I probably use my 4-person Coleman tent from Target more than I use my 2-person Marmot because it fits my family. By myself, I'm choosing the better tent every time.
The Marmot is basically the same as the REI halfdome. A bit heavy for backpacking but light enough for a few days on the trail. I will say the biggest obvious differences are the ease and speed of setting up, the smoothness of the zippers, and the strength of the aluminum vs fiberglass poles. Those make a big difference in the day to day use. The finer points are the seam taping and sealing, the screen quality, and other details that make a difference but you don't notice right away.
I got a Coleman 4 person tent that’s advertised as a “quick setup” tent. I can put it up by myself and it fits a twin air mattress with room to spare for gear. It was under $100 on sale. Something I look for is clips to attach the tent poles instead of sleeves to slide the poles through. Much easier and faster to use clips vs sleeves. Get some extra lines for guy lines and some quality stakes and you should be good to go.
I do a lot of beach camping, and have a 4 person Coleman dome tent that has stood up to 35+mph winds on Cape Lookout. The only issue was that the wind was blowing the sand so hard it came up and into the vents in the top of the tent. It has gone through other thunderstorms too. One wiped out 3/4s the tents at Ocracoke and ours was standing strong.
Probably not the best tent, but it has survived a lot of heavy weather. Ours has the little patio entrance thing, which is nice for sand. Just make sure you have good stakes.
I got a Coleman four person dome tent at Big 5 on sale. I can put my cot, the table with my CPAP, the battery for the CPAP and charging the phone in it. There's room for the dog in her crate in the open corner. I leave the crocs outside and have tent slippers. If it's rainy I put kitchen stuff back in the car, bring in my little chair, and sit reading in the tent.
My cheap sleeping bag and a foam pad on top of the cot are enough to keep me warm. I use a blue tarp and fold excess under the edge of the tent floor so as not to draw the water underneath.
I’ve used the North Face Wawona 4 and 6, along with a 4 and 6 man Coleman.
The Coleman’s held up surprisingly well. They don’t do as well in the wind or rain though.
The NF tents are a much higher quality though. Thicker poles, stronger fabric, better in the rain, better features.
Something to think about is size. The smaller tents are easier and faster to setup. Plus you need less soft. The Wawona 6 has a huge vestibule/ rain fly. It takes a lot longer to setup, and while I can do it all solo it takes much more time than the 4. My 2 and 3 man backpacking tents are even faster. If you are getting in late and go with a normal tent, smaller is probably better.
Top Camping Tents on Reddit
1
The North Face
Wawona 6
85% positive of 133 users
Spacious vestibule, strong in storms, but rainfly tricky solo.
scrotalus
