After putting in about 40 hours studying online reviews and company websites, as well as spending time consulting with frequent campers (both with and without kids) and considering our own diverse car-camping experiences, we evaluated the options (about 100, in the course of the past seven years) according to the following criteria:
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The right capacity: Tent makers measure tent capacity by how many people can fit in them sardine-style, lying inside mummy bags. That means you can fit six adults in a six-person tent—but you probably wouldn’t want to do that, because those adults would be sleeping hip to hip, with little spare room for gear.
We concluded that the best option for two people is actually a large three-person, or smaller four-person, tent that’s 40 to 60 square feet in size. For families with three to five members, we concluded that the best option is a tent rated for six people that’s between 80 and 100 square feet. Also, the height should be at least six feet, which allows most adults to comfortably stand upright inside. “When you camp with kids, you camp with a lot of gear,” Helen Olsson, author of The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids, told us. Olsson has three kids, a dog, and a six-foot-two husband. Bigger is better when it comes to car camping, she said: “Look for a base-camp-style tent that is meant for when you pull up in your car and pitch your tent right there.” All of the tents we considered fall into that category.
A dome shape: Usually designed around two- or three-pole arches, dome-style tents tend to be stronger than cabin-style designs, which maximize ceiling height by sacrificing some structural integrity. The dome shape does reduce overall livable space, but it’s better at deflecting winds and shedding rain, something you’re likely to appreciate if an unexpected storm hits. Our picks are all dome-style tents.
Adequate weatherproofing and durability: A good dome-style tent should be able to withstand high winds and driving rain without pitching or collapsing. We assumed that most car campers would likely not be camping in snow, so we focused on three-season models instead. Most of the tents we looked at could handle an unexpected flurry or a coating of frost, but we wouldn’t intentionally take them on a winter-camping trip.
Tent makers generally treat the fabrics with a water-repellent coating described in millimeters; 1,200 mm to 3,000 mm is the typical range found on family tents. That number does not refer to the thickness of the coating or the fabric; instead, it measures a specific test of water pressure, namely, how many millimeters of water can sit on top of the material before water starts leaking through. (As a Coleman product manager told us, “Nothing’s waterproof, not even submarines. Given the right conditions anything will leak.”) A higher number means better water resistance, but such stronger coatings aren’t always necessary: As this MSR blog post explains, “the more coating you add, the heavier and more rigid the fabric becomes, and—after a point—the more susceptible to tearing.” A typical umbrella has a rating of only 420 mm, the company’s experts point out, and it does just fine at keeping you dry.
It’s natural to focus on the quality of a tent’s rain fly—you need that piece to work when the skies open up. But according to our experts, the durability of the floor of your tent is actually more important. Tent designer Bob Howe, who has developed models for nearly every major tent maker, including Easton, Marmot, The North Face, REI, and Sierra Designs, said that when it comes to a tent floor, two lightweight layers are often stronger than one heavy layer; he suggested using a groundsheet or footprint, even with a high-quality tent floor. If the tent you buy doesn’t come with a footprint (two of our recommended tents, the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 and the Marmot Tungsten 4, do), we recommend purchasing a companion footprint, if one is available. A footprint doesn’t take up much space, is relatively inexpensive, and is much easier to repair or replace than a tent bottom if it tears. A basic tarp can do in a pinch.
The right materials for the job: On most tents, the walls and flies are made of either nylon or polyester. Nylon weighs less but is more susceptible to UV damage, which makes it better for backpacking, when a tent spends most of its daylight hours packed up. Car campers generally leave their tents up for much longer periods of time, increasing the material’s UV exposure. As polyester is stiffer and heavier than nylon but not as susceptible to UV damage, Howe told us, and it doesn’t absorb water like nylon does, it’s generally better for car camping. It’s also less expensive.
To compare tent fabrics, you also need to know their overall rip strength. For most fabrics, rip strength is expressed as a measurement of the diameter of the fibers in their thread, or a denier—the higher the denier, the stronger the fabric. We found 40 denier up to 150 denier to be typical for car-camping tents; you can read more about these measurements in gear manufacturer MSR’s blog post and in this Outside article.
As for poles, Howe explained to us that each material has its advantages and drawbacks: Aluminum poles are far lighter and slide together more easily but cost more, while fiberglass-and-steel poles are often trickier to fit together and can leave splinters in your palms. They can, however, be stronger in high winds.
Ease of setup: We looked for dummy-proof tents that were intuitive to set up and that a lone person could erect fairly quickly. If you’ve ever arrived at a campsite after dark with two small kids who have been stewing in the backseat for hours, you know that dealing with a tent is often a one-person job. We’ve also found that a car-camping tent is the kind of item your friends may want to borrow from time to time. Those friends may well be novice campers, so we wanted something that the uninitiated but reasonably intelligent could erect, even if the original instructions had disappeared long ago. (You’re going to lose the instructions. Everyone loses the instructions.)
We also wanted self-standing tents, which can stay up on their own. Even so, you should, ideally, stake down each corner securely; in some crowded campgrounds, however, finding a flat spot with soil soft enough to do that can be difficult. A tent that requires staking to stand up—especially a larger, six-person tent—is unwieldy, and it’ll be impossible to set up on a hard surface such as blacktop or on raised wooden tent decks.
It is also important to consider the way in which the tent poles attach to the tent. Many of our picks use grommet attachments, which are more secure and simple to repair than key attachments if anything should break.
Some of our tent picks also have guy-line systems that secure their outer rain fly—although most people probably won’t need to use those often. Guy-line systems are somewhat unique to each tent, with every model boasting its own specific rope bites and tie-downs. (Kit scoured YouTube tutorials and found this video to be the most informative tutorial on guy lines. With this video and a little practice, you’ll soon be pitching tents like a pro.)
Affordability: Car-camping tents should be relatively inexpensive. They don’t need to be the top of the line or made of the lightest possible materials or the most advanced fabrics (something you’d likely look for in a backpacking tent). We decided that the tents for this guide should not be precious items—but they shouldn’t be disposable, either. When we researched couples’ tents in , we found no tents below $150 worth considering; our cap was $400. For our family tent testing, after completing our research we realized that $500 was now the average price for a good-quality tent. Below this amount, the flaws and tradeoffs started to mount. Still, we felt that $500 was a lot to pay for a family tent, so we looked for options that were more affordable and didn’t sacrifice too much.
Extra features: Stake design, pole strength and arrangements, rain-fly tie-downs, door construction, zipper strength, and gear-loft placements all play a role in the overall comfort and enjoyment of your tent. We also considered privacy, vestibules, extra headroom, and any other bonuses.
Once we had our criteria nailed down, we scoured Amazon reviews of four- and six-person tents, as well as owner reviews on retailer sites such as Backcountry, Cabela’s, Campmor, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Eastern Mountain Sports, L.L.Bean, and REI, plus professional reviews from GearJunkie and GearLab. We perused the lines of outdoor companies like Big Agnes, Marmot, and The North Face. And we studied the offerings of big-box stores including Costco, Sears, Target, and Walmart. We then requested test samples of the models that met our criteria and also had a consistent record of positive reviews.
Easy to set up and pack away, the Mineral King 3 is a lightweight, two-door tent with a generous footprint and a sturdy dome shape. It’s the perfect choice for three-season multipurpose camping.
May be out of stock
The Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 Tent was the favorite tent of testers at our Oahu coastal and mountain locations. Through rainy nights and soggy mornings, on windy afternoons, and under an intense midday sun, this tent’s primarily polyester mesh body, two large doors, and adaptable polyester fly kept us dry, well ventilated, and in good spirits.
We were surprised at first to see the Mineral King 3 come out on top because it was the smallest tent in our test group. But all our testers, including our tallest panelists, gravitated toward this tent.
