Ive spent a fair amount of time in tents, but theyve mostly been old school types. I lived a couple years off and on in a tipi. its hard to beat for year round comfort if you can deal with the weight and size of the poles. Having an open fire inside and out of whatever weather there may be is really nice. Only a torrential downpour caused issues with the smoke flaps being open. In winter, with it at about zero outside, I was in shirtsleeves in the tipi with a fire going. Mine was 16'. Thats the farthest outside size, the walls slope inward right away, but it does give decent storage space around the edges. It was fine with 3 beds, 4 would work, but youd have to get them put up when people were up instead of sitting on beds and having room to walk around and cook and such. A tipi only really functions correctly with a liner, if it doesnt have a liner, its basically just a tarp, open on the sides. The liner is 5 to 6 ft high, and set up on the inside of the poles, allowing ventilation between the cover and liner, and the bottom of the liner going under the floor. The liner is the part that magically transforms it into an all weather, all year home. Tipis are almost windproof if set up correctly.
I could set mine up alone in a little over an hour, and strike camp and be loaded in 20-30 minutes. I had a ladder rack on my truck and just piled the poles on it, then pulled a rope around them to bundle them and lashed the pile down, It was far simpler than trying to lash each one down and make a platform out of them or some other creative thing. A tipi would be my first choice for the colder 3 seasons, and if snakes werent an issue.
I also have a wall tent, or outfitter tent as seems to be the term today. Mine is 9x12, with 5' sidewalls and 8' ridge. I have a stove jack in it for a sheet metal woodstove, mine is a Sims stove. Ive camped in all sorts of weather, and in pretty cold places. The stove helps quite a lot, but isnt as nice as the open fire in the tipi. The longest time Ive spend in it was 2 months. it was too hot out at first, and too cold at the end, but I was fairly comfortable. I was waiting for a rental to open up, so had my twin bed with frame in it, and room size rug, small dresser and othjr odds and ends to make it comfortable. I had a full metal frame, which is very heavy, and I used it with wood poles. The simplest wood poles are one long enough for a ridge, and two long enough to support the ridge, then 6 @ 5' for the sides. I used lodgepole pine poles I cut in the mountains and peeled with a drawknife, nice and light, straight and few knots. Ive also used regular lumber when I didnt have access to my poles or didnt want to pack them along on a trip (or forgot them). The tent packed down into a package about the size of a military duffle bag, minus the poles and stove. It would benefit from a large awning on the front, for shade, to keep firewood dry, and have a fire and still be out of the weather.
Smaller, modern tents are pretty handy, and pack up into small packages, but if one has the time and space to deal with the larger tents, its really nice to be able to get dressed standing up, and function in a decent sized space if weather is bad. For longer term use, the larger tents seems like a pretty good investment in time and effort. The little iritating things that come along with being in smaller spaces arent as much of an issue.
