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Big family tent recommendations?

1960 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  ppine
I’m looking for a big family tent, I was looking at Bushnell Shield Series 12 person and Ozark Trail 16×16 tent. Any other options.?
I’d like something to that will fit for out full family.
thanks
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How many people are there in your family and are they large or small?
I ask because tents are typically very over rated in terms of the number of people they will comfortably shelter...

Enjoy!
We’ve use Bushnell Shield Series tents for general family camping for the past 3 years or so. Here you'll get more information about this 12 person tent
This tent is amazing, very well built, heavy duty zippers, thick material all around.
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Nowadays, more people tend to travel and practice camping, so you have many tent types. However, if you love traveling with your family and staying all together that it's important to have a more functional and bigger tent. For example, the best ones are the Pop-up Tents and the Dome tents. The pop-up ones are easy to install and perfect even for beginners. On top, their capacity can get to 4-6 people. The dome ones might be bigger, till 8 people, and you can find many of them at different price ranges.
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I have friends that vehicle camp and try to use large multi-room tents, and others that have gone with smaller individual tents and let the kids migrate between them...
Both seem to work, sot of, I would suggest a large cooler or two and a multi-burner camp stove to cook the meals that will likely be needed...
We found the only way to get all the clothes etc into the vehicle (small family) was to limit everyone to the same size canvass bag (except for coats and rain gear).

Not sure how one would do large group camping while back packing but it would undoubtedly be... interesting...
We used to cook on a Coleman two burner stove (trusty rusty), things like tacos or loose meat sandwiches (sloppy Joes) were usually successful. burgers, dogs and potato chips were relativly easy. Cooking over the camp fire on a grill over the coals takes some practice, bring enough hot dog forks and hot dogs for everyone. Picnic style lunches were usually good sandwhiches and chips in reserve or with. macaroni salad and potato salad with some heated caned baked beans is relativly easy.

Enjoy!
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We didn’t have a large family, 2 kids and 2 adults and an Irish Setter. We had 2 small pup tents. We were minimalist campers. We had a small car. Everyone had one bag. If it fit in the bag they could bring it sort of. Clothes for a week (I had to approve of) plus always pack at least on extra outfit. Then one or two toys and at least one book.
Cooler, 2 burner Coleman, one table setting per person, Coffee pot, 1 Skillet and one pan. All cooking eating items fit in a beer case.
The kids learned to entertain themselves and we had quality family time spent talking and laughing.
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I loved CAMPROS 12 person family tent. It’s huge on the inside with 3 room. Sustained heavy rain without a drop getting in. This is an awesome and extremely spacious tent, and even fits our very large air mattress with a headboard. When choosing any camping equipment, consider your family's specific needs, such as the number of rooms, ease of setup, and budget when selecting a tent.
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An additional consideration is whether you're going to have help in setting up, as well as how competent that help is. I've had outings with people who just made the job harder than if I'd've done it myself. Some just are not apt with their hands. Find out the skill set of your companions before you arrive at your destination.
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The best large tents for a group are made of canvas. They are heavy and take some time to set up, but they are warm, breath well, allow people to move around and can take a wood stove. I have a wall tent that is over 40 years old. Just put the canvas away dry. I have lived in mine for a month at a time.

There are some larger nylon tents that are pretty good quality but they cost over $500. They have brand names and will last awhile. Not Ozark Trail for instance. Those tents are flimsy and degrade in UV light. They tend to have bad zippers, and small canopies that do not protect the windows and doors very well.

Some families do fine all crunched together. For a lot of people, it is best to have a main tent for group for Mom and Dad group activities, but some smaller tents for the kids. That's how we grew up. We learned some independence. Parents can have their private time.
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