what makes this $1,000 tent worth more than these $5 and $600 tents well the differences might surprise you and could make the difference between a safe and comfortable trip and one that you regret so let's check it out so it is winter in Colorado and what better time is there to talk about three season tents versus Four Season tents and why you might want one over the other so I've got three tin set up here a three season tent a three plus season tent and a Four Season Expedition style tunnel tent most people watching this
video are going to be familiar with a tent like this this is the MSR hubba hubba it is your typical thre season backpacking tint which means it's good for spring summer and fall conditions now does that mean that you can't take it out in the winter time like I've got it here well yes and no if all you're dealing with is cold temperature then three season tents can still work in the winter there are two main reasons you wouldn't want this tent one because most three season tents are going to feel drafty in the winter
the fly on this tent doesn't go all the way to the ground to let more air flow through the tent and there is a lot more mesh that is going to let air move around inside the tent moving air is the enemy of warmth I mean that's why we use fans to cool us off right but if you're able to stop that air flow like on this tent that we'll talk about here in a minute you're going to be a lot warmer now you don't want to eliminate air flow but you want to limitate more
than most three season tents are capable of now the hubba hubba does better than most because the mesh is mostly up at the top which is going to limit that air movement but there's a more important reason why this is a three season n Four Season tent and that is the snow the poles on these ents simply aren't strong enough to hold up under the weight of falling snow and strong Winter Winds now if you saw my wind test video then you know the hubba hubba actually stood up to 50 mph winds but before collapsing
but if you add the weight of snow on the Fly and then the strong Winter Winds it's simply not going to be enough to stand up to those conditions so if you want to do some winter camping but you're not sure you need a full-on expensive Expedition style tent you could try something like the copper spur Expedition tent now despite the fact that this has expedition in the name it's not a true Expedition tent it's what Big Agnes is calling a 3 plus season tent and there are a couple reasons for that first if you
look inside it's got considerably less mesh to help limit air flow but the main thing that helps this tent push a little bit further into the winter season is these poles are quite a bit stronger than your typical three season poles they are larger in diameter they have a thicker wall and stronger hubs that allow this tent to hold up a little bit better under snow and wind loads but the one thing that keeps this from being a true 4 season tent is this Cross Beam right here even with the strength of these poles if
you get any significant snow load on top of this this unsupported CR CR beam simply not going to be strong enough to take the weight that's the main thing that makes this a 3 plus season tint and not a Four Season entt okay all the tents I'm talking about today aren't cheap but if you buy them through today's sponsor you can get 10% off simply for being a viewer of this channel MOA has been a long-term sponsor of this Channel and they sell everything you need to go winter camping snowshoeing skiing and more they have
one of the largest selections out there of any Outdoor Retailer some retailers just stock what they want to sell but Moosejaw has an extensive selection of outdoor gear no matter what you're into and if you use the code mlj you can get 10% off most things Moosejaw sells 5% off things that are already on sale some exclusions do apply go check them out at mo.com or through the links in the description now if you want a true 4 season tent take a look at this big mamama Jama the hillberg nalo GT2 first of all this
is a tunnel tent which is a design that has been proven to perform really well in Wind this is the kind of tent you would take up above Tree Line in Winter and deep snow and not worry about it now on this particular tent the poles are not any thicker than standard three season poles this is actually the ultra light Four Season tint coming in at a feathery 7 lb more about that in a minute but that means it's not the diameter of the poles that helps them stand up to the snow loads and high
winds it's the design of the tent now you notice that this tent has a sleeve that runs the entire length of this pole it then pops into this little Peg here and tightens to make a circular shape with this pole in that sleeve if you apply weight to the top it's got nowhere to go it can't go out to the side because of the sleeve and it can't go front to back because of the way this tint is staked out that makes this tent extremely strong despite the smaller pole size if you come inside you'll
notice that this tent has a really large vestibule now this isn't completely necessary and does add quite a bit of weight to this tent but it also serves as a space where you can get out of the wind and snowfall take off your boots or other wet clothes before getting in the tent it also serves as a place where you Can Cook Out Of The Wind and snowfall but you should never cook inside of a fully enclosed vestibule inside this tin you'll notice that there is hardly any mesh at all to keep drafts to a
minimum now you don't want zero air movement to help minimize freezing condensation but you don't want so much that it's stealing all your heat so you have a small little window in the back and a small little window up in the vesu with a fly that goes all the way to the ground so even in heavy winds not much is getting in here now do you need a tent like this to go camping in the winter time for most people the answer is going to be no this is going to be Overkill there are loads
and loads of Four Season tents that are not nearly this big heavy or expensive some of them are just made for one person some of them don't have a vestibule but almost all of them are designed to hold up under strong wind and heavy snow loads now that's just the tents there are lots of other things you need to do to stay warm before you ever set up a tent and it's actually counterintuitive to what most people think to find out the biggest mistake that's making you colder go check out this video right here please
like subscribe and do all those other things and as always thanks for watching now the hubba hubba does better the most because there's an airplane flying overhead that's not why it does better the most but it's super annoying
