Taurus Outfitter Series (2/4-Person)

Here’s the big 10 person we use at Cub Scout/family camp. Has held up through storms, and was necessarily for parental sanity with four of us in a tent for a week. https://www.walmart.com/ip/5180321072?sid=28ef4639-2609-4540-b5a0-2fce6b09f99f Coleman instant cabins have several sizes on Amazon but are sometimes cheaper through Coleman’s actual website. Not super great for high winds. https://a.co/d/2jv0b64 Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 or 5 person. If you’re in scouting for the long haul at some point someone is going to tell you about Hiker Direct where Alps offers their products to scouting families at a discount. Not everything here is great, but my older child’s scout troop nearly all have their “outfitter” level of tents which are a bit more durable and have held up pretty well even in super high winds and bad storms that have ripped the Coleman instant cabins apart. Again, can’t standup in the four person, but can in the Alps Taurus 5 person. 4 person: https://a.co/d/8ogxWoq On hiker direct I want to say it was around $170. 5 person: https://a.co/d/8rs2kOR

For a week of Cub Scout camp in the summer, something you can stand up in to change is good. We’ve used an ozark trail one for the past three summers and been fine, but that’s with a family of four. I’ll thread that one below so this comment doesn’t get deleted if the link gets flagged. For just one parent one scout, we’ve used the done style 4 person tents from Alps and they’re pretty comfy, but even short adults can’t fully stand in them. At that age, most of our cub scouts don’t mind sleeping just in a sleeping bag on the ground (I’m also cubmaster for our small pack). Some families like to use the Coleman quick cabins. These are heavy and don’t do great in high winds, but if you’re driving right up to the campsite they’re super quick to set up and have good head room. Links incoming

I like the Alps brand for car camping gear. They also have an outfitter line with heavier materials,  larger zippers, etc. https://alpsmountaineering.com/tents/outfitter.html

I have the Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 Outfitter, but last week I wanted a bigger version so ordered the Taurus 5 Outfitter. I camped five nights in it last week, and it was very windy—gusts to 40 mph. The tent held up like a champ. BUT—here are my recommendations. 1) Take some paracord and two extra stakes along. The tent comes with cord to stake out the rain fly at each corner, but there are no stakes or cord to stake out the four side loops at ground level, two on each side. 2) Use some of that extra cord to make longer zipper pulls for inside the two vestibules. If the fly is wet with rain, reaching out to grab the vestibule zipper will bring you in contact with the fly, drenching you. Tie extra cord to those zipper pulls and leave it lying on the ground leading to the door for dry unzipping. 3) Consider bringing a push stick along for rezipping the vestibule. You won’t be able to push that longer string you just installed. I bring a wooden stick with a fork on the end for rezipping. It was sold to be an oven rack puller and pusher but literally any forked stick will do.

I have the Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 Outfitter, but last week I wanted a bigger version so ordered the Taurus 5 Outfitter. I camped five nights in it last week, and it was very windy—gusts to 40 mph. The tent held up like a champ. BUT—here are my recommendations. 1) Take some paracord and two extra stakes along. The tent comes with cord to stake out the rain fly at each corner, but there are no stakes or cord to stake out the four side loops at ground level, two on each side. 2) Use some of that extra cord to make longer zipper pulls for inside the two vestibules. If the fly is wet with rain, reaching out to grab the vestibule zipper will bring you in contact with the fly, drenching you. Tie extra cord to those zipper pulls and leave it lying on the ground leading to the door for dry unzipping. 3) Consider bringing a push stick along for rezipping the vestibule. You won’t be able to push that longer string you just installed. I bring a wooden stick with a fork on the end for rezipping. It was sold to be an oven rack puller and pusher but literally any forked stick will do.

In my summer tents the inner tent is mostly mesh. This is great for ventilation and to keep cool, but in winter the coastal Pacific winds blow into the tent. I have 4-season sleeping gear but wind chill inside the tent seems foolish so when looking for something more rugged and less exposed I found the Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 \[Outfitter Series\]. The Outfitter series also has a Taurus 5. I've had excellent luck with the Alps tents, and the Taurus is an obvious upgrade from my Alps Meramac 3 which was only $145 USD \[with footprint\]. The fabric is much heavier, the zippers are rugged, it has a full fly, and the aluminum poles are stiffer than the fiberglass one on the Meramac. The Taurus does have good ventilation but most of the inner tent is not mesh. I've seen the Taurus 5 Outfitter for just under $300 USD \[with footprint\]. [Taurus 5-Person Outfitter | ALPS Mountaineering](https://alpsmountaineering.com/taurus-5-person-outfitter.html)

In my summer tents the inner tent is mostly mesh. This is great for ventilation and to keep cool, but in winter the coastal Pacific winds blow into the tent. I have 4-season sleeping gear but wind chill inside the tent seems foolish so when looking for something more rugged and less exposed I found the Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 \[Outfitter Series\]. The Outfitter series also has a Taurus 5. I've had excellent luck with the Alps tents, and the Taurus is an obvious upgrade from my Alps Meramac 3 which was only $145 USD \[with footprint\]. The fabric is much heavier, the zippers are rugged, it has a full fly, and the aluminum poles are stiffer than the fiberglass one on the Meramac. The Taurus does have good ventilation but most of the inner tent is not mesh. I've seen the Taurus 5 Outfitter for just under $300 USD \[with footprint\]. [Taurus 5-Person Outfitter | ALPS Mountaineering](https://alpsmountaineering.com/taurus-5-person-outfitter.html)

