The right cabin tent can be your
home away from home and truly enhance your family's camping experience.
There are several things to consider when purchasing a family tent.
However, with a little bit of knowledge and understanding, you’ll be able to
choose the perfect family tent that you can enjoy for many, many years.
Listed below are the key things to consider.
Size
Tent footprint – This refers to the square footage of the
tent—its width and length. This is clearly important because the size of
the tent is what dictates how much stuff and how many people your tent will
hold! Cabin tents are meant to be large and comfortable. They are
not designed to be compact or light-weight. Picture something that can
comfortably sleep anywhere from 6 to 12 people! When considering how big
of a tent you need, consider how much extra space you may want for your other
camping equipment—coolers, tables, camp chairs, etc. So, if you have a
family of 4, perhaps a tent that sleeps 8 would be ideal, allowing for lots of
extra living space. Keep in mind, this is your home away from home… make
sure it’s big enough to be comfy and store all your stuff!
Height – Cabin tents (much like an actual cabin) are designed so
that people can freely walk around and move inside. Depending on how tall
you (and your friends and family) are, consider this when evaluating the height
of your tent. Most cabin tents are at least 6 feet tall. If
that’s not tall enough for you and you family, make sure you target cabin tents
that are as tall as 7 feet or higher.
Walls – Most cabin tents have strong, well-supported frames that
allow for nearly vertical walls. Compared to traditional tents, vertical
walls let you utilize all of your tent footprint and move around in your tent
without crouching or crawling. There is some variation in the slope of
the walls among tents, so do your research and shop accordingly.
Cabin tents with more angled walls tend to be more stable in heavy wind and
rain, which may be better for you than a straight-walled tent which is more
exposed in bad weather.
Setup
Because family tents are large, they often involve more setup
and take-down time than other types of tents. That said, tent designs
have come a long way in the past few years and many are able to be set up quite
easily. For example, some tents have the tent poles attached to the tent
itself and can be set up in less than one minute. Unlike smaller, more
traditional tents (which can be set up easily with one person), cabin tents are
best set up with two people and a little reading up of the instructions.
Screened-In Porch
This is something most folks don’t think about (or even know
about) when looking for a cabin tent. However, this is one of the coolest
things about cabin tents. Besides looking for a tent that is plenty big
enough for all your crew and camp gear, think about where in your campsite
people are going to be hanging out (besides the campfire!). What if the
bugs are out or it starts to rain? Where can you sit and play cards or
plan tomorrow’s activities? A cabin tent with a screened-in porch can be
a perfect addition to your camping experience.
Along the same lines, some family tents also come with
awnings. These types of tent still provide some extra coverage from the
hot sun or rain, but without the added protection from bugs.
Price
The good news is that you can get a very nice, large,
comfortable, well-constructed cabin tent for about $200. Pay a bit more
and you can get something even bigger (that sleeps eight or more people) and
has a screened-in porch. Needless to say, if you have an even larger
budget you can get a seriously big and comfortable tent. Compare that to
the cost of a camper or RV, or cabin rentals, or hotel stays and you’ll find
that cabin tents are a good deal if you want to have the comforts of home away
from home.
Warranty
With any large purchase, you want something that will not only
meet your needs, but will last many years. If you want serious peace of
mind and are looking for the longest warranty, your best bet might be a tent by
Eureka--they come with a lifetime warranty! Another favorite is Wenzel
brand tents with their ten year warranty. One of the most popular brands,
Coleman tents, by comparison only come with a one year limited warranty.
All tents tend to get plenty of wear and tear so read warranty information
carefully before purchasing.
With these key factors in mind, you
should have the basic understanding you need to pick a terrific, cabin
tent that will help make your next wilderness adventure a comfortable and
enjoyable one.
And finally, if you want to find cabin tent
reviews and comparisons of
the best family tents, you can visit www.cabintentreview.com
Happy Camping!
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