Versatile family tent options

[Fireflies]

I've had a good read through this forum and it's been great having some first hand information!

My family and I are looking at getting into backpacking and camping however do not have any of the gear yet.

We are currently looking for a light three person tent. It will be for me, my partner and our 4 year old child. Ideally we want this quite light as there may be times one of us has to carry our child and the other has to carry a lot of the gear. There may also be times that I go walking with a friend and my child so I would be carrying the full tent then as well. We are going to start of small but hope to work up to longer trips as our daughter gets older and are looking at investing in a good tent that will last now rather than wasting money on a not good one and having to buy another.

We live in Tasmania where the weather can at times be unpredictable so I want a reasonably solid tent that can cope with a range of conditions (however we do not plan to do intentional snow camping).

The final factor for us is that we try to be as low toxic/environmentally minded as possible to would prefer to support companies who aren't using PFAS and who are trying to produce sustainable and long lasting products.

Would anyone have any recommendations for tents that suit our situation? Thank you!

[Moondog55]

The best I can do is recommend the other threads on this as I don't think there has been much if any development in this regards over the last few years
https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=41035
As far as environmentally friendly options I think that a lot of greenwashing is going on at the moment

[WestcoastPete]

Everyone approaches things differently, but this is how we did it. A major difference for us is that we have two kids. They're now 8yo + 5.5yo.

We had one of the older style Macpac child carriers and it was excellent. You could load it up with the bulkier but lighter gear in the pack under the kid. Carrying the kid much after 2yo was too much for us. We took a bit of a break then with her. By 4yo she could walk 5km or so though. The most epic trip we did was with our nearly 5yo into Scott-Kilvert Hut with our 2yo on my back. That was ~7km but we walked back the other way around Cradle which was way further. He did such a good job. It was a lot of weight to carry for both of us though.

For tents we had a Big Agnes Copper Spur 3 person. It's a great lightweight tent that's pretty sturdy. The idea was we'd use that and my 1 person Tarptent Contrail if we went as a whole family. One thing about the BA was that you couldn't easily pitch it fly first. Luckily that hasn't been a problem, but that's only down to luck. We've now switched to two 2 person tents; a Durston XMid 2 and a Wilderness Equipment 2nd Arrow. The 2nd Arrow is tough as guts but a fair bit heavier than the XMid. It's tighter for space too, but with 1 adult + 1 kid it's fine.

My advice would be to think a bit about whether you want to squeeze into one 3 person tent or work out a way to get a 2 person and 1 person or even another 2 person tent (any more kids coming?) for a decent weight. If you're going 3 person, the BA was pretty good. I still have it actually and need to sell it. Send me a PM if you want to talk about it. I'm in Launnie. Tarptent 3 person tents are pretty good for the weight. Otherwise all the big makers will have some sort of option.

[Franco]

take a look at the Tarptent Cloudburst, with liner.
The liner covers the sleeping area so you have two walls tere. Sets up fly and liner together so you don't get the inside wet if raining. You can get a third pole , good for strong wind or some snow.
This type of tent (not freestanding) does relay on the personal ability to set them up. Most can do it well but not all. About 2 kg with liner and third pole , 1600g without those two.
https://www.tarptent.com/product/cloudburst-3/

[Fireflies]

Thanks!

Lots to think about.

I'm a bit interested in the Nemo Dagger 3p, has anyone got any experience with that?

I also liked the look of the Tarptent Cloudburst - what is the durability like of Tarptent?