That all depends on what you want in a tent for space. My wife and I have the half dome 2 and it has served is well. That being said its not the Hilton inside either. Its cozy. I personally do not like big tents. They are heavy. Bulky. Flimsy and less stable especially in the cheap brands like Coleman or your Walmart specials. Much more time consuming to set up. I can set mine up in under 2 minutes. I just ordered the half dome 4 a few days ago for the two of us plus our 7 month old twins. When it gets to be too small for the four of us then they will get their own tent.

If your looking to load the tent full of gear. Big air mattresses. Chairs. Etc. then yes it's prob too small for you then. My gear stays in the truck and the tent is for sleeping. But I prefer a minimalist approach to going camping so I'm not spending several hours loading the truck.

Yeah I was thinking that. If I'm not hiking with it I suppose the only room we need is to sleep and our bags can stay in the truck.

I think I made a mistake by creating this thread because now I just want to get out there.....time is going to move slow for the next 2 months haha

Get you what your going to be happy and enjoy camping with. Go to REI and look before you buy. Or order online and return it of its too small.

Once you get kids involved, the "minimalist" kind of goes out the window. Look for vestibules and two doors. Vestibules to store boots and packs, and two doors to avoid log jams and provide cross breeze, if oriented correctly.

I have the half dome 2 plus, and it's fine for backpacking but not what I would like for general car or a base camp. My seven and five year old use it now with plenty or room for gear.

It will only fit a single twin air mattress if inflated once inside to give you an idea. It's also pretty low in terms of height.

You can look at dimensions and then compare to your height and one of the bedrooms in your house.

What's yalls opinion on buying a pass to camp at state parks versus a business?

The place my wife wants to stay at is 50 bucks a night just to camp and from what I understand I can pay 70 bucks for an annual pass on all the parks plus be able to keep fish I catch unlike this other place.

Idk I'm tired but can't sleep and I'm pretty sure these questions will seem dumb to me when I'm actually awake.

In your price range this:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camping/Tents-Shelters/View-All-Tents|/pc/104795280/c/104779080/sc/105517980/High-Sierra-Appalachian-Family-Cabin-Tent/1167711.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fcamping-tents-shelters-view-all-tents%2F_%2FN-1102375%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_105517980%3FWTz_l%3DUnknown%253Bcat104795280%253Bcat104779080&WTz_l=Unknown%3Bcat104795280%3Bcat104779080%3Bcat105517980

I have this one. Works ok, but I've not been in rain yet.

Also, the state park pass is only your "entry" into the park. You still need to pay for the campsite. They are not expensive but wanted to point that out.

I've been looking at that one along with several other cabelas tents.

This is the one my wife likes but I'm still iffy about it.

Also I did realize it was only the entrance fee. I don't know the best route to go for camping though. 50 bucks seems pretty high just to camp when I can get a little cabin for not much more.

Any recommendations on a camp site on or near the frio?

cabelas, academy, ebay, craigs list is a good start have fun

I don't think we ever spent over a hundred bucks on a tent, and usually got more than a couple of years out of each.

If it's rated for 4, buy one rated for 8. Tent manufacturer's I truly believe, base their sizes for midgets.

We always went with the shock corded poles for easy set up. I know not all tents are created equal, but if they can keep you fairly dry during a rain shower, is all we were really concerned with.

If a bad storm rolls thru, which happened to us once out at Lavon, we hauled butt to the truck and watched that tent get turned into a billowing parachute.

Under $300 for that size of a tent I think your best bet is just to go to Academy, Cabelas wherever and find you a 8 man tent ( you'll want the room for what you are doing) and think about things like a full fly and wash tub floor if rain is an issue. Or 3/4 mesh body if your camping when its hot out. Not really much else can be said as 3 season tents are really a dime a dozen its just what individual features you desire.

Forget the air mattresses, go with the foam pads that are for camping. The cheap ones are around $15 and are better than air mattress. When I stumbled on some of the foam pads in Canada in 1970's, my wife thought I was crazy buying one, after she used mine, I had to buy another.

X2 air mattresses suck IMHO. Eventually you will wake up on the ground. Therma rest or one of the knock offs are the way to go if you want something that will last a long long time.

My wife and I along with the kids camped in a tent at Mineral Wells State Park and on Galveston Island State Park several times. Best thing I ever did was buy a used popup camper with stove, heater,fridge and AC. Sleeps 6 with out being crowded. Check out the papers or just go to an RV dealer and see what they have. Like KG68 said, rent one and you'll never go back.

I suppose there are multiple schools of thought on that one. Best thing I ever did with my popup was sell it. I won't ever go back. To much hassle and maintenance. Plus i could never get it into the areas i like to camp. But I can see why many like them.