Tent Thoughts

2lazy4U wrote:
I love my Paha Que Green Mountain tent and their customer service is great. It'll run you about $250 on Amazon. Worth every penny. Easy to set up and can stand in it, tons of room. I set it up even when trailering for a reading room when the weather's bad. Have also camped in it a lot when I don't feel like pulling a trailer.

Another vote for Paha Que; amazing products and customer service. I own one of their screen rooms and use it as additional sleeping space for weekend guests/ camp kitchen and yes as a screen room, LOL.

The PQ features aluminum poles that withstood 20 mph winds during Hurricane Arthur,thoughtful guyline placement and stake points for the floor.
Best mesh I've ever seen on a tent; so fine that even no see-ums can't get in. I've owned my PQ for about 8 years and it's worth every dime I spent on it.

For a more moderate budget I'd take a look at the Eureka Copper Canyon, and for a bit more, Jade lines. The CC uses fiberglass poles which are easy to replace if need be,and the Jade, more durable aluminum and steel poles. Both have smart placement of interior mesh pockets and roof garages (which I somehow have never used in my CC); guyline pockets so those pesky lines don't get tangled, and pretty decent fabric deniers and type. my only major complaint with the CC line is the floor fabric is a bit thin but have gotten around that flaw by using a foldeable plastic rug. I've heard that the floor of the Jade line is more durable and the specs seem to back that up. The Jade also has a low tech system that increases lighting at night called Elumination. Haven't seen it in action but looks worthy of a further checkout.

I've also heard well of the Marmot Limestone, Big Agnes and REI house brand tents on various tenting forums. I'm currently not happy with the durability of Cabela's house brand in a variety of camping products (lanterns, bedding as well as my beloved camp kitchen...sniffle)so will not suggest ANY of their products including tents.

I have to say the instant tents which started with Coleman are easy to put up and don't even need an instruction manual. Earlier this month, one was given to us after a windy deluge destroyed several of my next door neighbor's tents (and others throughout the campground with instant tents, EZ shades and un-guylined traditional tents being most of the victims) and she decided to hit a local camp store and buy 2 new tents that used the regular put it together yourself pole frame. She thought the instant tent would make a fine play tent for the kiddos and she was right; stored our bikes within it during the 21 day stay and took it home with the same use in mind for the future. Hey, free is well free:D. I will say after a few years of seeing them in action I wouldn't buy any instant tent due to problems during higher than normal winds; the inability to repair the frames and the need to buy a separate rain fly for most manufacturers' offerings. The last reason seems like a bit of a marketing cheat to make the tent seem less expensive from my POV. Still you have to look to your own life to decide if the shorter lifespan of the instant tents outweighs the ease of set up.

HTH!