The 5 BEST Waterproof Tents for Heavy Rain (Bought & Tested!)

I bought & tested these 5 best waterproof tents:
1. The North Face Wawona 6
2. REI Base Camp 6
3. REI Wonderland 6
4. Teton Sports Mountain Ultra 1 & 2
5. Quechua 2 Seconds Fresh and Black 2 & 3

This video is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, which means that if you buy something, I’ll receive a tiny commission, at NO additional cost to you.

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AMAZON
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➡️ The North Face Wawona: https://amzn.to/3F2jgdG
➡️ Teton Sports Mountain Ultra: https://amzn.to/3GJGOET

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REI CO-OP
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➡️ The North Face Wawona: https://rei.pxf.io/o4V20n
➡️ REI Base Camp: https://rei.pxf.io/LKgvmo
➡️ REI Wonderland: https://rei.pxf.io/LKgvmL

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DECATHLON
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➡️ Quechua 2 Seconds Fresh and Black: https://www.decathlon.com/products/camping-pop-up-tent-2-seconds-2-person-fresh-and-dark?adept-product=camping-pop-up-tent-2-seconds-2-person-fresh-and-dark&variant=39376583589950
➡️ Quechua 2 Seconds Fresh and Black EASY (Upgraded): https://www.decathlon.com/products/quechua-2-second-easy-fresh-black-waterproof-pop-up-camping-tent-2-person-324503?adept-product=quechua-2-second-easy-fresh-black-waterproof-pop-up-camping-tent-2-person-324503&variant=32071459405886&adept_product_id=quechua-2-second-easy-fresh-black-waterproof-pop-up-camping-tent-2-person-324503&source=search

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RAIN TESTS
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⚡The North Face Wawona: https://youtu.be/G6Y_iXNrJsI
⚡REI Base Camp: https://youtu.be/pZ_QM0zX-sw
⚡REI Wonderland: https://youtu.be/3BE5kSTN9Lk
⚡Quechua 2 Seconds: https://youtu.be/WVNsgKbhClQ
⚡Mountain Ultra: https://youtu.be/Py4EhNg_roE

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BLOG
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⚡Best Waterproof Tents: https://campingguidance.com/best-waterproof-tents/

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DISCLOSURE
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As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. For more info, please check out my full disclosure policy, which applies to both my website (Camping Guidance) and this YouTube channel: https://campingguidance.com/disclosure-policy/