What sets the Mineral King 3 apart is its combination of easy setup, solid weather resistance, and livability in variable conditions. It comes with its own footprint, and is made of high-quality materials that are easy to handle. Simply put, it was the most effective, user-friendly tent in any situation we encountered. It also delivered a little something extra: Not only did the Mineral King 3 keep us sheltered in shifting weather, but key design features—such as a barely-there mesh canopy, generous vestibule space, and a well-placed toggle on top of the rain fly—kept us connected to the environment.
One night during testing, for example, clouds loomed in the distance with clear skies overhead. After we pitched the tent, the Mineral King 3’s adaptable fly let us leave half the mesh dome uncovered. We watched as night fell and the first stars appeared. At the first sign of rain, it took only a few seconds—and a quick hand stuck outside the tent—to unfurl the fly and secure it for a dry night’s sleep. When we awoke, we could roll back one part of the vestibule, make coffee, and watch the sky lighten even though it was still raining.
Despite having the smallest capacity of the tents we tested—42.5 square feet—the Mineral King 3 easily fits two people with a full-size mattress, or two sleeping pads, and gear. Two large vestibules add nearly 40 square feet combined—that is, 18.75 square feet on either side.
Setting up this tent is simple: You stake out the four corners, extend the tent’s two pre-connected poles, and dock them into grommets. The tent’s body attaches to the poles via plastic clips, and a third pole (the “brow”) fits into two grommets sewn into a seam above the tent’s two doors. These now-common clip-style setups are generally intuitive and can be accomplished in minutes. Certainly this was true of the Mineral King 3. Under good conditions one person pitched the tent in under five minutes. In high winds, it took us 10 minutes to pitch and fully secure the tent fly with extra lines and stakes.
All three poles—two main poles and the shorter brow pole—are made of strong, lightweight aluminum and come pre-bent and pre-connected. The bend in the poles has a subtle yet significant affect on the tent’s structure and interior feel: As you clip the tent fabric to the poles to create the dome, bends pull the mesh outward in the head and shoulder area. Where traditional dome tents often feel cramped, the Mineral King 3 offers a little extra space. Only one other couples’ tent we tested had this feature—our runner-up, the Marmot Tungsten 4—and we found it made both tents more livable.
We also appreciated the shepherd’s hook stakes that come with the tent. Most of the tents we tested came with basic L-shaped stakes, which tended to spin around in the soil and slip a line. The shepherd’s hook design, in contrast, held lines secure.
Underneath the fly, the Mineral King 3 has a full mesh dome with a waterproof, tape-seamed bathtub-style polyester floor. The overall feeling inside the tent is airy and comfortable. The tent doors are nearly wall-sized, and after you unzip them, you simply stuff them into pockets, rather than having to roll and toggle-tie the fabric. Another two hanging pockets plus loops for a ceiling hammock provide simple yet effective interior storage.
The Mineral King 3’s fly attaches intuitively with plastic buckles and has well-placed guy tabs. You can secure the fly to the poles with Velcro ties underneath the fly, so that the extra lines anchored the whole tent, not just the thin protective fabric, but we only needed to do so in very windy conditions. When the fly is fully deployed, the tent has two vestibules, which provide additional gear storage and also help ventilate the tent in inclement weather. And in a stroke of design brilliance, a small loop sewn into the top of the fly makes it possible to roll up one half of the fly, exposing the full mesh canopy while still providing shade and privacy.
When the weather permits, it’s fun to omit the fly entirely, but a word to the wise for those planning a fly-less night: Besides providing protection from rain, the fly also helps manage condensation. Though condensation (video) occurs in all conditions, it’s worse when your surroundings are wet and humid, and anytime you have a large temperature difference between the inside and outside of a tent. But if your tent has a breathable inner layer, like the mesh walls of the Mineral King 3, condensation will gather on the fly instead of on the interior of the tent itself.
At $375, the Mineral King 3 isn’t cheap. But it’s one of the least expensive tents we found that had no significant drawbacks and will truly cover your bases for three-season camping. The tent also comes with its own footprint, a groundsheet that protects the tent from abrasion, which we recommend that you have.
Weighing just 7 pounds, the tent is light enough to double for backpacking trips, especially if you divide the pieces among hikers.
Note: The Mineral King 3 was the only tent in our test group free of fire-retardant chemicals. That means it’s less likely to contain potentially hazardous materials, but it is also less fireproof than tents coated in flame retardants. As always, it’s a good idea to pitch your tent far away from any open fires.
Our main quibble with the Mineral King 3 is that it comes with only six stakes. (Our runner-up pick comes with eight.) Six is enough to secure the tent and fly but not to fully secure the tent’s extra lines in very windy conditions. This shouldn’t be an issue in most situations, but if you’re headed into a particularly windy place or simply want some backup, we suggest picking up four extra tent stakes at your local outdoor shop or online. These inexpensive stakes are comparable to the ones that accompany the Mineral King 3; these slightly more expensive stakes will serve you well in any car-camping terrain.
One other thing: Should you remove the fly, you’ll also be giving up privacy—something to think about if you expect to use your tent primarily in crowded campgrounds.
Claimed weight (including fly, tent poles, and carry bag): 7 pounds 1.2 ounces
Claimed packed size: 25 by 7 inches
Number of doors: two
Number of vestibules: two
Maximum interior height: 48 inches
Tent floor area: 42.5 square feet
Footprint included: yes
Spacious and easy to pitch, this dome tent also has other features most families need: two large doors, roomy vestibules, and an affordable price. The tradeoffs: bulky fiberglass poles and flimsy stakes.
May be out of stock
After researching 30 six-person tents and testing 15 side by side on a total of five trips, we chose the Kelty Wireless 6 as the best entry-level camping tent for most families. It’s spacious, easy to set up, has weather protection, and is durable, all at an affordable price. The Wireless 6 lacks some of the premium materials found in pricier tents, but it features solid workmanship and should provide dependable, comfortable shelter in most three-season camping situations.
Like our couples’ tent pick, the Wireless 6 is a dome-shaped tent with a tried and true two-pole design. It has an interior footprint of 87 square feet, which sleeps four adults on single pads, or two adults and two or three children, and can accommodate a crib. It has two large doors, and a peak height of 6-foot-3. That wasn’t the tallest we encountered—the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 6 and the Alps Mountaineering Camp Creek 6 each topped out at 7 feet—but it’s enough space for most adults to maneuver standing up. The tent comes with a full rain fly that adds two vestibules for storage (each 14 square feet), totaling 115 square feet of livable space—which is fairly generous yet still practical for most campsites.
The Wireless 6 goes up easily, using the same kind of intuitive pole and clip method as our couples’ pick. The fly is equally simple to attach and orient with color-coded clips. A single person can pitch the tent in 10 to 15 minutes. (Users under 5-foot-5 may need some help fastening the highest clip. At 5-foot-3, Claire managed with a little hop.) Instead of grommets or keys, reinforced fabric sleeves hold the tent-pole ends, a particularly thoughtful feature that suits the tent’s budget fiberglass-and-steel poles. This type of pole tends to be less flexible and bulkier than pricier aluminum, and it can be a pain to handle.
Like most dome-style tents, the Wireless 6 withstands wind like a champ—it fared noticeably better than the Camp Creek 6 in 15-mph gusts. The continuous curve of the dome shape allows for wind to pass over and around it. You can also get a nice cross breeze going by leaving the vestibules open. On sunny days and clear nights, take off the fly and enjoy the sky through the tent’s clear mesh canopy. Some testers, though, thought the tent was stuffy when the fly was fully closed and the sun was out.
The Wireless 6 kept us dry in everything from scattered showers to serious downpours. As always, the vestibule is useful in rain: It gives you extra breathing room and a place to store boots—or tired feet still wearing boots.
