There are so many exciting things about camping like bonfires, spending time with nature, exploring, & most of all spending quality time with family or friends!
If you are planning to go hiking or if your trip requires you to carry your luggage on your back for miles then for you backpacking tents is the best choice.
They are made up of ultra-light fabric, are tougher, and compact & you can carry them on your back (as the name implies). They are easy to set up & give you a comfortable room inside. They are designed for versatile adventures.
Of course, now in the market, there are numerous options available all offer amazing & unique features and all have different price tags & this brings the customer great confusion.
They are confused with so many options and are indecisive about what should they buy and what to ignore.
Well every model is designed to serve a special purpose. You have to make a list of your requirements and your budget and then go hunting.
You should know your requirements so that you don’t end up paying extra for extra features that you might not need.
Well luckily I have done some work for you!
Top 7 Best Backpacking Tents Under 300
In this article, I have gathered some of the best backpacking tent under 300 in the form of a list. Hope this piece of information will help you to get your perfect tent.
So without any further delay let’s have a look at our list of best backpacking tent for under 300
No 1 on our list is,
1: Naturehike Cloud Up – Best backpacking tent under 300
- Naturehikes Cloud up 3-season, 3-person backpacking tent offers the most spacious and comfortable accommodations in an ultra-lightweight design.
- The Cloud up 20D tent polyester rain fly & bathtub with a PU 4000 coating is extremely firm and waterproof.
- Naturehikes tents come with a straightforward instruction manual.
The first & the best-highlighted feature of this tent is that NatureHike is ultra light weight that is the quality all backpackers seek in a tent. The weight of this tent is 3.5 pounds (1 person), 3.75 pounds (2 people) & 4.9 pounds (3 people).
The rainfly material is 20D Nylon & bathtub style floor has a PU 4000 coating makes it excellent in water resistance. The sealed seams keep this tent truly waterproof & the body of this tent is surprisingly strong.
The other great thing about this tent is its quick & easy setup. According to the instructions provided you can set it up in 5 minutes approx.
The only thing that users didn’t like about this tent is that it’s a bit smaller than its claim. It claims to accommodate 3 people but instead only 2 people can be in the tent comfortably and not feel claustrophobic.
But since this is true in most of the tents, the key purchasing point is to buy a tent that can accommodate one more person than the actual number of people in your group!
This is definitely not for 4 seasons, some users reported it being failing in snow, so it is recommended to use this tent for summer hiking/camping and not winters especially not snow!
Now let’s talk a little about its construction. The poles are made of 7001 aluminium alloy which is a plus point since aluminium poles are strong and they won’t break on you or bend in during setting up the tent.
Number 2 on our list is,
2: Drop + Dan Durston X-Mid – best 1/2 person Backpacking tent under 300
The very interesting fact about is that this tent is designed by a person who has a record of hiking for like miles!
The design is well thought out, you can use the rainfly & the inner tent separately, rainfly can be put up before the inner tent or you can keep them attached, the inner tent gets attached to the rainfly corners & peaks for faster setup.
The only challenge this tent might put forward is choosing a proper site for setting up.
The rainfly takes about 100 “ X 67 “ inches of the area so you’ll have to keep an eye open for a good & spacious spot for your tent, especially in dense locations like Appalachian trails or Northeast locations.
It has 2 roll-able doors, one on each side making it comfortable for you to get in & out of the tent.
The diagonal design inside the tent gives you a larger storage area on each side of the tent. You can store gear or even cook in bitter weather. Champion in terms of room availability!
Convenient gear pockets on the ceiling for storing small items like a phone or a headlamp.
Now talking about the tent’s material, the body of the is made of 20D 420T 100% polyester with 2000mm sil/PU coating & this tent is tested in extreme weather conditions simulated in lab for 1.5 months.
The tent’s fabric was able to withstand continuous high wind & heavy rains. A champion in this regard too!
Staking the tent can be a problem on uneven ground especially if one corner is higher or lower than the other corner but what you can do it to stake the corners of the inner tent independently, it can help a lot.
Next we have,
3: MSR Elixir – best lightweight backpacking tent for 2 person
- Unique pole geometry optimizes headroom and fits two mats; adaptable rainfly allows for excellent views
- Built-in gear lofts and glow-in-the-dark zipper pulls enhance livability
- Includes an MSR Elixir footprint that allows for a lightweight fast & light setup with rainfly
- Freestanding system features color-coded poles, clips and webbing, Plus red vestibules for fast and easy setup
- Mesh and solid fabric panels offer ventilation, warmth and priv
Mountain Safety Research, MSR, is known to provide some top-notch outdoor products. Customers of MSR enjoy reliable, durable and safe products that last a lifetime.
