Tent for year round camping

[78Bronco]

The Bibler fabric is legendary. I'm not sure what you are looking for in terms of ratings, but it's not like any other fabric on the market.

Tent Fabrics can have the following characteristics:

■Water resistance (psi): measures the weight of water that can exert pressure on a square inch of the fabric without leaking. It is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). A good fly sheet would be 80psi.

I think they also measure this by the hieght of the water column in mm.

I'd be interested to know how much water the bibler fabric can withstand. I know that it's made from Goretex but it should still be rated. I'm sure its good but there are still different ratings for goretex fabrics too.

 

[Ray Hyland]

We live in the Rocky Mountains and regularily camp in the snow at 4000-6000 feet (-15ish C) with the kids. We have a Defender 110 so weight and size is not much of an issue so we have a Springbar tent. It is awesome. Breathes well, easy to heat, and indestructible.

Ray

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

I'm a bit of a tent addict. I won't publicly admit that I own say more than 7 tents. That would be embarrasing.

Seven?

Rookie.

Warning the web site has some nudity as the owners promote a Naturalist lifestyle.

Um . . . My wife and I live a naturalist lifestyle. I think you mean naturist lifestyle.

There are some really good suggestions here. I can add a few comments based on having reviewed at least 200 tents in the last 15 years.

The Kifaru tents are extremely high quality and U.S. made, but absurdly expensive even given that. Also, their numerical ratings are a joke. The "six-man" tent makes a very nice two-person shelter. They're also no good in warm weather, due to inadequate ventilation (which also makes them prone to condensation in cold weather, thus the optional liner). The Kifaru folding wood stove is nothing short of miraculous in the way it collapses into a laptop-case-sized bag.

Stephenson tents are fantastically strong for their vanishingly low weight, but they're fragile for use as a heavy-duty car-camping tent, in terms of fabric thickness, etc.

Bibler's Todd-Tex is essentially three-layer Gore-Tex. I agree that Bibler tents are outstanding, but I also agree they're a bit overkill for most car camping.

Hilleberg and Nemo tents are both excellent products. Hilleberg has more models that are suitable for lightweight car camping, with lots of room and huge vestibules. Their silicone-impregnated fly material is infinitely superior to the standard polyurethane-coated flies used by most mid- and low-level tent makers.

The Mountain Hardware tents mentioned are really good; I think MH basically took over The North Face's crown for mid-level gear when TNF started cutting quality.

I love the OzTents. Extremely fast pitch, stand-up headroom, high quality. You just need a seven-foot-long space to carry it.

I'm really liking the Black Pine Turbo Tent we're testing now. Pitches quickly, it's ten by ten feet in the floor and seven feet tall, and buttons up tightly for cold weather or opens for warm. It's mentioned in the Fall 2009 Overland Journal. Stores in less space than the OzTent, although it doesn't have quite the same cool factor.

 

[Weasel Mender]

old school

I went "old School" for truck camping, Montana Canvas wall tent with an internal frame and wood stove. I use it for hunting camp and family camping, with windows and ends open it is cool for summer with evrything closed and a fire in the stove it is shorts and t-shirt warm at zero in the winter. This added with stand up and walk around headroom, no condensation issues, and 3 generation lifespan with good care made it my first choice, you can also get them in sizes from 8'x10 to a 16'x20 canvas ballroom. Tent "capacity ratings shouls be cut at least in half to return them to reality. The downside, it wieghs about as much as my anvil collection, is NOT compact, needs some kind of tarp for a floor and be somewhat spendy, I have about a grand in my setup. Setup is not as easy as some dome tents but not the beast that some think it might be, I can set my 12'x15 by myself in about 15 min. if I have to, but helpers make it much easier. The only thing I wish is I had gotten the "Ballroom" having more room than you need is not a "bad thing"

Weasel

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Fifteen minutes? You are fast.

