Our only quibble with the Mineral King 3 is that it comes with only six stakes. (Our runner-up pick comes with eight.) Six is enough to secure the tent and fly but not to fully secure the tent’s extra lines in very windy conditions. This shouldn’t be an issue in most situations, but if you’re headed into a particularly windy place or simply want some backup, we suggest picking up four extra tent stakes at your local outdoor shop or online. These inexpensive stakes are comparable to the ones that accompany the Mineral King 3; these slightly more expensive stakes will serve you well in any car-camping terrain. It’s natural to focus on the quality of a tent’s rain fly—you need that piece to work when the skies open up. But according to our experts, the durability of the floor of your tent is actually more important.
A shower tent should be tall enough for you, your friends, and your family members to stand up straight. Most shower tents are between 6-7 feet tall at the center of their ceiling. Whether you’re on an extended camping trip ozark trail instant cabin or traveling great distances in your vehicle, you need a shower tent. These convenient portable washing stations offer privacy no matter where you are. All metal parts are made of steel and the fabric is polyester.
We assembled and disassembled the tents on all of our testing sites multiple times. We tried the rain fly for each tent as well, one time rushing to get several of them up during an unexpected rainstorm at night. When heavy trade winds buffeted our Oahu-coast testing site, we pitched each tent in full face of the blast. We then rotated the tents looking for structural weaknesses, and we tested their guy lines and tabs to see which tents had the best and most intuitive design for withstanding wind. Temperatures ranged from the 50s at night to the 80s during the day. To compare tent fabrics, you also need to know their overall rip strength.
The Tungsten 4’s larger size accounts for the higher price tag (about $40 more), but campers who would like that extra room may find the expense worthwhile. Its fly extends into a huge front vestibule that can store large items like bikes, or even accommodate a table and chairs. Adults over 6 feet tall will be able to walk upright inside this tent—which has almost-vertical walls that can easily accommodate beds, cribs, and cots—as well as in the vestibule. And this tent is easy to set up and pack down, especially considering its size. As with most six-person tents, the Wawona 6’s footprint is sold separately.
You might want to compare this product with yet another similar, the KingCamp Oversize Outdoor Camping Dressing Changing Room Shower Privacy Shelter Tent. Check also among Camping Screen Houses, this is yet another type of utility shelters in the camp. An avid swimmer, surfer, hiker, and camper, she currently lives on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, where she can be found, as much as possible, in water. It is also important to consider the way in which the tent poles attach to the tent. Many of our picks use grommet attachments, which are more secure and simple to repair than key attachments if anything should break. Whether you’re thinking of hitting the road or staying close to home for your next car-camping adventure, you and your loved ones will need a comfortable place to sleep.
The size of the shelter was adequate for this function, and the venting made it fairly comfortable, even when the temperature outside was in the mid 90s, and the shelter was in the direct sunlight. Blew the shower down and broke the plastic thing that holds the poles together into 2 pieces. This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms.
Measuring 10 by 10 feet, the Sundome covers an area larger than that of our family-tent top pick though its lower roof leaves it with less headroom. But it’s one of the least expensive tents we found that had no significant drawbacks and will truly cover your bases for three-season camping. The tent also comes with its own footprint, a groundsheet that protects the tent from abrasion, which we recommend that you have.
In terms of flaws, there aren’t much to speak of with the Wawona 6, apart from the price. The North Face offers a limited lifetime warranty on the tent, and will repair most ozark trail instant cabin flaws and damage at its discretion. Weighing just 7 pounds, the tent is light enough to double for backpacking trips, especially if you divide the pieces among hikers.
It’s the perfect choice for three-season multipurpose camping. Customers enjoyed the versatility of this shower tent, sharing that it worked as a changing area, shower station, and porta-potty. Its light weight and compact size were also highlights for many customers. However, some users believed that the material was too thin, which meant that it was see-through when it was used in direct sunlight.
For this guide, we focused on tents that suit the most common terrains you’re likely to encounter when car-camping—grassy lawns or clearings, beaches, dirt campsites, and basic platforms—in spring, summer, and fall. We’re not looking at tents designed for such specialized ozark trail instant cabin activities as mountaineering, backpacking, or winter camping, though some of our recommendations have cross-over potential. An avid hiker, camper, and long-haul road-tripper, Claire Wilcox has slept in (and occasionally improvised) tents in 11 states.