Tent recommendations please

[nickdu]

My family is new to camping (haven't camped yet) and I would like to get some recommendations on tents. I did a search, but as you can imagine searching for "tent" returned quite a few hits. At any rate, we purchased a Eurika Tetragon 9 tent for our kids a couple of years ago, which we have used twice in our backyard. So far I like that tent because it's extremely easy to assemble. However, we plan to camp at Disney World in February and we have four children. The Tetragon 9 says it sleeps six but our four kids fill it up pretty well. My wife would like to purchase another larger tent that will fit all of us. She also said she would like one that has separate rooms, maybe three. I'm looking for something easy to assemble. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Barbarossa]

You might consider a smaller, second tent. Depending on the age of your children, you might have a couple older kids sleep in a backpacking size tent pitched next to the main tent. Everyone could socialize in the large tent, but when it is time for lights out, two older children could roll out their sleeping bags in the second tent.

 

[SherpaKroto]

I've never used an Academy Broadway tent before, but REI Outlet has a few for very reasonalbe prices.

 

[jbreen]

I agree with the second tent approach. Also, most larger tents I have seen don't seem to be very waterproff as evidenced by the usual blue tarp draped over them. I have a few REI brand tents which I find to be weather-proof, well vented and durable. -- Jim

 

[Rick]

Ditto on the blue tarp phenomena on these larger tents.
you don't say where you are from or how much you want to spend, but here is the family tent website for Eureka

I think I would choose to pay a little extra for a Eureka family tent than for probably most other brands that you can get at wal-mart, K-mart, Dicks and the like. You might be able to get these as factory seconds (minor cosmetic blems) by calling the Eureka Factory outlet store at 1-888-6Eureka.

Also you can get extremely deep disounts on class B which are slightly used models returned by customers Eureka Discounts

 

[Capoken]

budget?

If you're on a budget, check out

www.sportsmansguide.com

he has name brands and no name stuff and his own brand (straight outa china) called "guide gear".

 

[WBB]

I would suggest you try here, http://www.llbean.com/ Even the large family tents come with all seams factory sealed and have a full coverage rain fly. I have never had a bad experience with their customer service. I have two Bean tent (3 room family, and Light Stuff 3) and have been pleased with both..

 

[Jasonst]

You might consider a smaller, second tent. Depending on the age of your children, you might have a couple older kids sleep in a backpacking size tent pitched next to the main tent. Everyone could socialize in the large tent, but when it is time for lights out, two older children could roll out their sleeping bags in the second tent.

I think I might be tempted to get a 2 man tent for me and the mrs, and let the kids have the big tent!

 

[Pete_Hickey]

...you don't say where you are ....
You might be able to get these as factory seconds (minor cosmetic blems) by calling the Eureka Factory outlet store at 1-888-6Eureka.

Also you can get extremely deep disounts on class B which are slightly used models returned by customers Eureka Discounts

If you are near, or can pass, Binghamton, NY, stop at the Eureka place. A lot more, than what you see on the web. They come with full gurantees as well. Some time ago, I got an Alpine Meadows-4 for some ridiculous proce (don't remember now). The reason, was that on the fly, thy used red where they should have used blue.

 

[Umsaskis]

Echoing what has already been said, one of the most important features you want in any tent is a full-coverage rainfly. If the fly doesn't come almost to the ground, it will be useless in a downpour because the water will drip from it onto the tent walls and soak through. I have an LLBean 2-man tent with a full fly, and also a Eureka 2-man timberline; I've had both out in significant downpours, and usually stay dry unless it pours for several days straight. Larger tents (more than 4 people) usually have a tiny, useless fly. They also can be a bear to set up and the poles take so much strain during set-up that they may break more quickly than a smaller tent. So I would agree with others that you want a couple of smaller tents rather than a big one. You'll need a tarp or other groundcloth to go under the tent unless the bottom is made of a tarp-like material. Smaller tents usually need a groundcloth. It keeps the dampness out from the ground, particularly if water runs under the tent during a rain.

