Tent Recommendations?

Any of the lighter trekking pole supported tents can be purchased with dedicated poles. Such as…

http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/tents/outfitter.html

Also read this

http://topshotsystems.com/Lightweight_Scouting_Dissertation.pdf

The Zephyr gets good reviews in the uk

http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/tents/outfitter.html

Two doors, cross ventilation, max headroom.
$160 + $25(?)shipping. Another $50 if you buy their poles,stakes and groundsheet. Perhaps $25 at Waly World. You could possibly improvise the gs and poles. They can be upgraded later if desired.
A bit over budget but a groundsheet would be extra anyway. It should fit your criteria.
It isn't free standing, meaning it needs to be staked out to hold it's shape. Not that difficult. Good thing for scouts to learn.
I have the LD Explorer which I find comfortable. The difference is in the material. It's a bit lighter, but then,I'm an old man, not a young scout.

Not sure what the weight is, as it's not listed, but the two person Templum 2.1 is only 87.99 in their gear cache section, in the Stoic page (I posted/linked it in the gear deals forum the other day). It would be a good, beater tent and for the price, you could get two.

You can always live chat the gear people at Backcountry.com and ask them about the specs. Deal expires in 14 hours.

Hi Rebecca,

With many years both in Scouting and working in the outdoor equipment retail world, and traveling with my son to Philmont in '15, I was also thinking about the exact same thing for my son.

I have since concluded that the new Philmont tents are going to work fine for him, and in the meantime I am going to "encourage" him to consider a tent to be his own personal investment (and choice) when the time is right for him. This may not happen for another year or two. It will be up to him.

As good as your son is at taking care of his gear, I can assure you that you (or he) will have no control over the other boys in the troop, and their ability to use/misuse your son's tent. I can't even begin to describe to you how many "tent stories" there are out there, when it comes to Scout trips.

I honesty can't offer any specific suggestions in this very moment, but wanted to share with you what's on my mind. Whatever you get; I suggest either a used tent, or a very durable tent with an impeccable warranty. (Back when I worked at REI, I would usually recommend the REI or Kelty lines to scouts.)

All the best,

Matt

How hard is the Lunar Duo to set-up? We had considered that tent as well and know that we would have to buy the separate poles.

I can't seem to find the Stoic on Steep and Cheap. Do you have a link?

Yes, I'm well aware that the boys are rough on gear. When we backpack as a family, my boys use a Shangri-La 2, but I'm unwilling to let that go on a Scout trip.

The Lunar Duo is as easy as driving a stake. The setup is easy. The staking takes a little finesse depending on the ground. The same with all tents. Even free standing tents should be staked.
The difference is there is no ridge pole to keep it's shape. Instead you have 2 opposing lines keeping tension on the vertical poles. I stake the 4 corners, insert the poles through the top and tie off my tension lines. Once the gear is in the tent, the corner stakes aren't so important. If the stakes are in soft sand, you can make a sand bag out of something, or put a rock over them. I'm sure you've dealt with stakes before. It's a bit of a trade off, but you get a larger, nicer tent in exchange.

Another option in a non free standing tent and a good bit cheaper is the Appy Trails. Three man tent for $99, 5 man for $120. Don't know much about them, but have seen good reviews. Big enough to have friends over yet under two pounds.For a hundred bucks, if it did get torn up, well darn it. For two hundred, if it gets torn up,
http://www.appytrails.com/at_four_man.html

Unless your scouts backpack a lot, I wouldnt get a very UL backpacking tent for normal scout camping.

It really depends on what kind of normal camping they do.

Most of our scouts use a cheap 3P coleman tent (coleman usually doesnt leak) for car camping, and wait and get a real UL backpacking tent when the time comes. If you are fortunate to be in a scout troop that backpacks a lot, that is different.

I have a kelty grand mesa2 that Ive been totally happy with. My son and I have shared it on a few trips, each carrying half, and it was always my car camping shelter as well for just me. Its like the Salida but with an end zipper instead of side. In fact, he used it at Philmont with another boy. I have lighter tents, but I wasnt going to let him use one with another scout.

For scout car camping my son always used a Eureka Apex 2 XT, two side doors, two vestibules. Great tent, except for zippers over mesh if you care about that, a bit heavy at about 5.5 lbs with fiberglass poles. They used to make one called the pinnacle that was the same thing but had aluminum poles.

I would concur. Skip the ultralight tents for scout camping. If you shop around, you should be able to find a high quality two or three man tent (Marmot Limelight, REI Half Dome, Sierra Designs Meteor, etc.). Quality materials, DAC aluminum poles, etc.

I just bought a Limelight 2 for $110. Weighs just under 6 pounds (real weight), with a full set of guy lines, MSR stakes, factory footprint, gear loft, and all the stuff sacks.

Limelight YouTube

I’m using it as a 1 person tent, so I only needed one door. If I wanted two doors, I would be very tempted by the REI Half Dome 2 ($189 retail) or the slightly larger Half Dome 2 Plus or the Marmot Limelight 3P. If you are going to be camping with your son, get a 3 person tent. I don’t care what they say, the 2 person tents are sized for 1 person.

The ultralights are going to more expensive and have materials that are significantly less durable for scout camping: smaller diameter poles, lightweight floors, all mesh tent bodies.