Tents are a good example of the old saying "you get what you pay for". With a tent you'll almost always realize the truth of this saying when you least want it, during a storm at 11:00 at night, during a horrible wind storm or when you are tired and rather sleep than deal with a river coming in the tent floor. The ads for the tent on sale for $29 at the big box store make you wonder why you'd spend $299 at REI, believe me, there is a BIG difference between the two tents. You really don't want to discover that difference when you need the tent the most. There are many good quality, well designed tents, Big Agnes, MSR, Mountain Hardware to name a few.