How To Choose Family Tents

The first step to choosing a family tent is to ask yourself how many people are going to be sleeping in the tent. A 4 person tent can usually fit 2 adults and 2 children comfortably but we recommend a 6 person tent for a family of four. Get a tent that can sleep two more than it is intended for. There will be just enough space for 4 adults in a 4 person tent which may not be comfortable. The bigger the tent, the more comfortable it will be.

You also need to consider your budget when choosing a family tent. How much are you willing to spend? You will have to compromise on features, quality and even size if you have a limited budget.

Once you've decided on your budget and the number of people you want to fit into the tent you can then create a checklist of features you want the tent to have. You can use this checklist when choosing the right family tent for you.

Headroom

One of the features you might want to consider is headroom. As mentioned before, cabin tents have more usable headroom than dome tents. Definitely go for cabin tents if you like the airiness of a high ceiling.

Ease of Setup

Do you want your tent to be easy to set up? Some cabin tents can be set in seconds without much effort. Dome tents with a clip system are easier to set up than ones that use a sleeve system.

Ventilation

Ventilation is important because you would want to keep cool in a summer and dry when you sleep because without ventilation there's no way you can remove heat and moisture from your tent. Failure to remove moisture generated by your body results in condensation and you might wake up to a pool of water.

Bug Protection

If you're going to camp in summer, you're going to have to deal with bugs. Choose a tent that has a decent bug protection system like mesh screens and footprint. For added protection use a bug repellent on yourself or apply it on the outside of your tent.

Weather Protection

Dome tents in general are better in weather protection than cabin tents because the dome structure sheds rain and wind easily. Design improvements have made the cabin tent better than it was before in keeping you dry on a rainy day.

Also check if the tent has a rainfly. For better protection choose one with a full coverage rainfly instead of a roof-only rainfly, which only cover the mesh roofs. You can skip the rainfly if the weather is great and you want to look at the stars at night. We recommend that you put them on before you go to sleep because you never when the weather will change. It might be difficult to install the fly at night though unless you have sufficient lighting.

It also helps when the tent has guyout loops that allows you to attach guy lines so that you can batten down the hatches when the wind has gone mad.

Vestibule

You would probably appreciate a clean sleeping area and it's a good rule to keep your sleeping area clean at all times. A vestibule allows you to store your wet clothing, dirty boots and other gear separate from your where you sleep.

Pockets and Loops

Pockets are great for organizing gear inside your tent and keep small items off the tent floor. Loops that allow you to hang your lantern or to attach clotheslines to dry your clothes are very useful.

Easy Access

For your convenience, it's great to have multiple doors that you can open and close easily. Cabin tents have the easiest access.

Packed Size

This may be important if you don't have enough space in your car to carry a large packed tent.