MSR Elixir is one of their entry-level tent that is light on a budget but brings a lot of high-end features.
This tent’s design is primarily for backpacking adventures but points to be noted here is that it isn’t very lightweight because of the material used in its construction, but it cannot be said that it is heavy.
The material of the rainfly is 68D polyester and also 1500mm polyurethane durable water repellent.
The floor is made up of 70D Taffeta nylon with 3000mm Durashield polyurethane durable water repellent so with all this material info I can say this tent offers excellent weather protection & durability but this material is a bit heavy as compared to the material used in some other lightweight tent.
So it weighs 6 pounds and you might struggle in carrying it on your back. What you can do, as it is a 2 person tent, you can split the different parts of the tent and divide it with your partner.
It has mesh panels on the roof and also 2 kickstand vents in the rainfly to allow smooth air circulation. Also you can roll up the rainfly to get extra ventilation.
4: Marmot Crane Creek – Best backpacking tent for 3 person
- 3 person, 42 square foot lightweight tent ideal for backpacking or camping; includes seam taped, full coverage weatherproof rain fly
- Durable, 7000 series aluminum poles
- Floor dimensions: 63 x 88 inches; interior height: 46 inches; trail weight: 5 pounds, 13 ounces.; pack weight: 6 pounds, 5 ounces.; floor space: 42 square f
Marmot is one of the popular outdoor supply brands with a wide range of outdoor high-quality products.
Crane Creek is super lightweight making it a very popular and great choice among the hikers, climbers and campers. It weighs 6.31pound (3 Persons) so it is very suitable for both backpacking and camping.
It has 2 doors and 2 vestibules on each door providing the excellent facility of getting in & out of the tent and also for 2 vestibules gives enough space to store gear and other items without a fuss.
Another great feature about this tent is that it is a freestanding tent and you can pitch it on any given terrain, move it and rotate it,
But I would recommend you stake it down to the ground once you have finalized the position and location of your tent for extra stability.
The rainfly covers the whole body of the tent so this is a double-wall tent. You can cover it with rainfly to stay protected from the rain or you can remove the rainfly for a more breathable environment.
There is a lot of Mesh used in the construction of this tent so it makes it a 2 season tent only.
I would suggest you use it in summer or in spring but never in cold weather, it won’t be able to keep any warmth inside due to the lots of Mesh.
A point to note here is that the vestibules you get to come with central zippers which means that you can roll the vestibules. You can roll the flaps on vestibules to use it as a windbreaker and it is a great thing suitable if you are cooking.
It comes with 3 aluminium 7000 series poles which are quite strong, two poles create a dome style structure and one shorter one crosses them and attaches to the inner tent which makes the doors completely vertical giving you lots of headroom inside the tent.
It is disappointing that the tent does not have a proper waterproof rating because the manufacturing company does not provide much information about the material used in the construction.
The only thing that I know is that it is fully waterproof and that the seams are sealed but every material has its own capacity to tackle the weather so can’t say much about it in this department.
You’ll face no issue in ventilation because this tent has vents in vestibules and also as we said earlier there is a lot of mesh.
No 5th is the
5: Kelty Late Start – Best ketly tent under 300
- Updated Version of Kelty Salida Tent
- The tent measures 99” x 81”, giving you an interior area of 55. 7 square feet.
- The two aluminum poles are pre-bent to create extra room inside the tent.
- The tent has a single door. The walls are No-see-um mesh and the floor is tough 68 denier fabric, water resistant to 1800 mm.
- The tent body is protected by a waterproof 68 denier rainfly.
Kelty late start is a 3 season tent for camping and backpacking and would work great in summer, slightly cold weather.
The user praised its 10 minutes super fast and easy setup, most saying the colour coordination on the fly and quick corner pole sleeves makes setting it up to heaven.
The inner walls of the tent are No-See-Um Mesh and the fly fabric is 68D polyester while that of the floor is also 68D polyester & it has a waterproof rating of 1800mm which will provide you with great protection from the rain.
The poles are made up of aluminium which is strong as compared to some fibreglass poles and you need not worry about them breaking or bending during setting up the tent.
Talk about the inside room, it gives you 55.7 ft2 of an area with a peak height of 56 inches. You can easily sit up inside this tent.
Some users complained about facing difficulty from having no vents in the rainfly making it hot inside the tent. Also the vestibule is really small so it can’t store much. The fly is quit loud during strong winds.
