tired of the cheap tents! It was definately worth it.

It is lighter, easy to set up (I can do it by myself), has 3 large screen windows plus the door opens to a window, the door flap opens all the way, it has a separate rain fly that also shades it, we've never had a problem with any of the zippers, it fits back into the storage duffle that came with it, it is large enough for 4 cots, plus all our gear. We've used it in almost freezing weather and hot weather, plus several very heavy thunderstorms.

The biggest difference with the cheaper tents is the number of windows. Being able to open up windows on all four sides was important to us - I HATE sleeping when it's stuffy!

 

[Dreaming of Disney]

Thanks for the great responces! I have been looking at kmart and target. We have about a $150 budget. I really didn't know there was so much difference in tents. I found soemthing at Kmart with two rooms, that sleeps 7-8 people. The name brand is Northern Territories. It is right in our price range, but now I'm wondering if we should bite the bullet and purchase a more expensive tent. Has anyone had good luck with tents that have been purchased at discount stores? I don't want to buy something and have to replace it in a year or two because it was too cheap.

 

[TomM]

Look at Cabela's tents in the internet. They are good tents, will last a long time if cared for. Some seams are factory "taped" to keep them from leaking. Also you will want to seal the seams along the floor of a new tent. It is an easy job. The seam seal is sold in about any sporting goods store that sells tents. In caring for the tent, just make sure it is not stored damp or wet. It is best to store the tent loosely or even hanging if you have the room. Eureka is a good brand of tent, LL Bean also makes some nice family tents. Considering the cost of motel rooms and especially camping at Ft Wilderness as compared to rooms, it doesn't take long to pay for a very nice tent. Have fun shopping.
TomM

 

[Gillian]

Actually, our tent is Eureka also. I just looked at the pictures. We got it at Campmor, in NJ, but they also have a website www.campmor.com It's a good place to comparison shop. Our baby back pack carrier is Kelty

A good tent is something that you won't have to replace, if you treat it right. Now, I'm really not sure about our Target tent. It just doesn't seem that sturdy. But that might just be because it is so large! We are planning to buy a pop up soon, so a long lasting tent wasn't as important to us this time as it was when we bought the Eureka.

Happy shopping!

PS looks like campmor is having sales. Here's one in your price range, don't know if it's good, but it's big!
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=501583&prmenbr=226

 

[sshd]

We had a good tent from Walmart. We used it at least 2-3 times a year for a good 5 years but we had a little accident when we set it up last and one of the clips that hook to the poles ripped off. I was able to sew and then tape it and it didn't leak or anything but we decided to purchase a new tent anyway just to be safe since we spend at least a month a year in there with our trips.
Anyway, we just purchased a Field & Stream brand 4 room dome tent from Sam's Club for $150. It is HUGE. They had a smaller one, 3 room but we wanted the big one.
I would say it is up to you if you want to buy the more expensive one or not. If you pay $150 for a tent you can go through 3 of them and still not touch the $500 you can pay for a higher end tent. So that is up to you, spend less and take the chance that you will get a great, or not so great tent or bite the bullet on the price and well have the same thing happen. Our tent rip was our fault not the tent's fault so I would say that we got our use out of it and we were ready for a change too. New model very different style we are excited to get to use it in November.

 

[tiggereyore]

Hi Bought a northern territories tent a Kmart 7-8 yrs ago. Ours is not a "Dome" tent. We camped on the shores of Lake Champlain in northern VT basically the Canadian border and had the dome tent blown down on us in more than one storm us it pops back up but.... Needless to say we bought a solid pole I guess you'd call it. The other problem we had is my DH is 6'1" and he was sick of crawling in and out. Ours has a 6'6" center height down to a 5'6" back wall, and a small screen room on the front a definate plus (kept out most of the bugs). Alas our beloved tent is going in the yard sale this weekend because we now have a trailer. I got sick of making the 3 and 10month old (at the time of the last tent trip) keep their hands off the sides during rain. Also if your doing any camping in sand invest in the sand stakes ( I didn't believe in them HaHa tent blew down on my head) check out Ames if you've got one near you thier liquidation sale starts sunday, Sams, Bj's, Cosco all have good tents. LL Bean is expensive but backs their stuff for yrs. M&D have a Screen House from them they've had it 5 yrs and still looks brand new. Good luck

 

[jwill]

I just bought a new tent for my 1st solo trip to FW. The tent is a Coleman Durango 4-5 person dome tent, plenty of room for me and my luggage. Do I need to treat fabric of tent with a spray type water proofer/repellant or just the seams?

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3-87 Offsite
7-87 Offsite
7-00 DL
7-01 Poly
7-02 WL
Dec FW

 

[clkelley]

I always seal the seams and douse our tents with Scotch Guard about every 6 months.

Our tents get lots of use (one weekend a month and two full weeks each year)

The seam sealer keeps the tent from leaking and the Scotch Guard helps with the wicking and helps it stay cleaner.

Even though tent bottoms are stronger nowadays, I always buy a large sheet of 6 or 8 mil plastic (the thickest stuff) (in the painting section) and I cut 2 sheets of it just smaller than the tent.

One goes underneath, and one goes inside. This helps keep the water out and if any does seep underneath the plastic inside keeps the water away from your stuff.

I also pick up a sheet of the very thinnest painters plastic and put it under the good groundcloth, that way, nothing touches the ground and I can just throw away the thin plastic. It keeps everything cleaner and keeps my hands and knees clean when I'm rolling it all up.

As far as the tents we use, we have the 10x10 Wal-Mart tents that were around $40 each. (Myself and the boys each have our own tent) Without the rainfly they are mostly screen walls that have lots of ventilation. With the rainfly, you can keep the front and back screens open and still have ventilation, except in the heaviest rain.

With our frequent use, we replace our tents about every three years, but still feel we're getting a good deal.

 

[jwill]

Thanks for the tip on using a plastic sheet on the inside floor of the tent I neverthought of that. I would imagine it would be alot easier to clean out when packing up also, just wrap it up and catch all the debris you track in the tent. I always used a tarp under my old tent but may try the drop cloth under the tarp this year also.

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3-87 Offsite
7-87 Offsite
7-00 DL
7-01 Poly
7-02 WL
Dec FW

 

[kingdomqueen]

We bought a 3 room tent from K-Mart a few years age, and have had good luck with it except for a small amount of leaking at the corners where the floor and the sides meet. We have just bought our boys a smaler coleman, and have noticed that the floor comes up the side about 4". The larger ones have this also. It looks like it would solve our problem. We bought ours at BJ's, and they had several larger tents. I think the most expensive was $150. Hope this helps. Val