How to Choose Tents for Camping

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From family river trips to the kids' first climbing adventure, the MSR Habitude 4 tent features a standing-height interior that makes it easy to change clothes and navigate piles of gear.
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View all MSR Camping TentsBest Use | Camping |
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Seasons | 3-season |
Sleeping Capacity | 4-person |
Minimum Trail Weight | 12 pounds |
Packaged Weight | 12 lbs. 10 oz. |
Packed Size | 9 x 23 inches |
Floor Dimensions | 95 x 95 inches |
Floor Area | 62.4 square feet |
Vestibule Area | 23.5 square feet |
Peak Height | 73 inches |
Number of Doors | 1 door |
Number of Poles | 3 |
Pole Material | 7000-series aluminum |
Pole Diameter | 11 millimeters |
Canopy Fabric | 68-denier polyester taffeta with durable water repellent (DWR) |
Floor Fabric | 68-denier polyester taffeta with 10,000 polyester polyurethane and DWR |
Rainfly Fabric | 68-denier ripstop polyester with 1,500mm polyurethane and DWR |
Footprint Included | No |
Design Type | Freestanding |
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Let me start of by saying my daughter has a neuromuscular disease and she was able to set up the tent all by herself while I was at work. If that doesn't tell you how easy the setup is, I don't know what will. I love how much headspace there is and it's roomy enough to fit a cot-bed, which my daughter needs to use while camping since she can't easily get up off the ground. This tent is disability friendly which is exactly what we were looking for. My only complaints are that I wish it had two doors, seems like MSR could have easily put a door on the back. I also wish the footprint was included. At this price point I feel like they could have just included it instead of charging another $50 on top of what I'm already spending. Overall though I really like this tent and think it was money well spent. I'm looking forward to camping with my daughter again.
We really love this tent! It is tall enough for us to stand up in and big enough for us to have all our gear inside and still have a place to play games, stretch, eat, and hangout. We recently were in southern Arizona camping with our dog and can’t imagine living without it. I would definitely recommend getting more stakes to guy the tent out in case the wind picks up as the tent does have a high profile. Choose your site strategically. We always enjoy camping with a view but sometimes a more sheltered spot is a better choice with this tent. Very easy to set up! I also bought a ground sheet for this tent to keep the moisture off of it when trying to pack it up.
I camped in this tent out at Bear Lake in Utah, and I was quite pleased with much of its offerings. There are lots of pockets, the livability is awesome, breathability is good, and the red, white, and black (mesh) colors just make it look beautiful. This is almost a perfect tent in my mind. There are just a few things about it that I didn't like. First, the two zippers for the door of the tent leave a small enough gap that small bugs can creep through (I believe I had a few of them get in during the night). I've attached a picture for review. Second, I've been assembling tents for over thirty years, and I'm not sure there is a way to attach the center clip to the top hub without walking on the tent. I'm 5'11, and I've not encountered an issue like this before. I mention this as a concern because I read another review from someone where MSR recommended that a user not walk into the tent with shoes on. Third, I'm a bit bummed that MSR used 68D fabric on the tent floor... 68D is durable, but I expect something more for a family sized tent (68D is the fabric Kelty and Marmot use on their entry level tents, and REI and Nemo use a much beafier material for their floors). It seems by doing this MSR was ultimately wanting to make something reasonably durable but lighter weight than competitors. That being said, MSR's 68D fabric felt higher quality than what I've experienced with Kelty and Marmot (I've owned a lot of Kelty tents and one Marmot). Lastly, and this one is a little subjective, but assembling this tent on your own can be a bit obnoxious as tent poles continually come out of grommets even when it is fully staked out. Again, this is a nice tent. It's clear that a lot of thought went into making it. I tried the Nemo Aurora Highrise as well as the REI Basecamp, and I think this one is the most beautiful and shines in ways the others do not. The Nemo tent began falling apart upon setting it up, and the only (mild) bummer about the REI is how much shorter it is from the other two. But I think I might end up making the REI Basecamp my long-term purchase. If it weren't for the gap where the two zippers meet and the challenge to assemble this tent, then I think I would like it more. That being said, disassembling it is a breeze.
