What Is A Pop Up Tent And Features It Should Have?

Camping and tent are intimate to such an extent that they are almost incomplete without each other. Without a quality tent, your camping experience may not be as expected.

Traditional tents often offer a few disadvantages that might affect your camping. The tent fabric often gets jerky with the poles, sometimes you may find it difficult to measure the pole length or the problem may emerge with the tent stake design.

What if I say that all these problems can easily be solved by a pop-up tent? Here the question may arise in one’s mind “What is a pop up tent?”

Well, this article is dedicated to answering this question in detail to let you know everything necessary about a pop up tent.

So, let’s get started!

What Is A Pop Up Tent?

A Pop Up tent is an instant setup tent that reduces all your burden and can be simply thrown on the ground to form a full-fledged tent.

Almost all the Pop Up tents take between 10-60 seconds to be exploded. Isn’t it great and free of hassle?

Pop Up tents are a great choice for camping starters. The quicker setup sounds pretty cool, thanks to the fabricated flexible frame that allows it to extend much quicker compared to the traditional tents.

To simplify, open the pop up tent bag, get rid of the bag and throw the tent into the air and the result is a fully formed ‘POP’ shaped tent.

Well, all the advantages of a canopy tent discussed above sound just pretty nice, doesn’t it? Don’t be overwhelmed with excitement and rush to buy a pop-up tent if you are a newbie and don’t have enough knowledge about a pop-up tent.

These types of tents are not as lightweight compared to the backpacking tents, also they are not that resistant to bad weather conditions and the durability is also not good enough.

So, keep all these things in your mind before you opt to buy a pop-up tent.

How Does A Pop Up Tent Work?

pop up tent setting

Pop up tents are constructed with a pre-connected frame. An umbrella can be the best example where the frame is connected to the fabric.

So you just remove the tent bag, gently undo the straps holding the tent together and finally shake it to form a fully expanded pop up tent.

Obviously, this is the fastest and simplest way to set up a tent. When it comes to folding the tent you can follow the below steps:

Step 1: First of all, the two top points of the tent need to be brought together.

Step 2: Secondly, the back end is to be folded to the middle point.

Step 3: Now, grab the front arch simultaneously to meet the other points.

Step 4: Keep your tent upright and slowly fold it inwards.

Step 5: Twist and fold the tent slowly.

Features That Make A ‘Pop Up Tent’ Great

pop up tent features

As a camping enthusiast, you certainly need the best tent that comes with quality and aid in ushering joy to your camping experience but if you don’t know which features make a tent great you will surely be in a conundrum.

This section discusses the key features to look into while buying a tent.

Protective From Weather Conditions

You cannot just believe the weather conditions whatever the forecast is while you are camping out in the wild.

Even if the sun is burning you never know when the wind emerges to damage all your hard-prepared camping essentials.

So, to add protection to your camping planning you must look for a pop up tent that is waterproof. There are plenty of options available and you can choose one from them.

Lightweight Feature

An additional key attribute that makes a pop up tent great is its lightweight feature. A lightweight tent can easily be carried with you (especially when you are on a hiking or camping trip).

Size

Although there is criticism on pop up tents for not being able to provide space for many people, still there are pop up tent sizes that can incorporate 2-6 people.

Even if you are a large group planning for a camping trip you can easily go for the canopy tents by increasing the tent number.

Fabric Material

While sleeping in a pop up tent at night, it’s important that the air gets entry into your tent to create a more comfortable ambience.

Pop Up tents offer a small ventilation system and also include some mesh windows that attract air to make your camping experience great, particularly at night.

Key Differences Between A Regular And A Pop-Up Tent

Setup Time

The key difference remains in setting the pop-up tent. A regular tent because of its physical appearance needs extra time for setup.

On the other hand, as mentioned earlier a pop-up tent is much faster in setup time.

After spending a whole camping day hiking, when you return to the base all tired, you don’t need to put much effort into setting up a pop up tent.

Price

The difference range is not that much regarding the price.

As regular tents have occupied the marketplace for many decades and are well known, so the price is a bit more affordable compared to the pop up tents, but still, it’s not a matter of concern.

You can easily avail a quality pop up tent for under $100. The quality and comfort a pop up tent offers are immeasurable to the price.

Pop Up Tent FAQs

What Key Features Do Pop Up Tents Lack Compared To Regular Tents?

A pop up tent lacks features like a tent vestibule, rainfly, and even larger sizes are not always found in this version.

Be happy to know that the newest brands of pop-up tents are eager to gain these attributes but it may need a little bit of time.

What Is The Best Use Of A Pop Up Tent?

Pop up tents are a great choice if you have a plan for one of the following:

  • Family or Friends camping.
  • People looking for an affordable tent.
  • Those who want to hang out on occasions and festivals.
  • And, it’s always wise for campers to keep themselves as lightweight as they can.

What Are The Few Buying Tips For A Pop Up Tent?

You will be able to buy a pop up tent from almost all the local tent selling stores.

However, if you are asking for recommendations for quality pop up tent shops, I would like to suggest a few names like Backcountry, REI, Eastern Mountain Sports, etc.

Be advised to give a check to your tent while buying, read the reviews and try to learn about the pop up tents.

You can look for online videos as they provide quality reviews for pop up tents.

Conclusion

Now as you know ‘what is a pop up tent’, you can decide whether you really want to have one for your next camping trip or not.

But to be very honest, if you love camping, you ought to love pop-up tents. A quality pop-up camping tent can add more vibration to your camping experience.

Camping enthusiasts most frequently get concerned about the shelter setup. So, if you want a hassle-free, easy, and rapid tent setup then pop-up tents are the best option for you.

Make sure to give a check to your preferred pop-up tent so that the camping goes on as smoothly as possible.

Photo of author

Fred Hoffman

Hey, I'm Fred Hoffman, founder of The True Wilderness. I've been exploring nature since I could walk, and my passion for it never ends. My mission is to show people that there's more to life than just the city. There's a whole world of beauty waiting for them out there, and I hope to inspire as many people as possible to get out and explore. I love to share the experience I've gathered throughout my life to make everyone's outdoor adventure smooth and enjoyable.

Leave a Comment

Disclosure

TheTrueWilderness.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.