Camping Supplies... Tents, bags, stoves, Have Questions

[TORQUE THIS]

I am looking for info on some camping supplies, what are you guys using?



Tents, Coleman, Ozark???



Bags, stoves, other supplies...



I don't want cheap stuff, but then again I don't need the top of the line either. Looking at maybe 2 or 3 long weekends this summer with the family.



I already own one of the truck tents that they sell from Geno's. Only used it once... and really don't care for it.

 

[Mike Ellis]

How many people will be in the tent? If your family is large, the choices narrow down pretty quick.



We do a lot of family camping with Scouts etc, originally used a cabin-style tent and cursed it every time I had to set it up. We eventually got one of the large Coleman dome-style tents, it is a long rectangle shape kind of like 3 domes together. It has held up pretty good. Large, very comfortable inside, and plenty of big windows (very important in Texas heat).



Most of the tents are pretty similar, some of the most important differences are the type/quality of the poles, how far up the side the bottom is "tubbed", ease of putting on rainfly. For a family tent a good sturdy thickly-coated floor is important, nothing makes a wife angrier than waking up in a puddle that seeped into the tent. Spend a few bucks on a good air mattress or pad and you can be pretty comfortable in the tents. Many of the modern tents have good rainflys and a meshed roof panel, lets the hot air rise out at night and makes the tent tremendously more comfortable in summer heat.



As for stoves and lanterns, the standard Coleman stuff works pretty well. I have a dual fuel stove and lantern, they work OK but truthfully the propane lanterns and stoves are a lot easier to fool with, just more expensive to operate.



When you go to the camping stores, the guys will all want to sell you a lightweight down mummy bag suitable for backpacking, usually though on family campouts people are in their car or truck and it is well worth the effort to lug along a bigger sleeping bag. I like the old-fashioned rectangular types with cloth cover and flannel lining, in a big tent in summertime you can unzip the whole thing and just cover up with a sheet, or get zip two together for a little closer interaction with the wife. Some people prefer the nylon-cover sleeping bags but they do tend to skid around a lot, if you roll over in your sleep a lot they can be a pain in the rear.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

Mike, forgot to mention that it will be me and my wife, and the little guy, 3 years old, the other 2 kids will be 13, they will have their own tents.



I would like the largest dome I can find.





Are there any good places on the web to shop??

 

[KBennett]

I had a really big Coleman tent that we had for about 7 years. It held 3 guys and two boys in a rainstorm in the boundary waters and we stayed completely dry. When we bought it my wife put some kind of seam sealer on the seams. We got a travel trailer given to us two years ago so last year we sold the tent.

I have a Coleman stove, tent heater, propane and battery operated fluorescent lanterns, and a Coleman sleeping bag. I even have a tattoo on my left butt cheek :-laf

No really, I like the Coleman stuff and there are some niftier products out there but if something works why change.

I am with Mike on the sleeping bags. The nylon style are a pain with the little guys especially if you sleep on a plastic lined tent floor.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

I'm not a newbie to camping, it's just been about 10-15 years since I had caming gear and have gone... so I need to replace everything I once had.



I hear ya on the sleeping bags, been there...

 

[Mike Ellis]

Howdy Torque,



There are some really good places online to buy camping gear, I would steer you toward a couple but off the top of my head I am drawing a blank (had a bunch in the "favorites" but deleted them sometime back) other than campmor.



I haven't bought anything major camping-wise in a while, but I found the best way to shop online for gear was to go to the actual manufacturer websites and check out the models they make, then hit review sites like epinions.com and see what people thought about them. That will help you narrow down stuff fast. A lot of times you can home in very quickly on the highest rated tents from a mfg just by going to Google and searching (for example) "Coleman Montana tent review".



Once you find the model you want, you can do another Google search for places that sell them, and you can sometimes find outstanding savings. It is surprising how much variation in price you can sometimes find on a particular item. You can sometimes find the item you want on clearance and save even more.

 

[tractorseller]

Try Sam's Club. They get these big tents and camping gear (seasonal items) in about this time of year. Great deals that I don't think can be beat anywhere else. You can order online if there isn't a warehouse near you.

 

[PLaFrombois]

Look into the Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop websites in there camping departments. This should give you an idea of what equipment is on the market.



I'd find a good 5-person dome style tent. These are easy to set up, and would provide you with extra room if it happens to rain on your camping weekend. Get the rectangular sleeping bag with the cotton lining. Most people don't need a mummy style bag, unless they're camping in cold climates. You can't go wrong with any of the Coleman products.



Camp Safe

Paul

 

[bvanetten]

http://www.kifaru.net/TIPI.HTM



These guys arn't cheap but they are inovative. Hard to beat an 8 man tent with 8 feet of headroom and a stove that weighs in under 15 lbs. I guess if your truck camping it's not as important.

 

[Boomer II]

Eureka makes a good tent

 

[loncray]

I had a Scout leader training camp this weekend - it got down to about 35 degrees with 40mph winds and 2 inches of rainfall and heavy lightning (and snowflakes the next morning!) - my brand-new little 2-man Coleman tent held up just fine. My Coleman mummybag (specifically gotten in case I get to camp in Wyoming again) kept me dry and toasty. I have a 3-room Coleman family tent as well - the man who invented those shock-cord fold-up poles is up there with James Carrier (the inventor of Air Conditioning) on my list of personal saints. Definitely make sure your tent is tubbed - the extra few inches of waterproofing makes all the difference in the world. I've got Coleman lanterns (propane and electric) and a knock-off propane stove - I'm not quite up to KBennett's tattoo but it really is hard to lose with Coleman equipment. My son started camping with us when he was about 5 and he does fine in his nylon sleeping bag - though having his own air mattress makes all the difference to him. Oh, and if it's your first time camping on the ground, make sure you get a strong ground tarp, and stick it all up under the tent so you can't see it sticking out - keeps the rain out better and it will keep the bottom of your tent from getting punctured.

Seeing what Boomer posted - of the 60 or so tents at this weekend's camp, they were about 1/3 Coleman, 1/3 Eureka, and 1/3 other (including homebuilts).

 

[TORQUE THIS]

thanks for the info guys... i've looked in Wal-Mart (oh, can I say that without getting negitive remarks on here) over the weekend, they seem to have a decent selection...

 

[loncray]

Yeah, WalMart is generally a good place to shop if money is an object. I got my family tent at Costco, my new tent at Dicks Sporting Goods, and most of the rest at WalMart.

 

[Mike Ellis]

A few other items that make camping much more enjoyable:



- LED Headlight. Absolutely one of the greatest things to ever come along. For $12 at Wal-Mart or other large store you can get a model that has both blue-white and red LEDs, the red keeps your night vision from getting washed out. Great for the kids too.



- Camelback style bladder canteen (I refuse to call them a "hydration system" ). Easy to tote around, water instantly accessible. Only downside is that the Camelback bladders give anything you put in them a wretched plasticky taste. The Platypus bladders don't impart any taste, so I use one of them nowadays.



- Regular old cloth bandannas, useful in a hundred ways. The more you wash them, the softer they get. At some of the parks now they are printing maps on bandanas, pretty handy.

 

[BNH4221]

I have most of my camping stuff from LL Bean. All of their stuff is excellent quality, if a little pricey.

If you use it and don't care for it, money back, no questions asked.



Tried a Sir Edmund Hillary tent from Sears. Hated it. Junk. Went to LL Bean and never looked back.



Steve

 

[JPope]

This place has a lot of stuff, some of it not easily found elsewhere, and if you like shopping over the internet



http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/s...y?storeId=226&catalogId=40000000226&langId=-1