The Wireless 6’s drawbacks have mainly to do with material quality. First, it uses fiberglass poles. These can be as strong, or even more so, than aluminum poles (especially cheap ones), but they’re always bulkier, heavier, and not as nice to handle. However, the Wireless 6’s poles were the best fiberglass ones we tested—they left no splinters, unlike those on the Camp Creek 6 or the Copper Canyon LX 6.
Though the Wireless’s fly kept water out of the tent’s interior, it took longer to fully dry once the rain stopped than some others we tested. It uses a mm waterproof coating on 68 denier fabric, which didn’t seem to bead as well as higher-rated fabrics, such as those on the The North Face Wawona 6 or the REI Co-op Base Camp 6 (each of those have mm coatings). If you don’t have time to let the fly dry before you pack the Wireless in its duffle, we recommend laying it out when you get home so it doesn't mildew in storage.
We were not particularly impressed by the quality of the Wireless 6’s stakes: They felt light, and two of the eight bent during our testing. The Wireless 6 also doesn’t come with a footprint, so you’ll have to purchase or make that separately. But to be fair, only one six-person tent we tested comes with a footprint, and that tent costs $950!
Claimed weight (including fly and tent poles): 17 pounds 3 ounces
Claimed packed size: 27 by 8 inches
Number of doors: two
Number of vestibules: two
Maximum interior height: 76 inches
Tent floor area: 86.9 square feet
Footprint included: no
With nearly 60 square feet of floor space plus two large vestibules, the Tungsten 4 is roomier than our top-pick tent for couples. It also costs more, though, and is less forgiving of a careless set-up.
If the Mineral King 3 is out of stock, or if you’d like a slightly larger tent, we recommend the Marmot Tungsten 4. The Tungsten 4 shares many of the Mineral King 3’s best features, and provides 10 square feet of additional living space as well as excellent weather protection—as long as you set it up properly. Like our top pick, the Tungsten 4 is a sturdy, two-door dome-style tent that can be deployed in about 5 minutes. It uses high-quality materials such as aluminum poles, breathable mesh, and water-resistant polyester fabric, and it comes with a full fly and a footprint. The Tungsten 4’s larger size accounts for the higher price tag (about $40 more), but campers who would like that extra room may find the expense worthwhile.
The Mineral King 3 and the Tungsten 4 have similar shapes, and their pitching process is nearly identical, except that the Tungsten 4 uses two brow poles instead of one. Both tents feature pre-connected poles, and they use the same clipping method to attach the tent body. Marmot provides color-coded buckles to help users orient the Tungsten’s fly, a feature the Mineral King 3 lacks.
Like the Mineral King 3, the Tungsten 4 has a mesh canopy, though the opaque polyester part of its walls go higher, and provide more privacy, than the Mineral King’s. Its tape-seamed bathtub floor and fly had no problem handling rain. The Tungsten’s fly is not adaptable in the same way the Mineral King 3’s is, but it is treated for extra UV protection, which should help lengthen the tent’s lifespan.
In terms of how the two tents feel, the Marmot Tungsten 4 is more geared toward hunkering down and providing stalwart defense against wind, rain, and sun. In contrast to the Mineral King 3’s triangular vestibules, the Tungsten 4’s vestibules are trapezoidal, opening via a central door with protected areas on either side. This design does a better job shielding the tent from incoming—and sideways—wind and rain. The Tungsten’s two brow poles create an especially effective awning over the tent door, so very little water gets in when someone comes or goes.
Marmot uses color coding smartly to help you position the tent as well as set it up. Both of the doors zip open to the side that’s color-coded blue, as opposed to zipping open to opposite sides. This means the vestibules equally protect the doors, rather than providing opposite entries and exits—the latter creates a situation where, in stormy weather, one side of the tent is always more exposed to blustering wind or rain. In other words, one partner—or one partner’s gear—is always going to get a dose of weather when they head out. The Tungsten 4 design equalizes exposure and protection.
In the current version of the Marmot Tungsten 4, we did notice a weakness in the tent’s pole design absent in earlier versions of the tent: The pre-bent joints seem sensitive to the wind. Here's what we observed. Without the fly, the tent’s poles were stable in windy condition. With the added weight of the fly, the poles sometimes twisted, causing the tent to accordion inward and lose its shape wherever it was most exposed. If we Velcroed the fly directly to the poles in these areas—as the directions say to—the tent regained its structural integrity. We suspect that the bends in the current Tungsten’s poles, which are lower to the ground than in the Mineral King 3’s poles, are too acute. (Neither the Mineral King 3 nor any straight-poled dome tent we tested collapsed in this way.) Also, like the Mineral King 3, this tent is short on stakes. Ideally, Marmot would provide another six, in addition to the eight that come with it.
Like our top pick, the Tungsten 4 comes with a footprint. Unlike our top pick, the Tungsten 4 is coated with flame retardants.
Claimed minimum weight (including fly and tent poles): 7 pounds 15 ounces
Claimed packed size: 24.8 by 8.3 inches
Number of doors: two
Number of vestibules: two
Maximum interior height: 52 inches
Tent floor area: 52.7 square feet
Footprint included: yes
Great for backyard overnights, this simple dome-style tent is for anyone who doesn't want to spend more than $150 on a tent but also doesn't want to buy another one next year. It has a partial rain fly, but only one door and no vestibule.
The square footprint, ample windows, and functional fly of the Coleman Sundome 6-Person Tent make it a good choice for occasional or backyard campers who want an inexpensive tent that is easy to put up, and looks and feels reasonably nice to camp in.
Unlike some cheap tents we’ve tested over the years, the Coleman Sundome has a simple shape and pole design that should be easy for even inexperienced campers to figure out. The base is a square: Two identical fiberglass poles feed through sleeves on the tent roof to form an X. Pegs at the corners of the tent slip into the ends of the poles, and then the dome-shaped tent pops up (video).
The separate fly, which covers the upper half of the tent, uses a third, shorter “brow” pole to form protective peaks over the door and the back window. In our tests, an experienced camper took only about six minutes on the first try to set up the tent body alone and stake it out. Getting the fly placed and staked properly took about five more minutes. That’s pretty fast.
Measuring 10 by 10 feet, the Sundome covers an area larger than that of our family-tent top pick though its lower roof leaves it with less headroom. (The Sundome’s center height is exactly six feet, while the Wireless 6 and The North Face Wawona 6 each reach six-foot-four.) The Sundome has only one door, which can be inconvenient, especially for someone trying to slip out of the tent without waking anyone.
Like the REI Co-op Base Camp tents, the Sundome combines high polyester walls with mesh higher up to facilitate stargazing, should you use the tent without the fly, without sacrificing privacy (two of the four walls have mesh from about thigh height up to the roof). That mesh also keeps the tent feeling airy and cool in hot climates.
The biggest material difference between the Sundome and our other picks is its crunchy, tarp-like polyethylene floor. The other tents in this guide all have bathtub-style tape-seamed polyester floors, which is the standard among high-quality tents. The Sundome’s tarp is clearly a budget material, but for what it was, we found it user-friendly. It’s easy to mop up after wet paws and spills, and it doesn’t hold moisture. It’s unlikely to be as durable, though, as the softer, stronger polyester found in our other picks.
Coleman makes no dedicated footprints for its tents—the idea being that the polyethylene is tough enough not to need one. (Still, we suggest that you buy a groundsheet.) The tent has two small, internal pockets—fewer than on any of our other picks—and a loop at the ceiling center to hang a small, lightweight light. It also comes with a little doormat. The tent weighs just 16 pounds, less than any other family tent we tested for this guide.
Although our test tent lasted through two moderate showers with no leaking, be aware that a couple of Amazon buyers have experienced leaking in rainstorms and poles breaking in high winds. When it comes to tents, you tend to get pretty close to what you pay for. If you’re likely to be camping in downpours or high winds, don’t rely on a sub-$150 tent.
