How good are cheap tents?

[Umsaskis]

I've been camping and backpacking for many years using Eureka and LLBean and other good-quality tents, but now I'm looking to purchase a cheap but good enough quality 4-person tent for use in taking our church youth group camping. Ideally, I want it to last a good while so we can take groups camping for years. But I don't want to spend a lot since it's for the youth group and - well, groups of kids and the propensity for destruction of expensive tents....

However, I have absolutely no idea how the less expensive tents (Coleman, Wenzel, Ozark Trail, Cabin Creek) perform. So I'm looking for advice on these kinds of tents - waterproofness, durability, etc. Which brands/models are better, which are particularly bad?

 

[sapblatt]

Be careful

I would be carefful here, there is nothing worse than getting rained on all night (alright, being torn to bits by wild animals might be worse.) I have not used any cheap tents like the ones you mention but I think some brands are very reasonably priced. My wife and I purchased a Eureka Sunrise about 8 years ago...it sleeps four and was only a little over $100 at Hilton Tent City in Boston...that is quite inexpensive for a quality tent that can easily sleep four adults. Because weight is not an issue, many larger car camping tenst from quality manufacturers are quite low-priced...REI has some...
What do others have to say?

 

[Tramper Al]

What do others have to say?

I would say that there are definitely cheap tents that work well for car camping. I'd also say, though, that many (most) cheap (family style) tents suffer from a woefully small fly, making them wet wet wet if anything falls from the sky vertically, let alone sideways. So, I think that a full fly (of WP material and seem sealed) inexpensive tent may be fine for this purpose. You can save all kinds of money (compared to a proper backpacking tent) by accepting a tent that is wicked heavy and butt ugly, as these factors should not matter. You can still keep out the bugs and rain, however, if you choose wisely.

 

[Waumbek]

I have a great Eureka dome tent (aka Taj Mahal) that I've used for years, and it's bomb proof. I had a similar Coleman previously. But they're for car-camping or short walks into a site in the woods. I would not take them (or others like them) on a multi-day backpack because they achieve their durability at the expense of weight. They also tend to use lots of poles to keep the fabric taut. Cheaper two-pole backpacking tents may sag in on you and you'll find the inner wall condensation all over you (and your sleeping bag and clothes) in the morning. Design is critical (and more expensive.) I think you can get tents like the Sierra Design models at reasonable prices. Especially if you're willing to accept last year's color! (Like, who cares?!)

 

[Rick]

Umsaksis -
Try the Eureka or Kelty Closeout sites - You get a much better tent at a price similiar to what you'd pay for discount store tents.

Eureka

Kelty

 

[Umsaskis]

Good info so far - thanks. I just want to clarify that this is for car camping, two or three nights at most, and I'm mainly interested in the waterproofness and durability of the materials in cheaper brands. Not Eureka, REI, and so forth; I've been using those tents for a while and am quite familiar with them. It's the cheaper brands I don't know about, and if all of you give me bad ratings on the materials they're made of, then I'll probably skip them and go with a Eureka tetragon and hope the kids don't rip it apart in the first two nights (we have some very active kids in this group!) I'm just trying to save a buck on something that I may need to replace a few times.

 

[lumberzac]

I have a Coleman 2 man square dome tent that is at least 10 years old that looks and performs like it just came out of the box. It has held up well, but I also didn't abuse it. It used to be my backpacking tent, but now only gets used car camping once or twice a year. The only real problem I’ve had with it is it was too heavy.

 

[Capoken]

Coleman

You are MUCH better off with a Coleman than a store brand or off brand. Coleman, while not really for UL backpackers, still makes high quality products. I have a Cimmeron dome tent of theirs and its great for car camping. I also have a BPing tent of theirs that I use when my wife comes w/ me (once a year?) It is great too.

 

[Quietman]

When car camping, I use a cheap polyethylene tarp over my cheap tent. Dosen't look as pretty but we always stay dry. I have a 10 x 18 tent that we use for family camping and I use a 25 x 30 tarp and create an awning with the extra length. I've become pretty good at tying it down to prevent wind flappage. I'm sure that a 10 x 10 would work well for a smaller tent.

$40-$50 tent, $7 tarp is a cheap and dry option.

I love my EMS ultralight tent that is completely waterproof, but it barely fits 2. Best of all, only cost $60 on clearance!

 

[imarchant]

When car camping, I use a cheap polyethylene tarp over my cheap tent. Dosen't look as pretty but we always stay dry. I have a 10 x 18 tent that we use for family camping and I use a 25 x 30 tarp and create an awning with the extra length. I've become pretty good at tying it down to prevent wind flappage. I'm sure that a 10 x 10 would work well for a smaller tent.

$40-$50 tent, $7 tarp is a cheap and dry option.

I love my EMS ultralight tent that is completely waterproof, but it barely fits 2. Best of all, only cost $60 on clearance!

I totally agree with this approach, especially if you are going to use it once or twice a year. It works well for my family.

UV light is probably the biggest factor in destoying tents. The more expensive tents usually have a UV resitant fly to withstand extended exposure to sunlight.

 

[Chip]

I'd buy 3 or 4 of these and line them up under a couple tarps.

At $30.00 these are almost disposable, but I'm sure they'll last for years.
There's room for 5 or 4 with all their gear, they are fairly light and compact.
I used cheap tents my entire life until I started winter backpacking. Normal use is no problem.
Bring a couple tent repair kits in case a pole breaks or a hole gets punched through and enjoy.
The cheapest Wenger's on this site are $80 and I doubt they're 2 1/2 times better.

 

[TJH]

I recently picked up a 4 person Coleman Sundome tent from my local BJ's wholesale store for $39.00. It sells on the Coleman site for $65.00. I bought it because my 3 1/2 year old likes to raise holy hell while in the tent and I didn't want any of my nice LLBean tents to get damaged when I take him hiking. It's well worth the money. The fly doesn't cover the whole tent and doesn't feel as bombproof as any of my LLBean flies, but A 10 dollar tarp will take care of any severe inclement weather that could be thrown at us. TJH

 

[Umsaskis]

Yah, I like this idea of cheap tents and a tarp. That way they can even pile all their multitudinous bags and CD players that we asked them not to bring outside the tent when they need to and they won't get wet. Since these tents might be subject to flying bodies accompanied by Tarzan yells, I think that's the best way to go. Thanks for the input!

 

[bobmak]

One of my many tents is a 10' X 8' rectangular Sears tent with a 6 1/2' ceiling, no fly (supposedly the walls are waterproof); I picked it up on sale for $40. I used this for car camping for quite a while with the tarp approach mentioned above. Worked great, including during a pretty intense rain storm a few summers ago while at Cobscook Bay in Maine. It also worked well at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival

 

[Tuggy]

I have a three room Coleman tent that I use for car camping. Its about 10 years old and has worked fine. My two kids and their friends didn't destroy it whether out camping or just left set up in the back yard. No problem with water during rains. I think it was $200 new but better tents are cheaper than that lots of times anymore. Look for a deal. I doubt the kids will be too hard on it. They'll just get it dirty inside. And if you get a couple of the same model it will be a lot easier for you to set em up. Only one set of instructions then and the parts would be interchangable if one did get wrecked over time.