Cabela's Orion 2

Main Story: The Best Budget Two-Person Tents

Livability

3.0/5: This tent has a split personality. A large, 35-square-foot floor and 42-inch peak height make it plenty roomy. “We rode out a storm while playing cards, and the two of us—plus our dog—had enough space that we didn’t go stir crazy,” said one tester after a nasty bout of weather near Silverton, Colorado. But that’s the inside. A single side door and one of the tiniest vestibules we tested (7.6 square feet) had our testers struggling to exit the tent while climbing over their gear.

Weatherproofing

4.4/5: Our testers easily rode out a storm on Colorado’s 10,276-foot Cameron Pass. “The sloping walls and crossed pole structure made for a sturdy pitch in high winds, and the tent never sagged even though we got pelted with 2 inches of hail,” one says. Thanks to two fly vents and a mesh canopy, the Orion ventilates well: There was only minor condensation after a snowy night with two people and a dog jammed inside.

Features

3.0/5: You get two small storage pockets (one on each side) and an average gear loft, but that’s it. Minimalist design is the tradeoff at this rock-bottom price.

Durability

2.9/5: The Orion’s 40-denier no-see-um mesh began to pill after just nine nights of camping. “The pilling diminished the mesh’s see-through quality, which is a bummer when it makes up so much of the tent body,” reports our Colorado team.