Choosing a tent - what to look for (wind resistance)?

[Maxf]

I've only ever camped in the UK before and have a pretty tame tent. However, I'm going to be camping on a lake bed in northern Nevada at the end of the month, and need to buy a tent!

It's going to be dusty, hot and potentially very windy (up to 70mph apparently). I need either 2 small tents or 1 tent with 2 'rooms'. 2 of us need to sleep/shelter there, and we don't want to be bedding down together.

Is there one type/shape of tent which would better suit the conditions - wind being the main factor I suppose?

We are going to buy it over here, so weight is a factor as well as it will eat into our baggage allowance.

[hornetrider]

I think you'd be better off with a couple of low tunnel tents, suitable for DofE work.

Something like this?

[Fume troll]

For windy conditions you want a tent where the poles overlap, rather than hoops which are only connected by fabric.

More this:


And less this:


Mountain hardware expedition tents are very good, and so are Hilleberg ones.

I'd buy there if you can, it will be cheaper.

Cheers,

FT.

ETA: ooops, embarrassingly I have chosen the previous posters exact suggestion as my example of what not to buy!

Edited by Fume troll on Thursday 12th August 15:16

[zac510]

Some damn good pegs!

Sounds like fun

[CHIEF]

Get a good Vango tent (They make the legendary force ten tents)

get a small dome or tunnel with ally poles (as opposed from fiberglass) and plenty of guy lines.

Pitch the tent into the wind.

To be honest i think two smaller tents would be better than one tent.

IMO you get what you pay for and its worth paying extra for a Vango then a cheaper alternative.

http://www.vango.co.uk/products.html

[Maxf]

zac510 said:

Some damn good pegs!

Sounds like fun

Apparently v-pegs are the things to buy - and a bloody great hammer to get them into the ground!

Will a tent be significantly cheaper in the US? We are flying into vegas so I doubt they have many camping shops - the only ones I found online were for RVs and caravans, rather than actual tents.

[Mag1calTrev0r]

I've got a Hilleberg ... they're the nuts. I think they do a 'crossover' poles version but I got the Nallo 2 GT. Extremely expensive now though...

[andy_s]

Are you carrying the tent at any stage (backpacking) or is this vehicle transported?

[Maxf]

andy_s said:

Are you carrying the tent at any stage (backpacking) or is this vehicle transported?

Vehicle transported - although possibly by plane at some point, so weight will be a massive (cost) factor.

[Marvindodgers]

Get yourself some of these babies as well!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rock-Pegs-10-x-10-Heavy-Duty...

[Bill]

Fume troll said:

For windy conditions you want a tent where the poles overlap, rather than hoops which are only connected by fabric.

AKA geodesic.

At the cheaper end of the scale I've had Vango tents (like this) and been surprised at how solid they are, but 70mph is a big ask.

If you want soemthing virtually indestructable and light thi is the way forwards. I have the Ultra-trisar (the 3 pole variant) and it shrugged of the worst Patagonia could throw at it with ease. But they are expensive.

[Bill]

How long are you camping for? Can you really not face sharing for a few days?

And this looks like it might suit, and there's a branch in Vegas: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/P...

[Bill]

Or these: http://www.sportsauthority.com/family/index.jsp?ca...

[Maxf]

Bill said:

How long are you camping for? Can you really not face sharing for a few days?

And this looks like it might suit, and there's a branch in Vegas: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/P...

Great link - thanks. They sell pretty much everything we'll need to buy.

I'm not too bothered about sharing, but its nice to have your own space, and we'll be coming and going at odd times so it will be nice to have a little seperation.