Going for outdoor activity like hiking, trekking or mountaineering, the one thing which you can’t ignore to put in packing bag is a tent. When you start searching for the mix of quality and price tag, and that too with the life-saving features you expect from a tent. This article main purpose is to simplify your search on best backpacking tent under 100 USD.
Instead, you should spend your precious and leisure time alone (solo), couple, friends or group hiking, trekking or mountaineering with a piece of mind. For obvious reasons, you will choose the backpacking tent which is lightweight, material of tent to be of good quality, easy to install, pack easily within small space, good ventilation and saves you from every weather conditions.
Benefits of hiking, trekking, and mountaineering are endless, it not only enhance your physical fitness. It will make you strong in aspects of life such as self-confidence, your body will be free from extra weight, control sugar level, keep your lungs and heart healthy. I will not go much deeper into the endless benefits. In nutshell, you will feel physically fit, mentally sound and emotionally strong.
Don’t be lazy just pack your bags put tent and all the necessary clothes and all the essential things you need for camping and hiking.
Travelers recommended Best Backpacking Tent under 100:
[table “” not found /]1. AmazonBasics Tent :
Friends or group of people can be accumulated inside this 8 person tent easily. It has pretty good dimensions – 15′ x 9′, also 6-foot height at the base center. It will hardly take 10-15 minutes for the setup, which is quite easy as well. The shock-corded poles are there which makes the setup easy. It consists of waterproof durable material, also extra protection is due to the rain fly. Most of the users said it is not good for the heavy snowfall conditions and I agreed to this somewhat.
Although Amazon Basics Tent claims their 8 person family tent is capable of 4 seasons. Now comes to the most important part, that is ventilation, which we find to be good. You can achieve good ventilation due to two-way doors. But this can be improved and we expect the same from such a brand.
Overall this tent has good space and one can roam inside the tent easily without any height issues. If you want a big 8 person camping tent this is the one you should go and that too under the price tag of 100 USD.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 👍 8 Person enormous space. | 👎 Ventilation. |
| 👍 Polyester. | |
| 👍 Rugged floor. |
2. Coleman Sundome 4-Person Tent:
This is a freestanding dome-shaped tent which is best for 3-4 persons. It measures 9×7 feet with 4 foot 11 inches at the center height. This is a spacious tent with the superior ventilation. You find the large windows and ground space for the good air flow. You can easily take this anywhere and no need to look for the perfect space. Setup is pretty fast.
It has only one window, and because brand claims this backpacking tent is the perfect fit for 4 persons. I would say this is perfect for 4 persons if you have some extra space for your gear. Ideally, this is good for 2-3 Persons and that too with the narrow sleeping pads. Don’t even think of queen size.
The WeatherTec technology will make sure to keep your away from the rainwater and assure you the dryness from both sideways and bottom. The quality of the fabric is good, it is made of polyester and that too with two walls.
It is 3 season backpacking tent, which is not meant for the heavy winds and snow. You can easily take this in summer hiking and trekking. This tents blocks most of the UV rays, and keep your tent dark from inside. Don’t worry about the sunlight.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 👍 Excellent Ventilation. | 👎 Only one window. |
| 👍 Lightweight. | 👎 Floor size. |
| 👍 Easy to setup. | |
| 👍 Small packed size. |
3. Wenzel Alpine 3 Person Tent:
The dome pentagon shape is 3 person tent and it is a 3 season tent as well. Even if you are the first timer, the setup will be an easy task for you because it has only 3 poles to set up. A single person can easily set up and take it off without the much maneuver.
It measures 8.5 x 8 feet and 4 feet height at the center. The inside interior is pretty good and spacious for gears. You find the mud mat which helps you in keeping the tent clean from dirt and water.
Ventilation is the thing which I like most about this little giant tent. It has 2 mesh windows, you can take it anywhere in deserts or mountains, you will never feel suffocate inside. Another D style front door is pretty big and good for ventilation. Zippers work smoothly and without snagging.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 👍 Mud Mat floor. | 👎 Not recommended for the tall person. |
| 👍 Easy to set up for the first timer. | 👎 Don't dare to use in heavy snow. |
| 👍 Extra space for gear. |
4. Pacific Breeze Easy Setup Beach Tent:
This tent separates itself from all the other tents in the market if you are looking for best backpacking tents under 100 $. Feel the breeze and air while sitting on the beach or on any summer hiking spot. The color and the looks of this tent are eye catchy. This another dome shapped free standing tent which is both stylish and affordable.
If will not only creates the breeze flow but also protects your skin from the harmful effects of sunrays. Specially designed for the beach spots. You can easily set up and take down all alone within a few minutes. Althouth it is made of the polyester but this polyester is breathable and yet waterproof.
Two side windows and a big front one door (which is nearly half) makes ventillation and air flow best. The attachable mat is there which is also a waterproof thing.
The dimension measures of the tent is pretty big and also it is very lightweight.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 👍 Sturdy Tent. | 👎 Not a stable base. |
| 👍 Large window ventilation. | |
| 👍 Protects from UV rays. |
5. River Country Products Trekking Pole Tent, Ultralight Backpacking Tent, 2 Person All Weather Tent:
The triangle shaped backpacking tent, which is so far the lightest of all the above tents meant for hiking and trekking. This back main focus is not on the poles, which other tents depend on. If you don’t have poles, you can still use this tent. And moreover, we can use any other poles for that standing of this tent.
This measures 7 feet long, 62 inches wide and 42 inches height. Although it river country products claim it to be for the 2 persons. We feel if two adults are using this common tent, then they need some other space where they can keep their gear and shoes. If one adult along with gear and other things is planning to use, I must say this is a perfect tent you can use.
