The main tent body has a giant front door that’s oriented to make entry and exit easy for all the tent’s occupants at night, and a smaller back window that doubles as a second door. After researching 30 six-person tents and testing 15 side by side on a total of five trips, we chose the Kelty Wireless 6 as the best entry-level camping tent for most families. It’s spacious, easy to set up, has weather protection, and is durable, all at an affordable price. The Wireless 6 lacks some of the premium materials found in pricier tents, but it features solid workmanship and should provide dependable, comfortable shelter in most three-season camping situations.
Air mattresses have a bad reputation for sagging over time, but this two-pump system is designed to prevent just that. The first pump inflates and deflates the bed and has an automatic shut-off once fully inflated. The second pump stays on all night and automatically adjusts the air pressure to keep it fully inflated. You can pick between three pre-set firmness levels and adjust the firmness from there. It stands at an 18-inch height and features circular coils for support and a flocked finish on top for softness.
Prior to starting at Good Housekeeping in 2022, she earned a master of engineering in materials science and engineering and a bachelor of science in fiber science from Cornell University. While earning her degrees, Grace worked in research laboratories ozark trail canopy tent for smart textiles and nanotechnology and held internships at Open Style Lab and Rent the Runway. I love exploring the Chattahoochee, which runs through Atlanta and offers endless fishing, swimming, and water sports opportunities.
But when ISLE released the Switch Pro, we decided it was worth a revisit. Just a half hour of driving from my apartment in east Atlanta, I can hop on the river and find myself immediately surrounded by nature’s abundance. Singing birds, bubbling rapids, and the frequent absence of other humans — I’ve had some of the best days of my life lately. The North Face Wawona 4, which we used to list in our Other Good Tents section, has been redesigned; it’s now made of polyester, not nylon. I do repairs on homes, swimming pools, recreational vehicles & PC Computers when I am off of work.
And you can unzip the front door, remove it, and neatly stash it into one of the tent’s internal pockets—a useful feature if you’re feeling sociable. Our only quibble with the Mineral King 3 is that it comes with only six stakes. (Our runner-up pick comes with eight.) Six is enough to secure the tent and fly but not to fully secure the tent’s extra lines in very windy conditions.
It has everything you need for three-season camping, with the bonus of being light enough to double as an occasional backpacking tent. Although it’s designed to accommodate three people—hence the “3” in its name—we found that at 42.5 square feet, the tent is more comfortable for two, plus gear and maybe a medium-size dog. Underneath the fly, the Mineral King 3 has a full mesh dome with a waterproof, tape-seamed bathtub-style polyester floor. The tent doors are nearly wall-sized, and after you unzip them, you simply stuff them into pockets, rather than having to roll and toggle-tie the fabric.
The Base Camp also offers more privacy compared with our other picks—with or without the rain fly. At the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab, we’ve tested hundreds of products for more than a century, including the best mattresses and best pillows. To find the best air mattresses, we evaluated everything from overnight leakage and indentation over time to puncture resistance and bursting strength.
Lexie Sachs is the Executive Director of Strategy & Operations at the Good Housekeeping Institute. She has more than 15 years of experience in the textiles industry, including merchandising and product development for home products, and holds a B.S. Lexie joined GH in 2013 and has extensively tested all types of bedding. Air mattresses are some of the first products Lexie tested in the Textiles Lab, and she swears by them for overnight guests or sleepovers at her home. Still, taller beds are more of a hassle to fold down and store and take longer to set up when compared to a lower-profile or “single-height” bed (typically under 12 inches). It all comes down to personal preference and whether you’re using it at home or on the go.
However, tent repairs are often costly and impractical, making replacement the better choice. If tent damage is isolated to a single component, such as a side wall or anchor, these components can often be replaced without users having to replace the entire tent. Spot repairs can be made for tears in fabric, but pin holes and scrim mold are virtually impossible to fix without replacement. Rust is also very difficult to reverse, so if you are looking to take care of rust on your tent’s frame, you’ll likely have to replace the frame component or the entire tent.