Topic: The Best Camping Tents of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 29 times)
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Topic: The Best Camping Tents of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 29 times)
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The MSR Habiscape is one of those tents that doesn’t look like much when you first set it up, but the longer you spend with it, the more it starts to grow on you. It starts with the headspace—plenty enough for this five-foot-five gear writer to stand up in, not just at the center, but also along the sides and at the doors. Then there are the pockets—10 in total—including two that can be accessed from outside the tent (no more taking off and putting on your rain jacket and shoes just to store the car keys).
But what really stood out on my windy testing day was the structural integrity of this tent. Like most tents of this type, it has two long poles that crisscross at the center to create its basic structure. What’s different here are the four additional shorter poles that connect the upper portion of the four walls together (these go up very fast co*pared to most tent poles). When I pushed against the sides and the ceiling there was barely any give, and the winds made very little impact, even without the guylines set up.
Finally, the stuff sack was great. That might seem like an unimportant detail when you are first setting up your tent, but when it’s time to pack away at the end of the weekend—the rainfly soaked from an overnight shower, dirt stuck to the bottom of the body—the excellence of the stuff sack beco*es clear.
While most tent stuff sacks open at the end, the MSR Habitude stuff sack opens along the side. After a drizzly morning of testing, instead of carefully rolling up the tent into a cylindrical burrito, I simply stuffed the rainfly and body in as best I could, shoved the stake and pole bags on top, cinched the cord and tightened the co*pression straps. It wasn’t pretty, but it was now ready for transport with a minimum of hassle (naturally, I dried it properly at home).
The winner of OL’s best 8-person tents test was hands-down the Eureka Copper Canyon LX8. While it wasn’t the easiest to set up, it provided superior weather protection at an affordable price point—and had great head space. It has six windows and two doors (so excellent ventilation) along with near-vertical walls that my over 6-foot testers could stand up under with room to spare.
While the strongest winds during testing buffeted the sides of this family tent, it bounced back quickly without damaging the fiberglass poles. At one point the rainfly came unattached at a corner, but after a member of the testing group re-secured it with the provided velcro tabs (which I forgot to do during the initial setup), it wasn’t a problem. And the rainfly turned out to be plenty of protection against overnight rain once the windows were zippered up.
The only downside to this tent is that it is an unusually co*plicated setup. Three fiberglass poles crisscross the ceiling and then connect to six steel poles at each end to form the walls (the tenth pole creates the awning over the doorway). The directions for this were reasonably easy to follow—it just took a while. While I was able to set up the body of this tent by myself, a second (taller) person was needed to add the rainfly.
Given the massive size of the NEMO Wagontop 8, 125 square feet and over 6.5-feet tall, I was surprised that I was able to set this one up by myself. The hat trick here is that while other 8-person tents have a separate rainfly that must be secured to the tent after setting up the main body, the Wagontop 8 only has a separate rainfly for half of the tent (the other half is a solid 75D polyester along the top), and it’s attached to the center of the tent. But that isn’t to say that the setup of the Wagontop 8 was a breeze. The tent design here is unusual, and even after checking the directions it took me two tries to get the poles set up in the right direction.
But once I had the poles up correctly, it was a cinch to snap up the body of the tent, thread the middle pole through the center line, and secure the rainfly over the top of the tent.
This was the first tent I set up in my test, when the winds were gusting the most, and I was impressed with how the Wagtontop 8 handled the less-than-ideal weather. Even when the tent walls buffeted, the integrity of the poles held fast, not bending in the slightest. Given the weather conditions, I chose to secure several of the guylines of this tent in addition to tightening the rainfly flaps and checking that the stakes were providing sufficient tension.
Unfortunately, the position of the guylines were low enough that the solid ceiling portion of the tent (without the rainfly) continued to buffet in the wind. Fortunately, the winds died down before it was time to put our toddler to bed.
The interior of the Wagontop 8 was impressive, wide enough to acco*modate 3 queen-size air mattresses, and my family of three was swimming in it (no co*plaints here). If you are looking for a true 8-person tent, this one is getting awfully close—my estimate is that you could co*fortably fit 7 adults on single pads in this one.
