5 Quality of Life Upgrades to Inspire You to Get a New Tent
Ethan GarceauIf you’ve been rocking the same tent for a few seasons now, you’ve probably amassed at least a few grievances about how it was designed: Maybe you don’t like the way the fly’s zippers open and close, or you don’t have enough storage space inside the tent. Maybe you’ve spent a rainy day hunkered down in it and the way the vestibules are configured made it feel claustrophobic. Before you buy a new tent, consider what sort of improvements you’d have made to your current one and let that inform your purchase. Here are a few things to consider just to start you off.
1. Weight/Packability
Getting a lighter, more packable tent can be one of the biggest quality of life improvements you’ll make to your overall camping and hiking experience, provided that the trade-offs aren’t too great. A lighter tent is often a less-roomy tent, and they can also get a little spartan when it comes to the sort of comfort-oriented features we’ll be listing below—so don’t automatically assume that cutting tent weight is going to make anything aside from your pack more comfortable. That being said, if you’ve got the budget to spring for a premium tent, you can often save a lot of weight just by virtue of the lighter materials they’ll be made from, without sacrificing any livability or interior size.
2. Bigger Vestibules/Better Door Configuration
Depending on what you’re using your tent for, having some extra room in the vestibules can really make a difference. If you’re a bikepacker, look into a bikepacking-specific tent that will have vestibules large enough to keep your bike out of the elements. If you like to use your tent as a comfortable base of operations, or you anticipate having to deal with wet weather, Big Agnes’ latest Copper Spur tents can use your trekking poles to create huge awnings out of the tent’s vestibule material. This will give you some room to get out of the tent while still staying dry—and help cut down cabin (tent) fever probably five-fold.
If your first tent only had a single door, take this opportunity to get one with two. Your camping partner, should you choose to bring one, will thank you when nature calls in the middle of the night.
3. Interior Gear Storage
Gear lofts, interior pockets, and clothesline loops are something you often don’t realize you want until after you’ve spent at least a few nights out in your tent. While we’d all like to let our wet clothes dry outside while we sleep, mother nature often has other plans—the chance of nighttime rain storms is especially high all summer long in the northeast. Using a clothesline inside your tent to get your socks at least somewhat dry by morning can go a long way for your morale during a multi-day backpacking trip. Having a good number of interior pockets is also great for getting your various camping accouterments off of the floor, helping you feel a little more organized in your space.
4. Sustainability
If you’d like to feel better about the environmental impact that buying a new tent can entail, you’re in luck—two of our top tent brands, Nemo and Big Agnes, have started to use a state-of-the-art, water-based dying system to drastically cut down on the amount of pollution that tent manufacturing can produce. Plus, if you’d like to give your old tent a new home, consign it and keep it out of the landfill!
5. Improved Interior Space
If you share your tent with a partner, a dog, or both, you may have come to realize that a “two-person” tent is that, but only just. Luckily, nearly every two-person tent we carry comes in a three-person configuration as well, often with not too much of a price and/or weight penalty. This may be a controversial piece of advice, but going one “person” up from the tent capacity you technically need makes for a vastly improved camping experience. Spread out a little!
The more we spend time in the outdoors, especially longer periods like overnights and weekends, we develop our own preferences. It's common to go through a few iterations of gear, including tents, before landing on the perfect set-up. Don't hesitate to look for the features and designs that work for you!