Claimed weight (including fly and tent poles): 16 pounds
Claimed packed size: 23.89 by 6.22 inches
Number of doors: one
Number of vestibules: none
Maximum interior height: 72 inches
Tent floor area: 100 square feet
Footprint included: no
This dome-style tent has nearly vertical walls, high ceilings, and a single vestibule the size of an actual mudroom. It’s also straightforward to set up, and it is made with sturdy, light materials. It’s expensive, but you get value for your money.
If you can afford to spend more on a family tent, we recommend The North Face Wawona 6. Everyone who tested this tent loved it, and it’s not hard to understand why. With plenty of interior space, near-vertical walls, and a gigantic vestibule that could accommodate a golf cart, the Wawona feels more like a tiny home than a tent.
At $500, this modified dome-style tent isn’t cheap, but it represents substantial value. Many tents with similar profiles—such as the Big Agnes Dog House 6—either cost more or require you buy the tent body and attachable vestibule separately. The Wawona doesn’t come with a footprint—few tents this size do—but it’s otherwise all-inclusive, and it is compact considering how much livable space you get. The price also reflects the high quality of the materials, such as the four reinforced aluminum poles, which weigh little yet result in a remarkably strong tent.
The Wawona 6 is more complex to set up than a classic dome-style tent like the Wireless 6, but not by much. We recommend doing it with two people, but one person can manage in about 15 minutes. As with any free-standing tent, with this one you stake out the four corners, and then you feed the two main tent poles through the Wawona’s fabric sleeves, which go halfway down the tent’s body. The North Face’s color-coded poles make this process easy to navigate. Orienting the fly took us a minute on our first try. (We were stubborn and didn’t look at the instructions.) Once you identify the front and back, the process is straightforward. The fly goes up and over the tent body, covering only the upper half of the mesh dome, and then forms the glorious vestibule with the aid of a third pole. Use the extra stakes and guy-lines provided to stabilize the vestibule as much as you need.
Once you set up the Wawona 6, you may not want to leave. Adults as tall as 6-foot-3 can move about this tent standing upright. With a 44-square-foot vestibule, and 86 square feet of interior living space, the tent has plenty of room to house beds, cribs, gear, pets, and camping furniture. Zippered doors can enclose the vestibule fully, so it serves as a separate room for the tent, or you can leave one or both open, so the vestibule can act like a porch or mudroom. The main tent body has a giant front door that’s oriented to make entry and exit easy for all the tent’s occupants at night, and a smaller back window that doubles as a second door.
The Wawona 6’s side-walls are high and straight, but the structure stays very stable in wind thanks to a final pole that wraps around the front and sides—and thanks to the absence of any acute angles in the poles. We were skeptical about the vestibule’s ability to handle wind, since it’s big and supported by a single pole, but it stood fast in 30 mph oceanside gusts and 15 mph hilltop winds.
The Wawona did equally well in rain. Its walls are 75-denier polyester fabric (tougher than the Wireless 6’s 68-denier polyester and the same as the REI Co-op Base Camp’s) that extends about two-thirds up the tent’s sides, and then is topped with mesh. The partial fly does a great job of keeping rain out of the upper, mesh areas, and cleverly placed vents maintain airflow so it never feels too stuffy. (You can also roll up the fly on the two sides to expose the mesh and let in more light.) Thanks to the high opaque walls, users have the privacy to change standing upright and plenty of storage options to stash their gear, including ceiling pockets and a three-pocket back window organizer.
The Wawona 6 uses no flame retardants. This is great for avoiding potential exposure to hazardous chemicals, but you should pitch the tent well away from any open flames.
In terms of flaws, there aren’t much to speak of with the Wawona 6, apart from the price. The North Face offers a limited lifetime warranty on the tent, and will repair most flaws and damage at its discretion.
Some campers might find the Wawona 6’s footprint unwieldy in smaller campsites, or they might simply prefer a tent with a more straightforward design. If you want a six-person tent made with high-quality materials but a traditional profile, we recommend the similarly priced Big Agnes Spicer Peak 6, or Nemo’s Aurora Highrise 6. MSR’s Habitude 6 is also a good tent, but it costs about $200 more. Unfortunately, you have to buy a separate groundsheet for the Wawona 6 and for most other tents its size as well.
Claimed weight (including fly and tent poles): 20 pounds 5 ounces
Claimed packed size: 32 by 10 inches
Number of doors: two
Number of vestibules: one
Maximum interior height: 76 inches
Tent floor area: 86.11 square feet
Footprint included: no
A full rain cover, two vestibules, and an extra-sturdy pole structure make this the best choice for couples who want to get outside in any weather. It’s pricey, though, and unless the other couples’ tents we recommend, it doesn’t include a footprint.
A full rain cover, two vestibules, and an extra-sturdy pole structure make this the best choice for families who want to get outside in any weather. It's the most expensive of our picks, though.
If you’re a more heavy-duty camper heading into an area with unpredictable weather and can afford to spend a bit more, the REI Co-op Base Camp 4 Tent (for two people) and the REI Co-op Base Camp 6 Tent (for families) are both excellent choices. After many hours of testing, we found that the Base Camps’ reinforced four-pole structure and ultra-spacious interior and vestibules made them the most sturdy, flexible, and reliable models in our test group. (Unlike with our top and runner-up picks for couples, however, you do have to purchase a footprint for your Base Camp 4 tent separately, as well as for the Base Camp 6. REI makes dedicated ones for both the Base Camp 4 and the Base Camp 6. We recommend that you buy one to protect your tent’s floor.)
Superior vestibule space helped both the Base Camp 4 and the Base Camp 6 rise to the top of their respective test groups. On the Base Camp 4, the two vestibules (front and rear) add up to 44 square feet (the area of the tent itself is 60 square feet). That’s the most of any couples’ tents we tested. As for the Base Camp 6, the vestibule area covered by its front fly and rear fly is also 44 square feet (the interior measures 84 square feet). Only one six-person tent we tested had a larger vestibule: the Nemo Aurora Highrise 6. (The Big Agnes Big House 6 and the REI Co-op Wonderland 6 also have large vestibules, but you must purchase them separately, for an extra $200 and $125, respectively.)
The Base Camp tents include a low side vent and multiple stuff pockets on the walls and ceiling, which are made of 75D polyester treated with mm of polyurethane waterproofing. Note that these tents are strictly meant for car camping; the Base Camp 4 and the Base Camp 6 weigh 16 and 21 pounds, respectively, so you won’t want to carry either one very far. Both come with storage sacks that you sling over one shoulder.
Both Base Camp tents have two doors and lots of mesh in the main tent body. But unlike the Mineral King 3 and the Tungsten 4, the mesh on each Base Camp tent starts high on the walls—more than 4 feet from the ground. This design is a big plus for people who regularly camp in crowded campgrounds and don’t like to get naked in front of strangers. And you can unzip the front door, remove it, and neatly stash it into one of the tent’s internal pockets—a useful feature if you’re feeling sociable.
The geodesic structure of the Base Camp tents is built to withstand wind and rain. It has two main that thread through sleeves, stretching between the four corners of the tent. Generally, we like clip-on designs better, since those are easier to put together, but in the case of the Base Camp models, the sleeves add extra tension and stability throughout the tent fabric. There are also two poles that arch over each doorway and down the sides of the tent to add extra shape and support; these attach to the tent body with clips. The rain fly has an additional tent pole, too, to support the vestibule. Overall, these poles—all of them aluminum—contribute to a particularly sturdy structure, with or without the rain fly. During our testing, our Base Camp shrugged off both a rainstorm and a desert windstorm as if they were nothing. Despite losing some headroom in comparison with the Kelty Wireless 6 and The North Face Wawona 6, both of which measure six-foot-four in height, the Base Camp 6 offers a substantial six-foot-two.
