There are a plethora of tents on the market today - differing in capacity, purpose, and design. Choosing the right tent to accommodate your needs need not be intimidating. First, read the following to understand the types of tents. Second, determine where and when you will use your tent. Third, ascertain which tent best matches your needs.

Differences in capacity, purpose, and design.

1. Capacity - ranges from bivy bags or one-person shelters for those who don't like the constriction of a bivy sac, to huge geodesic domes that comfortably seat 10.
2. Purpose - determines whether you need a simple mesh tent for humid and hot climates, a completely bomb-proof tent that can withstand 80mph winds on mountain summits, or something in between.
3. Design - differences include layout design - dome or hoop, free-standing or stake-out; fabric design - single wall impermeable, double wall breathable, single wall mesh; vestibules; sky lights; and windows, just to name a few.

The market for tents points towards ease of use, so you will see 12 models of free-standing tents per each staked tent.

• Free-standing tents can be pitched anywhere there is room on all sorts of terrain. Sometimes you don't even need to stake out the tent, though it is highly recommended. Manufacturers have developed ways to make the process of pitching a free-standing tent even easier with locking clips and full-length sleeves; the process can't get much quicker. On the other hand, free-standing designs are considerably heavier than staked designs.
• Invest in a staked design if weight is a big concern, as with thru-hikers and bike tourers. The drawback is that staked designs need ground to drive stakes into or stones to anchor down the stake points.
• If you are searching to cut weight even more, you should just rig a tarp.

3 Season vs. 4 Season

3 season tents will suffice for the majority of activities, but the 3+ season tent is an extremely versatile tent.

• 3 season tents are designed to be used in mild conditions in spring, summer, and fall. They will withstand rain and wind, but may have a problem with snow loading. Usually constructed of lighter materials or with mesh panels, 3 season tents are the perfect tent for those fair weather campers.
• Still can't decide whether or not you may do some winter camping, but don't want to go for the full-on winter tent? Many manufacturers offer 3+ season tents, a stronger version of their 3 season tents, usually with a reinforced floor and stronger design to withstand snow load and strong winds, but not full winter conditions.
• For those hearty souls who enjoy winter camping (going to bed at 5 in the afternoon when the sun goes down) or engage in alpine mountaineering, a 4 season tent is the way to go. Unfortunately, they do weigh more because they are built with heavier fabrics than their 3 season counterparts. In picking a 4 season tent, look for features such as a bathtub floor - wrap around, no seams; additional tie-downs - for attaching additional guylines for wind support; double vestibules - since you will be cooking in one vestibule, you need another for stashing gear; good breathability - your breath will condense on the inside of the tent unless there is good ventilation.

This decision is not such a tough one. Stick with a double wall tent for versatility and value.

On single wall tents, the wall acts to move moisture from the inside of the tent to the outside and keep the outside elements out. In the double wall system, moisture moves from the inside of the tent to the fly where it condenses. The fly also acts to keep all the weather out. Single wall tents rely on good ventilation and fabric design to keep air circulating through the tent since the single skin doesn't breathe as well as the double wall system.

Why should I choose either one? Single wall tents are lighter than their double wall counterparts, but are extremely specialized in use. Unless you are planning on an alpine style assault on a Himalayan giant, the drawbacks far outweigh the assets. Single wall tents are simply cold, they do not have the cushion of air that double wall systems have between the tent body and the fly. The ambient temperature in the tent is colder and thus, there is more condensation. In addition, single walls do not breathe as well as double walls, again trapping more moist air inside and increasing condensation.Single wall tents work best at dry higher altitudes, but beware since they don't breathe as well, the decreased air at altitude requires that you must ventilate the tent. Since the single skin serves to keep the elements out, it needs to be cared for very well. The waterproofness of the skin decreases when it gets dirty or is exposed to the sunlight for extended periods of time. The costs of single wall tents are also outrageous, roughly 50-70% more than a comparable double wall tent.

So why buy a single wall tent? If you want to seem really hard-core and show everyone thatyou are counting ounces and loaded then buy one, but otherwise, they are reserved for high altitude expeditions where ounces do count.

Design Features

Every manufacturer has specialized features that make their tents different from others, but remember that your tent only needs to give you shelter and protect you from the elements. Try not to get carried away by all the technical aspects and look for a tent designed with common sense.

• A bathtub floor is great because there are fewer seams than a pieced floor. This makes waiting out a downpour the difference between being dry and playing with the rubber ducky.
• Being dry is important for comfort and safety, so make sure your tent has a good fly. Ideally a fly would one piece with few seams, but this is not possible. So choose a tent with a good-fitting fly, one that even has flap around the vestibule for further sealing. An ill-fitting fly will turn into a machine gun when the wind is whipping and produce insomnia even in the gentlest of breezes.
• A double vestibule, one at the head and the other at the foot are fairly crucial when camping with multiple partners. One vestibule can be used for cooking while the other for storing. Middle of the night outdoors visits are also much easier with dual exits. Instead of crawling over unhappy partners, you can easily exit out the front or back.
• Inside pockets in the tent can be useful for organizing items, although they usually only get stuffed with garbage.
• Internal guylines are great for stabilizing the tent in a strong wind; deformity caused by wind can destroy a tent. Guylines can also be used to hang items like socks to dry during the daytime.
• Another feature that is important is the pole attachment mechanism. There are 2 main ways, either clips or sleeves, to attach the poles to the tent body. Clips are easier to thread than pole sleeves, but have great breakage potential. If a clip breaks, it is not so easy to repair in the field. Also, where the clip attaches to the tent body, there is considerable stress on that point - during heavy winds, clips have been known to rip off. Sleeves on the other hand apply even stress across the length of the tent body, which is good under windy conditions - sleeved tents offer the best support in heavy winds. However, sleeves are sometimes hard to thread with heavy gloves and can rip easily, but sleeves are easy to repair. Again you must decide which feature works best for you - does ease of use supercede tent strength?
• Other nice features are doors that will open to the side and can be fastened out of the way. Doors that open from the top are problematic because, when open, the door lies on the ground and will become trampled and destroyed over time.