Analysis Paralysis - Tent Edition

So here's the deal. My wife and I have decided (e.g. she said I could) to invest some of the profit sharing check I received from my company on a tent/shelter. We've been using a Kelty 3-person tent that god only knows how old it is. I'm not sure when I bought it, but I remember I was in high school... my 20 yr reunion is this summer. It's been a great tent, done everything we need it to do, but we've been living in Texas the last 5 years. Backpacking opportunities only come around when we take a weeks vacation for our yearly backpacking trip. Good news is, we're moving back to Idaho to be closer to family and the mountains... and exponential growth in the forecasted backpacking opportunities.

I've been doing some research and I think(ish) I've got it nailed down, but wanted to ask y'alls objective opinions. It'll need to fit 2 grown adults, plus 2 kids, and 2 medium sized dogs (an Aussie Shepard and a Blue Heeler.) We're expecting our first child in December, so I'm leaving room for another player to be named later in the 2020/21 expansion draft. Personally, I hate having a 3+ person tent with the doors on the sides, as whoever is the monkey in the middle has to crawl over the other people to get out. This rules out a lot of tents on the market today, but rules in anything with a tunnel design (i.e. Hilleberg.) Also, a surplus of vestibule space for gear and dogs would be a bonus.

So what I'm thinking is either a Hilleberg Kaitum 4 GT, or Nallo 4 GT.

I thought about the SO/Kifaru teepees, but we usually will hit as many high mountain lakes as possible, so mosquitos are a problem. Also, the major plus for those designs is the ability to use a stove which turns to a major liability in my mind when I think of a toddler doing toddler things around a hot stove.

Am I missing something? Any suggestions that you use for backpacking with the family, that will also do double duty for your and your hunting partners? The thought of dropping $1000 on a tent is giving me heartburn, but I'd rather buy once and cry once. If this is going to be THE tent for me and my family for the next 10 - 15 years, I can choke it down.

Thanks for any suggestions/advice you might have.

Don't look past a tipi too quickly. Two dogs in a floored tent = holes in floor. Toddlers and a hot stove don't mix, but you probably won't be doing real cold weather stuff with a toddler anyway. And older kids get a real kick out of the stove. Door screens are effective against mosquitoes.

Hille does good work. They use better fabrics than most of the industry.

If you think you'll have 2 kids and 2 dogs and want the tent to be big enough to meet your needs for the next decade I'd get the SO redcliff or at smallest Kifaru sawtooth

Get a seek outside tipi and get the nests for the inside, that is the cats ass. Two nests in a redcliff with room for gear and dogs outside the nests. Then you also have the hunting shelter for fall without needing another tent.

Go with the Hilleberg, it's going to be way more versatile and less of a hassle, plus you can set it up anywhere. You wont have any issues with a dog in a floored tent, it's a dog not an angry cougar, we have never had a problem with dogs in our tents plus the vestibule of the hilleberg doesn't have a floor.

On the buy once cry once side, my wife and I still use my parents VE-24 North face tent that they bought before they got married in 78'... I would bet you an obscene amount of money a Hilleberg will make it just as long.

wllm1313 said:

Go with the Hilleberg, it's going to be way more versatile and less of a hassle, plus you can set it up anywhere. You wont have any issues with a dog in a floored tent, it's a dog not an angry cougar, we have never had a problem with dogs in our tents plus the vestibule of the hilleberg doesn't have a floor.

On the buy once cry once side, my wife and I still use my parents VE-24 North face tent that they bought before they got married in 78'... I would bet you an obscene amount of money a Hilleberg will make it just as long.

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That's what I've been thinking... the dogs haven't torn up the floor of a cheap Kelty yet, so I think the Hilleberg should survive. Both are run on a daily basis, and their claws stay worn down. We've never had to clip their nails.

