What is the Best 3-Person Tent Under $100?

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Camping tents designed for three campers can range from $25 to over $350, depending on the brand, features, quality, etc.

And while you typically get what you pay for, you can find quality tents with many of the features you’ll need for under 100 bucks.

Below, I reviewed and compared three of the best budget 3-person tents under $100 that I felt offered the best value.

Comparison Chart

Product Image	Description / Award
Top Pick	Coleman Sundome Tent Award: Best Overall	Buy on Amazon
	Weanas Professional Backpacking Tent Award: Best For Backpacking	Buy on Amazon
	Forceatt 2-3 Person Camping Tent Award: Best Four-Season Tent	Buy on Amazon

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1. Coleman Sundome Tent

• Best Overall Choice

Coleman is an American heritage outdoor brand with roots tracing back to 1900. They started out making gas lanterns, but in the 1960s, they ventured into tents and other camping equipment. 

It is only fair that my top choice for the best 3-person tent under $100 comes from a reputable manufacturer with an immense tradition of producing quality outdoor goods.

I failed to find a tent that offered a better combination of build quality, easy setup, portability, weatherproofing, and value during testing.

The Coleman Sundome Tent line is a series of budget tents offering a sleeping capacity of two to six people, depending on the model. As you might have guessed from the title of this review, my model of choice is the 3-person option. It has a spacious 7 x 7 ft sleeping area and a ceiling height of 4 feet 4 inches. This tent will easily sleep three people without feeling crowded.

It features sturdy build quality with lightweight and durable aluminum poles. This tent should last for years. Even better, it only took us around 10 minutes to set it up without any issues. Coleman ensured that even those new to the outdoors were up to the task.

With a rainfly installed right from the factory and Coleman’s trademark WeatherTec technology, the Sundome Tent provides excellent weather protection. Although the rainfly doesn’t cover the entire tent, its tarp-like bottom prevents water from leaking through the inner layer.

Inverted seams and zipper cuffs provide additional weatherproofing. With this 3-person tent, you’ll stay dry no matter how much Mother Nature rains on your parade. The frame should also be fine in winds up to 35 miles per hour—plenty for what most of us are comfortable camping in. On top of its quality design, Coleman added storage options on the tent’s inner sides to keep your gear and equipment accessible and safe from the weather.

Other features include large windows and a floor vent, which provide superior breathability for warm days. It even has an E-port for extension cords if you need to bring power inside the tent.

Overall, I’m impressed that a sub-$100 tent checked all the boxes, some of which more expensive options fail to. That’s why it took the top spot as the best 3-person tent under $100.

Coleman Sundome Tent

Price:

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2. Weanas Professional Backpacking Tent

• Best For Backpacking

If you’re a backpacker, you need to be able to stay mobile and explore nature at your fancy—you can’t have a heavy tent weighing you down. You also need something easy to set up, even if it means sacrificing extra space or features, especially if you’re looking for a budget tent.

Many of you might recognize Weanas as an online sporting and outdoor goods retailer, but very few know about their branded products. Weanas’ Professional Backpacking Tent is a fantastic lightweight solution for backpackers, weighing just 4.8 pounds packed. The sleeping area is 80 x 63 inches, with a 45-inch ceiling. 

On the downside, due to its ultra-portable design, the Weanas Professional Backpacking Tent might get crowded on a long trip with three people plus their gear. While it might not be suitable for longer trips due to minimal storage room, it is ideal for backpackers on weekend adventures or one to two campers on longer trips.

Weanas made sure that the weather won’t be an issue with this tent, too, providing a 201T polyester with PU coating rainfly, 201T polyester and breathable nylon mesh inner tent, and 150D Anti-Tear Oxford cloth floor. The rainfly has a 4,000 mm waterproof rating, while the floor rates at 5,000 mm.

The tent’s setup and takedown are a single-person operation that only takes about five minutes, so you don’t have to worry about getting caught in a storm. Weanas included plenty of ventilation for warm days and a hook for a lamp/lantern as an additional feature.

Overall, it is hard to argue against choosing the Weanas’ Professional Backpacking Tent. Weanas delivers on premium material and build quality, creating an ultraportable tent for backpackers for a fraction of the price of comparable options. Sure, you don’t get much in terms of features and accessories, and the space in the tent is limited, but no other budget 3-person tent can compete on the essentials where this tent shines.

Weanas Professional Backpacking Tent

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3. Forceatt 2-3 Person Camping Tent

• Best Four-Season Tent

The first two tents on the list are versatile tents focused on waterproofing but offer little protection for winter use. Winter camping and backpacking are entirely different experiences. The temperatures can be brutal, so protecting the people inside the tent from snow and high winds is challenging.

Forceatt is far from a well-known brand in the sporting and outdoor goods market segment. They mainly produce budget-oriented equipment that is always on sale. Given that, I wasn’t expecting much from this tent.

Putting together a proper four-season tent that can withstand the elements is challenging. Doing it at less than $100 is downright miraculous.

The Forceatt 2-3 Person Camping Tent is the only option I would feel comfortable taking on a winter camping trip. Four-season tents need extra insulation and a more robust frame/build quality to stay dry and warm, and Forceatt delivers. 

The frame is sturdy while remaining lightweight. Four-season tents tend to be heavy, yet the Forceatt Camping Tent weighs only 6.6 lbs. when packed. Additionally, they didn’t cut any corners to save on production costs and used heavy-duty zippers and attachments for longevity.

