So I am camping on Lake Bomoseen and we got a 8 hours of rain Monday and despite spraying my tent down with water sealant my tent leaked and all our sleeping stuff got soaked.

My current tent is a discontinued 8 person Columbia. I’ve had it for years and it saw a ton of usage, and it’s definitely better designed than some other common brands I’ve owned that I got maybe two setups out of. I would buy another if it was available.

I can do a 6 person tent for my youngest son and I, but the 8 person has been ideal for a week’s worth of clothes and us space wise.

I’m looking at two options, one was my prior tent, a Walmart branded bell tent. It leaked a bit of water, I sprayed it with tent sealant and it never leaked again but it started ripping in the front.

The other is a Night Cat 8 person tent that has the exhaust port for a small woodstove which might be cool.

Anyway wondering if any of you campers have recommendations for tents that hold up.

My buddy has a big cabelas tent that lasted many years, I always use 2-3 man where the rain fly goes all the way to the ground for staying dry. I have one from Sierra designs that has to be over 20 yrs old

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

My buddy has a big cabelas tent that lasted many years, I always use 2-3 man where the rain fly goes all the way to the ground for staying dry. I have one from Sierra designs that has to be over 20 yrs old

That’s impressive!

Even though it’s usually my youngest kid and myself, I need at least a 6 man to hold my clothes for the week. I don’t want to keep that in the car as that gets in the way of fishing when I’m at the boat launch.

I have always had great success with REI’s store brand if you have one nearby. They are well-designed and good quality, and REI stands behind their products. I have not used one larger than 4 person however.

On 6/24/2026 at 10:39 PM, VolFan said:

I have always had great success with REI’s store brand if you have one nearby. They are well-designed and good quality, and REI stands behind their products. I have not used one larger than 4 person however.

I didn’t realize this but there is one in Albany. I can hit that, the Dick’s and Field & Stream in one giant store in Latham and the Clifton Park Bass Pro.

I was browsing their site and they have what looks like a fairly high end 6 person tent that looks like it may be a good long term replacement option if I go for something similar.

I am half considering going for a four season glamping bell tent. Then I can get a kindling burning stove for the winter.l, and I can actually stand up to change clothes in it.

Something like this

https://a.co/d/09Jp6Bq9

That’s a lot of tent! I will double down that REI really stands behind their stuff. Their return policy is second to none and leads to some great items when they have their garage sales.

2 hours ago, VolFan said:

That’s a lot of tent! I will double down that REI really stands behind their stuff. Their return policy is second to none and leads to some great items when they have their garage sales.

Well I want to pay them a visit sometime no matter what I do, now that I know we have one a hour and a half away. If I decide on another tent, well I just remembered tonight that we broke two forks in our cheap Walmart camp dinnerware set, so if my other kid gets time off, we might have to go out to get plastic forks. I would like to buy a set of nice stainless steel campware.

We still have the original Kelty tent that the wife and I used for years, never leaked.

I see a lot of Ozark trail tents at the campgrounds we go to, they are reasonably priced.

When Solo I go with a hanging tent made by Haven.

As a former Asst. Scoutmaster w/the BSA for 12 years (both of my sons are Eagles), I have done a lot of tent camping and used a few different models. For versatility and longevity its hard to beat an Eurkea Timberline SQ tent. I have used mine for over 12 years through ALL kinds of weather and NO leaks! REI makes great tents too. I have used their Half Dome tents and they are high quality. Any more questions feel free to message me.

The Eureka Timberline was an iconic tent, as Randy said it was the standard tent in the Boy Scouts.

Unfortunately Eureka no longer exists, discontinued by Johnson Outdoors.

My previous 2 tents were Eureka Apex tents which were great.

My current tent is a REI Basecamp 4, which I'm now on my 4th year with it.

I have over 150 nights spent in it, it's been through numerous rain storms, high winds and all the usual stuff you run into camping.

I've had no issues with it.

When looking for a replacement I specificity wanted a full fly and to be able to close all the screens as I camp in temps down into the 20's.

What its not is cheap, not an instant tent, it's not a light weight.

It takes me over 20 minutes to set it up, but I'm 73 years old so I tend to take my time.

I waited until they were having a 20% off sale, went into the store and the guy in the camping department told me wait another 2 weeks and they would have a 30% off sale !

I'm figuring this could be my last tent, I'm extremely happy with it.

It's just me in the tent, they do make a Base Camp 6, which might be OK for 2 people.

17 hours ago, herder said:

The Eureka Timberline was an iconic tent, as Randy said it was the standard tent in the Boy Scouts.

Unfortunately Eureka no longer exists, discontinued by Johnson Outdoors.

My previous 2 tents were Eureka Apex tents which were great.

My current tent is a REI Basecamp 4, which I'm now on my 4th year with it.

I have over 150 nights spent in it, it's been through numerous rain storms, high winds and all the usual stuff you run into camping.

I've had no issues with it.

When looking for a replacement I specificity wanted a full fly and to be able to close all the screens as I camp in temps down into the 20's.

What its not is cheap, not an instant tent, it's not a light weight.

It takes me over 20 minutes to set it up, but I'm 73 years old so I tend to take my time.

I waited until they were having a 20% off sale, went into the store and the guy in the camping department told me wait another 2 weeks and they would have a 30% off sale !

I'm figuring this could be my last tent, I'm extremely happy with it.

It's just me in the tent, they do make a Base Camp 6, which might be OK for 2 people.

Yeah I don't want to go smaller. It's usually two of us. If my oldest son comes, he does have his own 3 person tent (cause I snore) but if he ends up in the tent with us, he still fits in a 6 person.

REI has a CORE Equipment 6 person that looks similar to my old Columbia, so that's a fairly safe bet. But I'm half considering going with a Canvas tent.

We also had a big Eureka, obviously not an option. Noticed REI carries Zempires, heck of a tent if someone else is footing the bill.