Buying A Tent | The Tent Buyers Guide

Nothing gets you closer to nature than spending a night out under the stars, but how close to nature are you willing to get? Buy cheap and you may be getting a lot closer than you bargained for, with the elements and the odd bug or two joining you for the night.

However, you don’t need to blow a whole month’s wages on a top of the range tent if you are not planning on camping at altitude or heading out in weather that would have Sir Edmund Hilary reconsidering his plans. You can spend a little or a lot on a tent, but many people don’t get it right first time, especially those who remember camping trips  from their childhood and view the idea of camping with rose tinted spectacles.

A well considered tent can be the difference between a horrific never to be repeated holiday, or a delight that you will want to do every time the weather permits. So to help you get the best tent which will keep you comfortable without breaking the bank, here is my guide to buying tents.

First of all, for the armchair adventurer who rarely gets out into the great outdoors, it’s important to explain some confusing terminology which is commonly used by outdoor folk. Tents, and outdoor shoes for that matter, are often classified using seasons, namely 1-season through to 4-season. This does not correspond to seasons in the conventional sense, with a 4-season tent not designed to be used for all for seasons of the year.

Seasons are used as a grade of protection, with 1-season being the most lightweight, which are suitable for summer and fair weather conditions, through to a 4-season tent being the only thing to use in mid winter for maximum protection. Cheap tents tend to be 1-2 season, with the more expensive and big name brands the only thing you should consider buying if you plan to head out in colder weather conditions.

Whilst this will be immediately apparent if you go to a camping store where the tents are already erected, if you are buying tents online this will not be quite so obvious. Assume that the pictures erected tents use midgets for scale, and never rely on a picture to determine whether the tent will comfortably sleep the family without first checking. The man ratings are easily misinterpreted to the novice, although it is only a mistake which is made only once.

Remember that 2-man means that the tent can feasibly sleep two people without any equipment or bags. If you are a family of four, then God help you in a 4-man tent. It is likely to be a rather unpleasant trip. Think of it like a microwave meal. It says it serves two, but who are they trying to kid?

As a general rule, if you want comfort, and want to be able to get dressed of a morning inside your tent without treading on your sleeping partner, halve the man rating to get the number of people it will actually sleep.  I would recommend 50 square feet per person for comfort and enough room to keep your bags inside, without having to sleep on top of them.

Most modern tents for lightweight camping use a two pole design in the lightweight 2-3 man models, with more for larger tents and for 3 and 4-season tents. Tents usually have fibreglass collapsible poles with a drawstring system to keep them together. They are lightweight and easy to erect and reasonably strong, and should cope well in light to moderate weather conditions. The dome tents are the easiest to pitch and are stable and robust, and withstand the wind pretty well, with the igloo designs generally the strongest.

However it is nice to be able to stand up in your tent, so make sure you check the internal height and choose accordingly. Putting trousers on when you are bent double is no fun, and doing it lying down without kicking your partner in the shins or head nigh on impossible.

A-frame tents offer the most room, and you can stand comfortably in the middle, with walled tents even better for maximising space, although it does come at the expense of robustness. For a campsite its fine, but in an exposed area likely to get windy it’s not the best design.

Two options here - If you want ultra lightweight kit, then go for aluminum poles. If you have a Sherpa, or weight isn’t really an issue, then go for fiberglass as they offer greater durability. The poles are what hold the tent up and keep it stable, and the more poles the more stable the tent will be. However for most fair weather camping forays, the 2 or 3-pole designs of modern dome tents are great. Quick and easy to pitch, robust and strong enough to deal with even high winds.

I will assume that you will not be going mountaineering with your tent, as if you are reading this and do not know what kit to take, then you really should not be going mountaineering.

Most tents com with a rain fly sheet, which is an extra layer of fabric which goes over the top of the tent, and is supported by the tent and held in place by guy ropes. Make sure you choose a design with a fly sheet which covers the whole tent, as rain does not always fall vertically, and when it’s windy you will be surprised at how horizontal rain can get.  The flysheet should give some protection from the sun too to create some shade.

Naturally, make sure that the fly sheet is waterproof - it is not always the case! Why? Because some tents require you to waterproof the fabric yourself. The seams will almost certainly need to be sealed with waterproof sealant before the first use, and this needs to be applied and allowed to dry before you head out into the back of beyond. Tents are usually sold with a tube of seam sealant to make sure that these weak points are reinforced. You will need to reapply sealant to the tent each year to ensure that it remains waterproof, and if the weather is going to be wet, then applying an extra layer of waterproofing treatment will not do any harm. Brands such as Grainger’s produce a good range of waterproofing treatments for tents.

To make sure that ground water is not a problem, make sure you choose a tent with a thick and protective ground sheet. This needs to cover the bottom to protect you from wet ground, but also needs to come up the sides for a good 6-8 inches to prevent splashes as the rain bounces back up, and will also keep you dry should the rain get heavy and the ground flood a little. 

The larger the internal space in a tent, the harder it will be to get it warmed up and to keep it warm. Tent heaters can be used in larger tents, however not in small tents where there is insufficient space.  For mountaineering, smaller tents are used not just for the stability, but also because they can be heated up more quickly by body heat.

The larger the volume of air in the tent, the more effort it takes to heat it. On the flipside, in hot weather large tents are easier to keep cool, and for summer camping, tents with mesh windows on both sides are a great choice, as they will allow air to circulate more freely. The mesh also keeps out mosquitoes at bugs at night. 

This may be obvious to all, but tents do not come with any padding or a mattress, and sleeping without one will be just like sleeping on the ground. It is unbelievably uncomfortable. And then some.

You can buy thin mattresses for camping, but the best bet for comfort is an inflatable air bed. Always choose one which is designed for camping, rather than say one designed for the water. You can get spikes through the bottom of a tent, and should your airbed deflate, you are in for a pretty horrific night.

Camping mattresses are reinforced underneath to provide a greater degree of robustness. You will also need to pack a foot pump, especially if you have a few to blow up!

This is a difficult decision, especially if you have not been camping before, or only have camped when younger. You may find out that it’s not quite as an attractive a prospect as it was in your head.  An expensive tent that will be used once and then forgotten about is not the best way of spending your money.  However buying cheap means that the tent is unlikely to last, and may even be the reason why a trip is not comfortable and doesn’t want to be repeated! 

Buy a low cost tent lightweight may not be such a bad thing first time around, as you can always upgrade when you have a better idea of your requirements, and can keep it as a lightweight option for summer and for when you want to keep your kit as light as possible. Of course, you can just go the whole hog and buy the best, and if it turns out that you and camping are not a match made in heaven, you can always flog it on E-bay! 

Before you set out on a camping trip, it is important to construct your tent in your garden. First of all, it will get you familiar with your tent and how to construct it, as if the weather turns bad, there is nothing worse than the frustration of learning how to erect the tent in the wind and rain. You may need to be able to get it up quickly for shelter.

Secondly, you need to make sure that you have all of the bits, and it is useful to familiarise yourself with the space you have to help decide on the kit you need to take with you, and what to leave at home. If it is the first time you are using it, o have not used it in 12 months you will have to waterproof the seams.

Lay out your kit, put it together,and get familiar with it and you are good to go. Just remember to include all of the poles and pegs when you pack it up again!