I have a Kelty Ballarat six person that I can set up solo in 10 minutes, maybe less. I love the six person because there's room to set up a camp chair if the weather goes south. I honestly like camping in the rain, but it's great to have a spot to get out of it in comfort for a while. I'm 72 and always solo camp.
I got a 6 person tent for my birthday last year (Kelty brand- highly recommend) and I used it several times for myself and my dog! It was so nice to have enough space for my duffle and stuff to not be right next to my head while sleeping! Plus, I was able to dedicate a "dirty" corner for my dog to wipe her paws and stuff before climbing into bed. 😅 It was kind a challenge to put up myself, but I just worked patiently and took my time. It wasn't bad! And ya know, you might have good neighbors that lend a hand and you can repay them with borrowing them a can opener or something else they forgot! And you ALWAYS learn SOMETHING from each camping trip. I make a page in my camping journal specifically for writing down things I forgot or things that didn't go well. Helps me plan for next time.
Best of luck to you! 🌲🐿🏕
I bought a Walmart tent a few years back and camped with my girlfriend. Downpour happened. She ran in tent, I cleaned up and came into the tent soaked. It was leaking because it was shit material. And she farted right before I came in so my only safe space from the rain smelled like fart. Rough go.
Bought a Kelty tent after and haven’t looked back haha.
Where do you camp, what is the weather like?
Generally Kelty or Alps Mountaineerimg tents are the budget tents that are a step up from Coleman. Two layer (separate body and rainfly) are most forgiving. Full rainfly (covers the whole body) is best. More mesh in the body for hot and humid. Less mesh for colder climates.
Yeah the marketing is so bad. There are 3 season tents that are better suited for colder climates but they aren't advertised like that. So weird.
In the south, I recommend Kelty tents a lot because their 2 layer tents have almost-full mesh bodies. I notice that people in the northern US swear by Alps Mountaineering tents... their bodies happen to have a lot less mesh in the body. They're like 3.5 season tents, lol (but they'd be bad in the south).
Top Camping Tents on Reddit
1
The North Face
Wawona 6
84% positive of 134 users
Spacious vestibule, strong in storms, but rainfly tricky solo.
Dubuquecois
