I haven't been able to find a Coleman Cadence tent to look at what you are looking at. However, Eureka, Kelty, North Face, etc form the middle tier of tent manufacturers (in increasing cost order). Coleman is the top of the bottom tier. For a 2-3 person tent from these companies, 4lbs is light, 5lbs is average, and more than 6lbs is not abnormal. All are good tents; most need seamsealed, but they'll generally keep you dry and out of the bugs.

I really like the Eureka Timberline 2-man tent, but it's heavy; almost 6lbs. The Eureka Tetragon 5 (5x7 ft, old style) that I picked up 8 years ago did well for car camping, but it was 5-6lbs to get it up the hill. Ditto with the Eureka Sundome 7s the troop had in HI.

TarpTent is a specialty manufacturer that caters to the light/fast/thruhiking group. They will save you a lot of weight - my Rainshadow 2 (a three person tent) weighs 2.5 lbs. It cost $265, but it got 2.5-3lbs out of my pack, and made it practical to take my 2nd child out on trips. I could have gone with a tarp (which would be lighter and probably simpler and lighter in fall/spring) but my wife wanted kids confined at night - probably a good call with how they roll around.

You've got three picks - any will probably work and keep you dry. If you want to flog the data a bit more, and keep your cost down to about $100, I'd go to the Campmor website, look at the 2-3 person tents, sort by price, and "compare" them. It sounds like you've got some preferences in design based on car camping experience.

A good alternative is to take whatever 2-3 person tent you already own out (you know what is weather worthy) and try it. After you've played for a while, you'll know how you really want to spend your $100, or if 5lbs is just too much. A big blue tarp (10x8 to 12x12) used in Fall/Spring conditions (no bugs/no snow) will do the same thing.

Good luck, have fun. Sorry for waxing on so.


Edited by Steadman (07/23/11 10:30 PM)