| The other day I went and checked out a large | | | | than your average backpack ... but it is also quite |
| camping store in my area. They had just brought | | | | light. |
| a new popup camping tent into their showroom. | | | | The umbrella-frame type popup tent packs away |
| The tent was already set up, and I was able to | | | | into a tube-shaped bag, like most conventional |
| touch it, climb inside the thing and have a really | | | | camping tents it is shaped like a large wiener |
| good look to see how these new-fangled outdoor | | | | sausage. So it could be carried on a backpack, if |
| tents worked. | | | | you wanted to carry it on a hike or something. |
| There are two main types of popup tent on the | | | | Once your chosen pop up tent has sprung open, |
| market today. These are an "umbrella frame" | | | | you had better peg out the corners with tent |
| popup tent and a "spring-open" type tent. Both | | | | pegs so it won't blow away. |
| are camping tents and can keep you comfortable | | | | Some instant-erecting tents have just one "wall" |
| and out of the wind and rain. | | | | of fabric. The better-quality camping tents will |
| Take the spring type popup tent out of its | | | | have a waterproof and windproof outer skin and |
| storage bag and it will uncoil itself into an open | | | | a light inner wall like a bug net that allows air to |
| tent shape within seconds. The umbrella-frame | | | | circulate. You will have to fit the waterproof skin |
| type of camping tent needs its roof frame to be | | | | over the outside of your tent and frame and clip |
| opened out manually, just like a manual umbrella. | | | | it there, but that's pretty simple. |
| So it takes just a few seconds more. | | | | Both tent types can be erected in a few minutes, |
| The spring-open pop tent is stored in a large | | | | but don't worry. It won't be hard. And you can be |
| diameter disc-shaped bag, shaped like some large | | | | snug inside your popup tent while others are still |
| thick family-sized pizza. The shape and size is | | | | trying to fit their tent poles together and thread |
| great for packing in your car but it won't fit into | | | | them through the fabric. |
| (or on to) a backpack. In some ways it is bigger | | | | |