guy offered to sell me a North Face VE

[MikeWaters]

VE-24, late 80's vintage for 165. He says it is in perfect shape.

But given that I have little use for a 11lb 3-man 4-season tent, I decided not to buy it. Esp. since it is so old. I will stick with my $35 (new) 3-man dome for car camping.

But I still need a 2-man lightweight.

[Robin]

For car camping, my family sleeps in the North Face Trailhead 8 person tent.

http://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...=4500538&vcat=

We are only three people, but this enormous tent is awesome (and at more that $400, very expensive). It has room for two small families, with a common room in the middle. For long trips, like our week in Burning Man, we set up a queen-size inflatable air mattress, and we hardly feel like we are camping.

We had been toughing it out for ages in a tiny 3-man 4-season, but the thing was painfully small. We do a lot of car camping, so the expense of the luxory tent goes down very fast when divided by total use.

As for a 2-man lightweight, what are you going to use it for? Camping with Farrah? If I were you, I would find a good lightweight solo tent. You aren't going to want to share space with a boyscout, and for a long hike, you won't want to carry the extra weight.

I'm looking for a good solo myself right now, for solo photo trips into the back country. I haven't nailed down the best choice yet.

[bluegoose]

I would recommend something much larger for tent camping with the family. Eureka makes some nice, inexpensive 8-10 man tents. You will outgrow that 3-4 man tent very quickly, especially when the kids start using the air mattress as a trampoline.

[MikeWaters]

I was thinking about getting a REI Hobitat. They are huge. You can play basketball in them.

[Robin]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I was thinking about getting a REI Hobitat. They are huge. You can play basketball in them.

I considered the Hobitat for a while as well.

Here are the cons that made me choose otherwise:

The structure is not made to resist high winds. This may not matter for you, but my family does quite a bit of camping in the high desert, were wind can be a serious issue. The Hobitat is more likely to buckle.

The fly does not cover the entire tent. Again, this isn't such a big deal if the rain is coming straight down, but as soon as you have wind and rain combined, the hobitat is going to start getting cold and wet.

The hobitat looks like an ideal camping tent for car camping in forrest conditions, where the trees tend to break the wind and the rain comes down straight. I bet you would be happy with it, but it isn't the right tent for all conditions.