Overall, these poles—all of them aluminum—contribute to a particularly sturdy structure, with or without the rain fly. During our testing, our Base Camp shrugged off both a rainstorm and a desert windstorm as if they were nothing. Despite losing some headroom in comparison with the Kelty Wireless 6 and The North Face Wawona 6, both of which measure six-foot-four in height, the Base Camp 6 offers a substantial six-foot-two. The Wawona 6 is more complex to set up than a classic dome-style tent like the Wireless 6, but not by much.
The models we’ve picked could handle rain and wind and offered some perks we hadn’t expected. The Wireless 6 goes up easily, using the same kind of intuitive pole and clip method as our couples’ pick. The fly is equally simple to attach and orient with color-coded clips. This type of pole tends to be less flexible and bulkier than pricier aluminum, and it can be a pain to handle.
But the roller bag makes moving it through a campsite or loading it into a trunk or pickup bed easier. One person could probably set this canopy up on their own, but having an extra person or two to help will speed things along. It’s not difficult to set up or take down thanks to the push-button release mechanisms on the legs and slider (the portion that slides the top of the frame into place). However, ABC Canopy only includes generic setup instructions that don’t specify how to set up the center pole, how tightly to crank it, or what to do with it during takedown. It wasn’t hard to figure out, but better instructions would’ve been helpful.
These canopies tend to have smaller footprints and are quite affordable. The tent has three height positions and provides up to 100 square feet of shade. It comes with a 65.4-inch-long roller bag with interior organization pockets. This model also includes stakes and sandbags to stabilize the canopy.
Adults as tall as 6-foot-3 can move about this tent standing upright. With a 44-square-foot vestibule, and 86 square feet of interior living space, the tent has plenty of room to house beds, cribs, gear, pets, and camping furniture. Zippered doors can enclose the vestibule fully, so it serves as a separate room for the tent, or you can leave one or both open, so the vestibule can act like a porch or mudroom.
That mesh also keeps the tent feeling airy and cool in hot climates. Measuring 10 by 10 feet, the Sundome covers an area larger than that of our family-tent top pick though its lower roof leaves it with less headroom. But it’s one of the least expensive tents we found that had no significant drawbacks and will truly cover your bases for three-season camping. The tent also comes with its own footprint, a groundsheet that protects ozark trail instant cabin the tent from abrasion, which we recommend that you have. Even so, you should, ideally, stake down each corner securely; in some crowded campgrounds, however, finding a flat spot with soil soft enough to do that can be difficult. A tent that requires staking to stand up—especially a larger, six-person tent—is unwieldy, and it’ll be impossible to set up on a hard surface such as blacktop or on raised wooden tent decks.
Polyethylene, a common type of plastic found in plastic bags and bottles, is used to make durable, weather-resistant canopies. It’s waterproof and offers UV protection, yet it’s relatively lightweight. Polyethylene is flammable, so manufacturers typically treat these canopies with a chemical flame retardant.
Marmot uses color coding smartly to help you position the tent as well as set it up. Both of the doors zip open to the side that’s color-coded blue, as opposed to zipping open to opposite sides. In other words, one partner—or one partner’s gear—is always going to get a dose of weather when they head out. 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.
For most fabrics, rip strength is expressed as a measurement of the diameter of the fibers in their thread, or a denier—the higher the denier, the stronger the fabric. We found 40 denier up to 150 denier to be typical for car-camping tents; you can read more about these measurements in gear manufacturer MSR’s blog post and in this Outside article. An avid hiker, camper, and long-haul road-tripper, Claire Wilcox has slept in (and occasionally improvised) tents in 11 states. She covers outdoor gear for Wirecutter and worked on the most recent update of this guide, testing couples’ tents and family tents. A full rain cover, two vestibules, and an extra-sturdy pole structure make this the best choice for families who want to get outside in any weather. The first step usually involves clearing the space in which the canopy will stand.
Heavier materials like polyethylene, polyurethane-coated canvas, and vinyl weigh more, which gives them extra wind resistance. However, unless you securely anchor them, they could still blow away. Most pop-up canopies come with tie-downs, stakes, and/or sandbags so they can be secured to the ground. Models designed for the beach may have specially designed stakes that burrow deep into the sand for better stability or sandbags that don’t require digging at all. Ultralightweight models may only have a center pole with a canopy stabilized with several stakes for less formal but highly portable sun protection. The top pop-up canopies are usually made of durable materials and come with extras that make their designs convenient and easy to use.