The two wall tent has a big mesh inside which not only helps in a proper ventilation but also saves you from the insects and bugs. Waterproof and UV protection are some of its features you can’t ignore.
This consume very less space in your bag, once to take off the tent.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 👍 Most lightweight tent. | 👎 Not easy to setup. |
| 👍 No free standing tent. | |
| 👍 You can use any poles, trees or standing stick. |
6. ALPS Mountaineering Lynx 1-Person Tent:
The brand name is enough, this is the most innovative and successful brand which has always something for every camping. Sometimes you don’t want to share your space and like privacy, seriously your search ends here if you looking for a solo best backpacking tent under 100. This is a free-standing tent with the vestibule where you can separate yourself from your resting/sleep space.
It has enormous space with extra storage pockets, gears etc. It is the compact size which measures – 2.8 x 7.6 feet, and the center height is 3.6 feet. If you think that for a single person, it is very difficult to set up the tent then you are wrong. This tent has only two aluminum pole design, which will hardly take 5 minutes.
The ventilation is very good, you can see a big shapped door and even if you use fly, you can still use two narrow sided ventilation space. If you plan not to use the fly, then their is big air inflow which makes your day a breathable.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 👍 Single Vestibule. | 👎 Narrow space. |
| 👍 Single person friendly. | 👎 Weight is little heavy. |
| 👍 Easy to setup. | 👎 Centre height. |
Things to consider before buying backpacking tents for cheap:-
1. Weight-
Choosing the lightweight tent canopy makes the huge difference in enjoying your hiking or trekking. There are lots of heavyweight tents on the market, but we always try to stay away from them. We have done an intensive search in finding the quality backpack lightweight tent, so you need not carry the extra overload on your shoulders. Stay light and enjoy more.
Earlier people had the wrong perception, they think if your tent weight is heavier, it will be more stable and can handle all the weather conditions easily. With time the technology has improved so much that you feel so light without compromising the fabric quality.
A tent is not the only thing you need to keep an eye as per weight is considered, the extra small things such as poles, clamps need to be light as well.
2. Season-
Your chosen tent needs to be the season friendly, the most common types of backpack seasons are – 3 Season and 4 Season. Out of these two 3 Season backpack is very famous pick up for camping.
The 3 Season backpack is typically the lighter in weight and ventilation is good in this. This type of backpack tent can be taken out in spring, summer, and autumn. Apart from this, it can tolerate the inclement weather, heavy rainfall and a bit of snowfall. Ignore this if you are planning to go out in chilled heavy snowfall. The mesh panel is more in 3 season tent.
The 4 season backpack tent are bit heavier than 3 season tent. It can be used for all the four seasons – summer, spring, autumn, and winter. You will get stronger and stable base in this. Although the mesh panels are less in 4 seasons on comparing with other. Because of the mesh panels, ventilation sometimes suffers. And it is preferred even for the deserts camping. This tent is heavier in weight and also a bit pricey than the 3 season backpack tent.
3. Height from the base-
Not only your tent needs the stable base, but we who will get shelter under the tent need the good height from base. If you are average height person, you will find easy to sit and hunchbacked. But if you have extra height, I am sure you will not feel comfortable. So prepare for the base height thing. There is one more reason for the consideration from the base is stable. The short height tent is considered to be a stable tent than higher height.
4. Ventilation-
The ventilation depends on how minimal rainfly shield you have in the tent body. The good ventilation always a good preference while choosing the backpack tent under 100. If you are going to have a tent camp in a summer season, you need a good mesh panel and definitely minimize the rainfly cover over the mesh.
In child snowy winter, your ventilation will decrease because you will make full use of the rainfly cover which will not only act as waterproof but also blocks the airflow throughout the tent. Nowadays brands are smarter, they overcome this problem by providing over the roof mesh ventilation whose cantilever cover is again covered with a rainfly shield.
A good ventilation means better you breath and more air flows but doesn’t compromise with rain.
5. Easy to setup-
No hassle, a quick and easy setup what we all backpackers should be looking at a well affordable tent. Look for the tent which has a minimal number of poles. The most common types of tents based on their standings are:- Freestanding and Non Freestanding tents.
Out of these two types of backpack tents, the freestanding tents are pretty much famous because they need very less flexible poles. They come pretty much in shape as soon as you put the bending poles. You can easily set up and also it is easy to pack such a tent.
On other hands Non Freestanding tents do requires extra ropes which get attached to the ground through big rocks or nails. They get it’s shapes once you attached the ropes and pull them. It is difficult to assemble and you need some extra hand for setup.
6. Person Capacity-
Your tent shelter cannot be overcrowded for sure. I mean if you are going solo on hiking, you will ignore the 8 person tent for sure. Reason being no one want to carry the extra weight. In best backpacking tent under 100$, we have covered all the solo, two persons, four persons, and eight-person capacity tents.
Let say if three persons are going to use a single tent, I recommend to use the 4 person tent. The reason is simple – you can get rid of overcrowding and enjoy the extra space to keep your extra gears and bag dry.
If you have vestibule (extra space outside your interior) or your interior already comes with the extra space. Then you can simply choose the tent depends on a number of persons.
CONCLUSION: The choices can be overwhelming when looking for best backpacking tent under 100, you need to smartly choose the tent depends on your needs and comfort. We tried all the above-reviewed products and then come to this conclusion.
One backpacking tent is always differed from one other based on weight, size, and wall thickness. Make sure to read them before buying the guide to know which tent will suit you. Don’t worry about the quality, standards, and durability of all the above-rated products. All the above products are highly rated by editors choice and customers as well.