7 Best Tents (2025), Tested: Backpacking, Family, and Ultralight Leave a comment

REI’s Base Camp tent is the best-designed, best-built six-person tent I’ve ever used. It additionally proved itself probably the most waterproof massive tents in our testing. It is a conventional dome tent design, with two crossed poles and two aspect poles. The tent ground is high-quality 150-denier (150D) polyester, whereas the perimeters are a mix of mesh and 40D nylon. There’s a great deal of storage pockets, double doorways, nice vents, and large home windows, making it snug even in summer season warmth. It is also one of many few family-size, three-season tents available on the market with an almost full-length rain fly (product of 75-denier polyester), which makes it appropriate for these extra weather-prone fall and spring journeys (the fly sits about 3 inches off the bottom, so not four-season degree just like the Marmot beneath, however shut). It is also surprisingly steady within the wind contemplating how tall it’s (74 inches for the six-person mannequin).

The within is roomy. My household of 5 (two adults, two youngsters, one 10-year-old) had no bother becoming inside. There’s loads of room for 5 smaller sleeping pads, or you possibly can double up on Exped’s Megamat Duo ($349) for an additional comfortable automotive tenting setup. The vestibules are good and roomy too, providing storage for the remainder of your tenting gear. For those who actually need some additional, lined, out of doors area, you’ll be able to seize the Base Camp Vehicle Connector for $170 (untested, but it surely’s on my record).

With two big doorways which have large, no-snag zippers, it is simple to get out and in of the Base Camp with out stepping on anybody. There’s additionally all kinds of storage choices, together with six pockets (one for every particular person), and plenty of cling loops stitched into the ceiling permitting you to hold lights or string a clothesline. There are additionally loads of mesh vents, which make it doable to get a pleasant cross breeze by way of the tent on heat nights.