I'm slowly starting to get ready for not only touring, but getting my 5 year old son out camping as a father/son thing.

If you don't want to read this entire post I'd still like you to tell me what tent you use. how much it weighs and how many it sleeps, also it's pros and cons. Pictures inside and out are welcome!

Anyhow, sense I seem to be long-winded...

We have an older dome tent, it's been good for summer and spring trips but is aging. I'll still use our current dome for car camping, as I can easily string a huge tarp up over it to keep the entire site dry for my son if needed, but I'd like give it a sibling that will be good for touring.

It seems most tents I'm interested in are two person, I like the option of easily taking a friend who is not as well prepared for camping, the tent I like the most is around 3.5kg or 7.7lbs, the rest are a lot to a little lighter.

I'm looking for fast setup, I really don't want to be securing 12 guy-lines every night if I can help it. I'd also like one that will keep dry if I get rained out for a day or two and just want to hang out for a couple days without a tarp. Price range is around $250. (Canadian)

I'm not insistent on a two person. I've been checking out single person tents too, in the event that I get a single person and someone else wants to come with me I could always take the old dome and split the load.


A couple tents I'm looking at are as follows. (All are three season, possibly four depending on the user)

Single Person.

MSR Hubba Tent
$280
1.5kg or 3.3lbs
I know the brand name, looks like what I need. Most expensive on the list.

Big Agnes Seedhouse 1 SL
$255
1.3kg or 2.9lbs
Nice and light. Suffers from lots of guy-lines and possible leaks, I saw a workaround in reviews somewhere for the leak. Seems I should just get the MSR for a couple extra bucks.


Two person I like that I can get both of these tents in a brown "driftwood" color for stealth camping. It's turning into a selling point over the MSR single person.

MEC Wanderer 2
$217
3.5kg or 7.7lbs
I really like this tent, I love domes for their sturdiness and easy setup. I've wanted this tent for about 12 years (Unless I'm confused with an older tent they had) and have just never needed it. There is also an option to get the tent in all mesh. Two doors and vestibules, lots of great reviews, etc. Seems really heavy if I tour alone, but great for two people which will happen just as often as solo trips.

MEC Tarn 2
$182
2.8kg or 6.6lbs
Nothing much to say about it.


So those are what I'm looking at now. I'd love to get my tent from MEC, or at least somewhere in Canada. Shipping to Canada is no fun unless the savings is fairly high or if the product is made in America (no duty then).

I really love that Wanderer, but the MSR seems like a better fit.

If I tour with a friend who wants to come, splitting the load of the heavier tent would be worth it, especially if we get rained on which is very, very likely on the west coast of Canada.

On the other hand, I've always liked having my own tent.

So what tents do you use? Lets see some pics of them in use, and how heavy they are, how they are in rain, etc.

Thanks!