If anything happens to your Base Camp, REI’s warranty and replacement program has an impressive reputation. Kit lived in the version of the larger Base Camp 6 for seven months, and it stayed up the entire time, with the tent poles under constant tension—that is, until two of the poles snapped within a week of each other. After a short call, REI offered Kit a full replacement. (This was before Kit started reviewing tents for Wirecutter, so REI didn’t know who he was.)
Base Camp 4:
Claimed weight (including fly and tent poles): 16 pounds 14 ounces
Claimed packed size: 20 by 10 inches
Number of doors: two
Number of vestibules: two
Maximum interior height: 60 inches
Tent floor area: 59.7 square feet
Footprint included: no
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Spark Glamping.
Base Camp 6:
Claimed weight (including fly and tent poles): 20 pounds 10 ounces
Claimed packed size: 24 by 11 inches
Number of doors: two
Number of vestibules: two
Maximum interior height: 74 inches
Tent floor area: 84 square feet
Footprint included: no
If you need to save money and don’t need two doors: Try the Kelty Grand Mesa 4. When we first tested tents in , the Grand Mesa was one of the few tents with a large mesh canopy. As this design became more common, the Kelty tent became less unusual and ultimately couldn’t compete with two-door models, which are more convenient for couples and have better ventilation. We think our top pick is a more well-rounded choice, but if you’re looking for a reasonably priced tent that’s just as easy to pitch, and you’re not fussed about having two doors, the Kelty Grand Mesa 4 is a good choice. It comes with a full rain fly but no footprint.
If you’re a couple and want a tent that you can (probably) stand up in: Try the North Face Wawona 4. This is a scaled-down version of our upgrade pick tent for families. We had liked the previous version of this tent; in , North Face switched the nylon it had been using to a polyester ripstop, and we like the new version even more. It stands over six feet high—more than a full foot taller than our couple’s pick from Marmot. This means we could walk straight into it, no stooping required. High walls with mesh windows at the top lend privacy, a plus at more crowded campsites or for campers who prefer a sense of enclosure. Its jutting front vestibule also gave us extra elbow room while laying out sleeping pads and bags. One caveat: Although its height did make the tent feel quite expansive inside, it also made setting up the tent solo difficult for our five-foot-five tester. Once she had her companion assist with holding the other end of the poles, though, it was quick to put up. In addition, a tester of the previous model found that the Wawona 4’s higher profile caused some difficulties while setting it up in the wind. However, in our latest tests—despite some breezy summer nights at a very full and active campground (with several bear visitors roaming around)—the tent felt secure and stable inside. It comes with a rain fly and no footprint.
If the Coleman Sundome 6 is out of stock: Try the Core 6 Person Straight Wall Cabin Tent. Core Equipment is a relatively new company, popular on Amazon, whose products seem designed to compete directly with products from Coleman, an outdoor legacy brand that has been around . We tested Core’s basic six-person dome-style and cabin-style tents, and each performed as well as the Coleman tent did. (The Core 6 Person Dome Tent that we tested has since been replaced by Core’s 6 Person Dome Plus Tent, which we plan to take a look at.) We can’t yet speak for the long-term durability of the tent—or the company—which is why we’re not making it our budget pick, but we’ll continue testing it.
If the Wireless 6 is out of stock or you’re camping in fair weather and prefer more indoor space: Try the Big Agnes Dog House 6. Although technically a dome tent like the Wireless 6, the Dog House 6 has walls that are more vertical, and more head and shoulder space as well—its peak height is 80 inches, taller than any of our picks. It also was the most affordable family tent we tested to use high-quality aluminum poles. So why is it not our top pick? Well, the Dog House 6 lacks a full fly and has no vestibule space. Instead, it comes with a pre-attached, non-removable cap fly, and short awnings that don’t do much to protect the entry. We weren’t psyched to be in this tent even in light rain or when the wind picked up significantly. (As of fall , Big Agnes may have discontinued this tent; we’re investigating.)
If The North Face Wawona 6 is out of stock: Try the Big Agnes Spicer Peak 6 or the Nemo Aurora Highrise 6. Both of these tents are well-structured, dome-style tents with high-quality workmanship and design. We preferred the single huge vestibule of the Wawona 6 to the smaller front and back vestibules on these two tents, but either tent would be a good runner-up. Both contain about 83 square feet of space, but the Aurora has more of a bread-loaf shape with two big doors running lengthwise—great for kids who want to run in and out—and a peak height of six-foot-five, while the Spicer Peak has doors at the narrower ends, and a peak height of six-foot-eight.
For longer stays or families with older kids: Try the REI Co-op Wonderland 6 Tent. This is the redesign of REI Co-op’s beloved Kingdom 6 tent, which was a favorite among many family campers, including Wirecutter’s deputy editor Christine Cyr Clisset. Like the old Kingdom, the Wonderland is a delightful wagon-shaped tent with two round doors on either end. It has a massive interior, and comes with a room divider for privacy, good for families with older kids. REI Co-op changed the Wonderland’s pole design to increase its stability in wind, a weakness of the old Kingdom. We don’t yet know how well it stands up over time, but it handled 35 mph winds on the North Shore of Oahu without a problem. The tent has a partial fly and lots of interior storage, but no vestibule—and it costs a hefty $600. You can purchase an attachable mudroom for an additional $125; this substantially increases the footprint of an already large tent if you’re headed to a campsite with limited space.
If you want something that goes up instantly: Try the Coleman 6-Person Instant Cabin, which, thanks to telescoping, pre-attached poles, goes up and comes down much faster (in less than two minutes) than any other tent we tested. It also has no standalone fly, instead relying on a solid roof, which helps make setup easier. The drawback here is that this tent offers less protection from the elements and does less to reduce condensation than models with a separate fly. Although we were impressed by the Instant Cabin’s ease of setup, we thought that it was darker and less well ventilated than the Coleman Sundome 6-Person Tent.
Alps Mountaineering Meramac 4-Person: Though this tent was sturdy (its poles were much heavier and of better quality than some of the other fiberglass poles we saw), it has no vestibule, and it didn’t offer as good ventilation as our picks when fully closed.
Eureka Kohana 4 Person Tent: The poles were finicky to insert and left the tent looking decidedly off-kilter.
Sierra Designs Tabernash 4: We had high hopes for this $150 tent, but the pole (once again, a fiberglass-and-steel design) meant to frame the Tabernash’s doorway and vestibule kept jumping out of its grommet, repeatedly collapsing the only point of entry.
Stoic Madrone 4 Tent: Although the Madrone 4 features lots of fun colors, it didn’t quite match similar tents in its price range in the overall quality of its construction and design.
Coleman 4-Person Pop-Up Tent: The Pop-Up Tent is packed into a 3-foot-wide carrying case that, when opened, shoots the tent forth like a snake-in-a-can gag gift. Presto—there’s your tent. The only problem is that it’s not a very good tent—only for backyard duty at best. Also, packing the tent back up is a nightmare.
Big Agnes Big House 4: This is a cabin-style tent that we tested as a control; we wanted to know whether a dome-style tent was really better than a cabin-style tent for two people. Though this tent offered a little more livable space, the broad, flat walls had some trouble during high winds.
Coleman Sundome 4-Person Tent: We recommend this tent in its six-person design, but the four-person model we tested was too weak to support itself when subjected to even mild wind or rain.
We dismissed several tents because their fiberglass poles were too flimsy to offer support against anything but the lightest breeze: the Amazon Basics Outdoor 4-Person Camping Tent, and the Coleman Hooligan 4-Person Backpacking Tent.
REI Co-op Skyward 6 Tent: This did perform well overall for a cabin-style tent, but like many of its brethren, it didn’t handle wind well, and we didn’t like how much we had to wrestle its poles to dock them during setup.
ALPS Mountaineering Camp Creek 6: This spacious cabin-style tent met its downfall the same way almost every other cabin-style tent we tested did—in wind. Its fiberglass-and-steel tent poles also left splinters in our palms.
