Free standing VS. Tunnel Tent
Pros of tunnel:
- Lighter weight
- Usually more floor space
- Often has fewer poles
- Warmer: The inside volume of the tent being smaller, it will be easier to warm up in cold temperature.
Cons of tunnel:
- Requires staking to stay upright
- Needs a larger area to be set up since there is more floor space
- Less height inside of the tent making often impossible to sit up
- Due to the slope of the roof, two people can’t sit up at once
- It’s less practical to enter a tent from the head end, especially with two people, and with bags in the vestibule.
- Poorer ventilation, especially if bags are stored at the bottom of the tent.
- Harder to move the tent from one spot to another
- Not as good at supporting snow (caves in)
- Usually has only one entrance
Pros of free standing:
- The tent can stand up without staking. Very handy on hard or sandy ground (see Situation where you won’t be able to use stakes)
- You can just pick up the tent, move it, shake it, or turn it upside down to dry
- Won’t cave in with snow on top (however three-season geodesic tents are not designed to support heavy loads)
- Better ventilation
- Some have 2 entrances
Cons of free standing:
- Usually heavier with more poles
- Arguably more complicated to pitch
- The overall inside volume of the tent being larger, might be harder to warm up.
Note: Some tunnel tents have a special pole structure allowing them to be free standing. Example: The Vaude Hogan XT (Europe only) or the Wild Country Duolite
Situations Where Pegging Is Not Possible
- Hard rocky ground or gravel (depending what region of the world you are, it can happen frequently especially in dry climates / desert areas)
- Sandy ground. Unless you spend your time on beaches, this doesn’t really happen often. Note that even in desert there is not much sand, the terrain is rather rocky (5% of the Sarah desert is actually sand dunes, 95% is rocks).
- Concrete. Yes it happens! You will be amazed where people let you camp! Just to give a few examples: gas-station’s parking lot (very convenient because they have food, water, sometimes shower and are usually safe), police station’s driveway, under bridges, in barns, on sidewalks… and I know people who might add tennis court, Fire department backyard, garage and the list can go on and on
- Inside a building: You might think, why in the world would I set up a tent inside? Believe me it can happen often. Again here are a few examples: in a dirty hotel room, inside a train station, in an unheated house in the winter (the small space of the tent warms up much more efficiently than a large cold room), in a shelter with a leaking-roof, barn, hut, abandoned house, construction site etc.
You would not even consider any of those sites when you have a non free-standing tent. That being said, many travel for years with a tunnel tent and manage perfectly well, but it surely opens up a lot of opportunity when you do have a free standing tent.
Note from CycloCamping.com: If you would like CycloCamping to publish your article, reviews or any additional information, please email YOUR OWN WORK to info@cyclocamping.com.
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