[Closed] What 3-4 man tent

Ok, I'll get the ball rolling for you and say that stock pending, you'll find it hard to go wrong with a decathlon tent. Their own brand Quechua ones to be clear. Dont let "own brand" put you of, they are fantastically designed and made.

I've had about 5 or 6 over the years and highly rate them. Never had one destroyed, even camping on a cliff edge site in Cornwall.

Fantastic tents imo. You see loads of them on campsites for a good reason.

I assume the fact you're looking at those two, this isn't park up and camp style camping, you're gonna carry it somewhere?.

I've become a bit of a MSR fanboi, currently have a 1 man Freelite and 2 man hubbahubba, superb weight to space ratio, really well thought out, go up in jig time and solid in wind.

So I'd go mutha or papa hubba.

Tell us more about intended usage.

If it's really for 4 people and car camping get a 5 man one.

It's an odd size for starters, mostly people tend to sleep in pairs ime. Anyway, the two tents you've mentioned are quite different. The MSR's a scaled-up lightweight, the Zhota is a much heavier, bombproof mountain tent that would be great for base-camping in the mountains.

What's your intended use? Is it going to be carried long distances? Is durability a prime factor? When you say 3-4 man, is that because you want a roomy two-person tent or are you going to use it with three or four people in it? Are you bothered about pitching inner first, which is a bit of a ball-ache in wet UK conditions and one of the weak points of most MSR tents?

Are you mostly going to be sleeping in the tent or 'living'? If it's for car/holiday camping, you might be better off with something heavy and solid as you'll get a load more space for your buck and you're less likely to be exposed to high mountain weather.

The best mild camping tent I've used was actually a bloody enormous Tentipi teepee. Huge amounts of airy space, super easy to pitch, proper wow, this is special, factor. For car camping I'd rather have something like that - or Alpkit's Roundhouse, now £349 - than a technical mountain tent.

If it’s really for 4 people and car camping get a 5 man one.

This is what me and OH did, there's only the two of us but we got a Quechua Airseconds 4 person tent for a bit of extra comfort.

For car camping I’d rather have something like that – or Alpkit’s Roundhouse, now £349

That brings back memory's of tents that took for ever to dry between uses and so always smelt damp.

That brings back memory’s of tents that took for ever to dry between uses and so always smelt damp.

Yeah, there is that. I plead guilty to rose-tinted tent spectacle syndrome. I think maybe we were just very lucky with the weather 🙂

Hubba Hubba (and so bigger models) can be pitched outer first, no probs.

Have a look at Luxe hexapeak F6E too, never tried one, supposed to be pretty good in wind, big, and can be split into a few different folks packs.

If you're looking at MSR then check out Big Agnes also. Not sure what the deal is but they are v similar. I really like my Hubba NX but not tried the bigger ones.

No thank you to the cotton canvas tents, fine on the continent in dry warm weather but nah not for UK use.

Space is in short supply in the car with paddle boards and other stuff, that's why I was looking at mountaineering tents, its the size more than weight which will be the issue. Big family tents are still big when packed away.

I used to work in a camping shop in my teens so know a little about what design is good and bad. I still have memories of families coming in after a rough night with shattered fibreglass poles and miserable faces after sleeping a family of 4 in a car because the tent collapsed. I want to avoid this at all costs!

There is only 2 of us so 3-4 would be plenty big enough. Inner or outer pitch first makes no difference to me. Pros and cons to both.

Might still be a bit too large in terms of pack size, but Vango does a smaller AirBeam tent called the Skye II Air 400 - £370 RRP, but can be had for £260 online - pack size is quoted as L75.0 x H31.0 x W31.0cm, so bigger than a lightweight mountain tent, but not huge compared to old-fashioned family tents. Airbeams cope pretty well with high winds ime as they tend to deform and spring back rather than failing catastrophically and it'll be a nicer general use tent than a full-on mountaineering geodesic bomb shelter. Vango stuff is generally decently made and good value ime. They pitch really quickly and easily too.

https://www.vango.co.uk/gb/camping-equipment/685-skye-ii-air-400.html

exped orion III extreme here. sleeps three fairly comfortably, two would be loads of space with two porches/entrances. semi-geodesic so don't need to guy it really unless the weather is shit. packs up pretty small and weighs ~4kg so can be carried if need be.

our decathlon inflatable 4 man goes in the footwell behind the passenger seat in our car (toddler still sat in the seat above it), so its a long way from massive. A pole based one is probably smaller still. Their cool + dark stuff is great.

eta - this for example looks really small.. https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/arpenaz-camping-tent-fresh-black-xl-3-people/_/R-p-172539?mc=8492486&c=WHITE

We have a Bergans Wiglo LT4. It's a few years old now and we paid c£500. Packs fairly small + I have made a footprint for it. Spacious for 4, fine in rubbish weather and vents well so a comfy environment.
We have been through big stand-up family tents...and have them fail in bad weather so we picked this with a similar brief to yours.

I have a Lux Hex Peak 6A. Stable and very roomy for 2 especially if you are tall.

If i was car camping i would go for the Lux Octopeak F8 - more cover and more flexible interior in terms of mix/split of sleeping space / general covered area. for example you could removed the 4 man inner and then just fit a double inner or two smaller F4 inners (segregated sleeping areas!) leaving half as a massive vestibule.

Other slight benefit of the F8 and then using smaller inners if you can setup outer first and then clip/strap in the inners.

They do need lots of pegs.

Bakcpackinglight is a supplier https://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/shelters-3/WG109-WG116.html

- they also has this good vid of the F6 vs F8 Octopeak:

lots of space for the weight.