MSR Habitude 6: This pricey tent has some of the most impeccable workmanship and nicest materials we encountered, but it has only one door. Its red and turquoise color scheme also absorbs a lot of heat and feels overly intense, at least in warmer climates, and the tent lacked options for ventilation.
Mountain Hardwear Bridger 6: What is a $950 six-person tent like? Quite nice, unsurprisingly. The Bridger 6 is the only six-person tent we encountered that can actually house six people, it’s made of high-quality polyester, and it has powder-coated aluminum poles and endless storage options. It features a large front-facing porch-style vestibule, which can accommodate a table and multiple chairs without blocking the entry. It was also the only six-person tent we saw that came with a groundsheet. But the tent’s striking sea-foam green walls show every scuff and mark—not in the least practical for camping with kids. When we pitched the tent alongside our upgrade pick, we still gravitated to the Wawona’s more versatile vestibule. Also, $950.
Big Agnes Big House 6: Although we liked the look and feel of this brightly colored tent, it costs $600 and the vestibule is a separate purchase ($200), making the full package significantly more pricey than our family-tent picks.
We’ve also tested and dismissed tents from Cabela and Eureka that have since been discontinued; Eureka has since gone out of business.
If you’re going to camp outside, chances are you’ll need a good mobile roof over your head — unless you’re one of those cowboy-camping thru hiker types. We’ve logged some shut-eye in hundreds of shelters, intensely used more than 40, and winnowed down our gear rooms to the 15 best of the best camping tents out there today.
Our team of experts brings decades of camping experience in every sort of condition imaginable, from national park campgrounds to multiday festivals to long road trips. We weighed them on everything from ease of set-up and headroom to how fun and funky the color schemes are.
Some tents are wilder-nests that thrive in a more backcountry-adjacent use, like the Kelty Discovery Basecamp, while others like our top pick, the MSR Habitude 6, are downright frontcountry palatial. Consider our award winners as our top seven for pretty much any campers, followed up by a series of solid shelters for more specific camping weekends.
Editor’s Note: We updated our Camping Tent guide on March 12, , to add the REI Co-op Campwell 4 Tent, a family-friendly budget tent that will do best on more fair-weather camping trips. We also crowned the NEMO Aurora Highrise 4P as the most livable 4-person tent around.
There are plenty of camping tents on the market, that’s for sure, and the six we awarded above are the best we’ve encountered in all of our collective time sleeping outdoors. That said, there are several other worthy shelters out there. Consider the line-up below before making your purchase.
You wouldn’t jump headlong into a full weekend outdoors with an untested roof over your head, and thankfully, you don’t have to. Camping tents come in all different shapes, sizes, and qualities, and while many are winners, we’ve run into a few clunkers in our time.
The GearJunkie staff may be a diverse bunch when it comes to our sporting specialties, but the one thing that unites us is a near-universal love of camping. We’ve been at this for a number of years, and we’ve learned a thing or two in the process.
All of our outdoor addicts know that not only do you need something sturdy and reliable, but it also needs to be set up easily and packed well. We went to the internet for a deep dive into the research. After hours of research, we narrowed it down to the top tents for a head-to-head test. This involved lots of camping and various testers, and to date our estimated time testing numbers in the hundreds of hours.
We camped through a quintessential Colorado spring weekends, complete with sun, snow, sleet, and gale-force winds. We enjoyed hot summer nights, a few surprise thunderstorms, and plenty of regular ol’ campground outings from Moab, Utah, to the hills of North Georgia.
We start our tent testing with a timed set-up which our testers go into totally blind — no instructions allowed. We’ve found this to be the ideal challenge of how intuitive a tent’s structure is. Then, we ensure that these tents are really up to snuff when it comes to capacity ratings — adding in both 20″ and 25″ camping mattresses to test manufacturer claims and get a feel for overall roominess.
Finally, we put the tents to the ultimate head-to-head test. Each is erected in the same valley and left for a week. Through rain, sun, and some epic wind, we are able to see which tents can withstand the elements best. And, when available, we release a pack of our kiddos into the tents to have their way. It’s hard to put together a better stress test than this.
Our camping tent testing also gets into the nitty-gritty, ground-truthing manufacturer claims and dials in the hard numbers to elevate the winners over the just-alright shelters. To do this, we first measure the total weight of the tent essentials (body, fly, poles, and stakes) on our own scales and compare them against brand numbers. The same goes for packed size, as well as finding out if a tent can easily be packed back into its storage bag (not always an easy task).
Each tent is then left up in a simulated rain shower for 30 minutes at a time and inspected for leaks or wicking water. We use a rotating sprinkler system to ensure that no odd corner of a tent goes untouched, and we pay close attention to window openings and how the rain fly covers the shelter. Rain ingress can be a trip-killer, and we sniff out weak spots in tent construction to identify them.
From our experience and side-by-side testing in both the field and close to home, we crown our winners on a seasonal basis. Every year rolls out new tent options and our testing never stops — rest assured that we’re considering the latest and greatest in our Buyer’s Guide.
Guide author Mallory Paige has spent hundreds of nights sleeping under the stars, and she knows first-hand the importance of a good shelter. She kicked off our search for the most worthy camping shelters in with an initial 12 tents, and set out a detailed testing regimen that includes tests against the elements, timing how quickly we can erect each tent, and the classic garden hose rain shower test.
Since then, our testing team has added contributor Ryan Baker, who started backpacking and car camping as a child. He also has lived in tents ranging from lightweight tarps for extended thru-hikes to heavy-duty basecamps to withstand extreme conditions. He is intimately experienced in the joys and pitfalls of only having a thin piece of synthetic fabric between the elements and a dry night’s sleep.
And finally, Senior Editor Nick Belcaster has enjoyed more than his fair share of evenings staring up at the canopy of his tent waiting out a rain storm. A veteran of the Pacific Crest Trail, Belcaster has the set up and tear down of his tent limited to mere minutes, and now travels the West testing camping tents for this guide on a rolling basis.
While our camping tent testing typically takes place in the bounding wilderness of the Western U.S., we also pitch shelters across the country in order to gain good insight into regional performance. A tent that buttons up tight might excel in the arid Southwest but become sweltering in the humidity of the southern Appalachians.
To help you decide what tent is best for you, we considered five categories: weather resistance, comfort, ease of setup, extra features, and value. Each of these bears more importance to certain campers than others. Consider when, where, and who you plan to use your tent with.
We have another guide for the best backpacking tents that focuses on lighter and less bulky tents for your backcountry adventures, as well as a primer article on the basics of camping and backpacking tents. Here, we focus more on car and family camping tents for the kinds of adventures where the car is within reach and the weight of a tent is less important. If you like the appeal of leaving your tent pre-rigged wherever you may roam, the ease of a rooftop tent might be up your alley.
Just as backpacking tents can be broken down into smaller use-profile groups such as ultralight or weekend-warrior tents, camping tents too are generally aimed at a specific camping style or user group, and broadly can be placed in a High-End, Budget, or Crossover category.
High-End Camping Tents are just that — high-end, and prioritize a comfort-over-all-else ethos that will have you enjoying the outdoors, no matter the weather or group size. These shelters also command the higher end of the price spectrum, but for the dollars deliver on the niceties we’re looking for when camping outdoors. Often pricing out north of $500, tents like the REI Co-op Base Camp 6, MSR Habitude 6, and Mountain Hardwear Bridger 4 serve up hardened designs that jam in the features.
Their construction often aims to fully capitalize on the floor space provided, and sport vertical or close-to-vertical walls and a taller overall height that makes for less stooping once inside. Walls in this category will also use a good amount of mesh in order to increase built-in ventilation, and can be enhanced by using vents that are often built into the rainfly to keep moisture moving from layer to layer.
