What are the skills for choosing a good tent?

For campers, tents are home. When you sleep soundly in a small peaceful space separated by the tent in the wild mountains or the vast desert after a day's hard work, you will feel that no matter how terrible the outside environment is, it is always safe and kind in the tent.
Even if tents are not often used, it is not to say that the choice of tents can be casual. It is very frustrating to find that my tent is leaking in a rainy day, and my whole mood may become wet with it. So how to choose a tent with good quality, applicability and reasonable price must not be careless. If you are buying a tent for the first time, you may not know where to start from among the dazzling products. In fact, there are some factors to consider when selecting tents, but it is not complicated. Grasp the following points to help you make the right decision.
1. Size. Whether the space provided by the tent is suitable or not is the most important indicator for selecting the tent. How tall are you? When you lie comfortably in your sleeping bag, can the tent provide enough length? Is there enough vertical space? Do you feel flustered when sitting in it? The longer you plan to spend in the tent, the more space you need in the tent.
If you go to a cold place, you may need to prepare dinner in a tent, so you need a tent with special ventilation. Making some hot coffee or instant noodles can make people feel comfortable, but if you use a stove in the tent, there should be enough space in the tent to ensure safety.
Tent manufacturers usually overestimate the number of people the tent can accommodate. A nominal tent for 1 to 2 people often means that when one person uses it, it is enough; But when two people use it, they may throw all the equipment and food outside the tent. This is a problem that must be considered when choosing tents.
2. Weight. When buying a tent, don't forget to take the tent to your camping site. If you travel by car, it means you can live more comfortably, because you can take a heavier and larger tent; But if the tent needs to be on the shoulder all day, the weight problem will become a major problem. Carrying a tent that is too heavy and more than needed can only bring pain to the journey. Some family tents can even weigh more than 30 pounds.
If you just want to sleep in a tent for 8 hours, you don't need to bring a big tent; If you just want to rest in the tent, you can take a cheaper and lighter tent. But if it is to build a camping base, it is necessary to transport some large and expensive tents by vehicles. Some travelers drive to campsites, lakes, seashore and other picturesque and suitable places to live in, and stay in tents for a few weeks. In this case, tents feel more at home, and everyone wants to live more comfortable and spacious.
3. Ventilation. This is a very important but often overlooked problem. On a hot night, nothing is worse than living in a suffocating and windproof tent. But sometimes there are some contradictions between the characteristics of ventilation and sealing, so if you plan to go to a cold place, you can ignore the characteristics of ventilation.
Most tents are suitable for use from spring to autumn. They take into account ventilation, insect prevention and heat preservation; Another kind of tent is made of net, of course, this kind of net is opaque, and it is extremely suitable for summer and in warm and humid areas. If you are camping often, it is very important to prevent rain and ventilation.
In addition, there is a four-season tent, which rarely considers the problem of ventilation, but usually provides a vent so that you can cook in it. In theory, it can keep the tent warm or cool and has better insulation with the outside environment.
4. Materials. Most of the tents are made of different kinds of nylon materials, which have relatively high strength but light weight, about 2 pounds per square meter. There are some heavier tents with polyester coating or made of cotton canvas, which are much heavier.
The bottom and two wings of the tent are coated with waterproof coating to prevent moisture and rain. The tent also usually leaves some places without waterproof treatment to circulate the air, disperse the water discharged in the breath, and prevent the condensation of water vapor under the sleeping bag and moisture-proof pad. A tent with a large space usually does not have the problem of water vapor condensation, because the air inside it can be fully circulated. Some tents adopt a double-roof structure, which can change the ventilation performance of the tent and prevent unnecessary condensation of moisture. Dew dripping from the ceiling of the tent may disturb your clear dream.
5. Support rod. In the past few years, the support rods of tents have evolved from non-bendable aluminum rods to retractable aluminum rods or lighter glass fiber reinforced plastic rods. Only some large family tents are still supported by old-fashioned aluminum rods. When using this new type of support rod, you can simply pull them out and fix them, instead of needing some assembly work like the old type of support rod. When not in use, they can also be folded more tightly to take up less space.
At present, there are still some disputes about the advantages and disadvantages of glass and aluminum. FRP is lighter, stronger and cheaper than aluminum, and it folds more tightly. However, the main problem of FRP is that it is more brittle and prone to crack under the influence of different weather conditions. The cracked FRP support rod cannot be repaired and must be replaced completely. The aluminum products are easier to repair. Small cracks do not affect the use of paste, and it can only replace the damaged parts.
6. Manufacturing process. Although any tent can be used, its manufacturing process determines its durability when selecting a tent. A well-made tent can be used many times without any problems. First of all, the stitches of the tent with good workmanship should be fine and dense. The four-layer double-row sewing method should be adopted. It should look as strong as jeans. The strong stitching can provide greater strength and better waterproof performance. The stressed part of the tent should be stitched in a strengthened way. Pull hard on the seam of the tent. All places should be evenly stressed. Uneven stress will lead to premature damage of the places where the stress is concentrated.
7. Waterproof. Seepage is worse than sleeping in a wet tent, so waterproof is one of the important indicators of tent selection. Better materials and better waterproof are the decisive factors to keep the tent dry and comfortable. But sometimes, when the heavy rain keeps falling, even the best tent may be wet, because you will bring in some moisture when you go in and out of the tent, and the bad weather makes it impossible for the moisture to escape from the tent. At this time, the best way is to stay in the tent until the rain stops completely. As long as the sleeping bag is completely dry, you can still sleep comfortably.
In this weather, it would be much better if you prepared a waterproof cloth. The waterproof cloth can provide an additional layer of roof and additional waterproof performance for the tent, so that your tent can contact with water as little as possible. However, when using, make sure that the waterproof cloth has a certain inclination, so as not to cause water accumulation.
The better the tightness of the tent, the more water can be prevented from entering the tent, but even if most of the tents are waterproof at the seams and joints, water can still seep into the tent from this place. So you can buy something like waterproof tape to seal these seams again, which can provide better waterproof. In addition, pay attention to the failure of the adhesive tape after a long time, and then replace these failed adhesive tapes.
8. Whether the installation is simple. A simple installation method may help you get less rain when the storm suddenly comes, and may also help you enter a rest state faster, rather than spending a lot of energy on installing the tent.
When purchasing a tent, you should first find out whether its installation method is simple. Then do it by hand and get familiar with the installation method. It can be used without studying for half a day. If necessary, practice more times.