looking to buy a two man tent that has the following attributes, in order of importance:

* my biggest problem is finding a tent long enough for me, being 6'6" tall, and wide enough for another person.

* preferrably less than $100 bucks.

* lighter in weight than my cheap 8'x8' ozark trail walmart tent.

* most of my camping will involve hiking 5 or 6 miles out, in generally good weather (3 season), staying 2-3 nights at most. im not planning on hiking any mountain summits or sleeping through a blizzard or anything like that.

*freestanding, as i don't have trekking poles, unless poles were included in the price of the tent.

* has a floor and walls, in case area is buggy.

ive been trying to find a good deal on MSR's missing link tent, since that seems to fit my requirements, except for the need for trekking poles. is there a cheap option to use in place of expensive trekking poles if all youre going to use them for is holding up a tent?

thanks for your help!

you may check this out....much better that walmart tent 2 person single wall,on clearance $79 only. only 10 left.

http://www.moontrail.com/eureka-zeus2.php

One option for poles would be a pair of GoLite poles that fold up to about 17" or 18" & can be extended up to 70":

http://www.prolitegear.com/golite_adjustable_shelter_pole.html

But these poles are not that inexpensive (about $24 each), and not very light either (at about 12.5 oz each). Their length when the sections are joined together but without any extension is about 57" -- which is at least an inch (maybe even 2" or 3") more than is needed for the Missing Link. The GoLite poles could be made shorter (and some of the weight eliminated) by removing one of the 4 sections in each pole and cutting the internal elastic cord to a shorter length suited to just 3 sections.

All in all, a pair of really inexpensive trekking poles that can be extended would be much better. Problem there is that not many trekking poles have a 56" advertised length that would be better suited to the Missing Link than the 54" recommended by MSR.

Black Diamond has a pair of Trekking Poles on sale right now (about $64 & weighing about 19 oz) that are advertised as extendable to 55" (140 cm).

Specifications at:

http://www.bdel.com/gear/detail/trail_detail.php

Sale priced at:

http://www.bdel.com/php/specials.php?id=593

Sounds like just about enough for the Link, and going an extra 1" beyond the advertised length for the Black Diamond pole might be OK, too, at least for supporting the MSR Link if that extra inch were needed for a tight pitch.

JRS

Edited by JRScruggs on 01/31/2009 16:33:29 MST.

I just picked up a Zephyr 2.0 for under $100. Free standing, 2 doors, 2 vestibules, and under 5 lbs. I'm pleased with the quality, although I was missing one guyout line. I know that rei outlet had the 3 man of the zephyr for under $100 at under 5.5 lbs.

Edited by gohawks on 01/31/2009 17:59:50 MST.

well,i guess those are all reasons why i'd need a freestanding tent. i just don't see myself using trekking poles on a hike, so unless i found a great tent for 50 bucks that needed trekking poles, the added expense of purchasing them would increase my budget too much.
thanks for the info!

Just a general FYI:

Just b/c a tent isn't freestanding, doesn't mean that it requires trekking poles. In fact, you could have a freestanding tent that REQUIRES trekking poles (such as the Tarptent Rainbow which requires trekking poles to remain freestanding). Basically, a freestanding tent is any shelter which doesn't require stakes or guylines to remain upright. The supposed advantage of this is that the tent could be easily moved around with being completely dismantled. However, in reality, any tent needs to be staked down anyway so it really isn't that big of a deal. In fact, I can't think of a tent that is truly freestanding b/c the vestibule always has to be staked out.

Edited by pedro87 on 01/31/2009 18:02:57 MST.

You are wrong. Not all tents need to be staked down. Also,free-standing is not for moving them around. Do you carry your tent down the trail already to sleep in? Your post is confusing to say the least.I use my free-standing tents when I sleep on boulders/rocks,etc. Vestibule???? Not all tents have them.

Edited by oknowa on 01/31/2009 18:13:54 MST.

well, okay. i guess i should say instead of wanting a "freestanding" tent, i want a "nontrekkingpoleneeding" tent.
whats the proper outdoorsman camping term for that? is there a camping dictionary somewhere? (i wasnt even aware of what a vestibule was until about two weeks ago).
im looking to buy a new car now too, and i feel like finding a tent is the more complicated task. :)

Um sorry, I think you are misunderstanding my post. I never said that all tents needed to be staked down - In fact I said in my post that "a freestanding tent is any shelter which doesn't require stakes or guylines." And no, I do not carry my "tent down the trail already to sleep in." Where I camp, it is often heavily wooded and the ground is very densely packed with rocks and stones, which make it a nightmare to find a place to stake down a tent. When I get into camp with a freestanding tent, I can set up the tent wherever I want (preferably a more open area) and then find a spot where the tent can fit and can be staked into the rocky ground. Sure I could just throw the tent somewhere without staking it, but whenever there is a chance of rainy, windy, or otherwise inclement weather (which is basically a given whenever my Boy Scout troop camps) I would definitely want the tent to be fully staked out.

You are right, I failed to mention another purpose of freestanding tents. They enable a user to setup a tent where tradition staking is impossible, such as the slickrock country of the American Southwest. However, there are alternate means of staking such as using rocks and other objects. See this excellent article by Mike Clellend (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ditch_your_stakes.html) for more information. So once again, the freestanding tent is not truly necessary.

BTW, maybe I was just being ignorant, but is there any tent with a vestibule that is completely freestanding (meaning it has no vestibule that needs to be staked down). I would be curious to find such a tent. I thought that to be "truly" freestanding it would have to lack a vestibule.

For some more discussion of the definition of freestanding, check out this thread:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=18211

Edited by pedro87 on 01/31/2009 19:31:36 MST.

Jeremy -

Haha, unfortunately I don't think there is such a term. Saying freestanding is fine - I just wanted to help clarify exactly what freestanding "officially" means. Sorry if I came off rude or obnoxious in any way.

Although it's over your budget, I can recommend the REI Half Dome 2. I have an older (and cheaper) version of the REI Quarter Dome 2, which I love and have used extensively. The Half Dome is basically just a larger and roomier version of the Quarter Dome. I'm not sure how heavy your Ozark Trail tent is but the Half Dome weighs in right at 5 lbs. But considering the weight will be split being two people, your expected trips will not be very high-mileage, and that the Half Dome is roomier than most (large floor area and vestibules than the Zephyr) it may be worth it.

Currently, it's $170 at REI (http://www.rei.com/product/728308). However, there are often sales at REI and other places which sell this tent, so you could definitely get this tent for much less than the MSRP. I got my Quarter Dome for %25 off in 2005.

Edited by pedro87 on 01/31/2009 19:56:03 MST.