Mountainsmith - Celestial 2

The Mountainsmith tents are fantastic value. I personally have been using a Celestial 2p as my go-to non-UL solo tent for years and it's been perfect. 2000mm hydrostatic head fly and 5000mm floor. I paid $60 for it at Sierra in 2017 and it's been flawless ever since. Passed my downpour test with flying colors. The Morrison Evo 4 would work pretty well for what you need and comes in at \~$270. That being said, if I personally was buying a 3 person tent and bombproof reliability (high denier fabric with high hydrostatic head) were more important that ultra light weight, I'd be getting a Zempire Trilogy. 5000mm fly, 10,000 floor, burly fabric, and great design. The Zeus (their 2 person) will probably be my next tent. Those are about the best HH numbers I've ever seen in a modern backpacking tent. No need for a while though, as my Celestial is still killing it on every trip I use it.

I'm not sure why people are saying this isn't possible. We're a family of six, and we use two four -person tents for both car camping and backpacking. We got a Mountainsmith Celestial tent for $160 a couple of years ago (on sale at REI), and it's just as good as the more expensive tents we've had in the past. I (the mom) usually carry it in my pack while my husband carries a slightly heavier and larger tent. I've put it up and taken it down almost every day for the last three weeks. The mechanisms are identical to my husband's more expensive tent.  To be clear, this particular tent would be pretty tight for four adults, especially big burly men. If that doesn't describe your group, and you're particularly good friends, you could probably fit in a four person tent. You could also consider a six person tent and divide it up among yourselves while backpacking (one person takes the rain fly, another takes the poles, etc). Another option is to have that fourth person bring a single tent or hammock.  I see multiple four person tents on REI that are under $300. Check them out.  https://www.rei.com/c/backpacking-tents/f/sc-4-person?ir=category%3Abackpacking-tents&r=c%3Bf&server=c9r%3Aprod