best backpacking tents

Backpackers camped in the backcountry of Wyoming's Wind River Range.

The 10 Best Backpacking Tents of 2024

By Michael Lanza

A good backpacking tent not only makes your trips more comfortable by keeping you warm and dry in foul weather—it’s critical safety gear and one of the heaviest and most expensive items you’ll carry. Those facts alone are motivation enough to find the right tent for your style of backpacking. But how do you choose from the many models out there, which come in a huge range of designs, weights, and prices? Whether you’re shopping for your first backpacking shelter or looking to replace an old one, this review will help make that choice easy for you.

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A campsite at Precipice Lake in Sequoia National Park.

5 Expert Tips For Buying a Backpacking Tent

By Michael Lanza

The choices in tents for backpacking seem to get better every year, with lightweight models continually getting lighter and other advances that make tents sturdier and more livable without adding weight. But with all the options out there, how do you choose? The answer is simpler than you might think: It comes down to understanding the key differences that distinguish tents from one another—which will help you understand what you need.

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The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1 ultralight solo backpacking tent.

Review: Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1 Ultralight Solo Tent

Ultralight Solo Backpacking Tent
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1
$599, 16.8 oz./476.3g
hyperlitemountaingear.com

After crossing Texas Pass, at around 11,460 feet, a friend and I descended into the incomparable Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, reaching the shore of Lonesome Lake—where the sky suddenly darkened, soon followed by thunder and lightning. We hustled to pitch the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid-1 as a temporary shelter and both dove inside just as the full force of that thunderstorm walloped us with pounding wind and rain, even spawning a new, little stream that flowed under one end of the tent. But we stayed warm and dry inside it while waiting 30 minutes or more for the storm to pass. And that’s just one tale of the weather the Mid-1 endured, demonstrating its value as one of the very best ultralight solo backpacking tents available today.

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The Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p ultralight backpacking tent.

Review: Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p Ultralight Tent

Ultralight Solo Backpacking Tent
Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p
$400, 1 lb. 13 oz./822g
backcountry.com

The wind never cut us a break while backpacking in the Wind River Range in August. For hours a day on the trail, it literally knocked us off-balance at times. And then it pounded us every night. Finally, on our last evening, it blew in with a violent thunderstorm that generated gusts probably exceeding 40 mph/64 kph and perhaps reaching 50 mph/80 kph, accompanied by driving rain for several hours. Although a friend (in another tent) and I didn’t sleep a wink until that storm abated well after midnight, the Nemo Hornet Osmo 1p kept me dry and survived those tempests while demonstrating its strengths and nice design features.

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The Nemo Hornet Osmo 2p ultralight backpacking tent.

Review: Nemo Hornet Osmo 2p Ultralight Backpacking Tent

Ultralight Backpacking Tent
Nemo Hornet Osmo 2p
$430, 2 lbs. 1 oz./948g
backcountry.com

Sleeping in this ultralight tent while backpacking a section of the Arizona Trail along the Gila River in the first days of April, camping in Idaho’s City of Rocks in June, and backpacking the Nigel, Cataract, and Cline Passes Route in the Canadian Rockies in August, I had a chance to not only test its performance, but also to consider the unique little niche it fills. If you’re seeking the lightest and most packable shelter that possesses all the ease of use, protection, and convenience of traditional double-wall tents as well as a degree of livability that will suit many backpackers, the Hornet Osmo 2p offers much to like.

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