Copper Canyon 6 (Non-LX)

I was in your exact spot two years ago. 5'3" mom with a 4 year old. Got a 6 person tent and never regretted it. The extra space means you can stand up to change yourself and the kid, plus room for a potty at 3am. I found a Eureka Copper Canyon 6 on FB for $80. Keep hunting. Coleman Sundome 6 is also solid and like $120 new. Don't overthink it. Get the 6 person. You'll thank me.

Eureka Copper Canyon 6 can be had for under $150 and at that price its a great tent.

We got a Eureka Copper Canyon or something I think it's called. It was like $160 a year or so ago on sale from amazon. It's a big square, and no separate rooms. It's kind of old school in that for the main vertical poles it has solid steel tubes, and the bendy fiberglass ones on top. As such, it has TONS of headroom and feels really spacious inside, and I like the solid feeling construction. Has three huge windows, plus the door, so great ventilation. It's HEAVY though, but that's what you get with big tents, so we don't mind. We got absolutely dumped on the second time we used it, like, woke up almost in a puddle, and we stayed dry. Just had a ground tarp underneath, so I was impressed. They make an even bigger version that is more rectangular and has a divider for two "rooms" I think. I'd recommend it!

For a tent, I want something I can stand up in and move around a bit to change clothes, store gear and not trip over anything while I do it. We have a Eureka Copper Canyon that has lasted us awhile. For sleeping, I typically lean towards a hammock if I'm by myself. When I'm with the wife, we use 24" tall inflatable twin mattresses. No sharing of air mattresses. The height makes it a bit easier to get in and out of bed. Our cookware is still mostly stuff used for boiling water and a carbon steel skillet for cooking. I think the pot we use for boiling water is made by Stanley, but it's very old. Carbon steel skillets are expensive, but lightweight and very versatile. Think of a lighter version of cast iron. We keep a French press for coffee. A Yeti cooler seems to handle several days for keeping food cold if it starts out frozen. Fresh veggies are the first items we cook and we keep a few dehydrated meals for the end of the week or in case something spoils. I like to freeze a couple gallon jugs of spring water beforehand to use for cooling food, but also drinking as it thaws. This is all of course for car camping. We don't need much to be comfortable, so there are no large batteries or generators. The point is to separate yourself from civilization, so no tablets, internet devices outside of maybe a Kindle and cell phone that is kept in the car.

We're the same and we used to have a tent that size (13x8 but same shape). We loved it. We would put an air mattress at one end and use the tall part in the middle to change and then we had a chair in the opposite end from the bed. It worked out really well. The only problem we ran into is when the tent pad is only 12x12 or similar. The part that stretched over the pad would be essentially unusable. When we needed to replace it, we went with a Eureka 10x10, forget the name. Copper Canyon I think. We also upgraded to cots at that time. We put the cots on each side and stand up in the middle. We wouldn't go back to the long skinny kind. The Eureka is taller with more headroom and a smaller footprint. The only downside is that you pretty much have to stake it down because of the nearly vertical walls. It's heavier duty than a Coleman so we're not worried about it blowing away but you do need to stake down. Hope that helps.

It works extremely well with cots on the sides and leave the middle open (most headroom) for changing and whatnot. You can also put a little table between the cots and play a game on it while sitting on the cots. I just looked them up and it looks like Eureka is out of business. You should be able to find something comparable. Cheers and Happy Trails!

4. REI Flash Air Trekking Pole tent for backpacking. 2 person nema aurora for when I'm solo car camping and not base camping. 6 person Eureka for when camping with my wife because she likes the luxuries. A Hennessy Hammock for cases where I would rather that than the Nemo or Flash. Usually when I'm canoeing I'll bring that