Family Camping Tent

I can't address the cheap issue, because we bought an expensive REI Kingdom 4 tent (plus the add-on Gear Garage) for our family car camping trips. My wife wanted to be able to stand up in the tent… We have been happy with during our trips, including a week on the Northern California coast that included a fair amount of rain. It's 6' tall inside which means there is a ton of room for heat to rise (it's surprisingly cold). Also I would not want to be in it during a 40mph windstorm. You could buy your next ZPacks tent for what this costs. We bought it at a steep discount and then picked up the garage with another coupon a few weeks later.

I have embraced ultralight hiking over the last 2-3 years, yet I have no desire to subject my family to that while car camping. My kids are 7, 5 and 6 months. We camped this summer for the first time as a family and we used the Coleman Weathermaster 6 tent. I got it on Amazon for $130. It has a ton of room, a hinged door, and a little screened porch area. You definitely need to seam seal this tent before using it. I did not and it leaked, not a ton but it leaked in a very heavy monsoon rain that lasted about 2 hours. If we had more to spend I would have gone with a Eureka Copper Canyon 6 or the REI Kingdom 6 or 8 tent.

When our kids were young we bought an REI Basecamp 6. It's bombproof and big enough for a family of four. It has held up over a dozen years of heavy use all over the Rockies. We tried all the cheaper choices first. They were not stormproof enough nor did they hold up to growing kids. Our boys are grown and the tent is still in great shape!

We have an REI Kingdom 6 for a family of 3 plus a big dog. We've had it for maybe 4-5 years now and love it. The design gets criticism from skeptics but we've now experienced enough weather in it to have confidence. My 6'2" husband can stand up in it (key criteria). Bonus is that it can easily be setup by one person, and a short person at that. For out-of-state trips when we fly with our gear, we have a Big Agnes Jack Rabbit 4p tent.

One of the biggest factors to help you would be to know what your price point is? I wasn't willing to spend $500-600 for a tent that will get used 3-4 times a summer for the next 4-5 years. That's just too much for me.

I agree with BJ on the Base Camp 6. It's pretty darned bombproof, but it's a bit hard for one person to set it up. REI rents their Base Camp 4 and 6 models, and they show up at garage sales about now, very cheap. I picked up a Base Camp 4 for my buddy's X-mas present two years ago for $27! And that included a footprint and an easily repaired tear in the floor.

Given the price of the nicer family tents, we simply backpack-camp no matter how far from the car we are. We're a pretty active backcountry and Cub Scouting (car camping) family, so that combo works for us. I mean, an REI Kingdom 6 costs $439… Practically, that means that a family of four shares some combination of: – Hilleberg Nammatj 2 – Hilleberg Rogen 2 – MLD Grace Duo tarp We don't typically family camp in the depths of winter – only 2 sleeping bags good to Od – so that works pretty well in any weather. This presumes that everyone is happy with a little backpacking tent, and luckily, my wife is and my kids don't know any different – they even prefer the tarp or cowboy camping.

I bought a REI Hobitat 6 for car camping. I love it… but it looks like they no longer sell it :( If you want something that you can backpack with, then I would get a Tarptent Hogback… Actually I should say… I got a Tarptent Hogback for backing with my family. It is a great tent for backpacking with small kids (mine are 4 & 7), but we never bring it car camping.

As much as I like the Kingdom 6, I would pause at the $439 price tag, too. I just checked and we paid $265 for it in 2010 during their Memorial Day sale; I remember it having been a super sale. I've seen them on the REI outlet site once in a while; probably transitioning from one model year to the next.

That is really the crux of my question. Do I need to spend $500 or will something in the ~$200 range be good enough for the 3 trips a year for the next few years that it is used? After that then should I go with a dome style or cabin style tent? Strangely, I think once the boys are a little bigger a 6 person tent will be fine but at this young age an 8 man tent might be better. Little kids have lots of big junk. Our 3 year old has significantly less than our 6 month old. Thanks for all the feedback and understanding the comfort factor, looks like I'm not the only one who does some family car camping. I was half afraid I would be told to ditch the tent and buy 2 cuben fiber tarps for the family.

