Obsession over Family Tent III

So, let's see:  So far I have mentioned that our original box-store tent did great:  Easy to open, durable, snug, big enough for 3 kids and two adults as long as you didn't mind stepping over everyone to go out and chase away racoons from your Dutch oven with leftover cobbler in it.

But, with child four coming and about 12 years on the box-store tent, we went with the Eureka Titan:  13.9 ft. by 9.5 ft, about 131 sq feet or about 40 sq ft more than our first tent.

We loved the rectangular design and the ability to now have little hallways between the air mattresses and suitcases, etc. The walls do go fairly vertical (unlike the dome tent where being 6'2" I had to stand in the middle of the round tent (usually wobbling on the air mattress) to stand up straight.  Now, the walls are not PERFECTLY vertical, but slope in a bit, but overall I felt like I was in a snug little cabin for my family.

We also wanted a tent that would be easy to set up.  If you have traveled with small children, you know there is that moment you finally get to your site and you open up the van door--packs of string cheese, water bottles, cheerios falling to the ground--an all at once you have sixty things to do--and most of those are contingent on getting that tent up: can't move suitcases or blow up mattresses or have a nice place to put the two year old who prattled the whole way to the campground only to fall asleep as you were putting the car in park at your site------until the tent goes up.

Compound that with rain, you have a disaster (as happened our last trip to Peninsula State Park, Door County Wisconsin).   

You have to get that tent up fast.

We are VERY, VERY pleased with how easily the Titan sets up.  It basically has two sets of exterior bars that form an "X" over the tent and then clip into the tent floor, making the tent self supporting. You can see the exterior suppor bars below.  Now YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU PLACE THE BARS IN OPPOSITE CORNERS ON FIRST because the bars DO take a good deal of pressure to squeeze into place.  In fact, the first time you put up the tent, you will probably say to yourself, "This CAN'T BE RIGHT!" and you'll have visions of snapping the bars and throwing your five-hundred dollar tent into the garbage bin.  But, AS LONG AS YOU PLACE THE TOP COUPLER (called a spider) CORRECTLY AND DO THE OPPOSITE BARS TOGEHTER, the tent goes up quickly and STAYS UP.

The bars are beefy, and the design is elegant in its simplicity.  As long as you have two reasonably competent adults (and practice a time or two before leaving on the trip), you can get the tent and fly up in about 15 - 20 minutes max.

So, thus far, for the floor plan and ease of set up -- we think the tent is great. More coming.

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.