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tent recommendations

3531 Views 12 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  ppine, 
R
So ive narrowed down my tent search to a kodiak flexbow 10x10, kelty traile ridge 6, big agnes tensleep station 6, and the mountain hardwear optic 6, or something like these. These are what ive found that best suite our needs and wants. What i am looking for is space. 2 adults and 2 sometimes 3 kids plus gear will be staying in the tent. My biggest concerns are duravility and ability to stay dry no matter how hard the rain. If any of you have experience with any of these tents or brands please help me out. For us, all of the above are a big expense. With the kelty being the cheapest. But im willing to pay for a life time tent. Or for many years of use.

Thanks in advance, and please excusethe grammer errors as i am using my phone for this!
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T
tent

I have the Kodiac flexbow 10x10 my grandsons 8 and 12 and I used it last 5 weekends in a row and they love it. enough room and seals great from the rain and bugs, It is not free standing and must anchor firmly to the ground is only issue. Tried it on a pad with loose filler and it will not work.
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TentsEtc
The Kodiak is a good tent if you intend to leave it up for awhile - pretty durable but a bit on the heavy side if that matters. Like todnsn said it's a good tent to keep rain out as well.
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Happy Joe
Welcome to the forum; gligorcoadziev!
The more campers we have, the better the discussions, always ready for more viewpoints...
I favor a 9'x9' dome style tent for quick and easy setups on short trips...

Enjoy!
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travis.farmer
Happy Joe said:
Welcome to the forum; gligorcoadziev!
The more campers we have, the better the discussions, always ready for more viewpoints...
I favor a 9'x9' dome style tent for quick and easy setups on short trips...

Enjoy!
Click to expand...
That message you replied to was spam. ;) he/she had posted the same link to other threads, and the link was apparently marked unsafe, by Google.

it is a little sad when the forum is slow, and most of the new members are actually SPAMMERS. i try to keep the forum clean, as quickly as possible, but i was at work when this one hit. ;)

Back when i did some tent camping, my preference on tent style depended on how i was getting there.
if hiking, i wanted as small a tent as i could sleep in, as my pack isn't very spacious.
if getting there by vehicle, i would opt for a larger tent, so i had room to move about a bit, and in a rain-storm, it is easier to not touch the tent fabric in a larger tent.
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Happy Joe
... too bad; so sad...
I will watch for these characteristics in the future.

As a dedicated tent camper I am always in favor of not only more tent campers and posts, but more campers in general: more view points lead to better information, IMO.

Since age has caught me up, and my joints have continued degrading I can no longer do the back packing thing; even vehicle camping is getting rougher. I, however, will hang in there as long as I can.

Enjoy!
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zoey22
I bought a four-person camping tent from Coleman and a 10x10 canopy tent from Quictent for the dining area.
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Happy Joe
I hope you enjoy your new tent and canopy....
Depending on your area you can probably still get in a trial/test trip or two this year!

Enjoy!
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S
In my previous camping experience, I prefer camping tents which are good material, waterproof, to stay warm and comfortable.
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Happy Joe
Are there any that you would like to recommend?
... I am always interested in different viewpoints/equipment...

Enjoy!
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Happy Joe
SophiaSwilliams09 said:
In my previous camping experience, I prefer camping tents which are good material, waterproof, to stay warm and comfortable.
Click to expand...
I agree.
However like most things individual user needs and preferances influence both the tent and material...
I successfully used nylon tents for many years and was happy with them, their primary advantage, for me was they were light weight.
After 10 to 15 years or so of use they tend to fall apart due to ultra violet exposure; this can be influenced by some of the u-v protective coatings.

Most of my recent tents have been polyester, I like oxford the best as it is thicker (I tend to buy higher denier rated /thicker material. Its a bit warmer (depends a lot on the vents in the tent) more vent area means greater heat loss.
It is heavier; not a big deal since I vehicle camp.

A word on vents; many of the cheaper wallymart/chinese tents have excessive venting, IMO, ... resulting in loss of heat and in some cases little shelter value. The area where a tent is used and the climate can be big influences.
I tend to use tents with vents that can be closed or opened, in the case of my,current dome. I use a flexible, transparent piece of plastic to limit the size of the vent, in the often cold mountains and remove it entirely in the desert (which can get quite cold at night).

I have a preference for taped seams, for leak resistance; (rather than hassle with treating them myself).
Bathtub floors can be of some benefit but are regularly a doorway trip hazard.
I use a heavy silver tarp as a ground cloth to help protect the tent floor. Pre-sized "footprints" are often of little use and overly expensive, IMO.
If the tent stakes' interferance with the tarp becomes an issue, metal grommets can be installed in the tarp at the tent loop/stake location (because the loops are usually only, kind of, symmetrical, this results in the tarp only fitting the tent in one position (mark the tarp with a magic marker; "this side up" and "door", or something similar).

Enjoy!
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TXRiverRunner
roadranger said:
So ive narrowed down my tent search to a kodiak flexbow 10x10, kelty traile ridge 6, big agnes tensleep station 6, and the mountain hardwear optic 6, or something like these. These are what ive found that best suite our needs and wants. What i am looking for is space. 2 adults and 2 sometimes 3 kids plus gear will be staying in the tent. My biggest concerns are duravility and ability to stay dry no matter how hard the rain. If any of you have experience with any of these tents or brands please help me out. For us, all of the above are a big expense. With the kelty being the cheapest. But im willing to pay for a life time tent. Or for many years of use.

Thanks in advance, and please excusethe grammer errors as i am using my phone for this!
Click to expand...
I have a couple of Alps Mountaineering tents that I am pretty happy with. A 10 man and a 4 man light pack-packing tent. I use that on canoe trips when I am not using the hammock.
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P
Just bought a Kodiak canvas tent in the small 8 x 6.5 foot size. They are heavy but very substantial. I have had a large canvas wall tent for over 40 years.
Quality backpacking tents like Sierra Designs outlast the cheap ones 3:1. My SD is almost 30 years old.
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