Tent question

[kittle]

I am in need of a new tent. Can someone tell me a good source of tents? I need at least a 3 season tent. I am actually going to buy 2 tents. My son needs a tent also and I told him I would buy him an early birthday present.

 

Thanks

[orennoah]

Backpacking? Ultralight? Car camping?

 

Heavy rain? Need a vestibule? Strong winds?

 

To narrow down your choices, check out the "expert advice" tab on the www.rei.com website.

 

- Oren

[anarchist]

Tenting is a good thing...but like fishing rods -depending on what you want to do...is the real question.

 

Car camping???

Back Packing???

Lots of room?

two doors?

lots of air flow?

Have trouble bending? need height?

$$$$$$$$????

 

food for thought....

first- is it for scouting with your troop?

if so do they have tents? you might want to look at what they have ...(to keep it uniform?)

 

-size-two man -isn't; nor is a four man.

two man tents are big enough for you and your stuff and a second person better be really on good terms with you...on a long river trip, I actually enjoy having a four-man all to myself...particularly as I start 'stiffening' up after a few days of real work.

 

-two doors can be helpful in some tent designs to avoid one person having to climb over the other at three in the morning...

 

-floors should not have seams at the ground if possible...they should "bath-tub up" the side walls to help keep you dry...seam and sewing hole= leaks eventually.

 

-try to avoid 'wierd' pole conectors and little "pieces"...lost or broken they could mean your tent doesn't go up...visualize how you could "field replace" any pole or connector in the woods!?!

 

Look around! There are lots of toys!

REI, Dicks, LLB, Cabellas Bass Pro- all the serious sports shops, local out-fitters, campmor, HTO, let your fingers do the walking... through the internet also... You might even check with the troop. Are they gonna make an order anytime soon?...couple of years ago, we ordered 15 tents and several parents were given the same deal by the supplier when we made the order...sweet!

 

For a good, solid tent value, I really like the Eureka XTs (2 and 4 man)...there are nicer (more $$$) tents but it is pretty hard to find a better value...can be backpacked if you only have one...course like fishing rods they tend to accumulate...

good luck!

anarchist

 

[CA_Scouter]

I stumbled across a web site. WWW.Scoutdirect.com - they are an outdoors company with a strong tie to Scouting, and they offer significant discounts on tents. If you sign up as an adult leader, you get something like a 40% discount... pretty good, eh?

 

Now, I have not ordered anything from them yet... I have all my own equipment and am not currently in need of anything they offer, but it looks like decent stuff.

 

Just an FYI - I would think that if they are courting Scouters, they wouldn't sell you bad stuff...( I'm a glass half-full kinda guy ).

 

Good Luck.

 

 

[hops_scout]

That site is owned by AlpsMountaineering.com who I have been told is a great company. It seems there were a lot of their tents set up at Jambo this year and were great. I am looking at getting one of their sleeping bags. At a 45% discount, who can complain?!?

[madkins007]

www.campmor.com is also good and offers Scouts a discount.

 

Eureka tents are usually a rock-solid value- the Timberline Outfitters 4-man is a perennial troop favorite for good reason.

[erksh]

We have the Taurus model from ALPS (via ScoutDirect) in both the 5 person outfiter version as well as a lighter 2-man Aluminum pole model.

 

Love 'em.

 

Further, we have two of their air matresses, which are comparable to Thermarest products.

 

Very nice people -- spoke to them over the phone when ordering our stuff.

 

Two thumbs up!