Time for a New Tent

Issue for THIS Post:  Finding a NEW Tent for an Expanding Family; Also, A review of the Eureka Titan

(The Titan, pictured above).


The topic of finding a new tent is pretty fundamental to successful family camping, duh.  Did I really need to write that? So I am going to take several posts to cover the story of how we would up purchasing a Eureka Titan tent to replace our old (but trusty) box-store, pop-up dome tent.

If you are a hard core camper looking for advice to reach the Hillary Step, you are on the wrong site.  I can't help you with Everest, but my blog might possibly help you and your kids have a better camping trip (and, one of your kids might just be named Hillary--coincidentally).  Latter folks, stay tuned.

(Hillary Step is just below reaching the summit of Mt. Everest--I read about it in Bear Grylls' awesome memoir, Mud, Sweat, and Tears--more on that some other time.).


Here's our tent story:  Thirteen years ago, my wife and I received a 9 ft. x 9 ft. instant pop up dome tent purchased from Target (a box store in America) as a wedding gift. The 81 sq feet of space and six foot tall peak in the center was plenty of space, and besides a sometimes drippy rainfly, the tent kept us dry and snug about two or three trips a summer for years.  Even after we added three kids, we could still fit a single-sized air mattress, pac-n-play, luggage (although all piled on top of each other) and a sleeping pad for two small children all in the tent.  In fact, with all the windows zipped, those many bodies made for a snug tent for camping in the North of the United states where it routinely dips down to 50's at night.  We also loved that the floor was made of thick plastic tarp material that absolutely kept ALL groundwater out.

In short for twelve years, at two or three trips a summer, this tent did beautifully.

My first point: I wouldn't turn my nose up at Target or Meijer bought tent, merely because it was box store.  As long as the seams are taped or you seal them yourself, I suspect you could likely get ten-years of light summer trips out of yours, too--provided you weren't going anywhere too exotic, and you didn't encounter a Tsunami.

But, with child number four on the way, and a little more money in the bank these days, we decided--ok, let's be honest--I began to drool over the thought of getting a new and better tent. Like any respectable avid family camper I began to spend work-lunch hours reading reviews, and hunting through company sites on different types of tents that would fit our specs.

Our specs:

-->We wanted larger floor space (previously we had about 90 square feet).

-->A tall tent.

-->Something easy to set up.

-->Something durable.

-->Something with the reputation of keeping out rain.

-->Something that was airy but could be COMPLETELY sealed up if it got cold.

And so I looked.  I read.  I reread.  I felt a little like a guy in sweat pants living in his Mom's basement, stalking a beautiful tent via the internet.

Finally, I thought I found the tent of my fondest tent dreams (and, it's possible I had a few of those during my obsession).  The tent:

The Eureka Titan. (Pictured on top)

Problem, though:  The thing costs $500 plus shipping.  Dang. A bit much for a family budget. 

So, I waited, like a guy ice-fishing in Wisconsin, to finally catch one on sale or to beat the other loser out for a cheap used one on Ebay.  Then it happened: Dick's Sporting Goods was obviously dumping inventory in January and reduced the price down to $300, so I had my tent.  

Sooooooooo, the next few posts will tell you what I thought of the Titan after one summer or camping   ..... More coming.

Steve's Quick Tips From this Post:  (1)  Don't start looking until you have the money budgeted, or at least have started to save, otherwise you will torture yourself looking at PICTURES of gorgeous, expensive tents, all while secretly suspecting Milt and Buffy probably have three of them (unopened) collecting dust in their three-car garage.

(2)  Know your specs.  What are you looking for?  There are so many options!

(3)  Wait. Unless you have the income budgeted, wait for sales--especially around January or other off months when stores want to dump their resources.

(4)  Don't obsess and lose all self-respect reading tent reviews at 3:30 AM in your basement.