Area Per Pound of Tent Weight
This a key factor to evaluate and compare small 2 person tents. Our area per pound of tent weight gives you a good idea of how light a tent really is. That is how much volume/livable space do you get for each pound of tent weight carried. For the tents in this guide area ft/lb values range from around 8-13 ft2/lb for the more budget/camping oriented tents, to over 23 ft2/lb for the more ultralight/backpacking oriented tents.
That is, the ultralight tents are 1/2 the weight for the same livable area, of course you’ll pay a bit more for the UL tent.
For comparison, a generic camping tent available at Walmart and sporting good stores, the Coleman Sundome 2 Person Tent, weights 7.2 pounds and has 35 ft2 of area. That calculates to a meager 4.6 ft2/lb — about 1/2 to 1/3 of the performance of the “Budget-Friendly Small 2 Person Tents” in this guide like the REI Co-op Trailmade.
Price: What You Get by Spending More on a small 2 person tent
At this point with backpacking gear, spending more often means a lighter tent without losing durability. More expensive small 2 person tents are often constructed with pricier fabrics which have both light weight and high durability.
More expensive tents will often last longer, have a better space-to-weight ratio for livability, and have more features such as multiple doors and vestibules.
Be a smart shopper though: Are you paying a higher sticker price for a fancy name brand? Or will a tent from a lesser-known company provide the same durability and quality? Be sure to understand the specs (volume, material, weight) and read reviews for livable space and setup tips before buying. You can often save money without sacrificing too much in the way of construction quality.
Tent Weight Explained
Even small 2 person tents can be one of the heaviest items in your backpack. As such, it’s a great place to save a ton of weight. For a freestanding tent, you are carrying a tent body, a tent fly, poles, and stakes. But! Pairs of hikers can often split up a tent to distribute the weight. For freestanding tents, it’s easy to divide the fly and tent body, and choose who carries the poles. Most hikers should aim for carrying no more than 2.5 pounds of shelter weight per person (and those going ultralight backpacking might aim for 1.5 pounds or less per person).
Packaged Weight vs Minimum Weight
When comparing small 2 persons tents online, you’ll see references to packed weight and minimum weight (or trail weight) on many manufacturers and retailers sites. This buyers guide always refers to minimum/trail weight, FYI.
Packed weight is referring to how much the entire tent package weighs when you purchase it, including tent body, fly, poles, stakes, guy lines, compression sacks or stuff sacks, footprint, and anything else included in the package. Basically, how much it weighs when it shows up at your door.
Minimum trail weight can vary in what it’s referencing, but typically means the weight of the tent body, fly, and poles. This allows for easy comparison between models. You’ll likely need stakes and some guy lines as well and may wish to carry a stuff sack. Assume the actual weight of what you’ll be carrying is somewhere between minimum weight and packaged weight — but with good stakes, closer to the minimum weight.
Interior Space: Floor Area, Peak Height, and Walls
Interior space (or “livable” space) means the space you’ll be sleeping in, changing clothes in, and ultimately will be able to determine how comfortable you’ll be existing in this space, whether or not you share it with another person. The steepness of the walls and peak height of the roof also contribute livable space.
A wall with a slant from floor to peak means less shoulder room, while a tent with a spreader bar across the top and more vertical walls equates to more shoulder space and sitting-up space without hitting yourself on the steeply pitched walls.
The standard floor area for small 2 person tents (square footage) is a good starting point for estimating the “livable area” but it’s far from telling the whole story. For example, two tents with the same floor area can have dramatically different amounts of livable area. Increasing the height of the tent and adding top spreader bar(s) and/or pre-bent poles can make tent walls more vertical.
Combined, these design changes significantly increase livable area making it far more pleasant to spend time in the tent. For example the Big Agnes Copper Spur has a famously excellent livable area, despite having a minimalist 28 sq ft floor plan.
Number of Doors & Vestibules for Small 2 Person Tents
For small 2 person tents, having two doors is critical. This eliminates crawling all over one another for midnight bathroom breaks, and gives each person their own side and their own private vestibule for external storage. We have moved away from recommending single-door tents, as we feel they massively detract from the user experience when two campers share a tent.
Two doors also give you are better ventilation options and is widely considered to be preferable, even for a small 2 person tent.
Storage: Vestibules and Interior Pockets
Having a larger vestibule doesn’t just mean more space: it means you can save the inside of your tent from getting drenched with wet gear on rainy outings. The more space you have in a vestibule, the more you can leave your soaked gear outside while still having it be protected.
Look for vestibules with at least 7 ft2. For small 2 person tents with lower interior space, we view having two vestibules as critical.
While interior pockets aren’t necessary, they are really nice for organizing small items such as headlamps, ear plugs, small electronics, and other items that can get lost in piles of gear at night. A pocket or two at the head of the tent for quick access is great. We also love an overhead pocket can make a nice place to have a headlamp turned on to illuminate the entire shelter before you go to sleep.
Durability (Denier)
“Denier” is the term used to describe the thickness of the tent fibers. One strand = 1 denier. So a 20-denier (or 20D) fabric has 2/3 the density of a 30D fabric. Many tents will have a higher-denier fabric on the floor of the tent vs. the wall. Durability in material matters too. For instance, Big Agnes new 15x20D fabric is surprisingly strong, even if its thin.
