Beautiful sky. Nice camp site. Good price. I wish I was so lucky.

As far as one that can be stuffed into the airplane, I really like my Big Agnes Big House 4. With vestibule and footprint, it's a bit pricey, about $450, but for a 3 season tent, it's really solid. Good ventilation, very dry (not 100% in the worst of OSH storms, but close), easy to set up, and excellent post-purchase service from Big Agnes. I can stand up in it, and for 2 people, it's really roomy. For me and dog, it's really roomy. It would be satisfactory for 3, but 4 would be tight. I like a cot, so for 2 on cots, it's ideal.

Two examples of good BA service:

*It has a clear "window" in the rain fly, which is great for watching the stars and making it light inside--but that also means on a warm day, it turns into a sauna. So I asked them to make me a piece of the same material to cover it over, using Velcro to hold it in place. The first one they made was a tiny bit too small--someone at BA mismeasured, so they made me another one after I sent them a pasteboard pattern of what I wanted, billed me $25.
*Two summers ago at OSH, a monster storm hit midweek. While other tents were destroyed, mine was still standing, but a couple of the poles got bent. The tent was still plenty usable. When I got home, I tried to straighten them unsuccessfully, so I contacted BA. They said to send them he bent poles and they would take care of it. They did, fully repaired, no charge.

Cary

I really like it. Thank you for the info. Height matters. The vestibule is stellar. 10+

Winter emergency gear tent is a Sierra Designs Stretch Prelude.Cost a pretty penny 15 years ago, amazing tent. I use it for solo winter camping on frozen lakes as well.

The winter base camp tent when I have some other fool with me on the adventure is a Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8. For the class, it is unique in that it has lots of space, 4 season, and still weighs less than 30 lbs.

I love my Camel 60 second tent. First one on the left. The first night here was hot so I left the door open. I found out in the middle of the night the flagging was where the sprinklers came on.



It truly does take only 60 seconds to set it up. The fly is reversible...reflective side out to reflect the heat away in the day time...in to reflect heat inside at night.

I have tested it thoroughly and found it to be water proof, snow proof, snake proof and bug proof. I estimate I have set it up 60 to 70 times and spent 600 to 700 nights in it and still in perfect shape.

They seem to have changed the name now. I don't know if they still have the same quality as the old ones.
http://www.supplycache.com/The-Falcon-C ... 251-67501/

We backpack some, so go for different gear than those of you who are posting tents for max comfort.

At 6'2" the REI halfdome plus is a great compromise. It's got the standard high quality of REI gear (and warranty), fits two people and is light enough to pack in.

But, yeah, it's definitely not the tent for folks who want cots and the ability to stand up!

http://www.rei.com/product/845481/rei-h ... -plus-tent

Excellent thread and I need a tent.

So the last time I camped in a tent was probably 20 years ago in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Don't recall the brand of tent but bought it from a Mountaineering shop so it was a good one. Anyway that first night a brutal thunderstorm hit. All night very high winds, thunder and lightning right on top of me, and pouring down rain. In a short time all the stakes had pulled and there was a good two inches of water running under the tent floor floating it up all around me. My butt was the only thing that kept the tent in place. Sitting up all night trying to keep the tent from being destroyed, I was pretty close to terrified. This is probably why it's been twenty or so years.

To this day nearly all my hunting and fishing is done from lodges or boats. BUT, I do plan on attending a lot of backcountry fly-ins (especially those where I can use a fly-rod) these coming years where a lodge isn't available. And the SQ-2 will open up lots of additional hunting and fishing areas far from backcountry strips and lodges.

Would appreciate any additional thought you guys have geared toward my mission, which will be three season camping - airplane only. Weight won't be an issue in the 185, but comes into play with the SQ-2. Two people at most. I'm 6'5" and definitely don't want to get dressed lying down.

Looked up the VE 25 and it looks great, the Bastion 4 perhaps even better as it's taller. Both I'm sure are overkill but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Big Agnes Big House 4 looks good as well. By the time I got to looking at the Kelty's my head was starting to swim. Quality is more important then cost, but I don't want to piss away money either. Definitely bug proof with good ventilation.

Any additional thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

Barnstormer wrote:Any additional thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

We're in different markets, so I can't give you good advice on the tent, but since it's been 20 years since you last camped... Make sure you get a comfortable sleeping pad (or cot). There was a thread on this subject here a few months ago.

rw2 wrote:[... but since it's been 20 years since you last camped... Make sure you get a comfortable sleeping pad (or cot). There was a thread on this subject here a few months ago.

Excellent, I'll research it, thanks. Still have the sleeping bag, use it to stick propellors in to haul to the prop shop.

rw2 wrote:
[... but since it's been 20 years since you last camped... Make sure you get a comfortable sleeping pad (or cot). There was a thread on this subject here a few months ago.

... and, don't forget a good quality insulated sleeping pad or air mattress. Makes all the difference. Also was discussed in detail not long ago.