The rainflies themselves will almost always be full coverage, meaning that they extend from the peak all the way to the ground and help to seal out wind-driven rain. The design of these high-end tents also bulks up on security, sometimes borrowing from mountaineering-styled designs to form tunnel or dome-style tents. Poles will be made from sturdy aluminum and often attach to the tent body using clips or hooks, unlike traditional sleeves.
If front country or car camping is something you only do occasionally, then there’s not much reason to drop the big bucks on a tent that will only see occasional use. Your budget-style tents typically slide in under $300, and while they give up some in the overall durability and livability metrics, many are still great shelters for tossing up at the campground. Look to the $120 Kelty Discovery Basecamp 4 and the even cheaper $100 Coleman Sundome Tent 4P for real savings.
One of the biggest differences you’ll notice here is in material construction, and the overall weight that comes along with it. Budget-style tents are often made with thicker fabrics, and may be treated with cheaper waterproof coatings laid on thick to help resist moisture. This can aid in overall longevity, but at a good ding to overall packability.
These style tents also may take shortcuts in their design that create large broadsides of walls that won’t be the most weather-worthy should a storm blow in. For most car camping, however, fair weather is the goal, and this won’t make much of a difference.
For those who simply can’t decide what the weekend might hold, or who are at gear closet capacity, the crossover realm offers a solution that both makes your tent decision easier, and limits the impact on your wallet. These tents will often skew closer to backpacking tents in terms of design, but provide a bit more living space like traditional camping tents do. In our line-up today, we’ve narrowed in on the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 as being the perfect crossover option, but have also had good luck with the REI Co-op Half Dome SL 3+ Tent in the past.
Keep in mind that these tents make concessions on overall livable space in trade for packability, and you’ll likely want to purchase a tent with one more camper capacity in order to have adequate space for camping. These tents will, however, be light enough to carry out to more remote camping spots, and can add a lot of comfort over going with a more purebred backpacking model.
This is one of the biggest reasons to invest more in a tent. Basic tents handle pleasant weather like a champ and can even manage light rain and wind.
If you plan to camp during storms, it’s worth it to save up and buy a sturdier tent. Premium tents have stronger poles, full rain covers, and sealed seams. It’s things like this that seem less important — until you find yourself riding out an epic storm from the confines of your tent.
While testing, we experienced a major thunderstorm complete with high winds and heavy rain. Each of the tents had been properly staked out, but many of them experienced damage. The Marmot Limestone 4P performed incredibly well, with no leaking or broken poles. The REI Co-op Base Camp 6 is also well equipped for inclement weather thanks to its rainfly and many tiedown points, as is the Mountain Hardwear Bridger 4.
When it comes to camping tents, some may opt to limit the coverage of the rainflies in an effort to limit the overall weight. Unless this is done smartly, it can often lead to water ingress during sideways driving rain. The NEMO Aurora Highrise is an example of a tent with such a fly, and while the overhang between the fly edge and window is substantial, there still is a possibility that a strong sideways rain could leak inside.
Often, manufacturers will refer to their tents with a season rating, which helps convey the types of conditions that it’s been designed for. While not a hard and fast rule, knowing where you are planning on camping, as well as the weather you may encounter, and what your tent is rated for, can greatly hedge your bets against spending a night in a flattened tent.
Every tent worth its salt today will provide a capacity number for the number of campers that it was designed to sleep. Many tent models are also available in multiple versions, with 4, 6, and 8-person capacities being the most common for camping tents. This number is drummed up from the number of regular sleeping mattresses that can be laid side-by-side in the sleeping area, but take note: this often only accommodates 20-inch sleeping pads.
That’s why we always suggest bumping up a bit in capacity over the total number you plan on sleeping in the tent. For example, a crew of 4 campers would likely appreciate the extra space afforded by a 6-person camping tent — providing enough space for extra gear or just a bit more breathing room.
The floor area number will also give you a good idea of the sleeping area space in any one tent, and is generally given in square footage. For 4-person tents, this typically comes in at around 60 sq. ft. For example, the Marmot Limestone 4-Person Tent slides in squarely at 60, while the more comfort-minded Mountain Hardwear Bridger 4 squeezes in a bit more at 62.5.
When it comes to 6-person models, the number jumps up to around 85 square feet, with the REI Co-op Base Camp 6 being the standard-bearer at 84 square feet, and the budget Kelty Discovery Element 6 surprisingly besting it at 89! It’s important to note here that the Kelty tent has less steep walls, and thus floor area isn’t the end-all when it comes to understanding overall livability.
The weather resistance of a tent depends largely on the materials from which it is constructed. Nylon and polyester are very common materials used in car camping tents.
Nylon is stronger, more resistant to abrasion, and can stretch considerably. Unfortunately, it absorbs water that causes your tent to sag in storms or high humidity.
Polyester has less stretch than nylon and so it is more likely to tear. This rigidity is a benefit in wet conditions because it will sag less and absorb less water, but also makes it more fragile than nylon.
Manufacturers will usually coat these fabrics in one or a combination of silicone (Sil), polyester urethane (PU), and polyether urethane (PE). Each of these coatings has benefits and drawbacks.
Most brands use PU because it has been the industry standard for decades. It does absorb water after prolonged exposure and causes fabrics to tear more easily. It also degrades over time (usually about a decade or longer in a chemical process called hydrolysis) and can promote mold growth if put away wet.
PE repels water very well and doesn’t fall victim to hydrolysis. It does reduce tear strength and it is less common than PU.
Silicone is the most water-resistant of these three but does not bond well to other materials — not even itself — and it is expensive. Unlike PU and PE, silicone adds tear strength to the base fabric. Sometimes these materials are used in combination (on opposite sides of a rainfly, for example, labeled Sil:PU).
For waterproofing, all of these coatings are measured in hydrostatic head (HH). This is a measurement of water that can be placed over the fabric before it starts to saturate and allow moisture intrusion.
Imagine a tube of water placed over the fabric that is so many millimeters long. The gravitational pressure of the water exerts force over time to saturate the fibers.
Over 1,000 to 1,500 mm of HH is considered waterproof by industry standards. The benefit of PU is that multiple coats can be applied to achieve an HH rating of 10,000 mm or more.
This measurement can be helpful, but remember that some fabrics are inherently stronger than others whether through stretch capability (nylon) or coatings applied. More weight of a given fabric does not always translate to strength. Denier is the measurement of the diameter of the specific fibers.
Again, this can add strength, but different fibers have different innate strengths at the same denier rating. Generally, car camping tents are built pretty burly without much of a worry for weight or packed size, as these will not be hiked very far. These measurements and ratings are a good place to start when selecting a tent but are not the final word on strength.
The comfort of a tent depends on personal taste and priorities. To evaluate comfort, we looked at ventilation, door and windows, floor space, and peak height. While a waterproof tent is a must, remaining breathable is a major concern.
Not only does a poorly ventilated tent get too hot and stuffy, but interior condensation can also become a problem. This is another area where investing more in a tent pays off.
Higher-end tents have more mesh and an outer rainfly that is completely separate. The REI Co-op Wonderland X has an exoskeleton of poles and unique hanging interior mesh walls. The Kelty Discovery Basecamp 4 has a fully separate rainfly and plenty of mesh at an affordable price. Budget models, such as the Coleman Sundome, lack the extensive use of no-see-um mesh but are more affordable for occasional campers.
Most larger tents have two doors. We were disappointed to see the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 4 Tent and the Kelty Discovery Element have just one exit. Two doors make it much easier for multiple people to share the space without having to crawl over sleeping bags.
In general, it keeps the interior space cleaner and is convenient for midnight bathroom breaks. Pay attention to the direction of the door flaps. Most doors zip to the side like a regular door, but the Wawona 4 from The North Face rolls away to the top. Preference reigns here, but it is an attribute worth consideration.
