Tents Four Person

A four-person rating describes floor space, not comfort. It is worked out from bodies laid side by side with nothing else in the tent, which is why so many families end up buying a six-person model for four people. The honest way to judge it is arithmetic: an adult on a sleeping mat takes 50 to 60cm of width. Divide the floor width by the number of people and you have your answer before you order.

Every listing here gives the three dimensions, so you can do that division yourself. Where the geometry does not support the name on the box, the listing says so.

What is actually on this shelf

Five of these tents give four adults a real 50cm or more each, and the widest reaches 260cm. Two work out at around 37cm per person, which is three sleepers rather than four, and their listings say exactly that. One is a single-wall tipi with no groundsheet, no inner and no pole supplied. None of that is hidden in a footnote.

Hydrostatic head, and whose figure it is

Where a maker publishes a hydrostatic head we print it and say it is theirs. The spread here runs from 1000mm to 3000mm, and that difference is the difference between a passing shower and a wet night. We do not test tents, so we will not tell you one was proved in four hours of rain. Read the figure, not the adjective.

Pop-ups pitch fast and fold slowly

Several of these tents open themselves in about ten seconds, which is genuinely useful in driving rain. The trade is at the other end of the trip: folding a sprung frame back into its bag is the part people complain about, and no amount of practice makes it as quick as the pitch. If that would annoy you, take a pole tent instead.

Delivery and returns

UK delivery is free. Orders are processed within 3 to 5 business days and arrive within 10 to 20 business days. Returns or exchange within 30 days of delivery, unused and in original condition, approved before being sent back, with the refund issued within 7 days of acceptance. Return postage is paid by the customer.