Best All Season Backpacking Tents

If you need a tent that will protect you well in any season and any climate or weather conditions, you will want to check this selection of the best all-season backpacking tents. 

These tents should not be mixed with winter tents. The difference is in versatility. Winter tents are built for cold weather, so you might not feel pleasant if you use them in the warmer part of the year. On the other hand, these four-season backpacking tents are what the name says, they will work reasonably well in any environment.

So what makes a tent an all-season season tent?

Four-season tents are supposed to protect you from the cold, from eventual snow, and from strong winds. This means they should be closable, they should have good and reliable support, and they should be aerodynamic and relatively low profile to perform well in windy places.

On the other hand, for warm weather, these tents should allow for good ventilation, and they should also offer protection against rain.

Is an all-season tent worth it?

It is. Instead of having several tents for various climates, one 4-season tent will do the job. If you are on a tour that goes over high mountain passes, you need a tent that can handle big weather variations. Summer camping in a deep valley one day, and on a 2000 meters higher pass the next day, can be very similar to going from summer to winter.

Can I use an all-season tent in summer?

Yes, this is the point, such a tent is designed to work well even in a warm climate. This is because of their convertible features and great ventilation.

Mainly, this is about tents that are good to carry on the trail. This implies that they should be light enough and compact enough to fit in the pack. It is not easy to choose a tent that can work in all seasons and satisfy these essential criteria. But you will see some solid options in the list below.

Our list of best all-season backpacking tents

These options are ordered alphabetically so this is not a ranking:

1. Big Agnes Copper Spur HV2 Expedition Tent

So this is a convertible 4-season freestanding hubbed-style tent. There are two doors here and two vestibules. The doors have both mesh and panel closure and the same is with the opening on the ceiling.

The materials are top quality. So the poles are 9.6 mm DAC Featherlite NSL, shock-corded, and pre-attached to the roof hub. One short brow pole is extra so you put it in place to raise the walls up. The tent comes with 10 large aluminum stakes.

Best Seller

Pros:

• The materials.
• The packed size.
• Ease of use.

Cons:

• The weight.

Available from:

AMAZON

If you click this link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

The fly fabric is silicone-treated rip-stop nylon with a 1200 mm waterproof rating. It is with a vent on the fly that matches the mesh window on the inner canopy. The inner tent is breathable nylon.

On the floor, you have a bathtub-style nylon rip-stop with a PU coating and a waterproof rating of 10000 mm. The seams are taped and here with waterproof, solvent-free polyurethane tape (No PVC or VOC’s).

The tent has several useful interior mesh pockets and media pockets, and multiple interior loops for the attachment of accessories. It comes with dual equalized Dyneema guylines and easy-grip zipper pulls and glove-friendly toggles and buckles.

Here are some numbers:

• Packed weight: 5 lb 8 oz (2.49 kg).
• Inner floor area: 29 ft² (2.7 m²).
• Vestibules area: 9 + 9 ft² (0.8 + 0.8 m²).
• Total protected area: 47 ft² (4.3 m²).
• Packed size: 20 x 7 in (51 x 18 cm).
• Peak height: 39 in (99 cm).

Please see more in this video:

2. Eureka Mountain Pass 2 Tent

This is a dome-style true double-layer tent with a full coverage fly and it is fully convertible. This means that you have removable panels that can be used as they suit you best. One part of this ventilation design is its roof vents as you can see in the picture. The focus here is on the 2-person tent but they have it also as a 3-person version.

The tent has two asymmetric doors and two vestibules. The total inner area is 32 ft² (3 m²), and the two vestibules add 10.8 + 7.6 ft² (1 + 0.7 m²). So the total protected space is 50.4 ft² (4.7 m²).

Best Seller

Pros:

• The packed size.
• Ease of use.
• Convertible design.

Cons:

• The weight.

Available from:

AMAZON

If you click this link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

The tent comes with a hubbed design and this means that the shocked-corded poles are permanently connected to a top hub element. The material is Osung aluminum, 9.5 mm in diameter. The stakes are also aluminum.

The fly fabric is a 68D 185T polyester taffeta, PU coated and with 1800 mm waterproof rating. All seams are taped. The floor is the same material but with a 3000 mm rating. The canopy walls are 20D 400T polyester ripstop, and the mesh sections are 40D polyester no-see-um.

The weight is 5 lb 9 oz (2.52 kg), the packed size is 17 x 6 inches (43 x 15 cm), and the peak height is 41 inches (104 cm). Please see more in this video:

3. Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 2, 3, 4 Tents

So here you have three tents in the series and they share almost the same basic features. Though the smallest of them has one door and one vestibule while the two larger ones have two.

They are dome-shaped and true 2-layer shelters. The fly is a 20D silicon polyester (sil-poly) mini ripstop, and its PU coating gives 1500 mm minimum waterproof rating. The same 20D polyester mini-ripstop is used for the inner tent, while the bathtub floor is a 30D nylon ripstop with a 1500 mm waterproof rating. The poles are quality, ultralight duralumin 7001.

Best Seller

Pros:

• The weight.
• The packed size.
• Overall quality.

Cons:

• The price.

Available from:

AMAZON

If you click this link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Ventilation is very good here. There is a roof vent on the rear side, and this is matched with a vent on the inner canopy, and this inner vent is closable with a zipper. One floor vent is available, and it is on the main door. This means that the lower part of the door is two-layer, so you have a mesh and a panel that can be rolled up.

The tents can be described as ultralight, see some numbers below:

• Weight:
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 2: 3.85 lb (1.7 kg).
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 3: 4.2 lb (1.9 kg).
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 4: 4.9 lb (2.23 kg).
• Area:
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 2: 29 ft² (2.7 m²).
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 3: 34 ft² (3.15 m²).
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 4: 47.4 ft² (4.4 m²).
• Packed size (L x D):
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 2: 13 x 6 in (33 x 17 cm) tent case, 19.7 x 4.3 in (50 x 11 cm) pole case.
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 3: body case 14 x 6 in (35 x 17 cm), 20 x 4 in (11 x 51 cm) frame case.
  – Snow Peak Fal Pro Air 4: 16.9 x 6.7 in (43 x 17 cm) main case, 20 x 5.1 in (51 x 13 cm) frame case.

Final thoughts

This was a difficult comparison to make because of disrupted supply chains and some really great tents simply disappear from the market. But you can see that each of these tents is built in at least two variants so you still have enough options to choose from.