Trail weight and pitched footprint matter more than the season label
A trekking tent is sold on a weight that makers publish twice. Packed weight counts everything in the bag — pegs, guylines, repair sleeve, stuff sack — while trail weight counts only the parts needed to stand it up. The gap between the two runs to several hundred grams, and comparing one maker's trail weight against another's packed weight is the commonest error in this category. The second figure is hydrostatic head, quoted in millimeters of water column and quoted separately for the flysheet and the groundsheet; the floor figure is normally the higher of the two, because a knee on a wet pitch presses harder than rain falls. Fabric is described in denier — 20D nylon is light and thin, 70D is heavier and takes more abuse — and poles are either an aluminum alloy or fiberglass, which is where the cheap end of the shelf gives itself away. Then the geometry: floor area per person, peak height, and how much of the length stays full height instead of tapering into wall. The pitch type — freestanding, semi-freestanding, or pitched on trekking poles — decides whether it stands on a wooden platform or needs ground soft enough for pegs. A season number is a shorthand rather than a standard, so read the pole count and how far the fly reaches down. We compare stated trail and packed weight, floor area and peak height, hydrostatic head of flysheet and groundsheet, fabric denier, pole material, pitch type and season rating.
Two-person dome · 1.9 kg (4.2 lb) unlabelled weight · 270 × 150 × 110 cm (106.3 × 59.1 × 43.3 in) inner · 4000 mm (157.5 in) coating stated · 43 × 14 × 14 cm (16.9 × 5.5 × 5.5 in) packed
A two-person dome that publishes its inner box, its pack size and a 4000 mm (157.5 in) coating figure, but never says whether that figure belongs to the fly, the floor or both.
Best for: Two people who want a known inner length and pack size, and who camp where the ground is dry.
Two person · freestanding · 7001 aluminum pole · 20D silicone nylon · 4000 mm (157.5 in) + fabric figure · 1.9 kg (4.2 lb) unlabelled
A freestanding 20D nylon tent that names its pole alloy and gives a 4000 mm (157.5 in) figure to the fabric rather than to a panel, so the floor is left without one.
Best for: Two people who camp where pegs may not bite and want a named pole alloy under a 20D fly.
One person · freestanding · aluminum poles · PU 5000 bathtub floor · 1.9 kg (4.2 lb) unlabelled · 38 × 13 × 13 cm (15 × 5.1 × 5.1 in) packed
A one-person tent that publishes the figure most listings skip — 5000 mm (196.9 in) on the floor — and leaves the flysheet without a water column of its own.
Best for: One person on soft ground who wants a floor figure published and a vestibule for boots and a pack.
One person · 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) unlabelled · 3000 mm (118.1 in) fly · PE floor with no figure · fiberglass poles · pegs required
A 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) solo tent that states its fly water column, admits in its own bullet that it will not stand without pegs, and leaves the floor figure out.
Best for: Bike and motorcycle touring on ground soft enough for pegs, where a 12 × 38 cm (4.7 × 15 in) roll is the constraint.
Two person · two doors and two vestibules · 68D polyester · 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) unlabelled · no water column published
A two-door two-person tent that publishes its fabric denier — rare on this shelf — and no water column at all, and whose floor dimension is cut off mid-sentence.
Best for: Two people who want a door each and a thicker 68D fabric, on pitches where rain is a shower rather than a night of it.
Pop-up · 220 × 220 × 145 cm (86.6 × 86.6 × 57.1 in) · 210T polyester outer · 3000 mm (118.1 in) on the Zeltgrundgewebe · 82 × 17 × 19 cm (32.3 × 6.7 × 7.5 in) folded
A pop-up that publishes its pitched box, its folded size and a 3000 mm (118.1 in) figure — attached to a German word that can mean either the base fabric or the groundsheet.
Best for: Car-side camping where an 82 cm (32.3 in) folded roll is no obstacle and a one-minute pitch is the point.
One to two person dome · single-pole construction · full mesh inner · no weight, no water column and no dimensions published
A named trekking tent from an established brand whose whole listing runs on adjectives: it describes a single-pole dome with a mesh inner and publishes not one figure.
Best for: A buyer who is choosing on the brand and the shape, and who will get the numbers from a retailer rather than the listing.
Two person · 1.8 kg (4 lb) unlabelled · 20D silicone nylon fly · double Y frame · no water column published
A 1.8 kg (4 lb) two-person dome in 20D silicone-coated nylon that names its fabric and its frame geometry, and never puts a millimeter figure on either panel.
Best for: Two people prioritizing a low carried weight in a silicone-coated 20D fly, on a route where the forecast is watched.
One to two person · 2.0 kg (4.4 lb) total weight stated · 4000 mm (157.5 in) fly and 5000 mm (196.9 in) floor · 20D fly, 40D floor · aluminum poles
The one tent in this group that publishes both water columns and both deniers, and labels its weight as a total rather than leaving it bare.
Best for: One or two people who want the weatherproofing published in full and will accept a 2.0 kg (4.4 lb) total to get it.
This family belongs to the sleeping out kit — see everything that has to work with it.
The flysheet’s hydrostatic head measures the pressure the fabric holds before it lets water through. Two tents that look alike can sit far apart on this.
Floor area says what there genuinely is between the walls once the fly is pitched taut.
Trail weight counts only the tent, poles and what is needed to pitch it. Packed weight counts everything that comes out of the box.
The height of water the fabric holds before it leaks, in millimeters. It is given separately for the flysheet and the groundsheet.
It gives the thickness of the yarn, and so the relative toughness of the fabric at equal construction. It is not a tear-strength figure.
Pole material is published. It decides the weight and, above all, what happens when the wind gets up.
As a single point, usually the center. A dome and a tunnel of the same height do not offer the same volume.
Floor area answers that, not the name. It is the figure to compare against the width of two mats.
Care recommendations come from the maker and sit in the manual. No treatment is prescribed here.
It protects the floor from abrasion. The published hydrostatic head remains that of the groundsheet itself.
A tent comes down to three figures that pull against each other: the trail weight you carry, the hydrostatic head that decides the night, and the floor area you get. Pole material decides what is still standing at dawn.
There is no table here, and the reason is in the listings. Enough of these 9 products name the same rows — fabric denier, floor area, hydrostatic head — flysheet — for a column to qualify, and too few publish a figure in them: the column would compare blanks rather than models. Each product page says what its own maker published.
Specifications: manufacturer sheets for camping and hiking gear and the matching Amazon product pages. Prices and availability: Keepa.
Most recent revision in this category: October 23, 2026.
