We would like to begin camping again this summer, but haven’t done any since before our children were born. Please advice how to determine the best choices for our investment. We need 1 with a lot of room and at least room for an air mattress. We would prefer 1 with multiple rooms option but do not want poor quality. Anyone know anything about Turbo Tents? Any advice- will be great.
check on Campmor.com. you might have to consider two 3 person tents. A six person tent would be pretty big and heavy. Also, two 3 person tents would be easier to set up and find a space for.
Good Luck
I haven’t heard of turbo tents. A bit pricey I might say. If you want good quality, a stay dry guarantee, easy set up, and room for 6 + all your gear I recommend Colman Tents. And this model,
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=2000001587&categoryid=11020&brand=
Getting a flat surface for a 6 person tent might be challenging in some camp grounds, so you might have to look for group sites. Look for a tent that is easy to set up. The ones that I listed here are simple to put up with two adults. Haven’t heard of Turbo Tents.
This one would be what I recommend and it has two rooms. There is an optional vestebule available:
http://www.rei.com/product/777768
Here are more familty tents to look at:
http://www.rei.com/search?cat=8000&cat=8000&cat=4500001_Tents+and+Shelters&cat=4500044&cat=4500538&hist=cat%2C4500001_Tents+and+Shelters%3ATents+and+Shelters%5Ecat%2C4500044%3AFamily+Camping+Tents%5Ecat%2C4500538%3A6%2B+Person+Family+Tents
This is just a thought, but have you considered buying 2 four person tents.
http://www.trailspace.com/gear/kelty/trail-dome-4/
Eureka makes tents of high quality that will suit your purpose
The problem is that as [ other guys have noted ]an 8 person tent has a huge footprint that can be a challenge to fit on to a suitable site
This eureka blue mesa is 16′x 10 + whatever area on your tent site that you may need to secure guy lines
http://www.eurekatent.com/p-85-blue-mesa-1610-tent.aspx
It may be easier to find sites that will accommodate ( 2 ) 4-person tents rather than (1) 8-person tent
Most experienced campers /hikers subtract a person or two from the number of people that a manufacturer claims that their tents will comfortably sleep.
As a rule of thumb, I like Eureka tents- they offer a long history of quality and value, and campmor.com is a great place to buy them.
In general, I would rather buy 2 easy to carry and put up tents and use them like two rooms than struggle with the massive, awkward ‘roomed tents’. Most of those have a lot of leaky seams, poor flys, etc.
Besides, about all you really do in the tent is sleep, change, and store some stuff. You can store a lot of the stuff in the car and if gets really rainy or something, it is generally smarter (when you have kids) to go out and do something than hole up in the tent.
There are some good tent suggestions here. But you need to remember, if you want to also put your gear into your tent and have room for 6 people, you will need a tent rated for more than 6 people.
I would go with the 8 man tents that have been suggested.
REI is a member owned organization that has been providing quality gear since 1938. All products sold by REI come with a lifetime guarantee. You don’t need to make a commitment to buy to have a conference with an outdoor adviser; these expert are available to help members and non-members, free of charge. http://www.rei.com … sorry you will have to copy and paste this URL.
I urge to rethink the air bed. Notice that usually have a special NO RETURN policy just for airbeds. This tells me that a lot of airbeds get returned and may not be a good choice. When we go “big tent” camping we often bring the cushions from the patio furniture. They are light, they fold up out of the way in the daytime, and they aren’t ruined every time a belt buckle touches them. Pet beds can be good sleep spots for smaller people.
My personal view is that an insulating pad of some sort is needed under every warm body, human or pet. This is because all that seperates your warm body from the earth is a few bits of cloth or perhaps a few inches of air. The earth is much colder than the body and all night long that cold earth sucks away the body heat. In short, you freeze your tail off. The REI expert will know about this than I do.