My wife and I are looking into a wall tent for longer stays; either from Springbar, who make them in Salt Lake City, or David Ellis in Colorado (?).

I'd love to have a platform on a little piece of remote property in Wyoming somewhere, where we could pitch the wall tent for the summer and hunt in fall.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Seven?

Rookie.
.

I should probably mention this is my current inventory after the grand sell-off of 2008. I sold at least a dozen tents I now regret having sold including a few Walrus tents, a Moss Pea Pod, a Garuda Nuk Tuk (I still have a spare), a Hilleberg tent, and so on and so forth. I do however still have 15 backpacks in the closet if I feel low on excessive gear supplies.

Sorry to steer this thread off course with the Bibler ravings. That's not a car camping tent unless your snowcat takes you to the flanks of Annapurna.

I'll repeat my plug for the Big Agnes Big House 6. For design, I give it high marks. For price I give it even higher marks. For quality, being made in China, I give it three chopsticks out of five, but it does the trick.

Jonathan hit the nail on the head about Mountain Hardwear's tents. Martin was the designer for TNF. When he left TNF, he literally walked across the street with the other TNF'ers to start Mountain Hardwear. I personally think their best designs came from that era, but I still talk to Martin regularly and I think he does a great job.

By the way, I have a new tent on route that should be a real show stopper:

http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/tents/basecamp-tents/board-room/product

Anyone for some indoor botchi ball???:wings:

 

[racingjason]

I have had a Moss Stardome II for the past 13 years or so and can't say enough about the quality. It is unfortunate that MSR bought them out and has cheapened up all the tents but you can catch some good old style Moss tents on eBay once in a while; well worth the investment. My wife and I have camped at colder than -40C in it and been comfortable. A UCO candle lantern works wonders in a smallish tent at those temperatures.

 

[camp'n_hunt]

Cabela's Tent

This is what i went with, though i have 4 tents now, this is what i use for cold weather or if i'm staying for more then two days.

Link

I love it, best tent ever, not cheap though.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I have had a Moss Stardome II for the past 13 years or so and can't say enough about the quality.
.

I was a die hard Moss fan and very sad to see them go. You can't imagine how many imitators have come along to use the Heptawing tarp designs. I also had a Moss Stardome and while it was a tad challenging to pitch in full wind and storm, once inside that fortress, all was well. Their polyester fabrics were so much more durable and just more pleasant to the touch. I wish I had kept those tents. Fool.

While I agree with you that MSR butchered the original Moss tents, I really do like some of the newer MSR designs. The Skinny Two has become a personal favorite of mine. For a lesser expensive shelter for ultra weathering it's tough to beat.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

http://www.springbar.com/wall_tents/

And get the wood stove. Toasty

 

[locrwln]

I'm really liking the Black Pine Turbo Tent we're testing now. Pitches quickly, it's ten by ten feet in the floor and seven feet tall, and buttons up tightly for cold weather or opens for warm. It's mentioned in the Fall 2009 Overland Journal. Stores in less space than the OzTent, although it doesn't have quite the same cool factor.

I have been using the Black Pine Turbo Tent for almost two years and will be looking for another tent for the coming season. In fact I am looking at the OzTent and possibly the Springbar.

The reasons that I am having trouble with my Turbo Tent, same one you have, just the older version, so the rain fly is a slightly different design. This June we spent a week in the rain camping, while we stayed dry inside, the fabric absorbed a ton of water, so we ended up packing it up wet on numerous mornings and it never fully dried. I even soaked it in silicone spray prior to heading out this last year. The rain fly is a joke, it merely slowed the water down, it still soaked through to the main tent. This is the second experience in the wet that has us ready to try something different. It is a great tent in the dry, but add water and not so much.

Second is that the plastic buckles that secure the rain fly to the four corners of the main tent are already breaking/fatiguing. So the durability isn't all that great. We have used the crap out of it, we rarely stay in place for more than one night, so it has seen a lot of put up/take down cylces.

