Re: 4 person backpacking tent?
Posted: February 22nd, 2019, 2:21 pm
I would opt for 2 2-person tents. As the boys get older, they will want to be in a separate tent, which would give you a better ROI.
We've spent a couple nights in our (Stephenson Warmlite) tent when I suspect gusts were approaching 100 mph. This is a guess, but earlier in the day, when the wind was less, we were literally being blown off our feet. It was a dangerous situation at the time and particularly worrisome because the temp was below freezing. When night fell it was no longer worrisome, but terrifying, to hear the wind screaming while the tent was being hammered. We closed all vents (normally open to prevent condensation), which resulted in the inside of the tent and the outside of our bags being coated with ice by morning.
In addition to protection from wind, these tents are significantly warmer than tents that are not a true sewn double wall, i.e. warmer than tents with rain flys. Needless to say, we love that tent and it was money very well spent. In that instance it truly was a life-saving shelter.
I have a Big Agnes UL-1 that I use for soloing and like very much, but I would not have survived in that tent in those conditions. If you are looking for a true four-season tent, don't overlook SW. Many people have not heard of them because they do zero marketing, or if they have it's because of the nudist catalog (well I guess that was marketing of some sort) they used to have, but they have been around for decades and are very highly regarded, as are their double down sleeping bags.