need suggestions for a 3 person shelter

Congratulations of fatherhood! For a fully enclosed shelter, the GoLite Hex 3 is a good option. I'm biased, though, since mine is for sale in the gear swap section. That said, it served my wife and two toddlers and I very well. We've simply outgrown it, and now have two 2-person shelters.

A much lighter but less wind stable option is the Tarptent Rainshadow 2. I started out with a Rainshadow, but sold it when my toddler tripped over the awning guyline and cut open his chin and nose. That's why I think the Hex 3 is such a great shelter for kids; there are no hard-to-see guylines to trip over. Also, the heavier duty floor and mesh are better for kids who like to play and jump around in a tent.

Just my biased 2 cents.

John, it looks like the GoLite Hex 3 tent is obsolete anymore — is this almost the same tent?

http://www.golite.com/Product/proddetail.aspx?p=SH6125&s=1
Golite Shangri-La 3 Tent

Shangri-La 3 is pretty much the same as the Hex3. I would also highly recommend it. Kid’s often think the shape is cool.

Maybe I am biased though… my first backpacking trip with my dad was in the sierra designs 3 man tent. I have so many good memories associated with that tent that I might look more favorably on similar shelters than I should… Nah. It’s still a great shelter.

–Mark

John thanks for the congrats! I Do like the look of the hex 3 but I am still a least two months away from any kind of overnight outing with my daughter. we're still trying to get her to sleep at night! Golite seems to be the best option I've seen so far. Thanks John, Mark and Roleigh for the replies!

You might consider the SL-4 as well. Extra room without a whole lot more weight. I have the SL-6 for group winter camping and love it. A different design but I do like this series. Golite has great customer service by the way.

http://www.backcountrygear.com/catalog/tentdetail.cfm/GO3077

The SL-4 would be huge for 2 adults and a kid. I have regularly used it with 4 full size adults… all of whom had plenty of space.

Chris is correct though… it's not that much more extra weight. The other advantage is the the SL-4 is less finicky to set up. Not a big deal during much of the year, but went dealing with winter snow and wind getting the pitch perfect can be a pain. The SL-4 is much easier to nail down correctly and takes less stakes to do it in most cases.

–mark

I love mids for families… or couples with a big dog or two. I've historically used a 4-person with the inner tent/bug net (Dana Nuktuk, heavy). BD's Megalight w/insert or GoLite's SL4 would be great, plenty of very usable room. I'm using a SL 3 now, it's great for a couple people with room to spare, but the irregular floor shape isn't really as usable as the rectangular floor plan. With the 4-person I can squeeze two people on one side of the center pole, room at head and feet for gear (w/the person to the outside being kinda jammed under the bug net). With the SL-3, one person per side of the pole. Either way, an adult could sleep on either side of the pole with a shorty pad between your heads, say, and the new family member there. A little extra gear on the foot end. The 3 would probably work; the 4 would feel palatial.