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Frame Tents
Having a good tent is a necessity if you're going to be
spending a lot of time camping. There have been a lot of
innovative tent designs released in the marketplace in
recent years, but that doesn't necessarily mean that
they're better. Sometimes it's better to stick to the
older style designs, because they have been proven over
the years by thousands of campers. One of the most
popular tents for many years has been the frame, or
A-frame tent.
Buying a new frame tent doesn't have to be a difficult
experience. If you take the time to find a tent that's
well designed, you'll find that it's easy to use and
will contain any extra features required to improve your
camping experience. When you're shopping around, look
for brand names you recognize, because these companies
have many years of good quality designs behind them that
they can apply to their current range.
It's important to make sure your new frame tent is
sturdy. Weather has a habit of changing more rapidly
than you're expecting, and quite often is a lot worse
than predicted, too. So your tent needs to be strong
enough to withstand very bad weather. It's also good if
your tent is reliable, because if you're out in the
backcountry you don't need to have your tent fail,
leaving you without shelter.
When you see all the exciting new tent designs, it's
easy to get carried away with all their cool features.
In reality, though, simplicity is often the best. When
you've been hiking for hours, you just want to put your
tent up quickly and easily so that you can cook a meal
and relax. An A-frame tent is certainly simple,
particularly as many of us have used these tents in
childhood camping trips. There's no need to memorize
lots of complicated instructions about how to assemble
your tent.
Although A-frame tents may have been around for a while,
there have been some recent changes to make them a
little more comfortable. Most tents now have clips that
you use to clip the tent material to the poles, so no
more fiddling around with awkward ties. It's also
possible to buy frame tents that are freestanding, which
is very useful if you're going to be camping in a rocky
area. It also means you don't have to carry lots of tent
pegs and a hammer when you're traveling light. Some
tents give you the choice of whether it's freestanding
or anchored.
Other things to look for in a new frame tent include
zips that don't catch, a durable fly, and mesh windows
for air circulation. It's also handy to have a few loops
near the roof for attaching a camping lantern or hanging
up wet clothing. It can be useful to have some small
mesh pouches on the inside of the tent, too, for storing
little items that have a tendency to disappear among
your other stuff.
Finally, and possibly most important, find out how big
the tent is once it's folded, and how much it weighs. If
you're planning to travel to campsites by car it
probably doesn't matter, but if you're going to be
carrying your tent in a backpack, it needs to be light
and compact. The last thing you need is to buy a tent,
only to find you never use it because it just doesn't do
what you need it to do.
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