The right backpacking tent can make or break your trip. Let our experts help you select the perfect tent for you in the REI Backpacking Tents Gear Guide. Learn about features, packability and setup to decide which tent you need to have the best backpacking trip possible.
Our picks:
Best Single-Person Tent, 00:37: REI Co-op Quarter Dome SL 1 https://www.rei.com/product/147862/rei-co-op-quarter-dome-sl-1-tent
Best Tent for Livability, 2:47: Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 https://www.rei.com/product/110209/big-agnes-copper-spur-hv-ul-2-tent
Best Tent for Bad Weather, 4:18: REI Co-op Arete ASL 2 https://www.rei.com/product/136247/rei-co-op-arete-asl-2-tent
Best Tent for Families, 6:04: Marmot Limelight 4 https://www.rei.com/product/110887/marmot-limelight-4p-tent-with-footprint
Best Tent Under $250, 7:14: REI Co-op Half Dome 2 Plus https://www.rei.com/product/128692/rei-co-op-half-dome-2-plus-tent
Check out our favorite backpacking tents at your local REI: https://www.rei.com/map/store
Don’t see your favorite? Let us know in the comments.
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What's up everybody welcome to another
episode of the REI cough your guides I'm Miranda and I'm hoe Tech and today we're
gonna be talking about the best Backpacking tent so you can find at REI
this year So to pick our tents this year we talk
to our customers and our members in the Store while they were get picking up
their new tents and we also looked at Customer reviews and these are our picks
our first category is the best Backpacking tent for solo backpacking
and for that we've chosen the REI co-op Quarter dome sl1 so in choosing the best
tent for solo backpacking we knew we Were looking for something that was
relatively light we also wanted a lot of Interior volume or interior space in the
tent since we knew we weren't going to Go with a bivy
so if you're gonna go with the 10th we Wanted that added room so this tent is
pretty easy to set up it's actually a Single pole system so it's all hubbed in
right here and the poles are Color-coordinated it is asymmetric so
you've got a dark pole going over here And you've got two brighter colored
poles out there this tent is semi Freestanding
which means that you have enough poles To pop the whole tent up but you do need
to stake out the foot box so that's Going to be over here and over here just
to get all of your room yeah the main Difference with a semi freestanding
versus a free standing tent again is That a freestanding tent with just the
poles you get all of your interior space So many freestanding you need stakes to
get all of these interior volume right This tent is a single door entry so
we've got one door and one vestibule in The front of the tent this is a great
spot to store your dirty gear since this Is a small ish tent it's a lightweight
tent you probably have lightweight small Gear so you should be able to fit all of
that on the exterior since you're not Gonna want anything on the interior with
you it's gonna be tight so there's a two Numbers we want to pay attention to and
we're talking about weight of this tent There's the package weight of the tent
which is two pounds six ounces and then The minimum trail weight which is a
pound 15 so the package trail weight is Going to be everything you purchase with
the tent but the minimum trail weight Will only include the tent body the rain
fly at the poles and the stakes no Extras so if you leave all the bags
extra stakes and guylines at home you Can significantly drop on the weight of
the tent the peak height in this tent is 38 inches and you have almost vertical
sidewalls which really helps it not feel
Like an attic they don't come in on you
otherwise it even the tent can be pretty High it can feel really really tight
just cuz the walls are right up to your Necks to your face yeah and then there's
a number of pockets on the inside This tent to help you organize your gear
and you do have a vent in the fly Our next category is going to be the
best tent for livability and that's Going to be the Big Agnes copper spur
hvu l2 so in choosing the best tent for Livability we knew that we were looking
for something that had vertical Sidewalls lots of interior volume lots
of vestibule space and was still Relatively light so we chose the Big
Agnes copper spur HV or high-volume ul Or ultra light two-person tent this tent
clocks in at just over three pounds Packaged weight which is two pounds 12
ounces minimum trail weight and this Tents really easy to set up so there's
one primary pole that runs like this It's all shockcord together and it's
hugged right there and poles are Color-coded so you've got dark poles
over there and then you've got bright Colored poles over here and then there's
one cross bar which is also shot corded And that just pops right in and that
keeps the walls nice and vertical and Nice and far away from you and this is a
two door tent so you have two door entry As well as two large festivals for
storing your gear which is just gonna Get help with that livability feeling on
the inside you've got a bunch of pockets Up top so you to organize all your gear