Coupled with high-quality 70D polyester with 200T PU coating for the outer tent to provide superior weatherproofing and insulation, there’s nothing budget about this 3-person tent’s build quality. A 3,000 mm waterproof rating should be enough to weather you through winter storms. The rainfly covers every inch of the tent, and along with the welded floor design, you should stay dry.

When pitched, the tent has an aerodynamic design and additional supports to provide stability in high-wind situations. You can use the heavy-duty zippers to close off all windows and vents for complete wind protection in heavy storms. The setup takes a bit longer than the other products on this list, which is understandable due to additional support.

Overall, Forceatt’s 2-3 Person Camping Tent gives you the confidence and support to hit the trails year-round. Being able to say that about a sub-$100 tent is already a massive achievement for Forceatt.

Forceatt 2-3 Person Camping Tent

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What to Look For in a Budget 3-Person Tent

Unless you’re a seasoned outdoorsman and have gone through plenty of tents, you might not know what to look for when buying the best tent for your needs.

To make sure you buy the right tent the first time around, here are the most important features to consider.

Sleeping Capacity

The first question you should ask yourself is which tent size fits your needs. Manufacturers produce everything from single-person tents that are little more than sleeping-bag sized to large units that can fit up to 10 people.

Make sure to look for a tent that off of extra room to fit your gear as well. I recommend adding one more person to your actual headcount, maybe more if you have a large camping party.

Even though some manufacturers mark their tents as “2-3 person,” read that as two people comfortably, three people max, and plan accordingly. These units are usually something in between the standard sizes, and having a bit too much space is much better than not having enough.

Seasonality

You also have to consider how much time you plan to spend in the great outdoors. Are you a recreational outdoorsman who waits for the warm weather to camp, or are you an outdoor enthusiast always looking for adventures, regardless of the weather?

Tents usually come in three seasonality categories. Two-season tents are only suitable for warm weather use and have lightweight, mesh-like materials that provide ventilation to keep you cool while staying in them. Three-season tents offer the flexibility to hit the trails during the fall and protect you from heavy rain. Finally, four-season tents have superior insulation and weatherproofing to protect you from snow, high winds, and low temperatures.

A three-season tent is an excellent choice for beginners, and it should provide you dry shelter in the vast majority of camping conditions—or at least camping conditions most of us are willing to stick it out in.

Tent Shape

Tent designs and shapes have changed quite a bit throughout history. Traditionally, A-frame (like pup tents) and teepee designs dominated the market, but an evolution in materials and aerodynamics has pushed the dome or boulder design to the industry’s forefront.

Dome tents provide campers with needed space while maintaining a low aerodynamic profile that helps with windproofing and water resistance. You can still find other types of tents, but they are usually in the form of long-term or novelty shelters.

Construction

Wood and steel were once the materials of choice for a tent’s frame, as they provided the necessary support for the tent walls. As you can imagine, this made the tents heavy and challenging to carry. Over time, aluminum emerged as a tent frame material since it is a robust yet lightweight alternative to steel.

Modern tents use aluminum pipes as the frame pieces, cutting down the tent’s overall weight and improving portability. When choosing a tent, pay attention to the attachments and mounts on the tent walls. A robust frame won’t help if the tent walls are not secure and firm.

Tent Fabrics And Materials

Natural canvas materials dominated the industry in the early years. They were cheap, easy to access, and provided reliable protection from the elements. And they make great, breathable, well-insulated tents.

With that said, canvas tents are heavy and are prone to mold and mildew growth/

Artificial materials like polyester are the foundation of modern tent walls. They are incredibly lightweight yet provide improved performance and weatherproofing compared to canvas. Additionally, heavy-duty polyester has anti-tear properties, making it robust and durable.

So, the tent material you choose depends on what you’re looking for and how you plan to use your tent.

Waterproofing

Being exposed to the elements in nature is no fun. A dry shelter is a must for those who like to camp during the rainy season. Materials used for the tent’s outer walls or rainfly are usually polyester blends with a specific waterproof rating, expressed in thousands of millimeters.

For example, in the tent specifications, you may see that the outer tent is a 70D polyester with a 220T coating for a 3,000 mm waterproof rating. It means that this tent can stay leakproof under the pressure of a 3-meter water column. The higher the rating, the better waterproofing the tent will offer.

Portability

When hiking or camping, you will need to carry plenty of gear and equipment with you, and your tent is just a part of it. The weight and size of a packed tent play an essential role in its practicality and functionality. Modern materials like polyester and aluminum revolutionized the tent design, and now there are plenty of lightweight and portable tents on the market. 

Anything below 5 pounds of packed weight is a lightweight tent that should not be an issue to drag around on the trail. There are also ultra-lightweight tents that can weigh as little as 2 pounds. Be careful when buying those, as they usually come with a compromise, such as a lack of features, storage space, or less weatherproofing.

Ultra-lightweight tents are mostly for backpackers who don’t expect to spend a long time in them. Most mainstream tents fall in the 5-to-7-pound range, including accessories such as vestibules, rain fly, etc.

Gear Storage

Having storage while camping is crucial. You want your gear and supplies to stay dry so that you can use them outdoors. Most modern tents have designated storage areas like vestibules or pockets sewn into the inner tent walls. Estimate how much gear space you will need and choose a tent appropriately.

Tent Setup

The absolute last thing you want to do outdoors is to spend hours pitching a tent. It could be downright dangerous if you are facing bad weather.

Choosing a tent that features a quick, single-person setup is preferred. It’s even more important if you don’t have a lot of camping experience.

Tents that take under 10 minutes to pitch are the sweet spot, with some instant tents taking less than 60 seconds to set up!