When I was young, I seldom used a tent unless it was raining. I used plastic tarps for most trail camping. I felt tents were too confining. I took my wife car camping and we slept on the ground with a ground cloth(no pad). She almost never went camping again. (yet she still married me <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) I then realized if I did not want to camp alone, I needed a tent. I bought a cheapo two man dome tent. She married me and we went on our honeymoon in the Sierra in July. It rained every day! The tent had a few leaks but wasn't too bad. It was however heavy and bulky. When we finally tried a backpacking trip, it was in October and it snowed on us. I had to rig a tarp over the tent and keep knocking off the snow buildup. We survived but had our uncomfortable times. (still one of our greatest memories though) That brought me to a four person, four season tent. That gave us plenty of room for both of us and our dog. The tent weighed about ten pounds but was bullet proof. I still use it for car camping but have went through about three other tents since deciding that it was just too much to haul. After buying and trying these, I don't think I could justify paying for a very expensive tent (over $250.00) without being able to try it first and I don't like returning things unless they are defective and not just because I am not 100% happy. I don't think it's fair to the seller to be stuck with a used tent because I might like something different from the next guy. On a personal note, my current tent is a Cabella's XPG ultra light three season, three person tent. I haven't had heavy rain or snow but have had very heavy wind one night and it blew around but stayed intact with no damage. It also didn't have the condensation problem that I had with the last one. It weighs approx. 5.5 pounds but is roomy and tall enough to sit in. My feeling is take what ever you need to keep having fun doing what you are doing. If spending too much for a tent takes the fun out of it, then don't spend it but if safety and comfort is what keeps it fun and spending the cash doesn't take that away, then do it.