Over the rest of the weekend, my group provided feedback on how well the tents served their needs, and how well it protected them from the bad weather. At the end, I had each group take down the tent they had been sleeping in. An avid swimmer, surfer, hiker, and camper, she currently lives on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, where she can be found, as much as possible, in water. In terms of flaws, there aren’t much to speak of with the Wawona 6, apart from the price. The North Face offers a limited lifetime warranty on the tent, and will repair most flaws and damage at its discretion. Unlike our top pick, the Tungsten 4 is coated with flame retardants.
Underneath the fly, the Mineral King 3 has a full mesh dome with a waterproof, tape-seamed bathtub-style polyester floor. The tent doors are nearly wall-sized, and after you unzip them, you simply stuff them into pockets, rather than having to roll and toggle-tie the fabric. Another two hanging pockets plus loops for a ceiling hammock provide simple yet effective interior storage. ozark trail canopy tent Temperatures ranged from the 50s at night to the 80s during the day. Its fly extends into a huge front vestibule that can store large items like bikes, or even accommodate a table and chairs. Adults over 6 feet tall will be able to walk upright inside this tent—which has almost-vertical walls that can easily accommodate beds, cribs, and cots—as well as in the vestibule.
The other tents in this guide all have bathtub-style tape-seamed polyester floors, which is the standard among high-quality tents. The Sundome’s tarp is clearly a budget material, but for what it was, we found it user-friendly. It’s easy to mop up after wet paws and spills, and it doesn’t hold moisture. It’s unlikely to be as durable, though, as the softer, stronger polyester found in our other picks. Marmot uses color coding smartly to help you position the tent as well as set it up.
But all our testers, including our tallest panelists, gravitated toward this tent.
The Wenzel Pinyon was the only 10-person tent in my test that didn’t break or leak in the rain, which makes it the only real winner in my test. This stemmed in large part from a lot of sensible decisions on the part of the tent designers. While this tent used fiberglass poles (like the others), they bent an appropriate amount when threaded through the sleeves before being held in place by simple pin mechanisms. In terms of how the two tents feel, the Marmot Tungsten 4 is more geared toward hunkering down and providing stalwart defense against wind, rain, and sun. In contrast to the Mineral King 3’s triangular vestibules, the Tungsten 4’s vestibules are trapezoidal, opening via a central door with protected areas on either side.
It’s spacious, easy to set up, has weather protection, and is durable, all at an affordable price. The Wireless 6 lacks some of the premium materials found in pricier tents, but it features solid workmanship and should provide dependable, comfortable shelter in most three-season camping situations. Adults as tall as 6-foot-3 can move about this tent standing upright.
But according to our experts, the durability of the floor of your tent is actually more important. If the tent you buy doesn’t come with a footprint (two of our recommended tents, the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 and the Marmot Tungsten 4, do), we recommend purchasing a companion footprint, if one is available. A footprint doesn’t take up much space, is relatively inexpensive, and is much easier to repair or replace than a tent bottom if it tears. In the end, with much perseverance, I was able to put up every one of these 10-person tents by myself. But it was a real bear with the two cabin style tents, simply because they were so much taller than everything else.