Wenzel tents are about at cheap as they come. I strongly recommend you avoid tents with the woven polypropelene (sp?) floors. While I can certainly understand your limited budget, please do understand that a tent is an important investment in your camping enhoyment.

I myself am a BIG fan of Eureka tents. I have three of them (different sizes and uses) and find them to be tops in quality.

If you plan to own your tent for several years, my advice is to avoid fiberglass poles. They will last a while, but eventually they will shatter.

Eureka has a decent range of prices. You can get a 4-person Timberline for just $140. Yeah, its not a sexy looking as some of the dome tents, but it is a very good tent for the money that is extremely weatherproof. It is the best-selling tent in history for a reason.

If you really want a dome tent, then the fiberglass poled 4-person Eureka Tetragon 8 is only $90 at Campmor.com.

By the way, I don't have any connection with Eureka or Campmor, but I do like their products/service. I have also purchased tents from arkatents.com with good service and prices.

Here is a link that might be useful: Campmor

I want a cabin tent that we can stand up in. We are both quite tall and need to move around in our tent on a rainy day.

I appreciate your advice and I have heard great things about Eureka but can't afford them. Quality is nice but so is food on the table. LOL Since we tent only a couple times a year we don't have to spend the money on the best quality.

Thanks again.

Kathy

Kathy ~ just how tall are you & DH, or should I ask how high does the tent have to be? And are there any youn'uns?

Dale

Around 6' tall each with a tall 3 yo.

a Guide Gear tent on Amazon but I bet that is not great quality so we will most likely skip that. We like the cabin tent designs. The other one on Amazon is Academy Broadway cabin tent.

In Campmor.com "Hot Deals" they list a Eureka Tetragon 9 for $110. It has a 6' center height and has a 9'x 9' footprint. Sets up using clips instead of pole sleeves. A lot of tent for that price.

If you need more windows, then they have a Sunrise 9 for $170 in Hot Deals too. The problem there is that the windows are a source of leaks in the rain.

Invest in some decent rain gear so you don't have to spend rainy days inside your tent. Good ponchos can be fairly inexpensive.

Kathy ~ when you talk "cabin tent" I'm reminded of an old timey canvas "wall tent" I had many years ago. Now the thing had a ceiling height of something like 7' and there was plenty of room, but it was a heavy bugger and it practically took 6 men and a boy to set the thing up! It was like a major military operation going anyplace with the thing. I guess my point here is bigger means more weight (even though the newer materials are lighter than the old canvas) and more time to set up and maybe even more tent area for something to go amiss.

What I like to do mostly with a tent is to make an overnight canoe/fishing trip down river. My main base camp is now a popup camper (tent trailer) so the tent is secondary. By the way, quite often I will pitch the tent next to the popup for storage, to get camping gear out of sight, like lanterns, fishing equipment, ect..

I'm 5' 11" and like y'all, I like to be able to stand up in the tent. Now I like the size tent I presently have and the previous one, too, which was the exact same size - 9' X 9' with a 6' peak. Pleanty of room for two people and their gear (and I should think for one little person, too). And it's an easy job of setting up and taking down. The present tent is an Eureka "Sunrise 9", I bought it a couple of years ago for $160.00 and they paid the freight -
(www.vtarmynavy.com)
This is an excellent summer tent in that it has great ventilation - and I've been caught out in some hard rain and it has nary leaked a drop ... that's around the windows or anyplace else.

The previous tent, same size, 9' X 9' with a 6' peak, another dome style tent but it did not have the windows the present Eureka Sunrise has. But none-the-less, it was an excellent tent and I had it for a few years - also, some hard rains, but no leaks with that one either. Now I bought this tent from K-Mart - called "Northwest Territory". The tent was on a 30% Labor Day sale, regular $79.95 and I got the thing for less than sixty bucks, tax included. What's important is that tent does not owe me a dime, it was well used when I got through with it (but I also take care of my gear).

Since your not going to use a tent all that much, I don't see how buying a K-Mart or Wal-Mart tent will be all that bad. Consider this, I know for a fact if you bought a tent from our local Wal-Mart and it leaked, or anything other was wrong with it, they would take it back and refund your money in a flash! I see our local Wal-Mart has tents on display and if I remember right, they were something like $59.95 for about the size I'm talking about. Bottom line: your not going to be using the tent all that often. AND, when you are using it, you'll be out doing things and the only time you will be in the tent is for dressing and sleeping. I'd vote for the Wal-Mart special.

When you and DH begin planning to climb Mt. Everest, we will worry about finding you a tent with all the whisles and bells ... THEN.

Good luck,

Dale

I'm very happy with our Swiss gear tent from Sam's - great size and more sturdy than the old Walmart special we had.

We've found that having a tent that is self-standing - one that has poles supporting every single corner - is important. In sandy soil the tents that have to be staked out to be taught are never taught enough - and therefore water and dirt end up sitting on the part that ends up laying on the ground. You also lose a lot of interior room that way.

The further down the rainfly comes and more window space you have, the better. Good luck!

Get a good quality tent, especially if there is a chance that you will be camping in the rain. Always sacrifice tent size for quality, water proof construction and generous rain fly. Make alternative arrangements for keeping dry during rainy days.

For dry space while camping during rain, step up a tarp, pitched to shed water and staked/poled to keep it steady in the breeze. The tarp doubles as a sun shade, too. Set up chairs, coolers, cooking station and/or a picnic table under it, and hang out there. IMO, a tent is for lying down and sleeping.

Here's a compromise to cover you against any lemons. Buy your tent from Costco (if you're a member or know someone who is). Their Ridgeway line is manufactured by Wenzel but is covered by Costco's guarantee. We had one and one tent-pole broke on our second use (as we were breaking camp). We returned it for a full refund.

The largest Ridgeway tent they currently carry is a 3-room cabin dome with a great screen room in front (I think it's still called the Saratoga). It's about $100.

BTW, the label will say "Ridgeway by Kelty". Although the Ridgeway label is owned by Kelty (an excellent tent manufacturer), this label is used for their budget line and the tents are manufactured by 3rd parties (like Wenzel).

IMHO, this is a good 3-season tent and it can be made more rain-worthy if you use seam-sealant and pitch it correctly with lines. It's best used for general car-camping.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ridgeway Tents

Wenzel tents are the best of the cheaper brands that can be gotten (Coleman, Northern Ter., Jeep, etc). Especially their larger cabin type tents.

They are not designed to stand up to harsh use (winter, heavy rains, high winds, etc). But for someone who camps in good weather four or five times a year they make a good choice.

If you go with one. Set it up before you ever go camping for they are many poles that must be put into their proper place and trying to figure them out the first time takes some doing. Tagging them helps. Using a piece of Scotch tape over top of a small piece of paper explaining where each pole goes attached to the poles themselves helps a lot.

One other note on using a Wenzel. ALWAYS use a ground cloth (tarp, piece of plastic etc) laid down to set the tent on will help keep the floor dry. Take a tarp large enough to cover 2/3 of the tent will help keep it dry in a light rain, heavy fog or dew.

I personally would not buy a Wenzel for I to am a Eureka tent beleiver. But I have friends that owns Wenzels and they fit their needs nicely.

Eureka ,Eureka, Eureka. Need I say more? Yes, check their Eureka tent outletsite on the web. Quite a savings. We have been camping in Eureka tents for 35 years.