Wirecutter - Now testing: Camping tents

Claire Wilcox

Our guide focuses on car-camping tents (sometimes just called camping tents), which are different from backpacking tents. Though some tents do double duty, backpacking tents tend to be more of a specialty item, since you want something super-lightweight and compact. The glory of car camping is that you don’t have to carry your gear on your back—you can simply drive straight up to your campsite and unload. So there’s flexibility for bringing gear, food, pets, and other sundries.

Therefore, our goal was to look at tents that would provide space for two people—with room to spare. Our original team determined an ideal size of 50 square feet of floor space for couples, which means we were looking primarily at tents marketed for four people. We also limited our testing pool to tents under $400 (up from $350 previously).

We tested our batch of tents over two blustery weekends on Oahu. Each tent was subject to winds of up to 35 to 40 knots, scattered showers, blasts from a garden hose, and 80 degree Fahrenheit heat with direct sunlight. The tents were vetted by two dogs, and humans ranging in height from 5-foot-2 to over 6 feet tall.

Our longstanding pick, the Kelty Grand Mesa 4, is a solid, easy-to-pitch, single-door, two-pole tent with a polyester fly. When we originally tested, it was one of the only tents in our group that had a mesh dome, which earned it points for breathability and stargazing potential. Since then, mesh domes have become fairly ubiquitous, and many companies have improved pole design to maximize interior space.

In terms of quality, ease of setup, and weather resistance, the Kelty held its ground. But our testers found that it just couldn’t compete with two-door tents for comfort and livability. With two doors, you can maximize airflow and ventilation, and you don’t have to crawl over each other to enter and exit—which is especially key at night when nature calls. We also found that a tent with two vestibules offered a lot of versatility for gear coverage and for activities like cooking, making coffee, or just hanging out and taking in the view when the weather turned bad. In short, two doors are better than one.

The Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 was every tester’s favorite. Interestingly, this three-person tent had the smallest interior square footage of the group, but even our tallest tester loved it. Although this tent still has a traditional dome shape, its pre-bent poles provide great vertical interior space. It has two highly functional vestibules, which you can keep open in wind and light to medium rain. In tricky conditions, this tent was a breeze to set up, take down, and guy out (to secure the fly with extra lines and stakes). Even the dogs approved.

We had high hopes for the Sierra Designs Tabernash 4, the least expensive tent of the bunch. But it blew off its stakes multiple times in minor wind, sending us running after it. It also suffered from major structural problems in its doorway/vestibule area. We thought the culprit might be the fiberglass and steel poles (compared with the aluminum poles used by almost all of the other companies). However, the ALPS Mountaineering Meramac 4 has the same pole design, and it remained extremely stable in all conditions.

Our testers had a lot of admiration for The North Face Wawona 4. With a supersize front vestibule and nearly 6 feet of interior height, the Wawona 4 would be a great tent for long or gear-heavy trips. But it didn’t hold up quite as well in the elements as the Mineral King or the Marmot Tungsten 4 (our second favorite), which received extra points for best resistance to water and rain.

Claire Wilcox

The Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 knocked out our longstanding Kelty Grand Mesa 4 as top pick, with the Marmot Tungsten 4 coming in a close second.