I was looking ALL OVER for a smaller tent that had a screen-room vestibule big enough to put a couple of chairs in. After going to three stores I finally ended up buying an 8-person tent in order to get the feature. Because it is a larger tent it is not included in this tent review / comparison. I set it up in my backyard the first day and it was such a pain in the butt to put up that I sent it back and settled for a tent that didn't have the screen vestible.

The tent that I ended up getting is the Columbia Bugaboo, a four-to-five-person tent without a vestibule. I must say that I am extremely happy with it, and buying a separate screen room to set up on hot/muggy days provides me with the missing feature. At only $130 this tent is a fantastic buy! It is made by Columbia, so you can pretty much guarantee that it is going to be high-quality with rain-proof seems, tub floors, and lots of ventilation. I like the shoe-doors on either side of the rain-fly area, but it annoys me that these merely just go into the tent, rather than into a separate area. The tent comes with some tarp-material with clips that you put around the inside where those little doors are, but they don't keep dirt from shoes from getting into the rest of the tent. If you seen one set up, you'll know what I mean. But suffice it to say that putting a little box in there (we use a plastic tub that we carry camping equipment in, takes care of the problem and having the doors there is REALLY handy on muddy days! This tent also comes with a remote-control light and if you remember to bring it this can be very handy. The rain fly comes over pretty far and the sides come out so it's almost like having a vestibule. This is THE tent to have for anyone in a hot environment where tents can quickly become ovens. I've never had a tent with so much ventilation, and the vents have their own little rain covers so water stays OUT while allowing fresh air to come IN. Overall, it's a great quality tent for a super cheap price. That's why I gave it the editor's choice, and that's why I have one sitting in my garage this very moment.

Had I done some more searching before buying the Bugaboo I would have found the Kelty Green River 4 Tent at $250, which has everything I wanted in a tent: Easy for one person to set up, plenty of room, and an optional screened-in vestibule large enough for two people in chairs and a fat English bulldog to sit in comfortably. However, for the price I'm not sure I would have gone with it. Is an extra $120 more than the Columbia Bugaboo and about $100 more than the Coleman Rangeview worth it for an even smaller tent? I guess that depends on how bad you want a screened vestibule. At the time, I wanted it BADLY, so who knows... I might have spent the extra dough.

I saved an extra space here to discuss tents by Alpine Design, the generic Sports Authority brand. You can get buy one of these things for about $75 (they sell 2-persons for as low as $25) but let me say You Get What You Pay For. In this case, you probably get even less. I ended up buying one as a second tent to have just in case my nephews were in town or something. My friend used it on a recent trip and I finally got to see the thing set up. It was the cheapest-made piece of crap I've ever seen: The stitching on the seams was coming out, the fabric was paper-thin, the poles wouldn't stay up without being spiked into the ground, and when it rained there was water all over the floor. You know what "tub flooring" does in a tent like this? Instead of keeping water OUT, it keeps all of the water that leaks in from the seams and ceiling IN. In other words, you end up sleeping in a bathtub filled with 2 inches of water. Our reviews are usually very fact-oriented and emotionless but I'll make an exception here: DO NOT EVER BUY AN ALPINE DESIGN TENT - EVER! It gets our low rating of two stars. We would have given it only one, but if it weren't for the very cheap price.