Love this tent. Bought it to replace another that was destroyed by the wind. Woke up this weekend in the Habitude to 25 mph gusts and the tent barely moves in the wind. The pole design is unique and the shape of the tent is much more dome like than pyramid like. Wind just wraps around it. Internal pockets are great. For just the two of us I like the single door at my feet design. Zipper is nice and taught, easy to pull. Really like the storage bag, easy to get it in and out and tighten down. Expensive, but so far I feel it was worth the money.
I have used msr hubba series tents for over a decade. I love them. So when I saw the new habituate I thought perfect a family sized car camp/short jaunt tent along the same lines. And to a large degree it delivers on that premise. So why a three. Well I have some gripes, however, before I list them I need to state that in the past msr has always had exceptional customer service and I expect this will be the same. With that in mind I will be reaching out to their tech support staff and hopefully I'll be able to temefiate the majority of my issues. 1: the groundsheet or footprint... no rings or tabs are affixed to the footprint. every other msr tent I have used or seen has some manner to secure it to the tent body to eliminate improper alignment and aid in setup. If msr will send me the clips I'll add them with cordage and believe this will resolve the issue. However at this price point one would not expect to have to solve a simple engineering issue like this. 2: the corners each host two pole inserts. (This is my major gripe) the aluminum inserts are simply sewn on and overlap. This causes the sharper edges of the sides of the brackets to rub on the poles as they must be splayed to insert each respective pole. This has already caused the anodizing to rub off and I have only set it up in the back yard to test setup. I will be reaching out to tech support for an additional set of inserts for this as well. A simple engineering solution presents itself again. A: design a two hole insert so the poles don't rub on each other. This would further allow for color coding the pole ends to the corresponding holes. Black and red respectively. B: design a three hole insert to allow the loop on the footprint to be pulled through the insert thus centering and securing it to the tent. Color code appropriately. Red/black/grey. C: what I will attempt while not as elegant as the above mentioned ideas. Add one inch of cordage with an insert avoiding the overlap rub
Very happy with this purchase! I was a little concerned with how this tent would hold up in wind. During the middle of the night we had some high winds roll through with a few scattered rainstorms. Although the tent flapped around it the wind a bit, it held up and wasn’t damaged. The next day we returned to cell service to find high wind warnings throughout colorado. After our experience, I feel very confident with my purchase. I wish it had two doors but it’s spacious to move without waking others up.
It's a beautiful and beautifully made tent. It's the first tent we've had that you can stand up in, so we're amazed at the amount of room. My husband and I struggled to put it up correctly, referring to the video again and again. I've requested written instructions that we can take with us when we're away from internet connection. I did contact the manufacturer, MSR / Cascade Designs and learned that the tent has a 3-year Limited Warranty "so long as you are the original purchaser, and you use your MSR product for the use it was intended..." FYI, the tent has a coil zipper, not made of stainless steel.
Northwestern Pennsylvania. A wet week of camping was easier to endure by having this tent. Not only was this easy to set up... but it kept us bone dry (Specific footprint was also utilized) - one evening it even rained between 3”-4” !!! Rain Fly was airy and easy to attach. The fly design also helped keep items such as our folding chairs dry when utilizing the front porch extension. Highly recommend!!!!
A bit interesting for a single person to setup but doable. First few weeks have been excellent.
This is an extremely sturdy and roomy tent. I have used it for car camping for one or two people and there is space for a queen size air mattress and a small chair and table inside. The vestibule is large but not terribly usable as anything but storage. Has proven rainproof through several hours of rain and hail in Rocky Mountain National Park. Took off one star for the lack of ventilation and the trickiest of mastering fly tension. If you get it juuuuuuust right you can have the full or partial vestibule open during rain without getting the main tent body wet.