Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any decent tents at Bass Pro/Cabelas/Walmart?

Need a tent for son's first scout campout, and I threw out mine after the flood a little over a year ago. Doesn't need to be an ultralight backpacking tent, but I would lean towards something that I wouldn't mind carrying a couple miles. Leaning towards a 3 person tent (have 2 kids and wife has no interest in camping). Not looking to spend a lot, but want one to keep us dry if we were rained on. 3 season tent with decent ventilation that's easy to set up should meet its purpose (camping in the South).

Do stores like Bass Pro, Cabelas, Academy, or Wal-Mart have any decent tents meeting our fairly basic needs? We also have a BSA Scout Shop near us that has camping gear. Wife wants to buy one at a local store (we have all those I listed) so the buying is part of the experience for our son, and I think that would be good. Any recommendations?

My default in the past would have been to go to REI, but their Left Coast leadership has revealed their anti 2nd Amendment opinion, so if I have another good option, I'll go with the other option.

I have a cheap four person tent I use when hunting/camping on the rivers . Got it at walmart $60 it packs up like a bag with two footballs in it , been using it 4 years -still works fine.

The Cabela's dome tents are pretty hardy doing very well in wind and rain if staked down. More expensive but a little lighter with aluminum poles. Go with a 4 person for 2 people,some gear inside, and maybe a little cooking within.

You can find a decent tent at any of them for what you're using it for. If you're planning on sleeping 3 in there, you'll need something bigger than a 3 person as well.

question....are you sure your son's scout troop doesn't provide tents?

Get him something nice, so he can get a female scout inside it.

i'm wrapping up my scout camping days but when i started out with my boys i went through a couple schitty walmart dome tents and always found them lacking. some old timers in my troop had this one and i ended up buying 2, one used and one new. they are solid, easy to set up, waterproof and storm proof. over the 10 years or so we've camped in some serious weather in these and never a problem.

https://www.amazon.com/Eureka-26277...ative=165953&creativeASIN=B000EQ813S

when was in scouts we all used baker tents.

[img]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0421/5069/products/Baker_3_grande.jpg?v=1485797846[/img]

The packing list included a tent, so apparently this troop doesn't. Thank you for asking to make sure.

My favorite car camping tent is a Marmot Limelite ... don't recall whether it is the 2P or 3P. I would use it for backpacking if I were carrying a tent to share with 2-3 people but I have lighter tents for solo use. The "bent leg" is cool .. it makes the whole floor space usable space instead of wasting it on corners that are hard to use, get damp, etc. My preferred setup is between a couple trees where I can hang a tarp overhead as an awning, dry access to the tent, and "hang out" space for when I'm not sleeping.

Tom

I was in our Walmart Saturday, all hunting stuff moving out, summer merchandise coming in.

Check out Backcountry.com clearance and Steepandcheap.com

This one

The fly comes all the way to the ground, only one I found in this price range that has this quality of a fly.
Just bought it for a nephew for his birthday


If ya want to go top end get a Marmot. www.marmot.com/equipment/tents

Eureka and Cabelas tents are good.

That was going to be my recommendation. BC almost always has an extra 10-20% off your first order too.

First a three man would be tight for two with gear but doable without gear let alone three. The Eureka is a good tent and used a lot by the scouts. If you are car camping the colman Insta tent is awesome goes up in less than a minute I love mine. If you are packing it then size and weight matters and the lighter you go the more it cost. The one thing you can do is separate the tent and everyone carry some of it to share the weight and bulk. There are a lot of quality tents the choice is yours. Widow

I used a Eureka 3 person for probably 15 years. The 3 person has plenty of space.

y

Good tent for the money, Comes with a rain fly.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/CABELAS-XPG-ULTRA-LIGHT-P-TENT/2495719.uts?slotId=0

I've had good luck with Cabelas XPG line of gear. Durable and functional and reasonably priced for what you get. They are not the cheapest but the are a good value. It's on sale for $200 and it weighs 4# 9oz. That's pretty good for a 3-person tent. Remember that a tent advertised as a 3-person tent will hold three sleeping bags and not much else. This tent would be good for two people plus their gear.

Stay away from tents at Walmart. They are junk.

See if you can find an easy up one with poles trapped. My nephew has one, far easier to set up than my yard sale Eureka. Be aware of "ventilation", some tents are almost all mesh with a rainfly and get cold no matter where you are. Look at the pics of the "3" man. it is 3 people laying down, and the guy on the end better not need to pee. One thing I find is I like (truck camping) is enough headroom to stand up to put on my pants.

Or get a tentcot