#affiliate #CampingGuidance

I’ve tested over 30 camping tents in the rain, and only
a measly five tents did great. And I’ll also give you four pro-tips that you absolutely need to know, so that
you can pick the best one for yourself. If you’re looking for an affordable one
to four person tent for heavy rain, there’s no better pick than
the Teton Sports Mountain Ultra. I put this tent through 1 hour of heavy
rain, which looked like this, and after that, the rain became
more of a light to moderate rain. This continued for many hours, way into the night, and it was
still raining the next morning. The rain finally stopped after 12 hours, and I found that there was not
a single drop of water inside the tent. And here’s where I’m going
to give you pro-tip number one, what are the exact features to look
out for when buying a waterproof tent? First, look at the length
of this tent’s rainfly. Notice how it’s a full length rainfly, and extends almost all
the way down to the ground? There’s only a little gap
at the bottom for some ventilation. Full rainflies always have much better
rain protection than partial rainflies. Next, look at the seam
taping in this tent. Notice how the seams have been very thoroughly taped,
especially at the corners? After my rain test, I checked all the seams, and none
of them let in a single drop of water. Another feature is whether the tent has a vestibule for storing any
wet gear that you may have. I especially liked
the Mountain Ultra for this. The 1-person model has one vestibule, while the two to four person
models have two vestibules each. I have both the one and two person models, but I much prefer the two person because I
get the largest floor space possible. On top of the 34 square feet of inner tent space,
which can fit up to a queen bed, I also got two huge vestibules, which gave
me an additional 14 square feet of vestibule space together, for a whopping 48 and a half
square feet of space in total. The last important feature is vents, and whether these can be opened
and shut from the inside of the tent. My two person Mountain Ultra had two
rainfly vents at the top of the tent. These can be accessed only from the outside, and the angle of the vent
tends to let in a lot of water, so I’d recommend just keeping them
closed if you expect any rain. Thankfully, there are two more vestibule
vents, one in each vestibule, and I could open and shut these
from the inside of the tent. If you’re looking
for an easy to set up tent, I’ve tested over ten different instant
and pop-up tents, and I found that the Quechua 2 Seconds
are easily the best in the rain. I have both the regular and the Fresh
and Black model, and I was able to put them through not just a 1 hour heavy rain
test, not just some light flooding in my yard, but also a three
day heavy afternoon rain test. And wow, these tents were
shockingly bomb-proof. I’ll show you exactly why using these
four features in pro-tip number one. First, both tents have full rainflies,
covering the entire inner tent. These tents may seem like single
-walled tents, but they’re not. There are two layers to this tent. The outer layer is the rainfly,
which is either green or white here, and the inner layer is a black polyester
layer, completely separate from the rainfly layer, which keeps your tent
bone dry even in heavy rain. Second, the seam taping is
really thorough in this tent. All the important seams, like those
on the flooring, have been factory taped. Third, sadly, the 2 Seconds tents I have
here do not have vestibules, so I’d recommend upgrading
to the 2 Seconds Easy instead, a much newer model, and this
has a small vestibule. And fourth, the regular 2 Seconds model
was pretty bad when it comes to ventilation, with only one rear
vent that doesn’t do all that much. So, if you’re thinking about buying
the exact same 2 Seconds tents I have here, I’d recommend going
for the Fresh and Black. It has two huge rainfly vents,
one at each length of the tent, and I could leave these
completely open in the heavy rain. On top of that, I could even shut these vents from the inside of the tent,
just in case water got into my tent. Here’s the next pro tip I have for you,
and I want you to check out the prices of the 2 Seconds Tents in the local
Decathlon I have here in Singapore, where I’m from, and I’m also going to get
the US Decathlon prices as well. Notice that they’re actually
quite a bit more expensive? So, if you’re trying to decide between
the 2 Seconds and the Mountain Ultra, to get the best possible bang for your
buck, I’d recommend the Mountain Ultra if you live in the States, because
it’s quite a bit less expensive, and I’d recommend the 2 Seconds if you
have a Decathlon store in your country, and especially if you live in Asia,
it’s a great price here. One big difference I noticed between these
two tents as well is that the Quechua tents seem a little more budget quality
to me, with polyethylene for the flooring, and just fiberglass for the poles,
while the Teton Sports was higher quality, with 150D polyester flooring
and 7000 series aluminum poles. Now it’s time for pro-tip
number three, which is this. Do not go for any other budget tents
if you actually want a waterproof tent. Both Teton Sports and Decathlon are probably the two least expensive
waterproof tents that I’ve tested, and I would highly recommend either
of them if you’re on a budget. If you’re thinking of going anymore budget, like maybe Coleman, Core Equipment,