6: BEST 4 PERSON BACKPACKING TENT FOR HIKING
- ✔KAZOO Neptune 4 person camping tent provides a very comfortable space for family camping. Its dimensions are 98 inch×98 inch×61 inch it can easily accommodate four person. Equipped with five 11mm aluminum poles, which built a stable and lightweight fame in harsh weather; dome architecture is designed to be highly stable while maximizing interior livability.
Kazoo 4 person tent is one the best and favorite picks among the vast number of options for backpacking and hiking.
This one claims to be for 4 people and unlike many it does actually provide comfortable and enough room for 4 people.
It has 56 ft2 of interior floor and an impressive peak height of 57 inches which enables you to properly stand inside the tent. Now these features are not common in backpacking tents.
Moving on to its design, it has 3 pole design meant to provide you more stability in harsh wind and it also provides ease of set up.
It is 100% waterproof, the rainfly has hydro-static rating of 3000mm ad also the seams are fully taped so there is no chance for any water to disrupt your comfort.
To improve ventilation the manufacturers included large Mesh windows which gives an excellent air circulation inside the tent while keeping the unwanted guests (bugs and mosquitoes) out. The Mesh used is No-See-Um B3 mesh.
The bonus feature of this tent is that you can convert its door into a sunshade porch area. Isn’t it great!!
This tent claims to have instant setup in 30 seconds but you can set it up in approximately 2-3 minutes & you can do it singlehandedly. The tent and the frame are pre-attached, all you need to do is to just spread it and it extends its 4 poles.
It is a freestanding tent, you can move it around, rotate it even after you attach the fly. But if you feel the need to make it firm to the ground, 18 stakes are provided in the package. I personally love this feature!
The fabric of the rainfly and the tent is 210T rip-stop polyester and has a rating of 3000mm which is quie excellent.
Things To Consider Before Buying Best Backpacking Tent Under 300
When you are planning to buy the best backpacking under 300, there are certain things that you need to consider.
This will help you get the best value for your money and also help you find the perfect tent for your needs. Here are some of the things that you should keep in mind when making your purchase:
Size
The first thing that you need to consider is the size of the tent. Make sure that it can comfortably accommodate all the people who will be using it.
If you are planning to use it for more than one person, then make sure that there is enough space inside the tent for everyone.
Shape
The next thing that you need to consider is the shape of the tent. There are different shapes available in the market and you need to choose the one that best suits your needs. Some of the popular shapes include:
Dome
This is one of the most popular shapes when it comes to backpacking tents. It is because it provides good headroom and is very easy to set up.
A-Frame
This is another popular shape that is preferred by many people. It is because it is very easy to set up and provides good headroom.
Cabin
This is a great choice for those who want a lot of space inside the tent. It is because it provides good headroom and is very easy to set up.
Weight
The next thing that you need to consider is the weight of the tent. Make sure that it is not too heavy so that you can easily carry it with you when you are travelling.
Price
Last but not the least, you need to consider the price of the tent. Make sure that it is within your budget so that you do not have to spend more than what you can afford.
These are the things that you need to consider when you are planning to buy the best backpacking under 300. Keep these things in mind and you will be able to find the perfect tent for your needs.
FAQs
Here are some related FAQs.
What are the benefits of a backpacking tent?
A backpacking tent has many benefits, including being ultralight and easy to set up. Backpacking tents are also great for solo travellers or couples who want to save space and weight.
What are the best features of a backpacking tent?
Some of the best features of a backpacking tent include being ultralight, easy to set up, and having a small footprint. Backpacking tents also often have great ventilation and weather resistance.
What are the disadvantages of a backpacking tent?
The main disadvantage of a backpacking tent is that it can be more expensive than other types of tents. Backpacking tents also often have a smaller interior space than some other types of tents.
What are the best backpacking tents for families?
The best backpacking tents for families are usually larger in size and have more features than other types of backpacking tents.
Some of the best features of a family backpacking tent include being easy to set up, having plenty of interior space, and having good weather resistance.
What are the best backpacking tents for solo travellers?
The best backpacking tents for solo travellers are usually ultralight and easy to set up. Some of the best features of a solo backpacking tent include being ultralight, easy to set up, and having a small footprint.
Conclusion
There are so many options available that can overwhelm the buyer but an easy tip is to keep your budget in mind, match your requirements and just pay for what you need.
I have searched and listed the best backpacking tent under 300 and did half the work for you, now the rest of the work is on you to choose the perfect tent for your weekend hiking trip or adventures camping.
I hope this information that I shared will help you a lot in choosing the best tent for your upcoming adventure.