MSR Habitude 4 Tent
Whilst I am more of a wild camper than a car camper, I do nevertheless do fair amount of car camping during the summer, and since I’m almost always travelling for kayaking, having the extra room makes a big difference when it comes to wiggling into paddling gear. Enter the MSR Habitude 4, a very simple tent that combines cavernous space and durability into a very livable space.
Obviously designed with family trips in mind, I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve greedily used it for solo trips. I specifically wanted a tent that I could stand up in, and which wasn’t huge or heavy, and chose the Habitude 4 over other similar height tents because of those size and weight factors; for “stand up” tent, the Habitude 4 packs up a lot lighter than other options on the market, weighing in at a little under 5.5kg and packing up to around 58 x 23 cm. That’s a lot more compact than those massive nylon family fortresses you see in most UK campsites in the summer which often weigh in excess of 15kg and take up half a wardrobe.
Setting up
Setting up the Habitude 4 is a straightforward affair, albeit a slightly frustrating one if the wind is gusting, as the very large size of the fly turns it into a wayward sail rather quickly. In fact, I once had the entire pitched inner blow away across a campsite while faffing with the fly when taking it down; thankfully some helpful fellow campers caught it before it ended up in a thorny hedge.
Either wait for the wind to drop, or anchor a corner line to something if you’re pitching it on your own in gusty conditions. As with all MSR tents, the color-coded poles and intuitive clips make assembly relatively foolproof; hubbed poles aren’t everyone’s favourite, but they do provide a very sturdy frame which, once pegged out, is very stable in wind.
An additional set of poles on each side of the tent provide additional stability and form. The tent only comes with a few guy lines, but additional ones can easily be added to existing tabs on the fly. I’ve found the ones that come with it enough for the trips I’ve used it for so far, especially as I’d be unlikely to use such a large tent in exceptionally windy conditions.
Spaciousness and comfort
One of the best things about the tent is its frankly palacial spaciousness. Designed to accommodate four campers (or one space loving individual), the tent offers ample room for both sleeping and storing gear. The near-vertical walls maximize interior space, allowing most campers to stand upright comfortably. Numerous pockets and loops provide spots for stashing gear close at hand, or hanging lanterns from the ceiling. Unlike most “family tents”, the interior is a single room, a feature I particularly love for its simplicity; like a nylon hotel room, I can just spread all my stuff around whilst still keeping it within easy reach. The tent does have a small vestibule at the front but the inside is so spacious that I rarely find myself storing anything in there.
Durability and weather performance
The Habitude has decent durability. The ripstop polyester fabric, along with the sturdy poles, ensure that this tent can withstand a fair amount of weather, shedding rain easily without any pooling or ingress. I’ve used it extensively in horrid wet conditions in Wales and found it totally fine. My only complaint would be that the fly is very noisy in the wind, but this has been my experience with other MSR tents too. The fly is quite thick and that invariably results in a crinkly flappy noise when the wind picks up.
Ventilation
The interior is airy with decent ventilation, keeping condensation to a minimum and keeping things fresh and breezy. On hot summer nights, the rainfly can be removed to provide panoramic views and enhanced airflow, while still offering protection from insects (GODDAMN MIDGES!) but I’ve personally not used it in this way as it would compromise privacy and that’s something I generally want to retain on public campsites. I’ve actually literally never had any condensation on the inside of this tent, I suspect that’s simply due to the sheer size of it, combined with the fact that it’s been just myself, or occasionally also my partner, inside.
Conclusion
I’ve loved using this tent for the past few years. I love the simplicity of the single room structure, although the vestibule at the front is useful for the occasional storage of wet gear. Its small pack size that fits in the bottom of my camping closet at home is the cherry on top. Definitely my favourite car camping tent of all time!
