My cousin told me to skip the cheap tent and I should have listened...

He said a $50 tent from a big box store would leak in heavy rain, but I bought one anyway for a trip to the Red River Gorge. A thunderstorm rolled in last month, and sure enough, water started dripping through the seams after about an hour. I ended up sleeping in my car, which was pretty miserable. Has anyone else had a tent fail on them like that, and what did you replace it with?

4 comments

4 Comments

bennett.evan26d agoMost Upvoted

What did you end up doing for the rest of that trip? My old tent did the same thing in a downpour, so I finally bought a Kelty from an actual outdoor store. It cost more, but it has kept me bone dry through some nasty weather since then.

paul_taylor2126d ago

Honestly, I've had the opposite happen... my cheap tent from a few years back is still holding up fine. Maybe I just got lucky with that one.

hannah40019d ago

Remember my buddy had a cheap tent that soaked him during a backpacking trip. He woke up with a puddle in his sleeping bag, it was that bad. He swore off those store brands right then. He's like the opposite of @paul_taylor21, who seems to have all the luck. My friend ended up getting a Marmot tent on sale, and he hasn't had a single leak since, even in some real heavy rain.

jakejones26d ago

Get a tent with sealed seams and a decent rainfly. My old cheap one failed in a storm too, so I switched to a basic REI model. It's not fancy, but it actually keeps the water out.

-1