by Ian Ford
A tent can be one of the more costly items on your camping equipment shopping list. It is definitely something that you need to consider carefully.
If you go shopping in the traditional fashion, down your high street, you often have the advantage of being able to see exactly what you are getting; and if the staff are unwilling to get the tent out for you to see, it's probably a good idea to move on somewhere else.
By seeing the tent for real you will be able to get a better impression of its size and construction that you can by looking at pictures and lists of measurements. However, the downside is that, unless you are experienced, you may miss out on some of the detail that manufacturer's promotional material makes clear. Cheap tents often look similar to the quality models they are mimicking, but you can be sure they use inferior materials and probably have lower design standards.
Shop staff are often campers themselves. That means they usually often give out lots of advice. However, you won't always know what their level of actual experience is and whether their advice is tainted by other motivations. If a shop assistant agrees with your own conclusions, great; if they try to modify your decision with a clear and reasonable argument then that would be worth considering; if they just try to bamboozle, or even bully, you then walk away.
Shopping online has the great advantage of being something you can do at odd moments, and is commitment free right up until the point you decide to buy. You can look at as many, or as few, sites as you like. Look to see what tents are out there, see what the manufacturers claim and look for reviews by users and independent reviewers to see if those claims hold up.
The internet is a wonderful tool and so long as you know how to make the most of search engines and put in a little effort you really have the perfect answer waiting to be found. That answer will be different for every camper as each of us has different needs. Don't be surprised to see your favourite criticized somewhere, but if you see too much criticism then you had better start thinking again. No problem. You won't have spent anything yet so think of it positively, as a large expense saved.
Probably the best approach, if you have the time, is to research tents online and make a short list. Then try to inspect those tents at nearby shops. You can then make a final decision on where to buy your chosen model based purely on total cost. Price + post & packing, or price + petrol & parking.
A tent can be one of the more costly items on your camping equipment shopping list. It is definitely something that you need to consider carefully.
If you go shopping in the traditional fashion, down your high street, you often have the advantage of being able to see exactly what you are getting; and if the staff are unwilling to get the tent out for you to see, it's probably a good idea to move on somewhere else.
By seeing the tent for real you will be able to get a better impression of its size and construction that you can by looking at pictures and lists of measurements. However, the downside is that, unless you are experienced, you may miss out on some of the detail that manufacturer's promotional material makes clear. Cheap tents often look similar to the quality models they are mimicking, but you can be sure they use inferior materials and probably have lower design standards.
Shop staff are often campers themselves. That means they usually often give out lots of advice. However, you won't always know what their level of actual experience is and whether their advice is tainted by other motivations. If a shop assistant agrees with your own conclusions, great; if they try to modify your decision with a clear and reasonable argument then that would be worth considering; if they just try to bamboozle, or even bully, you then walk away.
Shopping online has the great advantage of being something you can do at odd moments, and is commitment free right up until the point you decide to buy. You can look at as many, or as few, sites as you like. Look to see what tents are out there, see what the manufacturers claim and look for reviews by users and independent reviewers to see if those claims hold up.
The internet is a wonderful tool and so long as you know how to make the most of search engines and put in a little effort you really have the perfect answer waiting to be found. That answer will be different for every camper as each of us has different needs. Don't be surprised to see your favourite criticized somewhere, but if you see too much criticism then you had better start thinking again. No problem. You won't have spent anything yet so think of it positively, as a large expense saved.
Probably the best approach, if you have the time, is to research tents online and make a short list. Then try to inspect those tents at nearby shops. You can then make a final decision on where to buy your chosen model based purely on total cost. Price + post & packing, or price + petrol & parking.
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