Tents, as well as other camping equipment, may come on sale this time of year, so it's a good time to look.

 

[jbreen]

Just re-read you original post and realized that you said you were new to tenting...
If you are narrowing down your tent choices, look for tents with a polyester rainfly rather than nylon -- it stretches less and won't sag when wet over time. Also if you rig your own ground cloth/footprint, make sure it does not extend past the floor of the tent. This way rainwater can be absorbed into the ground rather than flow between the ground cloth and tent floor. (Yes, for some reason, it seems to rain whenever I camp).

For a second tent - I'd go with a 4-man, this way if one kid wants to escape the siblings, there's room.

Jim

 

[Trout]

I agree about LL Bean. Try one of their factory stores & you can usually get some very good deals on tents & if they don't meet your requirements you can always return them. They stand behind all of their goods.

 

[nickdu]

Thank you all for your replies. My wife is still set on purchasing a bigger tent that we can all fit in (4 kids plus us). I looked on LL Bean and I didn't see any large (multi-room) tents. WBB's post mentioned something about a LLBean 3 room, but I can't seem to find such a thing on llbean's site. So then I called Eureka and asked about their tents armed with the information in your replies. They didn't seem too concerned with rain leaking in through the sides. The lady told me that the sides are coated with some substance which should make it pretty water-proof. She did say I would have to tape a couple of the seams as all the seams do not come taped from the factory. She said there is a breathable layer on top, but that's covered by the polyester fly so we should not have a problem there. She said we could potentially have a moisture problem if we encounter horizontal rain.

 

[Umsaskis]

The only thing I'd add, if you are going to get a bigger, multi-room tent, is to get a really big tarp with some rope to go with it. If it does rain you can tie the tarp to trees over the tent to keep you dry if your tent doesn't do an adequate job. It's much better than having a miserable drippy time.

By the way, one of the best places I've found to get all manner of tents at relatively inexpensive prices is Campmor. Their website is http://www.campmor.com/

 

[WBB]

They no longer make the three room tents, they have bee replaced by the Big Sky, the King Pine and the #8 Dome. They are rated for 6 or 8 people, and all have a full coverage rain fly. The first two also have a front screen room attached. On the web site they are listed under “Family Tents” I would shy away from any tent that does not have the full rain fly, the peace of mind is worth the extra money. My first two family tents (old canvas cabin tent, and a nylon Hillary) both failed in moderate rain. I have never had a problem with water with the Bean tents.

 

[king tut]

I spent about an hour walking around the bean's store in freeport today and they had a few very large tents there that looked nice, around $150-$200. There was a sign that said 20% off dome tents too, not sure if they have that deal online.

Totally unrelated, i also stopped at the reebok store in freeport, and they had some great deals on clothes there. I got two pairs of nice mesh shorts and a longsleeve coolmax kinda shirt for $30 total. so anyone round those parts looking for good hiking clothes, check that out.

 

[Rick]

So then I called Eureka and asked about their tents armed with the information in your replies. They didn't seem too concerned with rain leaking in through the sides. The lady told me that the sides are coated with some substance which should make it pretty water-proof. .

Nickdu, The walls and floor are usually 1.9 oz nylon taffeta with a multipass polyethelene (PU) coating to create a waterproof fabric. The fly is Polyester or poly/nlyon with a PU coating and the roof is simply either breathable 1.9 oz nylon or nylon no-see-um mesh.

She did say I would have to tape a couple of the seams as all the seams do not come taped from the factory. She said there is a breathable layer on top, but that's covered by the polyester fly so we should not have a problem there. She said we could potentially have a moisture problem if we encounter horizontal rain.

The tents usually come with a bottle of Kenyon seam sealer, scrap that and get a tube of seam grip and do a great job. PM Me and I can go over seam sealing, but otherwise unless it is a bitter storm with high winds Which would cause any family tent to leak a bit, I wouldn't worry about water coming in from the sides.
Rick