While the Wagontop 8 handled the wind great, it did develop a small leak when it rained overnight, right in the center of the tent. During disassembly, the reason for this became clear: a sizeable amount of water that had pooled at the top of the tent poured off after I removed the center pole. I suspect that this leak might not have occurred if the tent had been pulled taut, but after three days of wind this tent had developed some slack, even with a number of the guylines up. Considering the price of this tent, I would have expected it to handle the rain better, especially given that these were intermittent PNW showers, not a true downpour. If you expect overnight rain, be sure to check that the tent is fully taut before hitting the hay.
If you’ve ever planned to sleep in while camping, then woken up as soon as the sun hits your tent at five in the morning, then the appeal of the Coleman Dark Room Skydome is pretty clear. In the middle of the day, with the sun brightly shining down on you, you can go inside this tent and it’s pretty close to pitch black. Just a small amount of light sneaks in at the corners and around the edge of the door. It’s also much cooler than co*parably enclosed tents.
This tent (I checked out the 8-person model) was also fairly easy to set up. The two main poles, which are attached to the far corners of the tent, simply crisscross over each side—a super simple design that will be familiar to anyone who has ever used a 2-person tent. Unfortunately, this design also co*es with some limitations. The so-called 8-person model is only 108 square feet. I would not reco*mend trying to squeeze more than four people in this tent, maybe five if you are exceptionally good friends. It also buffeted in the wind fairly significantly, although the fiberglass poles survived the encounter.
The final pole—a separate fiberglass section that holds the rainfly out over the door was surprisingly difficult to figure out, as there is very little indication on the tent where the sleeve opening is. I also noticed during breakdown that the attached poles made squeezing this tent back in its carrying case a little more co*plicated than tents where this isn’t the case, although it ultimately fit without too much of a struggle.
The winner of the OL test of the best rooftop tents was the iKamper Skycamp 2.0 roof top tent, which is both a great introduction to roof top camping and a longtime mainstay on the market. The sleek design, spacious tent, and tough shell make the Skycamp a very popular option.
I drive a Subaru Forester, which pushes the weight limit to the threshold, but it’s still below the maximum, making my vehicle not the best choice for this tent, but still doable. Installation of the tent is effortless as long as you have help lifting the 160-pound tent onto your roof rack. From there you just tighten four screws and your tent is secure.
When driving with the tent, you’ll notice some shifting from the wind and the added weight on your roof. It’s also reco*mended you watch your speed while driving. But, once I got used to it, I hardly noticed it on my car.
Once arriving at the campsite, the Skycamp 2.0 lived up to the hype of an easy setup. Upon opening the box, the tent pops open, and you’re left only with propping up the doorway and windows. Getting in and out of the tent is easy with the included ladder, which also acts as a stand to keep the tent up. Multiple windows and a skylight also allow plenty of light and airflow throughout the tent.
I spent multiple nights in the tent, both solo and with my wife and toddler. Solo, you have more than enough room for just about anything, but even with two added people, the tent still felt massive inside. Inside the bed, there is a polyfoam king-size mattress taking up the entire floor space as well as some storage pockets along the perimeter. The mattress is extremely co*fortable and beats most standard tent setups.
I experienced a good mix of weather by camping in two different regions of Colorado and can say this is a four-season tent. The multiple layer windows allow you to close it with canvas covers, let light in through the plastic screen or leave just the mesh up for easy airflow for warmer weather. With everything closed, we were able to stay warm even with minimal layers and blankets in the canvas tent.
The biggest struggle with the roof top tent is windy weather. At one point, strong winds blew in it, and it was a struggle to get the tent closed. A few minutes of chaos were underway, but once I had the box shut, we were able to move to wait out the storm until things calmed down.
However, inside the tent, you could also feel the strong gusts overnight. I don’t believe the tent was going anywhere, and it was firmly strapped to the roof. Part of this issue may have been my smaller SUV co*pared to a heavier truck or jeep that could secure the tent more in place and avoid rocking from the strong winds.
iKamper recently released their Skycamp 3.0, a slightly pricier upgraded version of the longstanding popular 2.0. With it co*es some improvements like a better mattress and a large hardshell box to allow for some storage such as blankets or a pil*ow.
Overall, the Skycamp is hard to beat, with a great setup that’s easy enough to use just about anywhere. While not nearly as large as some of these family tents, I can see the Skycamper as the best roof top tent for families or just adventure friends looking for a co*fortable space option, as the Skycamp hits all the marks. It also is probably the best for cold weather options with its generous interior allowing for extra blankets while also using its thick canvas as protection.–Alex Murphy
Decathlon