Plus mine isn't truly "free standing" like the adds say. You have to stake out the four corners at minimum, or it will fall into itself. It is quick to put up though and that is why the OzTent has my attention. I like the quick set up/tear down. I have had plenty of difficult to set up tents, I am done with that.

Jack

 

[net4n6]

I have been using the Black Pine Turbo Tent for almost two years and will be looking for another tent for the coming season. In fact I am looking at the OzTent and possibly the Springbar.

The reasons that I am having trouble with my Turbo Tent, same one you have, just the older version, so the rain fly is a slightly different design. This June we spent a week in the rain camping, while we stayed dry inside, the fabric absorbed a ton of water, so we ended up packing it up wet on numerous mornings and it never fully dried. I even soaked it in silicone spray prior to heading out this last year. The rain fly is a joke, it merely slowed the water down, it still soaked through to the main tent. This is the second experience in the wet that has us ready to try something different. It is a great tent in the dry, but add water and not so much.

Second is that the plastic buckles that secure the rain fly to the four corners of the main tent are already breaking/fatiguing. So the durability isn't all that great. We have used the crap out of it, we rarely stay in place for more than one night, so it has seen a lot of put up/take down cylces.

Plus mine isn't truly "free standing" like the adds say. You have to stake out the four corners at minimum, or it will fall into itself. It is quick to put up though and that is why the OzTent has my attention. I like the quick set up/tear down. I have had plenty of difficult to set up tents, I am done with that.

Jack

I created a tread for OZTent alternative before I found this one.

I like the quick set up/tear down. I have had plenty of difficult to set up tents, I am done with that.

Same here with me. Thanks for the Turbo Tent review.

 

[Hootowl]

I'm not sure you should think of a tent 'holding the heat in'. None have air tight insulated walls. While summer (3 season) tents have large areas of mesh to save weight and maximize ventillation, the fabric of 4 season tents isn't much heavier. In a double wall tent the body is a light breathable fabric. That should do a better job than mesh at keeping blowing snow out, but do much about heat loss.

The main thing that 4 season tents add is strength in the poles, to better handle snow and wind loads.

Besides the Kifaru tepees with wood heater, I'd look at some of the European style tunnel tents (such as Hilleberg).

Ditto what paulj said...

A full fledge winter tent is built stronger to handle greater snow and wind loads and has greatly reduced venting to reduce heat loss somewhat. Reduced venting though is a mixed bag in benefit to me since this greatly increases the chance of condensation or otherwise getting the sleeping gear clammy and cold.

I've got a North Face 3 1/2 season tent that combines stronger construction and heavy duty fly with the typical large area netting ventilation of a 3 season tent. It uses sleeves instead of clips (distributes the loads better) and when I use all of the stake downs and guy lines, it takes a whopping 17 stakes for a roomy 2-person tent. It's about 7 years old and I know the exact model is out of production now. Compared to a typical 3 season tent using clips, mine takes several time greater time to fully setup with all the stake downs and guys.

I would recommend against a 4 season tent for warm weather use, too warm inside day and possibly at night as well and too clammy at night or in the rain.

 

[projected]

For quality, being made in China, I give it three chopsticks out of five, but it does the trick.

Just catching up on my 2009 threads..... the quote above needed to be brought back to 2018.

 

[big_willy_wanderer]

I'm not sure you should think of a tent 'holding the heat in'. None have air tight insulated walls. While summer (3 season) tents have large areas of mesh to save weight and maximize ventillation, the fabric of 4 season tents isn't much heavier. In a double wall tent the body is a light breathable fabric. That should do a better job than mesh at keeping blowing snow out, but do much about heat loss.

The main thing that 4 season tents add is strength in the poles, to better handle snow and wind loads.

Besides the Kifaru tepees with wood heater, I'd look at some of the European style tunnel tents (such as Hilleberg).

A canvas tent will hold heat much better than a synthetic tent . . .