Army Surplus Tents

Army surplus tents, if they're the real thing, are better quality than many other tents on the market today.

Army surplus tents will have been manufactured to stringent quality specifications, and should give you many years of useful service.

It's best to buy your army surplus tents unused, but that isn't always possible. If yours has been used already, take a rough guess as to how much wear and tear your army tent has seen.

Take the army surplus tent out of it's bag and examine the guy ropes. Check the corners, the seams and the holes where the poles go through. Check out the tent poles and tent pegs too.

The store probably won't like what you're doing, but tell the clerk you'll be happy to help him roll up the army tent afterwards. You have to decide whether you'll save money in the long run or not, and nobody else can make that decision for you.

If you have any doubts, check out another camping supplier and look at a similar sized tent that's brand new. Would you be better off paying a few dollars more? What are the guarantees? How long is the warranty?

Don't be in a hurry. You can always return to the first store later.

The only other reason I can see for buying an army surplus tent is if you need a really large tent, like a marquee.

These are the big tents used for outdoor catering functions and so on. A new marquee is pretty costly, so price the new ones first; then see if you can save big bucks with a secondhand version.

But if you're really lucky, someone might have some big army surplus tents that are brand new or hardly used. Good luck!