Introduction
This gear guide summarizes the category of three person (“3P”) tents with two doors, two vestibules and full screen houses suitable for families with young children, couples with dogs, and trekkers who travel in larger groups (but wish to do so with more creature comforts.) This is in contrast to 3P tents which may not have two doors or full screen houses but may be suitable for minimalists.
Three person ("3P") tents suitable for families with young children, couples with dogs, and trekkers who travel in larger groups (but wish to do so with more creature comforts) most often feature two doors, two vestibules and fully-screened inner tents. Ultralight versions usually weight less than 5.0 pounds (2.3 kg).
Context: Why Buy a 3P Tent?
For small families (especially with young babies, toddlers and children), couples with pets, and people who want a pinch more elbow room when packing with friends, or when in areas likely to have days of rain or biting insects a three person tent can be a boon. Additionally, on trips where you may have more time camping in one place, a bigger tent can be worth a bit of extra weight as a place to relax out of the sun, rain, wind and insects.
Typically though, three person tents aren’t light, and are bulky. In the past few years tent manufacturers have started realizing weight and space saving is more important in a 3P tent. Kids and pets can’t help carry much of the load. If you are looking for more room, you don’t want a tent that is astronomically heavier than a 2P tent.
In this context, a 3P tent should have two doors, a screen enclosure, a pair of vestibules, plenty of room for multiple occupants to move in, out and around, and weigh around 24 oz (0.7kg), or less, per person. There are many ultralight shelters available for fast and light adventures but for packers trying to contain children or pets and avoid the worst of the elements, these shelters miss the mark.
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to: Family Tents for Backpacking
A gear guide summarizing the state of the market of 3-person double wall tents and ultralight backpacking shelters.
Nice comparison, and useful details! Thanks for putting this together. It is a big time-saver to have all of this info in one place.
I see that this is really about 3p tents, but Tarptent Hogback deserves a mention given the title of “Family Tents”.
Slingfin Portal 3 is another to consider. It is not as spacious as the current Copper Spur UL3 XL, but it has a reputation for being the most wind resistant in the class. Tarptent is also taking orders for the upcoming Arc Dome with a 3p inner — that should be another bomber 3p tent for more severe weather.
Good Comments Bill, I do like the Tarptent Hogback, because its a 4 person tent and for consistency, it didn’t end up in the 3 person tent review. I’d love to test one out though.
The Slingfin Portal 3 is a new one to me, the development on this article stared in 2023/2024 so it also may not have been available when the bulk of the research was done. I’ll make sure it gets added into the Specs.
Same thing on the Arc Dome 3 when it comes out. We frequently update the charts as new things come out.
I don’t think it makes sense to limit “Family Tents” to only 3-person models as you have now excluded families with 2 children as well as families with 1 child and a family dog. In fact if you look at US demographic data, there are about half as many families with one child as there are with two children,
-H
True, however we did manage to get two adults, one toddler and a coonhound under one rectangular sleepbag made into a quilt when zipped to a ground sheet. The dog wasn’t invited.
Had to make room in our packs for diapers.
Hey Henry, I actually think we should do an evaluation of 4 person tents in addition to 3 person tents, (not in the same article.) Though I think if we look at 4 person tents that meet the same requirements as the 3 person ones, we’d only have one contender, the Tarptent Hogback. I can’t verify that for sure at the moment, but I’m certainly interested in the prospect. I would say that it looks like Tarptent is doing a great job of considering family’s needs in their designs.
And for Dave, that is a real thing…. Diapers… I have come up with some entertaining solutions for making them smaller and fit more of them into the smallest of crevices. I have a ranger roll style system I use to pack travel and backpacking diapers now. Tightly rolled diaper, wrapped in a diaper disposal bag, and secured with an elastic band. I vacuum packed some for air travel. The vehicle has them in ziplock snack bags to keep them clean in the map box. And I find a big Opsack to store them in the bike stroller or bear hang after use, works reasonably well. Creek baths replace wipes as much as possible.
We explored this, and ended up buying the Slingfin Cinder Cone 4p Mid. Compacts down, ~1.6kg and won over by the ventilation, storm worthiness and modularity of the design (and the space).
I’m going to contradict myself here. 3P tents aren’t family tents IMO.
They still make sense in a family perspective.
As it turns out, wife isn’t quite as enthusiastic about sleeping in a tent as the rest of the family, so me and my two kids usually go by our selves.
In the early days of parenthood I bought a 4p Helsport Lofoten Pro camp so I could bring the whole family along to experience the outdoors. And we did, a few times, but even this 4p tent is quite cramped with the four of us. Even back when the kids were smaller.
So while it didn’t serve to much in its intended role, it has been a great 4-season tent when I go winter backpacking with the kids.
As wife isn’t as into tenting as the rest of us, I’ve embraced the glamping concept for when all four of us go together. A 6p Nortent Gamme is where it’s at, at the moment. Short hikes, HEAVY tent and ample space. Sometimes we bring a wood stove too :)
Anyways, my kids are 12 now, and can hike almost as far as I can, so I’m now looking to extend our range by getting a lightweight 3p dome tent.
I have an older, lightweight for the time, Mountain hardware tent. But it’s heavy by todays standards and heavier than I appreciate for longer hikes – where I still have to carry all the shared gear.
Another upside with 3p tents is that when the kids get older, around 9-10ish, both the kids and their parents often prefer “separate bedrooms”, so having a 2p + 3p setup could be a more flexible solution that’s both more comfortable when everyone comes along, and also provides good options for trips with only one or some members of the family.
FWIW, another good use case for a 3p tent is two adults and one or two large dogs.
I backpack with my 2 sons. I had a sierra designs studio 3 which is right at 4 pounds but isn’t the roomiest tent for 3 people. I wanted a tent that fit 3 25″ wide rectangular pads without overlapping. I looked at specs on several tents and ended up with the MSR Hubba Hubba LT 3. Haven’t used it yet but seems like a nice tent.
Just adding that I’d also love to see an evaluation of 4P tents for bigger families.
for better or worse, the only viable options at 4p are the hogback or splitting up into multiple smaller shelters
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