I don't want to discount the suggestions for the teepees, but my thinking on those was ability to use them in heavy wind. I've heard even Aron Snyder (Kifaru designer/spokesman) talk about on different podcasts that if he's in high wind or above the tree line, he takes a Hilleberg over his own products. We won't spend weeks on end above the tree line, but there will be trips. I'm specifically thinking of a certain mtn. goat tag in the Mallard-Larkin area that I'm dreaming of, so that's why (along with the other reasons) I'm shying away from the teepees.

Any other manufacturers that I may be missing that would be along the same quality lines as Hilleberg? Thanks for the help guys.

Yeah, I know people love tipi tents, and I think that in a ton of situations they are awesome... but high winds, heavy snow, really soggy ground, sleeping on rock or really hard ground where you can't drive in stakes well, keeping creepy crawlies out, etc. also I have had a couple of bad experiences in them, which admittedly was user error but you do have to know what your doing to set up a tipi and find the right spot where it's pretty hard to screw up a regular tent sooo...

You can look at the usual suspects MSR, Big Agnes, Sierra Designs, etc. but I'm not sure who else does a 4 person 4 season tent...

As far as big tunnels Exped is pretty good, but not Hilleberg. I'd go Nallo 4GT. Is Stephenson WarmLite still around? Sweet tunnel tents of yesteryear made by a weird bunch of hippies.

Take this for what it is worth. Wife and I have 4 children ( all under the age of 11). We camp 40-60 times a year with campfires probably 90% of the time as I cook on the coals.

A kid will touch something hot once. They won't do it a second time. Now I am not advocating letting them grab a red hot stove, but just like firearms, take the curiosity out and they won't touch it. Let him/her touch the stove as its getting hot. They will get the picture. Doesn't mean you can take your eyes off a toddler, you can't. But kids even that age are pretty darn smart.

I have friends who would come camping and "helicoptor parent". When ever the kid got within 10 feet of the fire they would yell and make a commotion and go scoop up the kid. Guess what? As soon as the kid was free he would make a beeline for the fire pit and the comedic commotion would start all over again. All the while our youngest, 2 at the time, would just walk by the fire without even looking twice cause it wasn't anything special to her.

As for the shelter, if it was me, i would go Kifaru tipi with a floor kit and stove. The whole kit is almost as light as a really nice "3" person tent with footprint and fly.

SO with screens and nests. Look at all the sizes and compare them. Give them a call they are very helpful!

SnowyMountaineer said:

As far as big tunnels Exped is pretty good, but not Hilleberg. I'd go Nallo 4GT. Is Stephenson WarmLite still around? Sweet tunnel tents of yesteryear made by a weird bunch of hippies.

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Where those the ones with all the folks in the ads nekkid?

1_pointer said:

Where those the ones with all the folks in the ads nekkid?

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Yeah like laying on animal skins and stuff. I see they still make them, I'm not sure I've heard of any other production tent that is purported to rival or surpass the function and attention to detail of Hilleberg. With a $900 minimum cost for a 2-person shelter, they don't give 'em away.

I'll preface my opinion with a little personal history. In 1976 at the age of 13 with my first paycheck from a summer job, I bought a North Face Oval Intention. It was the very first geodesic design tent that opened the door for all dome style tents. I used that tent for 25 years from the Yucatan to Alaska to Hawaii and points in between. I used it as a family tent of 4 and would still be using today if my Labrador hadn't made her own door when she got scared in a lightning storm.

I buy used tents and flip them on ebay. I have tried many of them, always upgrading. In the hundreds of top line tents that I handle (no cheap tents) I can say that the best tents out there are the vintage North Face tents Made in USA. Even some of the older foreign made ones are good, but the modern tents today are not made the same. The biggest issue I find is waterproof laminate doesn't hold up. Exposed to heat (sun) it gets gummy and oily. The vintage tents were made to last and when taken care of they will last a lifetime. Sometimes I find vintage tents in mint condition and I sell them on ebay. I would shop on ebay for a vintage NF in excellent condition, they are out there.

ps. I replaced my Oval Intention with a North Face Himalayan 47 about 17 years ago and I still use it. I will be using it in Alaska this coming December.