I use 3 tents. Two are for summer - fair weather camping but my best tent is the Alps Mountaineering Taurus Outfitter 4-person tent. It is ruggedly built, has aluminum poles, a full fly, and easily manages rainy/windy coastal PNW camping. I consider it a 3.5 season tent. For more headroom, Alps makes a 5-person version of the Taurus Outfitter that might fit your needs. [ALPS Mountaineering Taurus Outfitter 5 Tent 5 : Target](https://www.target.com/p/alps-mountaineering-taurus-outfitter-5-tent-5/-/A-1010270911#lnk=sametab)

I don't know how Alps does it. 4 years ago, when my Eureka Timberline 2 faded, I bought the Alps Meramac 3 for $109. My Eureka was more than twice that 15 yrs. ago, but the Meramac has already lasted for 4 years and is in perfect condition. I have a Core Cabin Wall 4-person for glamping but when I bought the Taurus 4 Outfitter I didn't know that the 5-person had stand-up headroom. 3 tents is more than enough but I regret that I didn't buy the Taurus 5 Outfitter.

My first super-cheap Alps tent was a pleasant surprise, so I recently bought a Taurus 4-person Expedition tent for the fall/winter season. I needed a rugged tent that could manage heavy coastal PNW winds and torrents of rain. I haven't tried Alps gear other than their tents, but somehow they have managed to provide good value for a fair price.

Three years ago, seeking a tent with more space, I bought a cheap Alps Mountaineering Meramac 3 \[with a footprint $145\]. It's a solid - conventional dome tent, and has held up well. The only issue I had with the Meramac is that the tent fly doesn't fully cover the entries, and since it rains in sheets on the PNW coast, I bought an Alps Taurus 4 \[full tent fly/aluminum poles\]. The Meramac with excellent ventilation is for Spring/Summer, the Taurus with less ventilation is for Fall/Winter. Alps has several 6-man tents that you might like. I'd take a look at the Lynx 6 person. Between value and price, Alps has hit a sweet spot.

For easy summer camping, you might want to look at the Alps Mountaineering Meramac 4-person dome tent \[$143 plus $40 for footprint\]. It's a conventional 2-pole tent with 1 pole for the door openings. I've used the Meramac 3-person \[not available\] for 3 seasons on the PNW coast and it has withstood some heavy summer squalls without problems. These tents are simple to pitch and a very good value for the price. I was so impressed with the inexpensive Meramac I bought the Alps Taurus Expedition 4-person \[heavy duty\] for the harsh storms of coastal PNW during winter. Good luck.

Need more info. Is it just you or are you with someone? Alps Mountaineering Taurus4 outfitter is a very popular car camping tent. Very well made, durable and has a great rain fly.

3 person minimum for two to sleep comfortably. Need to decide if you want room to stand up or not. Full size cots (normal bed height) or low profile cots (4” off the ground) or just sleeping pads on the tent floor? A couple options to look at. I own both and can confirm they do VERY well in Washington state. We use them once a month for Boy Scouts camping. Alps mountaineering Lynx 3 or the Taurus 4 if you want more room Browning glacier 4 if you want 6’ high for standing and full size cots. All those options have a rain fly that goes all the way to the ground with vestibules for keeping gear out of the rain (chairs, coolers, muddy boots etc)

Troop scoutmaster here. If you are in a troop (11-17 year olds). I strongly recommend getting two tents. One for you and one for your scouts. The scouting program wants to encourage SYT best practices and youth independence by having adults and youth tent separately if at all possible. The challenge is finding a tent that is big enough to be comfortable but small enough to pack and travel well. In general, a 3 person tent will be big enough for two people plus their gear. A two person tent will be big enough for one person and their gear. You can go smaller or larger but that’s a good starting point. If you’re just starting out, I might recommend looking at more car camping style tents which will be bigger, heavier but more durable and comfortable than more compact backpacking style tents. Depending on your area and typical weather patterns, you might want to look for something with a full rain fly that goes all the way to the ground and has covered vestibules. These will keep you the driest in rainy weather. As for specific recommendations, I strongly encourage you to create a free account/profile on www.hikerdirect.com. It is an unpublished website owned by Alps Mountaineering that is intended for scouts to purchase good quality gear at nearly 50% off retail prices. I have used their products almost exclusively in my 8 years of scouting with my kids and everything has been great quality. My favorite tents are the Lynx, Taurus, glacier 4 and Ranger 1. (I currently own over 7 tents)

Coleman tents will work fine. Consider the additional effort required of setting up a huge tent and then having to set it up in your home to dry it out afterwards. If it’s just you, you don’t need anything bigger than a 4 person tent. If you wanna step up in quality/duarbility, I’m a huge fan of Alps Mountaineering. I camp once a month with the Boy Scouts so I need something that holds up well. I know people who use Ozark Trail brand and it works for them.