Backpacking Tent Reviews: Which Design Is Best?

Backpacking tent reviews: easy to find.

Not always easy to swallow.

What I mean is this: If the person writing the information is being paid by the company making the gear to write it, how objective can s/he really be?

Personally, I avoid commercial backpacking tent reviews for this reason. Who wants to waste time reading words that might be just about moving product out the door? [OK, call me a skeptic. Guilty as charged.]

So I'm going to go over a few "best backpacking tent" features for you to consider as you peruse all of those glossy potential infomercials which are available in magazines, on websites, or from your favorite gear store.

That way, you'll swallow the facts, not the hook.

The basic question to consider when reading a backpacking tent review revolves around the choice of tent design: Which footprint will give you maximum room for minimal weight?

If you need a list of basic tent features before you consider what is involved in tent designs, go here.

Let's get some buzz words out in the open.

Expect the word "seasons" in relation to a backpacking tent. Here are your choices:

*Summer or hot climate, sometimes called "two season".

*Three season: pay attention to the temperature ratings and the features which are claimed to make this fit for colder weather.

*Year round/all season/four season (convertible) - be careful about taking this tent into really rugged conditions.

*Winter camping: carefully read actual eyewitness accounts of how a person can survive extreme cold and snow conditions in this tent. If there are no first person accounts, why not?

More buzz words, all revolving around the intended use rather than the season:

*Mountaineering: designed for hard core hikers in rugged terrain! These will be expensive, and may specify summer -vs- winter conditions.

*Ultralight (lite): for minimalists who can't be bothered with lugging around luxuries like a tent floor.

So use these buzz words to hone in on the material which pertains to the type of backpacking you are planning.

Of course, it's fun to read ALL of the reviews, if you have that kind of time on your hands! My fantasy job involves doing nothing but this :)

What else should you be looking for in order to spot quality information?

Find an outdoor writer who generates a lot of information about the outdoors, not just one piece of backpacking gear.

If a person shows a long standing commitment to getting the right gear into your hands, you can trust them much more than a revolving list of contributing writers who dabble in writing about backpacking gear.

Certain magazines can be credible sources for backpacking tent reviews.

I'm always on the lookout for bloggers who seem to "get" what makes a great piece of backpacking gear, so I'll be sure to pass those along to you here.

And time permitting, I will review backpacking tents which I happen to spend time in.

Each summer I find myself in at least one "new" tent - new to me, that is.

So I've developed a mental list of "go to" companies which I trust with my hard earned dollars.

Be sure to check back once in a while to see which tents I feature.

It also gives me a GREAT excuse to hit the nearest gear store, in search of the hottest backpacking tents.

If you have suggestions or good resources on backpacking tents, please send them along. I'll share them here for all of us to benefit and learn from. Thank you!

Backpacking tent reviews: credibility is important, right? Here's more credible tent information.