Brian, The weathermaster tent worked great, takes maybe 15 mins to setup with my wife's assistance. Seam seal it before you go camping, buy a tarp for underneath it and it'll be fine. Don't spend $1,600 on tents like one poster recommended. My family loves being outdoors but they aren't so big on camping unless its in a campground with bathrooms. We camp once a month all summer and a bit in to the fall. I hope to get them in the back country one day but that might take some time.

If you have any thought of hiking with it, I would get a big mid or something like the Golite Shagngri-la 4 or 5. Comfort in car camping to me is bigger sleeping pads and pillows. The other real difference from hiking is a cooler and a two-burner stove. We use an MSR Missing Link most of the time now with just 2 of us and the dog, although we have a big Eureka tent. Cabin tents have never impressed me. Look for models with a full rain fly, enough tie-downs and good flow-through ventilation options. The only reason I can see for the big multi room tents is more social, so the adults can talk or play cards while the kids sleep.

It depends on where you’d be camping and what’s the weather going to be like, but if its chilly and somewhere near woods and fires are allowed I would buy a wood stove for your tent. Something like Titanium Goat. Weights almost nothing and packs very small, well constructed and being titanium will last forever (to somewhat justify the price), you can cook on it and it’s very easy to modify any tent to insert the pipe exit. Great at keeping kids busy too collecting the wood and keeping the fire going. For family evenings when you are cooking, relaxing or playing games it will provide warmth and ambience while leaving no trace.

Heath wrote: "Don't spend $1,600 on tents like one poster recommended." I think the better way to think about it is that I spent $0 on car camping tents. The Nammatj I've had for 15 years and use for winter solo and 2-person camping. The Rogen I bought used here for ~$400 and get's used for summer family backpacking and canoe camping. The MLD I use for solo and 2-person trips every summer. I'd own each of them even if I'd never car camped. (To be fair, I think I've only car camped 3-4 times in my 40 years…) Given that the poster is posting here, I think it's reasonable to presume he has at least a backpacking tent or two. Given that, if he's going to spend another $300-400, better to get another backpacking tent than a big old car camping tent. Two backpacking tents may not have the expansive room of a $400 car camping tent, but they'll be warmer, dryer, more weather resistant, and more useful.

I think multiple tents is an excellent idea when the kids get a little older. A 1 and 3 year sharing a tent alone while Mom and Dad are in another sounds like a great idea but probably won't work out that well. Here are the tents I was considering: Low Price Points: Coleman Evanston 6 or 8: $139-$159 P: Screen room easy set up, C:Fly doesn't cover screen, only standing room in center Coleman Weathermaster:$170 P: covered screen room, C:likely difficult to set up Coleman 8 person isntant up: $200 P: Easy set up Con: no vestibule or screen area Higher Price points: REI Kingdom 8 Tent $529: Pro: has it all C Setup and price The North Face Kaiju 6 Tent$399: P:Garage/vestibule C: Mixed reviews no screen in vestibule Marmot Limestone 8 $650: P: quality size C: price, no screen porch Big Agnes Tensleep 6 $350: P: quality Garage C: Can only stand in center no screen porch

Wait for an REI sale and get the Kingdom 4 with the garage. We use it for car trips for two adults and two kids 9 yrs old. It works well.

Cabin tents aren't the greatest when it comes to weather protection however as I said the weathermaster I bought did great in an AZ monsoon storm that lasted well over two hours. I am talking inches and inches of rainfall, winds, etc… with only some small leaking around the seams on the bottom of the windows. Seam sealing would have taken care of that. Dome tents would fair better in foul weather but tend to be more expensive and have less headroom The OP has mentioned in other posts that he has recently returned to hiking. So I am guessing with having small children he is looking to keep the cost down as much as possible. Again I used the weathermaster all summer long in AZ mountain monsoon storms it did great and didn't break the bank. I was worried that the weathermaster would be difficult to set up but we set it up at camp for the first time straight out of the box in under 20 mins. It definitely needs two people though. And just because one is in to ultralight backpacking does not preclude one from enjoying car camping.