or heavens forbid, Ozark Trail, I’m just going to tell you very nicely
that these aren’t great in rain, yeah? I’m going to quickly flash a few of my Coleman tent rainflies
on the screen here, let me know what you think about them. Well, if you’re thinking what I’m
thinking, most of them are just so tiny. The same thing goes for Core as well, most of their tents look very similar to Coleman tents, and the
rainflies are equally tiny. There are a couple of tents from both Coleman and Core that have full length
rainflies, and I guess you could consider these if you want, but I think they’re
still going to have this one problem. Again, I’m going to quickly flash a few shots of some seams from both
my Coleman tents and Core tents. Again, look at them and let
me know what you see. Yep, you got it, these seams are not taped. Both these brands feature inverted
seams around the entire tent, instead of taped seams, like in Teton Sports or Quechua.
There hasn’t been a single tent that I’ve bought from Coleman and Core
that come completely taped. Usually, there will be a mix
of taped and inverted seams. And sadly, inverted seams do not take heavy rain well, and are usually
the first place to leak in these tents. And here’s the third big problem. After the seams start leaking, sometimes, I also noticed that the fabric
would leak as well, and this issue was the most common in my Coleman and Core tents,
basically because they’re budget brands. Why does this happen? Well, I think that has got to do with
the hydrostatic head rating of each tent. Waterproof tents generally
have a rating of at least 1000 millimeters. Anything less than this is just
water resistant, and not waterproof. Core tents have a 600-millimeter
rating, so only water resistant. Coleman tents vary from 450 to 1000mm, but most of them are usually
on the lower end of 450, so again, only water resistant. And I have no idea what the rating of Ozark tents are. For my
Coleman and Core tents, I noticed that the fabric of these tents will get damp and start leaking after
about 30 minutes to an hour of heavy rain. On the other hand, for all the waterproof tents in this video, none of their fabric
got damp, even after hours of heavy rain. In practical terms,
here’s how long the average tent from each brand lasted for me, not just under
light rain, but also under heavy rain. I found Core and Coleman to be about
the same, lasting about 3 hours in light to moderate rain, and between 30
minutes to 60 minutes in heavy rain. And Ozark tents are the worst in the
rain, coming in at just 15 minutes in light rain, and will get drenched
almost immediately in heavy rain. And these three reasons,
basically the small rainflies, the lack of seam taping,
and the low hydrostatic head ratings are why most Coleman and Core tents are just
water resistant, emphasis on resistant, and are nowhere
near being waterproof. Now, moving away from these smaller tents, we’re going to look at some family camping
tents, and I’m going to start us off with the best cabin tent for heavy rain,
which is the REI Wonderland 6. I’ve tested more than ten cabin tents for this channel, and again, let me know
what you think about their rainflies. Yep, each one of them has really small rainflies, covering only
the very top of the tent. Some of them cover maybe
one third of the tent, some extend down only about five to ten
inches, and some are absolutely tiny. On the other hand,
the Wonderland has the longest rainfly of them all, extending all the way
down to the ground for the most part. But the thing is, there’s this small gap in the rainfly in the middle, and that’s
to cater to the bottom triangle windows. But because of this though,
after I put the Wonderland through 1 hour of heavy rain, followed by a few
hours of moderate rain after, so basically one entire night of raining, there were two drops of water in the tent,
from the divider loops at the bottom. I’ll show you roughly where
these loops are from the outside. Notice how they’re not covered
by the rainfly at the bottom? That’s the problem. I think REI might have goofed on these
loops, because they weren’t waterproofed, so once you get that sealed,
there should be no leaking. Luckily, the rest of this Wonderland
was extremely thoroughly seam-taped, I didn’t find any other issues. My Wonderland didn’t come
with any vestibules though, but you can buy one or even two
of these separate mud rooms, but of course, that’s an extra cost.
If you expect to take your cabin
tents through crazy rains, you could look at tents with completely full rainflies instead,
like this Big Agnes Bunk House, and that also comes with a big vestibule at the front, without
having to pay extra for it. The next waterproof family
tent is the REI Base Camp 6. It has so much more fabric than mesh, so that’s why this tent is also my best
shoulder season tent for heavy rain. First, it has a full length rainfly that extends almost all
the way down to the ground. So, even when I sprayed tons of water
on the Base Camp for one full hour, the rainfly protected the inner
tent body really well. The water dripped off the rainfly and onto
the ground directly, without touching the inner tent body too much,
and the tent stayed completely dry. Second, the Base Camp has
a whopping four vents, two of them are roof vents,
and the other two are floor vents, and I really loved that I could open and shut these vents
