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A tent is like your home away from home. You want it be a dry, comfy shelter – and you don’t want to have to replace it every year. James Brittain, MEC Senior Equipment Designer, has years of experience designing quality tents. Here are his tips on what to look for in a tent that’ll make a great shelter for years to come.
Ventilation
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Make sure there’s space between the fly and the canopy. You want air to be able to circulate through with venting in the right places, otherwise condensation from your breath will settle on the tent walls.
Heavy-duty zippers
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Think about how many times you zip and unzip the front zipper – it’s like your front door when you’re camping. The front zipper takes a lot of abuse and can often be the first part of a tent to fail. Look for heavy-duty zippers (MEC uses the industry leader YKK) and test them out to make sure they don’t stick or snag.
Aluminum poles
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Aluminum is both lightweight and sturdy, which makes it an excellent material for tent poles. Fibreglass poles can break, and steel is heavy and bends without bouncing back into shape.
Serious pegs
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Quality tent pegs won’t break or bend when you hammer them into rocky ground (or when you hammer them with a rock into rocky ground). When you can get your pegs in solidly, that means your tent stays put and does its job, which keeps you comfy and dry.
Leak-proofing
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A good sealed seam can withstand a downpour and won’t be compromised by the hot sun. MEC tent seams are sealed using techniques similar to the ones we used in our waterproof GORE-TEX jackets. And a full-coverage fly keeps the rain off your tent from all sides – no extra tarps required.
Super easy set-up
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Look for tents that can be assembled by one person – it’s especially helpful if you’re family camping, because one parent can set up while the other one keeps an eye on the kids. The instructions are image-based and printed right on the carry bag, so you won’t lose them.
See all the family-sized tents on mec.ca.