and then there's some hang points in There where you can put in your your
tent lanterns and we've got that one Vent right up top
so one thing I think is really cool About this time are actually the doors
so the way that Big Agnes designed this Is with the zippers coming together at a
point at the bottom so rather than just Meeting and going wherever on the tent
it's always really easy to find the Zipper that you're looking for which
allows you to sneak out of your door Without waking your sleeping partner
our next category is the best tent for Bad weather and for that we have chosen
the REI co-op or Rhett ASL 2 so in Choosing the best tent for bad weather
we knew that we're and we looking for Something that could withstand light
snow heavy rains and heavy wind so we Chose the REI co-op a Rhett ASL or all
season light two-person tent because This is a pretty burly tent for its
weight the weight on this tent is 6 Pounds 5 ounces packaged weight that's
about 5 pounds ten ounces minimum trail Weight this is a single door entry tent
so there's only one door in
Doubt it's got a nice big festival
though so put all your gear inside the Vestibule right here this tent was
actually designed for snow use so if you Take a look at these stake out points
right here they're actually expert big So you can actually use your skis as a
stake out points on that guy and there's A good amount of ventilation right here
through this bed and that ventilation Actually helps the tent stay up during
win because it allows the wind to pass Through the tent as opposed to knocking
it over Okay so wolf the rain fly off we can see
the pull structure of this tent a little Bit better
this guys set up pretty differently from Some of the other guys so it's separate
poles so we've got two poles that run Across through the sleeves they're
color-coded so we've got a green side Over there and then we've got a dark
side over there and then we've got two Brow poles here and here so the brow
poles add extra structure and strength To the tent when it's in bad weather but
it's starting to rain what you can do is You can just punch the poles through
these sleeves and then just jump into The tent and I'll still stand up one
really cool thing about this tent that Makes it great for bad weather is that
you have fully sealable mesh on the tent So if you are on a good weather day you
can always unzip this and you get a nice View from the mesh but for more
protection from the elements you can Fully closed up the mesh on this set
nice our next category is me the best Tent for families and that's me the
Marmot limelight 4 so if you're Backpacking with the family or with
young kids the limelight for person is About the closest of car camping comfort
that you will get in a backpack will Wait the stunt does weigh about eight
and a half pounds packaged weight so That's 7 pounds 15 ounces minimum trail
weight but that does include the Footprint also since you're probably
going to be going with a group of people You can always divide up the fly and the
body and the poles of the tent to divide Weight that way it sounds pretty easy to
set up too so we've got an orange hub Pole and the orange pole goes to these
orange tabs over here and then we've Also got a pair of grey poles which will
go with the grey tabs up here and that Will create the vertical walls and keep
everything nice and far away from you Yeah there's a ton of interior volume in
this tent which makes it feel really Livable you also have two door entry and
two large vestibules these vestibules Are I mean they're massive
a ton of cupboard space on the outside
Of the tent if you're backpacking with
three other people you're probably gonna Want that for storing your extra gear
and our next category is gonna be the Best tent under $250 which is going to
be the REI co-op Half Dome 2 plus so I Really feel like the REI co-op Half Dome
2 plus deserves a ton of credit not only Is it less than $250 but it's also just
a great all-around tent a version of This tent many years ago was my first
set my – yeah it's just it's a really Great backpacking tent it does weigh
about 5 pounds 5 ounces or 4 pounds 15 Ounces minimum trail weight um but it's
also really good for car camping it's Just all around a good tent yeah
and it's super super easy to set up the Poles are totally symmetrical the tent
is totally symmetrical everything just Snaps together so we got four corner
poles and then we've got one crossbar That goes through the hubs and that
gives you totally vertical sidewalls so You've just got a ton of room on the
inside doesn't feel crammed at all yeah There's a ton of interior space there's
also lots of pockets on the inside and This is a two door two vestibule tent so
you've got a large exterior vegetable For storing your gear on the outside of
the tent that's it for the best Backpacking tent so you can find at REI
as always if you have other questions You can watch our other videos if you
haven't yet go ahead and subscribe to Our Channel and yeah come into your
local REI and talk to the experts there Will be happy to geek out about tents
with you see you later
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