Finding a good Tent

Hello there,
i love camping, but yesterday my Tent broke and now i got no Tent to go camping, thats pretty hard for me, cause i can only be 100% happy if i have my Freedom and can go camping whenever i want to...
Well, this requires a Tent..
I'd be very happy if you guys could help me finding a good and cheap Tent.
Would you tell me which Tents you got?

 

Howdy @Saul Goodman ...

You are fortunate in that you live withing easy travel distance to all kinds of fabulous stores. I'm thinking you are in the Toronto area?

If that be the case you have Mountain Equipment Co-op in Burlington and Toronto. Barrie has a Cabela's, Mountain Equipment Co-op, and SAIL. There is also a SAIL in Burlington and Cambridge as well.
But these can be on the expensive side.
It's always fun to look them up online and drool at all the possibilities.

So...what do you think you need?
_____________________________________________________________________________________

If you are a weekend warrior Walmart or a Canadian Tire would have some inexpensive tents that you could make due for awhile. I find that Walmart [sometimes they have sales on just about now] has the best selection though the Canadian Tire Super Stores do all right too. You might want to check out Costco if your folks have a membership.

You can get some good buys at surplus stores - they tend to have a good selection.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What would I recommend?
Whatever you decide in terms of brand - stay with a three man size - that would be a minimum.
If it comes with a fly [roof covering] make sure it goes to the ground.
Make sure it has a floor designed for the ground, often called bath tub - read the package.
Stay away from tents that advertise gimmicks - roof racks, door mats - these are not really necessary.

I have one of these in my nine tent inventory and it has been excellent.

This is an Orion 7 a three man tent with reversible fly by North 49 [7 x 7 x 48 inches tall] ranging in price from $85.00 [Forest City Surplus, London] to $105.00 else where. It's a good tent and I've used it many times for tripping among other endeavours. They also come in other sizes.

World Famous has some pretty good stuff - often found at surplus stores.

Hope that is helpful - you have lots of time to search, so have fun.

Here are more pictures of the tent...

 

When it comes to tents, I don't think good and cheap come anywhere near each other. I'm not saying you have to go out and buy a $600 tent, but getting something that will be at least serviceable requires more than a trip to Walmart. Without getting into all the specs (types of poles, types of cloth, etc.) I'd say stick with "names". At the lower end of the spectrum, there's companies like Kelty, Eureka, and Coleman. Sure - you can go into a Walmart and buy something like a Texsport tent for $75. But then you'll be back the next year when a fiberglass pole snaps or a seam rips when you try to zip it up or other some such disaster.

To keep it on the cheap, I'd recommend doing stuff like checking Craigslist to see what you can find. People upgrade their tents and sell their old ones even though they have plenty of life left in them. Another option is to go to sites like the Eureka Outlet. They sell returns that are refurbished and factory seconds that might have small blemishes that don't quite measure up to their quality standards.

The last thing I'll add is that it would help if we knew what kind of camping you like to do. What kind of weather do you typically encounter? Are you car camping or backpacking? Are you out by yourself or are you in a group? Are you comfort driven or are you a minimalist? The options for tents are almost endless and no one tent is going to cover every situation.

 

@Northern Dancer well mate, actually i'm from Germany! But my second home is in Canada. When i'm there i love camping and going ouside, but in Germany its a bit harder, you need to be ok with the landscape.. But camping is pretty cool in Germany, so I need camping equipment which is good in Germany!
If you are able to ready the German language you might look the German camping gear up here http://www.maxtex24.de/Zelte/ the tents are not as good as in Canada, but they do what they have to! Oh darn.. I miss Canada so much, I should get back pretty soon.. Homesickness is bad..

 

I like your last statement - it helps clarify the situation.

I'm with you MacGyver I have dropped $1,200.00 for a tent with no hesitation, but when you are 15 that kind of money is hard to come by. Truthfully - if he was living in this city I'd give him one of my tents.

 

You're in Toronto, right? If you've got any $1200 tents lying around collecting dust, let me know. It'll take me a couple of days to get up there, but I will come and get it.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT? Why did I think you were a CANUCK? Anyway let's move to PLAN B. Aw...didn't you at one time mention that you were in Algonquin Park? Man...did I ever screw up. [Did I get the age right?] Anyway.... back to plan B. Do you have relatives or friends living here? If so...would they, after you have done your homework, purchase a tent on your behalf and send it over? Or hold on to it until you arrive?

OR you can check home base and maybe OUTWELL tents - from the "Englanders". And by the way...you have got some pretty good stuff right there in your own backyard. Check out Robens and Helleberg. And since you are in Europe there are a whole lot of possibilities. I think if I remember correctly you have Out Door stores in your country and there a probably a lot more. Unfortunately I don't know prices and such but you can check it all out and now is the time.

Man...I can't believe I did that.

MacGyver had some good suggestions too.

 

...loves yah too MacGyver!