After several years of 2-3 man tent I advanced to a 8x10 Coleman tent I could stand up in . After my knee replacement it was increase pain to get up in morning or night. I got the tall Coleman so I could use high air mattress to swing my legs off of and stand up to get moving. Old tent weighed about 7 lbs -newer bigger tent comes in at 9 lbs . Basic 2-3 man ran me about 60 bucks some time back - 8x10 Coleman ran me about 120 or so. Air mattress ran me another 45 or so. Cheaper to " camp out " at back country Idaho airstrips than night or 2 at motel and air is fresh and clean !

Barnstormer wrote:

rw2 wrote:[... but since it's been 20 years since you last camped... Make sure you get a comfortable sleeping pad (or cot). There was a thread on this subject here a few months ago.

Excellent, I'll research it, thanks. Still have the sleeping bag, use it to stick propellors in to haul to the prop shop.

Here's the thread I previously mentioned: http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/s ... sses-13056

As you might have noticed, I do my best to support the Swedish economy. Regardless, Hilleberg makes some of the best tents on the planet.

We camp year-round, in the snow and in the desert. These tents offer bomb-proof weather protection in any conditions. After eight years of pretty heavy use, you can barely tell it's been used at all. They cost more than my first car, but are basically heirloom quality. I feel they're worth every penny if you do a fair amount of four season backpacking and camping.

Personally I am surprised at all the "winners". Most folks got it right! Thread has good pointers.

Cary wrote:
Two examples of good BA service:

*It has a clear "window" in the rain fly, which is great for watching the stars and making it light inside--but that also means on a warm day, it turns into a sauna. So I asked them to make me a piece of the same material to cover it over, using Velcro to hold it in place. The first one they made was a tiny bit too small--someone at BA mismeasured, so they made me another one after I sent them a pasteboard pattern of what I wanted, billed me $25.
*Two summers ago at OSH, a monster storm hit midweek. While other tents were destroyed, mine was still standing, but a couple of the poles got bent. The tent was still plenty usable. When I got home, I tried to straighten them unsuccessfully, so I contacted BA. They said to send them he bent poles and they would take care of it. They did, fully repaired, no charge.

Cary

I bought the Big House 6. Junk. First trip to Schafer a thunderstorm comes thru. 40 tents on the field, only one is collapsed. That';s right the Big Agnes. Smashed flat. They sent new poles and fixed the tear in the rain fly. Next trip the wind blew 25ish at Schafer. Two bent poles but at least the tent stayed up. When I got home I threw it away. It was a good size and a good weight being lighter than others of similar size. Bad design.

I bought and used this cabelas tent on a caribou hunt ,replacing for this mission my very heavy outfitters camp, it worked good but only tested this once so far. A little heavy I'm sure for what most of you are doing but we endured two nights of "barren ground" winds and the camp stood up to it and was very comfortable for three of us. The tent comes with its own poles but we only took the centre, corner and vestibule poles and used on site wood for the rest! We were able to find a very sheltered place as far as tundra camping goes. And temps didn't get less than -10 Celsius .

I bought the Big House 6. Junk.

I'm sorry to hear that. My Big House 4 has been as close to a perfect 3-season tent as I could imagine. Perhaps the increased size just puts more stress on it, with the BH6. Or perhaps yours might have done better if you'd added more tie downs. I have 4 added tie downs, and it's been through some monstrous winds, both rain and snow storms. I've been in it during some of those storms, and it doesn't move around much at all (well, the vestibule does)--but again, I've added 2 more tie-downs to each side, in addition to what came with it. I have not tried it in the winter--those snow storms I've been in were in September.

Cary

8GCBC wrote:

iceman wrote:had one of those Piss ant 8 by 7 tents for years... got tired of sleeping on the ground and getting dressed on my knees.. got a 10 by 12 Tetragon with a 7 foot center height.. been great so far for the past three years...

What brand? I miss my old Sears Catalog "Family" tent. It weighed about 100LBS and was only good during truck trips to Baja.

BTW B.J. Baldwin won the Baja 1000. JCR won the motorcycle class.

It's a Eureka tetragon 10 12... I also have a 10 16 but it's a bit large for airplane camping with 2 people... the 10 x12 is large enough for two cots a small table and a chair in between and you can stand up when pulling on your pants without rubbing your head on top of the tent.weighs about 23 lbs.....and it wasn't 700 bucks either.. I think it was about 150 .. on line Ebay...

SkySteve wrote:

rw2 wrote:
[... but since it's been 20 years since you last camped... Make sure you get a comfortable sleeping pad (or cot). There was a thread on this subject here a few months ago.

... and, don't forget a good quality insulated sleeping pad or air mattress. Makes all the difference. Also was discussed in detail not long ago.

get a Wiggy's... best sleeping bag ever made... look em up on line... Wiggy's sleeping bags.....

I like the Springbar Outfitter 3 - makes no difference if there's wind, rain, snow, sleet, etc. - it takes it all in stride and one can stand up in it.