Tent Types

[Andy]

I do a fairly long post a while ago describing most of the differnt groups of tents. I've used all of them

I happen to know CCCs (www.cccoutdoors.com) had a brand new force ten SD in MKIII I think which you could make them an offer for. It will last a LONG time but it isn't light

Stormshield make tents which will survive a lot and don't tend to cost as much as some of the others listed. Depeneding on how much your using it they may be a good option. I've got a wedged tunnel tent for light weight camping with my push bike are use the family force ten MKV if going in a group/car. The extrention we have makes it great for rubbish weather as you can cook inside it

 

[mark a.]

I do a fairly long post a while ago describing most of the differnt groups of tents. I've used all of them

Cheers for that, Andy - I found the post, and it's really useful. Of course now it really doesn't help me make my decision!

However, it's reinforced the point that seeing them is the only way to tell. We have a good idea of what we like and don't like in our current tent, so we'll be able to quickly verify whether the different styles are compatible with our way of doing things, and then we can see the individual brands to choose the best one for us.

Mark

 

[Motorbike Man]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned anything about materials yet... There are many tents to choose from, but a consideration of materials can help narrow the selection down.

Avoid anything with fibreglass poles. They are pants - far too brittle. Gotta be aircraft alloy, and preferably the T9 if you want it really bombproof.

As for fabrics, your main considerations are weight, durability and strech. If I remember right, nylon streches less when it gets wet, but tends to suffer more from prolonged UV exposure. UV is more of an issue if you do high altitude stuff.

Personally, I swear by my Macpac Microlight, but that's just a one man number.

I've used various dome tents with fibreglass poles over the years and I've never had one snap yet. I remember my tent being turned almost inside out by wind, and as soon as the wind dropped, it all just bounced back into shape again

 

[jason01]

I must admit I prefer the aluminium poles, the fibreglass ones dont have a very good reputation at all and the alu ones are generally much lighter.

This might sound really weird but the DAC (T6-7001) alloy poles are quite beautiful things to behold, superbly engineered and anodised in different colours to match the sleeves lol they snip together perfect! Totally irrelevant of course!

Heres some more details on the Spindrift

Dont get one if you want to camp discreetly, that orange is bright!