In search of: The Best Ground Tents

[Normal Thomas]

Check out Spring Bar Tents. 4 season tents, very roomy, very comfortable. They are not my style but my hunting friends love them. Pretty fast setup too.

Springbar

Home of Jack Kirkham's Original Canvas Tent Designs. Tent Makers in Salt Lake City, Utah since 1961.

springbarcanvas.com

Kodiak is the other tent they like, They look the same.

Kodiak Canvas Camping Tents and Camping Gear

Kodiak Canvas manufactures and sells high-quality canvas tents, sleeping bags and other camping gear. Kodiak Canvas tents and gear will take your family camping adventure to a whole new level! We are all about car or truck camping and base camping - if you're looking for backpacking tents, look...

www.kodiakcanvas.com

I live in SLC and have looked at both of these tents and really like them. Plenty of storage, temp control is much better than most tents, can stand up to change clothes and the price is pretty good. The Kodiak has the option of side windows which I really like and I can get one (10'x14') for $550 local. Only thing setting me back is if I really need the 10x14 or if I should stick with a 10x10. Decisions decisions

 

[roots66]

Kodiak Canvas.
Have never looked back.

 

[ajbell]

Another vote for the Kodiak :)

 

[Snowburb]

I live in Utah and am familiar with both Springbar and Kodiak. Here's the deal. Kodiak is the same design as the Springbar, with minor improvements, but with slightly lower quality canvas and zippers. From what I was told by a Kirkham's (the maker of the Springbar product) employee who has been there for a couple of decades, Kirkham's inadvertently let the patent on its Springbar design lapse, which was noticed by an enterprising employee who made a few improvements on the basic design, such as ventilation windows, etc. and found a factory in China to manufacture the improved design but using slightly less robust canvas and zippers to cut costs. It is still a great tent but will last several decades? Time will tell. I own both Kodiak and Springbar tents and like them both. One of my Springbars I have been using since the mid-70s and it is still in excellent shape, after repairing a few issues. Both tents far superior to most tents that you can buy at say Walmart. Personally, I prefer Springbar because they are still made by hand in Salt Lake City by people who have been making them for decades and are familiar with every aspect of them, can answer questions, make repairs and are even open to modifications. In my experience, Kodiak's customer service policy is different and more in line with distributors of other products mass-manufactured in China and imported by a distributor. If there is an issue they just encourage you to buy another Kodiak tent, considering the original purchase as a disposable item. The Springbar tent is more of an investment that you can pass down to your grandkids.

 

[Normal Thomas]

I live in Utah and am familiar with both Springbar and Kodiak. Here's the deal. Kodiak is essentially the same design as the Springbar with minor improvements but with slightly lower quality canvas because they are manufactured en masse in China. From what I was told, Springbar's patent on its design lapsed, and before they could renew it, an entrepreneurial Springbar employee who took the design and found a factory in China to basically reverse engineer them with minor changes, such as better ventilation, which are definitely improvements. I have both Kodiak and Springbar tents and like them both. I prefer Springbar because they are still made by hand in SLC Utah. As such they are priced slightly higher than Kodiak but if you ever need repairs or modifications the factory in Utah will gladly do it for a very reasonable price. Not the same with Kodiak in my experience. They just encourage you to buy another Kodiak tent that was shipped here from China.

I wish the Springbar had the larger windows on the side. They also moved from state st. not long ago, sad to see that store close down.

 

[Snowburb]

I wish the Springbar had the larger windows on the side. They also moved from state st. not long ago, sad to see that store close down.

Yeah, I really liked their state street location and am sorry to see it go, but I'm curious about their new location. It is still only about 10 blocks further south and it is actually a little closer to me, but the location is not really such a big deal. I'm just glad to see that they are still focused on what they call their "cut and sew" operation which means continuing to make their legendary tents by hand and standing behind them, offering mods/repairs etc.

 

[64Trvlr]

When I lived in WY I drove down to SLC and looked at the Springbar tents. I got the whole tour of the place in the back where they make them and the huge empty spot where they'll (at least at the time) help you set your tent up. I am kind of sorry I didn't buy one now.

The tent I've got now is a Cabelas Alaskan Guide 8 man. It has a ton of room, has never leaked in the 15 years I've been using it in all kinds of good to "what the hell are we doing here" weather. It's withstood 60+ MPH wind in WY, AZ, UT and CO. All in all it's the best tent I've ever owned and would buy it again in a heartbeat.

One thing I forgot to add is no matter what brand of tent you get buy the floor liner, it will help keep the tent cleaner..

Heres a couple of photos from a great 2 weeks in the mountains of AZ.