Best Backpacking Tents (2025), WIRED-Tested and Reviewed

Shopping for tents you'll quickly find yourself immersed successful a world of unfamiliar terms, trying to decipher what it intends that a DFC pyramid has a welded bathtub floor. Here's our guideline to nan position you request to understand.

Single/Double Walled: A double walled shelter is nan astir common, consisting of an soul shelter (wall 1) and a rainfly (wall 2) betwixt you and nan elements. A azygous walled shelter is, um, a azygous wall. The advantage of a single-walled shelter is that it's lighter. The advantage of a double walled shelter is that condensation (usually) escapes to nan outer wall and doesn't drip connected you while you're sleeping. We urge some types.

Freestanding: Does nan shelter guidelines up by itself aliases do you person to liking it out? If it stands up connected its ain done rod tension, it's a freestanding tent. If it doesn't, it's not. There are besides immoderate hybrid designs, often referred to arsenic semi-freestanding, wherever you conscionable person to liking retired 1 end.

When I started this guide, I was firmly successful nan freestanding camp. Freestanding tents seemed easier to woody with, and successful immoderate ways they are. Most camping tents these days are freestanding. After testing dozens of non-freestanding tents through, I realized freestanding wasn't arsenic large of an advantage arsenic I thought. All non-freestanding intends is that you'll person to liking retired your shelter erstwhile you're pitching it. If you're expecting upwind aliases rainfall you'll want to do that anyway, moreover if your shelter is “freestanding.” The biggest downside to non-freestanding aliases semi-freestanding tents is that you can't easy move them erstwhile they're group up.

Vestibule: In a double-walled tent, nan rainfly is usually staked retired distant from nan doorway of nan soul tent. That leaves a abstraction that is not in nan shelter but is still protected from nan rainfall and elements. The vestibule is simply a bully spot for stashing bedewed cogwheel and cooking erstwhile it's raining, and it helps make an different mini shelter consciousness overmuch larger. Generally speaking, nan bigger nan vestibule, nan better.

DCF/Cuben Fiber: Dyneema Composite Fiber (DCF) is besides known arsenic Cuben fiber. Both are manufacture position for tents made of Dyneema, which is simply a very strong, very ray fabric. It's besides very costly and tin beryllium annoyingly crinkly, but erstwhile it travel to going arsenic ray arsenic possible, DCF is difficult to top. For a afloat breakdown of each nan materials utilized successful tents, spot Tent Materials below.

Peak Height: How gangly nan shelter is astatine its highest point. Depending connected nan style of nan tent, this whitethorn aliases whitethorn not beryllium helpful, but it tin bespeak really overmuch headroom to you person successful nan tent. In azygous rod tents though, nan highest tallness is typically precocious but slopes disconnected quickly, meaning you don't person arsenic overmuch headroom arsenic this number mightiness backmost you think.

Doors: Two-person and larger tents request 2 doors. Climbing complete your hiking partner successful nan mediate of nan nighttime isn't nosy for anyone. Pretty overmuch each two-person and larger shelter I've tested lately has had 2 doors, but immoderate besides person a 2nd afloat size vestibule, which is nice.

A shelter needs to beryllium large capable for you (and a hiking partner if you person one) and each nan cogwheel you're bringing. Ideally it’ll person capable room, coagulated protection from nan elements, while remaining lightweight. Here are immoderate of nan things to support successful mind erstwhile shopping for a backpacking tent.

Floor Space: Not each two-person tents really fresh 2 group and each their gear; aforesaid pinch each different size tent. The point to look astatine erstwhile comparing is nan full level abstraction and nan layout of that space. You want capable room for nan shelter to beryllium livable should you beryllium pinned down by bad weather. Pay typical attraction to which sleeping pads will fresh nan interior space, particularly if you scheme to usage immoderate of nan newer, extra-cushy, extra-wide sleeping pads. Also beryllium judge to look for shelter floors that are heavier denier than nan sides, arsenic nan level is what will return astir of nan deterioration and tear.

Vestibule Space: The more, nan better. Years of shelter testing has taught maine that nan bigger nan vestibule, nan amended nan shelter will be.

Packability: Your shelter is astir apt nan biggest portion of cogwheel successful your battalion (unless you're carrying a carnivore canister). Make judge you person room. Bigger tents (3P and up) often use from a compression worldly sack, which helps get them down to much manageable size. I besides sometimes battalion shelter and rainfly separately erstwhile carrying a larger tent, which makes them easier to put wrong your pack.

Weight: A lightweight shelter intends little weight connected your back. This is particularly important for long-distance hikers, though we'd each emotion to transportation less.

Seasons: Most of our picks beneath are three-season tents, which intends they're bully for precocious spring, summer, and early autumn camping. They aren't nan champion for snowfall though. We do person a mates four-season picks and we'll beryllium testing immoderate much mountaineering tents down nan road. A four-season shelter isn't going to support you immoderate warmer, but a afloat magnitude rainfly that comes each nan measurement to nan crushed will extremity nan upwind and snowfall from getting inside.

Zippers: The heavier, nan better. A batch of ultralight tents these days are moving to #3 zippers, which are so lighter, but astatine nan disbursal of robustness. When it comes to zipping up my shelter, I for illustration to err connected nan broadside of durability.

Backpacking tents are mostly made of 3 main fabrics: silicone-coated nylon, (silnylon), silicone-coated polyester (silpoly), and Dyneema aliases Dyneema composite cloth (DCF), besides known arsenic Cuben fiber.

Dyneema tents are mostly a small lighter, decidedly stronger, and celebrated for ultralight backpacking because of nan weight savings. Unfortunately, DCF is besides very expensive. In my testing, they’re very large successful nan wind, and nan packed size is larger than a nylon aliases polyester tent. If you person nan money, these are nan lightest, toughest tents connected nan market.

Comparing silicone-coated polyester and nylon is not nan apples-to-apples comparison it mightiness look for illustration it would be. The problem is location are galore factors that impact nan last merchandise beyond conscionable nan fabric. Variables for illustration nan nonstop fibre type used, nan measurement nan fibre is woven, nan thread count, nan denier rating, nan coating thickness, and much each play a domiciled that make it intolerable to opportunity nylon is amended than polyester, aliases nan opposite.

Proponents of polyester reason that nylon absorbs much water, which past makes it agelong and sag much than polyester. This is true, but I person a silnylon shelter (the Hilleberg Akto) and person had nary problem pinch sagging moreover successful multiday rains. (If you do get immoderate sagging, retensioning your guylines usually fixes nan issue.) On nan different hand, polyester often “mists” aliases leaks much easy than nylon, and it's not arsenic durable. Those things are some true, but I besides person a silpoly shelter (an older MSR Elixir), and it's proved plentifulness durable; I haven't had immoderate issues pinch misting. I hap to deliberation some fabrics are fine. None of nan tents we urge below, whether silnylon aliases silpoly, person had immoderate of these issues successful our testing.

Why 2 weights? Who knows, but there's an easy solution: Ignore nan way weight.

The longer reply is that manufacturers want their tents to look arsenic ray arsenic imaginable truthful they came up pinch “trail weight,” which usually intends nan weight of conscionable nan tent, poles, and rainfly. But you request stakes, worldly sacks, and guylines too, and these things adhd to nan weight. Trail weight doesn't lucifer what you'll beryllium putting connected your back. That said, if you already person your stakes and guylines dialed in, and conscionable want to cognize really overmuch a caller shelter weighs, way weight tin beryllium useful.

All of nan weights successful nan guideline beneath disregard immoderate published weights and are what I sewage weighing each shelter connected my scale.