We have a 3 person Ozark trail tent that’s held up for like 10 years now. We do have to set up a tarp over it now as it is now longer keeping the rain out. We just bought their 10 person tent last year. I haven’t tested it out in the rain yet though.
I have this one which has been great so far. It’s really heavy though. I suppose it doesn’t take up a ton of car space - if they got the6 person version (if there is one) that would probably work out fine. There’s always space under a cot to store stuff also.
If you want to be more cost conscious, Walmart brand (Ozark Trail) has fairly decent 3 person tents that hold up pretty well. Particularly given they are 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of a similar Coleman. I’ve been using a 3 person Ozark Trail tent for the past 5 years in a troop setting. Camping 6 to 8 weekends a year.
See if you have a Sierra store nearby. They are ran by the same folks that do TJ Maxx. They are basically an outdoor centric version of a TJ Maxx, with some incredible deals in the camping department.
That being said, no need to go fully kitted straight out of the gate. Buy what you can, and upgrade/replace as you can or need to.
I grew up camping, my wife did not. She wanted to try it, so I went out and bought a 3 person tent, a couple sleeping bags, and two chairs, all ozark trail brand, from walmart. I got a used coleman stove off of craigslist, and a few small pots and pans from a thrift store. With that, we camped for two seasons before we started replacing it with better kit.
I bet you'll like the cheap one better. At 2-3 times a year the cheapest one will probably last years and be just fine. Defiantly plan on only fitting 2 people comfortably in either one. We go camping every weekend and bought the cheapest Ozark 3 person tents forever. It was always the zipper that would give out but they still lasted 20+ trips. After going through 3 tents we bought a throw/popup tent from amazon for $80 and never looked back. just toss it and its done lol.
I’ve use Ozark tents with decent luck. Never tested in the rain, but held up well in the wind. The one I have is a 3 person tent and bought it at big box store 10 yrs ago. It’s used 2-3x a year for 1-2 day trips. I have bigger ones for longer trips but of course cost more money.
Hey, thank you so much for this! I’ll definitely check out the items you listed.
When people say car camping I’m thinking more like country camping, where you pack everything in the car and set up at a campsite, but definitely not sleeping in the car itself. Though I’ve done both, and they’re both fun!
I want to start going more often, sometimes solo, sometimes with a friend. I really appreciate the breakdown in terms of the big three as it makes everything way easier to wrap my head around. Tents make the most sense to upgrade first, especially something that works for solo and two-person trips. The tent I had in the picture actually melted last July when I camped at Kernville, CA on a really hot day. Now I have an Ozark 4-person all-season tent, but I’ll check out those Naturehike models and some of the higher-end options to see what feels right. Sleep system is next on my list too! Comfort and warmth matter way more than I realized.
Thanks again for laying it all out so clearly, it makes all the options feel way less overwhelming. Appreciate it!
I hated that tent too, lol. I used it for the first time for my first solo camping trip and it literally melted on me, like plastic pieces coming apart. I got it off Amazon and ended up returning it and they actually accepted it. I have an Ozark 3 season 2 to 4 person tent now that I’ve used a few times and it’s held up so far.
I agree with the first upgrade suggestion. I camped in Yosemite National Park last December and I was cold af, so a down or synthetic throw over my bag probably would’ve made a big difference. Appreciate the tips, I’ll look into that next!
I had issues with the tent in the photo. It literally melted on me, lol. I ended up returning it to Amazon and replaced it with an Ozark brand from Walmart, which I’m still using now.
Top Camping Tents on Reddit
1
The North Face
Wawona 6
86% positive of 132 users
Spacious vestibule, strong in storms, but rainfly tricky solo.
anothergoodbook
