Tent Medic - Beginners Tent Buyers Guide
(News archive - March 26th 2009)
WHICH IS THE BEST TENT FOR YOU?
One of the most frequently asked questions regarding tents is, “Which is your best tent”? Unfortunately this very straight forward question is actually far more complicated than most people can initially appreciate. Think of it this way, you can’t go into a car show room and ask the salesman which is their best car or a bakers and ask for their best pie.
The best tent for one customer is often not the best choice for the next. There are so many different factors that have to be considered. Our role is to steer our customers in the right direction so that they are able to make a purchase that's right for their specific set of needs. We do this by asking a number of questions aimed at filtering out unsuitable tent products, until we are left with a pool of qualifying tents to choose from.
Typical questions would include, What kind of camping are you doing, who are you camping with and how often will you be camping? Make a checklist of features that matter to you. Start with the most important and work your way down to less important features. Get the whole family involved (or whoever is going to use it). Deciding your budget is a good starting point but above all else it's important to ALWAYS remember, camping is about compromise, THERE IS NO PERFECT TENT!
IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME?
If this is your first tent, the choice is probably overwhelming. There are plenty of places you can find advice such as friends, social networking website's, online reviews and various online shopping sites. However we would strongly recommend you revert back to your checklist and most importantly, ask a salesman to confirm that the information you have received regarding the tent is correct. Do not buy a tent based solely on information received from the Web, friends or work colleagues without verifying first. A simple recommendation is all well and good but what is right for others, may not be right for you.
In terms of how much to spend, there are two schools of thought. Do you want to buy basic and keep it cheap just in case you don’t take to it. After all if you find you're really enjoying camping holidays, you can always upgrade in the future. The other idea is that maybe you should push the boat out and go for a tent that will make your trip that little bit more luxurious. If you have the best from the start, the chances of you having an uncomfortable experience in the first instance could well be reduced (there's never any guarantees!). But remember, as with a lot of things in life, just because a particular tent costs a lot more than the others, doesn't’t necessarily make it any better.
THE BASICS
There are a few "technical terms" that will keep popping up
whenever you are looking to purchase a tent.
Flysheet - The flysheet is the external skin of your tent.
Inner - An internal layer inside your tent, usually a
bedroom.
Pitching - Literally, putting the tent up.
Hydrostatic Head - The term hydrostatic head or HH, is
used to denote the amount of pressure of water that is required in order
to penetrate a given fabric, in other words, this is a measurement of waterproofing.
How this is decided, is a column of water is pushed against a material
(in this case a tent's flysheet) until it penetrates the surface of said
material. Measured in millimetres, the height that the water reached, determines
the hydrostatic head of the material. The British Ministry of Defence definition
for a waterproof fabric is that it must resist a column of water at least
eight hundred millimetres high. For any fabric to be considered fully waterproof
it must be able to withstand the pressure of a column of water 1000mm high
without leaking. This is classed as a hydrostatic head rating of 1000.
Most tents start around 1500mm, which is substantially higher.
STYLES OF TENT
There are several types of tent available but the basic groups that designs fall into, are tunnel tent and dome tent. In basic terms, the structure of a tent is made from poles. How these poles are arranged determines the 'style' of a tent. Tunnel tents are a very simple design, using a series of 'hoops', mostly made from fibreglass poles to form a rectangular shaped shelter. With plenty of living area, flysheet first pitching and a good weight-to-space ratio. We recommend these for first time campers, as they are simple to erect and offer a large ground area.
The other main style being manufactured, is the dome tent. Domes can be pitched either inner or outer first; the dome is formed by the tents poles crossing each other. Crossing the poles adds to stability and makes the structure self-supporting. Family dome tents tend to incorporate two or three poles crossing over each other. Hybrid tents combine the 2 frame styles, which provides greater design flexibility and a serving of each styles strengths - the domes providing stability and the tunnel parts providing the living capacity.
Ridge tents (the traditional triangular, two pole design) and the now very fashionable tipi design make up the rest of the basic styles of tents. Poles can either be positioned inside the flysheet, allowing the flysheet to compress the poles and hold them in place better. Or they can be fixed externally, with the flysheet "hanging" on the pole structure, making a quicker shelter and allows for the inner and flysheet to be pitched together in most instances.
MATERIALS
A practical decision often overlooked by tent buyers is which material is best. There are two types of material worthy of consideration; polyester and polycotton. The most common tent material you will come across is polyester, this is because polyester tents possess numerous advantages over other tent fabrics. Polyester is light weight and fast drying, it's also a very stable material, that doesn't expand or contract in extreme weather conditions. In addition polyester tents have a natural ability of resisting moisture, making it an ideal material from which to manufacture tents.
As the name suggests, polycotton is a mixed weave fabric, consisting of polyester and cotton. Although not as light as polyester, it is a lot less weight than traditional canvas material. It shares the same qualities as polyester with the advantage of being "breathable", which helps reduce condensation and keeps the air inside the tent cooler, an important consideration when camping in warmer conditions. Naturally this is the preferred choice of many campers, despite an increase in costs.
PITCHING
Knowing how to pitch a tent (specifically your tent) is extremely important if you are to avoid a holiday disaster and reduce the time it takes to get your holiday started. There are two key questions to ask; firstly how many people will it take to put up the tent and how long will it take? If the tent requires more folk than you have taking the trip, you're going to have to rely on the good nature of fellow campers to erect the tent once at the campsite. Most manufacturers now provide an estimated time it will take to erect the tent and a guide the number of people it will take to do so.
Flysheet first pitching is as the name suggests. The tent is erected with the outer skin and then you add any inner tents afterwards. This means that you are putting up the waterproof outer layer first and that the weight when pitching is more manageable. Inner first pitching is the reverse. You put the inside of the tent up and then drag the flysheet over the top of it. This is beneficial due to the fact that you instantly have a breathable double skin, also providing insulation.
How the tent goes up, will need to fit in with the style of camping you will be doing. If you're only staying for a night or a short weekend stay, there is little point spending hours putting a tent up. This can also be said for touring, walking and cycling holidays. However, if you're going on a longer trip and will be staying in the one place, you can afford to spend a little longer putting your tent up.
Finally and possibly most importantly, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! It will save you time, you won't risk damaging your tent and you won't look a fool on the campsite because you don't know what you're doing!
CONSIDER THE SIZE
One final piece of advice is to consider the actual size of your tent. Although it may be tempting to buy the biggest tent available, there are a few practical details to think about before hand. The weight of the tent might be a consideration, large family dome tents can weight as much as 60 kilos. How big is the tent when it's packed away? Will it fit in the boot with all the other camping equipment, toys and clothing, etc? Larger tents usually take longer to erect and are often harder to pitch, unfortunately sometimes bigger really doesn't mean better!
Camperlands Impartial Sales Advice
At Camperlands our product advisors share almost 50-years years of tent sales experience and we pride ourselves on our expertise. Our sales targets are not based on specific brands or models of tent like some of our competitors, so you can be sure you'll receive impartial advice, tailored to meet your needs at all times.