But it’s one of the least expensive tents we found that had no significant drawbacks and will truly cover your bases for three-season camping. The tent also comes with its own footprint, a groundsheet that protects the tent from abrasion, which we recommend that you have. For this guide, we focused on tents that suit the most common terrains you’re likely to encounter when car-camping—grassy lawns or clearings, beaches, dirt campsites, and basic platforms—in spring, summer, and fall. We’re not looking at tents designed for such specialized activities as mountaineering, backpacking, or winter camping, though some of our recommendations have cross-over potential. A full rain cover, two vestibules, and an extra-sturdy pole structure make this the best choice for families who want to get outside in any weather.
We offer competitive prices on all of our exclusive products. We stand by our high-quality products and your satisfaction is guaranteed. That’s what we get with foreign made products. You either need six people or twelve arms to hold the thing together when assembling. Then the screening doesn’t fit right over the frame.
It occurred to me that if I insist on inviting people into a blazing Mojave inferno in the height of the summer it would be polite to provide some shade. Shade can be a matter of survival there if you’re outside at midday. Then I started having other wild fantasies, like effectively adding a room to the desert shack where I live by erecting the shadehouse in the backyard. A gust of wind probably around 50 MPH took it down. Broke all four corner hubs and bent all 1b poles beyond repair. Now unable to get all the parts I need to make it worth repairing.
The main bodies of our other picks are structured with two main poles with added support from smaller brow poles. The Base Camp, by contrast, has four full-size aluminum struts woven throughout it, somewhat like a basket, plus an additional brow pole that frames the front entrance and supports the larger of the two vestibules. The Base Camp also offers more privacy compared with our other picks—with or without the rain fly.
Our only quibble with the Mineral King 3 is that it comes with only six stakes. (Our runner-up pick comes with eight.) Six is enough to secure the tent and fly but not to fully secure the tent’s extra lines in very windy conditions. This shouldn’t be an issue in most situations, but if you’re headed into a particularly windy place or simply want some backup, we suggest picking up four extra tent stakes at your local outdoor shop or online. These inexpensive stakes are comparable to the ones that accompany the Mineral King 3; these slightly more expensive stakes will serve you well in any car-camping terrain.
The best-selling Coleman Sundome 6-Person Tent has a footprint larger (100 square feet) than that of our top-pick tent for families, but it felt smaller because it has a lower ceiling, no vestibule, and only one door. Nevertheless, it still comfortably accommodates four people, and it’s a roomy choice for two. This no-nonsense tent is intuitive to set up, has mesh on the top halves of two walls, includes a partial rain fly that’s easy to put on and stake out, and feels cheery inside and out. (We don’t recommend the smaller version of this tent for couples who might actually take it on the road; it was just too flimsy in our tests.) Also note that this tent does not come with its own groundsheet.
Both Base Camp tents have two doors and lots of mesh in the main tent body. But unlike the Mineral King 3 and the Tungsten 4, the mesh on each Base Camp tent starts high on the ozark trail canopy walls—more than 4 feet from the ground. This design is a big plus for people who regularly camp in crowded campgrounds and don’t like to get naked in front of strangers.
If you want a six-person tent made with high-quality materials but a traditional profile, we recommend the similarly priced Big Agnes Spicer Peak 6, or Nemo’s Aurora Highrise 6. MSR’s Habitude 6 is also a good tent, but it costs about $200 more. Unfortunately, you have to buy a separate groundsheet for the Wawona 6 and for most other tents its size as well. Its walls are 75-denier polyester fabric (tougher than the Wireless 6’s 68-denier polyester and the same as the REI Co-op Base Camp’s) that extends about two-thirds up the tent’s sides, and then is topped with mesh. The partial fly does a great job of keeping rain out of the upper, mesh areas, and cleverly placed vents maintain airflow so it never feels too stuffy. The Wireless 6 goes up easily, using the same kind of intuitive pole and clip method as our couples’ pick.
It is also important to consider the way in which the tent poles attach to the tent. Many of our picks use grommet attachments, which are more secure and simple to repair than key attachments if anything should break. Step 1 – Lay Out the Screenhouse and PolesSelect a smooth, level site and spread out your screen house. Sort the poles by number and connect the sections together. It seems like I am the second person to review this product, and the second one to give it a 1 Star rating. Goes together well, but as soon as we got a little shower….