We're talking about lightweight backpacking tents here! If weight and packability aren't your two most important criteria, then you'll get more for the price in the family camp category. If you're backpacking, hiking into a tent-only site, or considering any use where space and weight are at a premium, then we have compiled the best 4-person backpacking tents on the market.

These tents are great for families but will also save groups of backpackers weight over the equivalent number of 2-person or 1-person tents (i.e. a 4-person tent can be lighter than 4 x 1-person tents). Four-person tents are also a great option to share among 3 people and get more elbow room. Another advantage of the 4-person category is that generally you get a taller peak height (think headroom) than their smaller counterparts.

Important features of 4-person backpacking tents

Are you willing to sacrifice some convenience to shave ounces off your load, or is usability more important? Let's look at features that can help with your decision. Your intended use will determine which are most important.

Doors

Consider that there are doors on both the rainfly and the tent body. Starting with the obvious, you really want two doors on a tent this size to avoid crawling over three sleepers when you answer a nighttime nature call. There are a couple other not-so-obvious features to think about.

The first is shape. Your rainfly has stakeout points to create a vestibule (the area outside the tent body but under the rainfly where you can store packs and other gear). Commonly you'll find a straight zipper on the opening of the rainfly with a single stakeout point, like on the Big Agnes Blacktail 4 and Sierra Designs Meteor 4. The Marmot Tungsten 4, on the other hand, has a D-shaped door on the fly, which retains more vestibule space when unzipped and makes ingress/egress easier in the rain. The Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL4 likewise has a unique feature with dual zippers on the rainfly allowing you to extend an awning off the vestibule, propped up with trekking poles.

The door shape can vary on tent bodies as well, providing for different size openings and methods for rolling up the door when open to keep it out of the way. Lastly, we want to call out zipper size. This probably isn't top of mind, but realize that ultralight tents like the Copper Spur HV come with zippers as small as a #5, where other tents may go as big as a #8. The smaller zippers save weight but tend to be more delicate and can require more thoughtful operation. 

It's all about doors

Dimensions, size, and shape

Our next considerations are the dimensions and shape of the tent. The key metrics here are floor area (measured in square feet), floor dimensions, and peak height. Beyond these, take a look at the shape of the tent. Some tents, like the Klymit Maxfield 4, have a sloping ceiling that is lower than the peak on one end, with the intention that all sleepers have their heads on the same end of the tent. The others in our list, like the MSR Elixir 4, were chosen partly because they provide consistent height across the ceiling. Taking the dimensions and shape together gives a good sense of how roomy the tent is going to feel. 

Pro tip: The packed dimensions of a tent tell you size when in the included stuff sack. The length of the packed tent is dictated by the pole set. If you have a carrying constraint (for example bike or moto panniers), then pay special attention to the pole set length. You can split up the body and fly to pack how you like, but the poles aren't getting any shorter.

Materials

Without overcomplicating this topic, what you want to understand is that generally ultralight tents use lighter and more technical fabrics. Fabric denier measures the thickness of individual threads. It is a common mistake to equate this to durability. Many other factors will determine how durable a fabric is, such as the material used and, more important, the construction.

A great example is the proprietary ultralight double ripstop mixed denier nylon, featuring a solution-dyed ripstop grid that is found on Big Agnes Copper Spur HV tents. The proprietary weave and double-ripstop allows BA to offer a high-quality and durable ultralight fabric.

Just as important, the solution-dying process greatly reduces the water required during manufacturing and provides for a high level of UV resistance. That said, you still need to be more careful with technical ultralight tents. Ultralight fabrics and smaller zippers require care during use.

Again, we want to encourage you to consider your intended use and make a decision that is going to give you the best overall experience. If you're hiking in to a camping spot less than a mile from the car, then an ultralight, technical tent may not be the best fit. For the gram counters out there, however, we're excited to see continued development in the 4-person backpacking tent category.

The Specs