"Do I need to spend $500 or will something in the ~$200 range be good enough for the 3 trips a year for the next few years that it is used?" I wouldn't get a Coleman. I've see them at every campground I have visited and they are always a disaster (broken poles, ripped fabric, impossible to set up). I also agree that $500 is an awful lot to spend. If you have some time, I have seen 6-man REI tents go on-sale fairly regularly in the $200 – 300 range. I got my Hobitat 6 for around $250. Here are several decently priced tents at REI right now: http://www.rei.com/outlet/c/tents?r=deals%3AOutlet%20Products%7CClearance%20Products%3Bcategory%3Acamping-and-hiking%7Ctents%3BSleeping-Capacity%3A6-person%7C8+%20people%3Btab.sku-pricerange%3A$200.00%20to%20$499.99&ir=category%3Acamping-and-hiking&outlet=true&rank=rank_outlet Though that REI branded one doesn't look like it has much headroom. The Eureka and Kelty Airpitch look nice.

Ben, I agree, during the storms I went through this summer I saw lots of Coleman, and other cheap tents get destroyed, however, the weathermaster has straight locking metal poles, not fiber glass with inverted U pieces that go over the top which are also metal. It also has a ton of guy lines. It withstood storms that trashed other tents. Its a really spacious tent and meets my families needs and I only paid $130 on Amazon for it. Those Airpitch tents have no poles and you literally have to pump up the tent. I guarantee that sucker is going to last a far shorter time than the Coleman. If you can score an REI 6 man tent on sale or wait till spring and for coupons/dividends you can probably get one for roughly $200.

Brian: Is this is for camping only? If so, I'd get a tent as big as possible because before you know it other kids come along and there's always as lot of stuff associated with car camping. Plus it's so nice to be able to easily move around with children that age(they get sick, bathroom trips, get scared, etc). I have three daughters, and our car camping tent was an old Sears Hillary tent, 10' by 18' and it worked out great. Even better was we had lightweight aluminum bunk bed cots that'd we take along. K

Kenneth, 3 girls here too. They bring along so much stuff, and having a big car camping tent has made them at ease being in the woods. We have enough room to sleep, have a small heater, etc… They have really enjoyed camping because of this.

I would look into one of these, such as the Seek Outside versions. For the size, you probably would have a hard time finding something as weather worthy as one of these. I think they make up to 16 person sizes. Since they are floorless shelters, you can walk into them with your shoes on. They are tall…no problem standing up in them. You can get partial floors, partial nests, full or half liners, screen doors and even stoves that you can use inside in cold weather. They aren't cheap though.

Brian wrote: "A 1 and 3 year sharing a tent alone while Mom and Dad are in another sounds like a great idea but probably won't work out that well." Like frequently in ultralight backpacking, there's a clever and free solution that can be employed here! :) In my family on our last trip, it meant I was smushed between a 7 year-old and a 5-year-old under a cuben tarp while my wife was in a 2-person Hilleberg by herself. She thought that was ok.

We have two kids ages 4.8 and 2.6 and we went car camping last two summers almost every other weekend. I chose Sierra Designs Meteor Light 6: -roomy -can stand up -easy to pack, easy to set up -light(ish) – well for a huge tent like that:) -airy without a rain fly, amazing view for stargazing I don't like complicated things so this was a perfect choice for us. Yes we do go on very small backpacking trips and we all fit into our Double rainbow tarptent but it's not fun to carry a two year old. So when she becomes stronger and we can actually walk longer distances we will do more backpacking and probably just carry two lightweight tents.