Floor space in a tent equals comfort. Tents have a stated number of people they can sleep, but how roomy or cramped they will be at capacity varies by body size, bed size, and the amount of gear you need to store inside.
Pay attention to floor dimensions and you can get a better idea of how many sleeping pads will fit. The average-sized person can sleep fairly comfortably with 24 by 76 inches of room, but the more space the merrier.
Car campers will find maximum comfort by subtracting a person or two from the stated capacity. It is a joy to be able to stand up and stretch out in taller and larger family tents like the Big Agnes Bunk House 4 or Eureka Copper Canyon 4, but they can be a challenge to set up.
Taller tents give more headspace, but they can be more challenging to set up solo if the height of the clips or joints is hard to reach.
Given their large size, it’s no surprise that some camping tents can be a challenge to set up. Over the years, we’ve wasted a lot of time fighting gear, and we’ve learned that it’s not worth dealing with poorly designed gear. It can quickly take the fun out of your time outdoors.
Whether you camp every weekend or once a year, ease of use is a major concern. Every tent on this list can be set up by one person (although some are easier than others). Our 5’5″ editor set up and took down each tent solo.
The Eureka! Copper Canyon didn’t give us much trouble during setup thanks to its pole design, while the Big Agnes Bunk House 4 was more difficult to set up alone.
A tent like the Decathlon Quechua 2 Second sets up in seconds, thanks to integrated poles that fold out already seated in the tent material. These tents unfold like a giant jack in the box and then pack away just as easily. While this is very convenient, storage and care are paramount, as there are many hinges and moving parts to accomplish this time-saving task.
One of the most important extra features of a camping tent is storage. Not all tents offer pockets and pouches for stashing gear, but they can make a big difference when deciding between two products.
There’s nothing more annoying than having to rifle through all of your belongings to find your headlamp. Luckily, most family camping tents come with a bevy of pockets to help things stay tidy.
The Eureka Copper Canyon has walls lined with convenient storage pockets to keep the whole family organized and the tent free of clutter. Conversely, backpacking crossover tents such as theMountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 only have a couple of corner pockets to save weight.
Other extra features we like had to do with stuff sacks and storage. The Eureka Copper Canyon packed down considerably well.
Another example of a thoughtful extra is the REI Co-op Base Camp 6 instructions sewn into the stuff sack. Extra features are just that, but they display a level of integrated convenience that can elevate one product over another for the benefit of the user.
We have talked about materials extensively. Coatings, base fabrics, and pole construction all contribute to the strength and longevity of your tent, but the single most important factor in the life of your tent is you.
First and foremost, never put your tent away wet. Remember when we mentioned hydrolysis earlier in regard to PU coatings? Water is a major culprit in speeding up that process. The fungus, molds, and mildews love to grow in your dark closet on your wet tent at room temperature. These organisms destroy the fibers of your tent and make it smell terrible.
Set your tent back up when you get home and let it air out. This simple chore will pay off later when you are still able to use your tent down the road. If you have no yard or nowhere dry to set it up, your living room makes a great space for this. Check all the seams, and especially the floor and fly, before packing it away.
Poles tend to break when they are not properly seated. When you are setting up your tent, never throw your poles. Some poles have an elastic cord in the center to keep them together. These are not meant to snap the pole into alignment, and tossing them around will crack and break fiberglass or aluminum.
Ensure that each joint is seated before installing the poles into the tent. When putting them away, treat them with the same care in reverse. Even though they seem strong, they are not meant to be thrown or hit against themselves or the ground.
Zippers are best left zipped to protect the teeth from wear. Simply zip them up before you roll the tent up to put it away. You can stuff your tent into the sack or roll it up neatly.
Some outdoor enthusiasts argue that rolling and folding in the same areas can create crease lines that put stress on the same area if the folds are always done in the same place. (Think about when you fold a piece of paper back on itself in the same spot to tear it easier.)
We have never had an issue with this, and it would take very specific creasing to accomplish that sort of wear, so pick whatever works better for you.
Most tents come with a stuff sack large enough to fit all the pieces. Cinch that sack tight before you store it so no pieces wander off. Now your tent is put away properly for its next adventure. Keep it away from harmful UV rays and temperature extremes, and your tent will give you optimum performance.
When it comes to protecting your new tent, one important consideration is a footprint. This is a ground cloth to set the tent upon. It provides an extra layer to protect the tent floor from punctures.
Some brands sell a footprint with the tent, such as the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3. Manufacturer-paired footprints usually pack down small and perfectly fit the size of the tent. On the downside, they add an extra $50 or so to the cost of the tent.
Some people prefer to use a basic tarp instead, which can be picked up for less than $20. A tarp doesn’t pack up as easily and doesn’t match the size of the tent.
You’ll either need to tuck the extra under the tent or trim the tarp to fit. You don’t want any of the footprint material sticking out from under the tent, as this can lead to water pooling underneath.
These are more important when choosing a backpacking tent and less important when car camping. They are still something to consider. Some tents function as backpacking tents as well as car camping tents.
Most of the tents in our test come with a useful storage sack that contains the tent, fly, poles, and stakes, though some models are easier to pack away than others.
The Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 packs down small enough to carry into the backcountry but is by no means a “lightweight” tent. Most of the tents on our list are too heavy to be practical for backcountry travel.
Depending on the outing and your style, camping can range from minimalism to a bring-everything-including-the kitchen-sink adventure. In addition to a tent, you’ll need a sleeping pad and sleeping bag. That has your sleeping arrangements mostly covered, although you could certainly opt for a camping pillow or camp cot.
Next, think about your camp kitchen setup. A good camp stove allows you to make everything from scrambled eggs to multicourse meals. If you’re just looking to boil water, a backpacking stove is all you need to quickly make coffee or cook up a dehydrated meal.
For camp lounging, you may want a camp chair or hammock. And don’t forget the camping lantern. If it sounds like a lot to remember, don’t worry. We’ve made this handy camping checklist that will help you pack the essentials.
A good camping tent can be one of the bigger purchases when putting together a good summer kit, so it’s important to know what you’re getting for those dollar signs. With a range from just north of a hundo to more than a grand, there’s a lot of territory to cover, and most of it will come down to three important metrics: the number of people the tent will sleep, the weather protection it provides, and the amount of accessories tucked away inside.
Camping is for everyone, and if you’ve only got a few frontcountry forays on the books for the summer, going to something with a little lower overhead can make a lot of sense. Budget camping tents are generally offered beginning at the $100 mark, and head up to around $200 from there.
A tent like the Kelty Discovery Basecamp 4 ($120) is a fine example, and it’s not uncommon for tents in this realm to offer rainflies with less coverage over the body of the tent, and often only incorporate a single door as an entrance into the tent. The REI Co-op Campwell 4 ($229) is another spend-wise tent we’d recommend to those looking to get further outdoors, but with an eye on the weather, as the tent shines best when the sun does.
Understanding the limitations of budget tents will safeguard against overextending them in harsh conditions, but for fair-weather campground camping, many do an admirable job. Beyond the $200 to about $500 mark, camping tents begin to feature hardier materials, full-coverage rainflies, and vestibules, with added niceties like internal storage options and windows.
You’ll also notice a price difference when looking at tents of different occupancies. For example, the REI Co-op Basecamp 4 is $475, while the 6-person version will run you $549. This near $100 difference between a 4-person and a 6-person tent isn’t uncommon, and many other manufacturers replicate this.
Beyond about $600 are high-end tents, which jam in the features to offer true frontcountry luxury. The Mountain Hardwear Bridger 4 ($700) exemplifies this with a burly mountaineering-inspired build, spacious and livable vestibule area, and an incredible amount of pockets and functionality. The asking price is a pretty penny, but the overall durability of tents like these means they’ll last a good bit longer than other lesser tents.
For more information, please visit Luxury Camping Tent.