Camping Editor Iain Duff looks at a selection of poled tents for your next camping adventures
Top tips and expert advice from the Camping team
Inflatable tents might have become the dominant variant as far as family camping is concerned, but there are lots of campers who still prefer the traditional pole construction.
For many years, the vast majority of tents – whether small adventure tents or huge family models – used poles of one sort or another. Wood then steel were the most common until lighter materials such as fibreglass became popular in the 1980s.
As inflatable tents grew in popularity during the 2010s, poles looked as if they might disappear altogether. But there is a significant number of campers who prefer the old-school construction and the good news is that there are still loads of options out there for them – including some of the best tents currently on the market.
Every style of tent is available with poles, from tiny one-man backpacking tents to vast eight-berth family pods and tunnel tents. Traditional poled tents have two, three or four fibreglass, steel or alloy poles to provide the shape and structure.
The poles attach to the flysheet through sleeves sewn into the fabric and plastic clips are used to keep them secure. Colour-coded poles that match with tags on the flysheet sleeves make sure that you put the right pole in the right sleeve, which makes pitching much easier.
The disadvantage of poled tents is that they can take longer to pitch than inflatable tents and large models will usually need at least two people to put them up. On the other hand, they tend to be lighter and less bulky than inflatables when they are packed away, so are easier to carry and transport in the car.
Steel poled tents offer more stability than fibreglass in bad weather, but they are much heavier, especially if the fabric is polycotton rather than polyester.
Poled tents are currently significantly cheaper than their inflatable equivalent so they can be a better option for families on a tight budget.
OUTWELL YOSEMITE LAKE 6TC
The new Yosemite Lake from Outwell takes poled tents to another level – from the lavish technical cotton fabric to the silent, magnetic doors, this is sheer luxury. And when you see it pitched on a campsite in the sunshine, it takes your breath away.
The five-berth 5TC was already a winner in the 2022 Camping magazine awards and it turns out its bigger brother, the 6TC, is just as magnificent.
For those who prefer poles over air, this is a real treat. As our awards judges said about the 5TC, the Yosemite Lake is possibly the best poled tent we have seen for years.