from the inside of the tent. And third, this Base Camp has a whopping two vestibules, more than most
other family tents I’ve seen. The front vestibule is pretty big, coming in at about 31 square feet, this can easily
fit two camping chairs, no problem at all. The back vestibule is much smaller though,
and couldn’t even fit one chair. It does have a base area of about 21
square feet though, so this back vestibule
is great for storing wet gear. However, here’s one not so good thing that I noticed about the Base Camp,
and that’s the seam taping. Some seams on the flooring
have been taped, so like these seams running the length
of the tent, and also the corner seams. But this other flooring seam here,
which is right at the edge of the floor, and connects up to the rest
of the tent body, hasn’t been taped. And also, this white seam running all the way down to the bottom of the tent,
at the corners, is also not taped. Both these seams have only been inverted. Like I mentioned earlier in the video, inverted seams don’t do
so well in the heavy rain. So, to test this, I sprayed water directly
onto the tent body, and not the rainfly. And I noticed that after 30 to 45 minutes, there was some leaking through these
seams, right here at the corners. I think REI was counting on the full length rainfly to protect enough of the
tent body, so they didn’t tape these seams. But the thing is,
if there’s light flooding, the seams on the flooring need to be sealed
for sure to prevent water from getting in. Luckily, this isn’t too big of a fix,
and once you get that done, you’re going to have yourself a really
bomb-proof, off-season family tent. But if you want a bomb-proof family tent right out of the box,
you don’t want to have to do any waterproofing prep work like
in the Wonderland and the Base Camp, then I have no better pick for you
than The North Face Wawona 6, and this is my best overall
waterproof tent for heavy rain. If you thought my Quechua rain test was
heavy, check out the Wawona’s rain test. My Wawona’s first heavy rain test was
about 3 hours long, and it rained so heavily that my
entire yard completely flooded. The water was up to my ankles,
and I also noticed that the entire bottom of my Wawona was sitting
in two inches of water. But after the 3 hours of heavy rain and flooding, I didn’t find a single
drop of water inside the tent at all. Even the seams at the corners, which were completely submerged
in water, didn’t leak at all. And that’s because the seam taping all
around this tent was very thorough. Every single seam not covered
by the rainfly was perfectly taped. So, even though this tent doesn’t have a full length rainfly,
the thorough seam taping made up for that. Another of the biggest reasons I’m recommending the Wawona as one of the best
waterproof tents is because of its humongous vestibule, the biggest I’ve
ever seen in a family camping tent. This single vestibule comes
in at a whopping 51 square feet, and could fit not just a couple of huge
camping chairs, but it even has enough space left over for a big
camping table as well. On top of that, the peak height
in the vestibule is 74 inches, the lowest height is still a whopping 65 inches, and I could stand up everywhere
inside this entire vestibule. However, one thing that could have been
improved in the Wawona is the user- friendliness of the two side
windows and also the two side vents. There’s one of each
on each side of the tent. These cannot be opened from the inside,
which I didn’t like, but thankfully, none of them leaked at all,
even in such heavy rain. Now, if you want to know
the breaking point of this Wawona, well, I found it after putting this tent through a whopping three
days of heavy rain. After the third day of rain, I noticed that the back wall was
slightly damp from the inside. It didn’t drip into the tent or anything, but my hand was slightly
damp from touching the wall. Remember this chart that I showed you earlier in the video, when I was
giving you my third pro tip? I’m going to place the Wawona as the best of all these tents, because it
has a rating of about 1200 mm, so a lot more waterproof, and the breaking
point would be about three days. If the rating had been a bit higher, it could have gone up to five days,
maybe even a week of rain. So, now you know how these ratings
affect how long the tent stays dry. My fourth pro tip for you here is this. When you’re looking for a waterproof tent, do also consider the wind
conditions you’ll be camping in. This is another huge reason why
the Wawona is simply the best. I put my Wawona through about 15 mile per hour winds, and it held up completely
fine because I had it all guyed out. It comes in a nice aerodynamic dome shape, it has a massive number of guylines,
plus the highest quality DAC MX aluminum poles, so naturally it’s
the best against wind. And that’s why I love the Wawona over
the Base Camp and the Wonderland. It’s not only the most rainproof,
but also the best in wind. Unless of course, you’re camping in the off season, then the Wawona isn’t
as good as the Base Camp. It’s a strictly three-season summer
camping tent, thanks to the ceiling mesh panels, and of course the huge
amount of mesh on the front wall. If you’d like me to test other waterproof car camping tents as well,
and maybe even one day, backpacking tents too, please help me
smash that like button. Thank you so much, and I really
appreciate all your support.