Regardless of price and quality, if the denier of your tent walls and tent floor go down, the durability goes down too, and the tent is more prone to ripping or punctures. Tent floors are the most prone to damage. Most Small 2 person tents in this guide have reinforced floors to some degree, but we still recommend using a footprint unless the floor has a denier above 50.
Our preferred footprint for small 2 person tents is the ultralight Gossamer Gear polycryo ground cloth.
Ventilation for small 2 person tents
Condensation management and ventilation is important to take into consideration when choosing between small 2 person tents. Some models and styles vent better than others, but it also has to do with how you set your tent up and your site location.
All of the tents in this guide are double walled double doored, and most even have vents, so you should be safe choosing any one of them.
Opening a door or vents will help prevent condensation buildup, as will choosing a high, dry campsite. Venting your tent helps prevent condensation buildup because the flow of air helps move water vapor outside of the tent. The warm air inside is continually pushed out, replaced by cooler air, and helps keep the temperature equal (or as equal as possible) inside and outside the tent.
What is a freestanding tent?
Freestanding small 2 person tents are the “classic,” full-featured, easy-to-pitch tents most are familiar with. Once you insert the poles, freestanding tents can stand on their own without being staked out, with or without the rain fly.
Freestanding tents are also double walled, having both an inner tent with breathable fabric walls, mosquito netting and bathtub floor, and separate outer rain fly (waterproof fabric).
This allows you to avoid setting up the fly for better views and ventilation when it’s not raining. And when you do have the rain fly up and it begins to condense, the walls of the inner tent keeps you and your gear away from brushing the fly’s wet inner surface.
The downside is that some of these tents are heavier than non-freestanding and/or single walled tents, which are significantly lighter weight.
Why you should still try to stake out freestanding tents
“Freestanding” is a bit misleading, and does not necessarily mean that you do not need to stake out these tents. In reality, it is a good idea to stake out any tent or shelter, freestanding or not. While the main body (less rain fly) of a freestanding tent will stand on its own without stakes, it is still better to stake it out.
We have seen more than a few un-staked tents blow a considerable distance in strong winds, sometimes resulting in tent damage and lost gear (thus our recommendation to find a good campsite that avoids exposure to strong winds).
And if you add a rainfly over your freestanding tent you will need to stake out the vestibules. And most important, you will always get a better/bigger/tauter and much stronger pitch if you stakeout the corners and other points as necessary.
Freestanding tents do have an advantage for Leave No Trace. When the winds are light, you can pitch them on hard, durable surfaces such as solid rock with a minimum of anchor points (although you may need to use a few rocks to anchor things like the vestibule tie-outs). In high winds and at an exposed campsite, this is not a good idea.
In comparison, non-freestanding tents usually use your trekking poles to support them and need to be staked out be fully pitched. The advantage is usually a big savings in weight and can also lower cost as well.
Tent Poles and Stakes
Sturdy, lightweight stakes make pitching small 2 person tents faster and more secure. It’s not a bad idea to replace the stakes your tent came with, as manufacturers often supply cheap ones.
For pitching in rocky ground and other difficult areas, we prefer inexpensive but bomber AnyGear 7075 Aluminum Tent Stakes.
They have only a single notch at the head, making them extremely resistant to bending and damage when pounding in with a rock. And they have a pre-attached cord to make them easier to pull out. ‘Y’ stakes have greater holding power than most stakes so they’ll hold your tent more securely.
They also have multiple notch heights to accomodate not being able to pound your stake all of the way in when the ground is rocky or rooted.
Freestanding small 2 person tents always come with their own set of poles, usually collapsible single-hub or double-hub. Both styles will be hollow poles of varying weight, material, and durability, with elastic holding them together. A single-hub pole set will unfold and snap together with one central cross-point.
Other models have a separate spreader bar or other components you’ll have to attach and configure. Tarptents and single-wall shelters utilize trekking poles for structure and stability, but some have a roof spreader bar for more shoulder room and interior space.
Footprints and Tent Care
When storing your tent, it’s imperative to make sure the tent is clean and entirely dry. Don’t crumple it into a stuff sack, rather fold it carefully and store it flat to help prevent degradation of waterproofing and seam sealing.
If your small 2 person tents floor is 40D or better, then you can likely skip a footprint or Polycro sheet altogether. It’s durable enough if you pitch it carefully. On the other hand, many lighter tents and single-wall tents have 20D or even 15D floors. In this case, you should seriously consider protecting it with a footprint or Polycro sheet.
We recommend skipping the manufacturer’s footprint. Instead, use a 3.5 oz Polycro Footprint to protect the floor of very light tent floors. We recommend putting a $11 Gossamer Gear Polycro Footprint.
This multilayer, cross-linked polyolefin film weighs less than 4 oz and is much stronger and more durable than the typical painter’s plastic sheet you’d get at a hardware store. It’s also ~ 1/2 the weight and 12% the cost of a footprint from the tent manufacturer.
It should last a full season of use. When it starts to wear it can easily be replaced by another $11 footprint.