The cost was for a 12 X 20 four season Alaknak outfitters series with wood burning stove.



I'll use the model if I'm at a base camp for four weeks or more. It's like living in a mini cottage. Unfortunately, carrying all the appointments can be a bit of a hassle. On some occasion I will use if for events that I'm part of. It can take six military cots and is equipped with a stove.

For the winter camp out coming up at the end of the month I use my 10 X 10 Alaknak - I can't be bothered heating up all the air in the larger tent. I'm planning a video presentation of our weekend excursion.

MASSIVE CLARIFICATION "i antin givin this baby away for nuttin."
I was thinking of something a bit less to meet Saul's need for a good tent. I have some contacts that on occasion have been good to me. I live about an hour and half from "Trana "- not to insult Erik or other great citizens of that community including Rob Ford.

So...you can unpack now.

Northern Dancer ... Like...Man you have to get your communication straight and directions too.

 

Hey there again, the age is wrong, c'mon 1.1.2001 haha, i think i forgot to change that.. my actual birthday is the 13th of august 1997.
@McGyver Thank you very much for your tips and advices!
@McGyver,Northern Dancer, you both are pretty cool mates, hope you enjoy the day! in Germany it started snowing again!

 

Saul - You're in Germany which I would imagine means you'd have easier access to tents from the UK. I'm jealous. I can't remember the name brands, but in my searching for tents over the years, I recall seeing a lot of nice tents that either aren't available here in the US or that would cost a fortune to have sent over here.

But, to get back to your original question, it really would help if we knew what kind of camping you're looking to do and what kind of budget you have.

And Babylon says:
Saul - Sie sind in Deutschland, die ich mir vorstellen kann bedeutet, dass sie einen leichteren Zugang zum Zelt aus dem Vereinigten Königreich. Ich bin neidisch. Ich kann mich nicht mehr an den Namen erinnern, aber in meiner Suche nach Zelte über die Jahre, ich erinnere mich an sehen viele schöne Hütten, entweder sind hier nicht zu finden in den USA oder, würde ein Vermögen kosten, geschickt haben. Aber, um auf Ihre ursprüngliche Frage zurückzukommen, ich würde es wirklich helfen, wenn wir wussten, was für eine camping sie suchen zu tun und welche Art von Budget, das sie haben.

 

MacGyver - Well, i actually saw a lot of Camping shops here, we are near to the alps!
Babylon is actually pretty good, but it messed up almost the whole text ;-), good that im able to read english !

well im the kind of camper who packs his things in his backpack and doing survival, im a really really big fan of survival, in germany it really sucks, because its mostly cold and the nature is not as brilliant as it is in the US / Canada! so im searching a lightweight tent which is easy to carry!

 

Good lightweight tents don't come cheap. It's always been kind of funny to me that a company can put out two versions of the same tent, one being lightweight, the other not and charge more for the lightweight version. They usually have lighter poles and lighter fabric.

 

Woah man, thats some bad marketing .. well but everything to camp is needet!

 

...glad to see you back @Saul Goodman - like the avatar. You have lots of stuff to read about tents - but it all comes down to study, search and find. I do some of what you do - particularly in canoe country. I have some pics of my last year's trip under the section - On the Water - canoe country.

As I mentioned I have an Orion 7 and I also have a Coleman Hooligan and an Eagle Tent as well for backpacking.

Good grief! - you manged to age two years in such a short time. I wondered about that, because it seemed to me that you were doing a whole lot of things beyond your stated age.

Are you planning to get back into Algonquin again? I'm planning to spend more time there this year.

 

i'd really love to come back, but i cant, many things to do in germany, much to learn! But i feel like im gaining tons of knowledge everyday, so its ok for me! But when i'll come to Toronto one day, you have to show me the things i need to see!

 

I'm not far from Trana [as some of us call it humorously]. The Commander and one of his Lieutenants live in Toronto proper. Who knows, we might be able to get together. Stranger things have happened.

 

True that! we'll see!

 

It's been good talking/communicating ? with you Saul - hope we can do that often. Keep the campfire burning.

But, coffee break is over - it's back to work, so I can make money to purchase all those camping items I have in mind.

 

Yeah! i wish you much fun at your work!

 

I am pretty much an above freezing temperature tent camper, so the lighter duty tents work for me.

I found that using a few of the thermal tarps - silver on on side, regular tarp on the other side - really adds a lot of flexibility to a basic light duty tent. Silver side in if colder weather, silver side out if hotter weather. They make nice lean-to's and ground cover, too.

 

...in terms of camping? I think that I have endured, embraced, enjoyed just about every kind of weather condition. From hot to cold it's always been an experience. They tell me I'll be getting snow in my part of the woods on Thursday; just in time for our week end winter camp.

 

Yeah, lighter duty tents should be pretty good! I'll see to get to a camp shop as soon as possible

 

i like multi-season camping and Germany is a pretty cold country, half a year its mostly cold, the other half is somewhere between 16-25 degrees :-/