I’m ready for luxury. Which family tent should I choose?

Ah, excellent! Time for some car-camping—the best kind of camping there is. I've always felt that car-campers are having the most fun in roadside parks. All the RV people—and I have no argument with them (well, except for the guy with the generator grinding away at that national forest campground near the Wallowa Mountains)—are inside by seven o'clock, watching TV. The tent people are all outside by a campfire, watching the stars come out, maybe roasting marshmallows, sipping a good wine.

There are several good choices for you. On the domestic front, the MEC Frontenac 4, sold at Mountain Equipment Co-op (C$538; www.mec.ca), sleeps four adults and two youngsters comfortably in a sturdy tent that offers lots of ventilation and windows for more light and better views of the outside world. It’s built like a mountaineering tent. On the other hand, MEC’s Funhouse 6 tent (C$399) is a little more like a “traditional" car-camping tent. It’s taller than the Frontenac at just over six feet (1.86 meters), versus less than five feet (1.4 meters) in the sleeker Frontenac. So you might be happier in the Funhouse.

Of course there are U.S.-brand tents that you can purchase in Canada or have shipped your way. One that I like is the new REI Hobitat 4 (currently on sale for US$190, C$210; www.rei.com), which sleeps four quite nicely in a very tall tent—six feet, six inches (nearly two meters) in the middle. It’s a well-made tent, but with that height it won’t be great in super-high winds. And when I set one up a while back, I found I needed a HUGE radius to manage the poles, but that’s true for most large tents. Otherwise, it’s well-made, well-ventilated, weatherproof, and reasonably priced.

Eureka’s Equinox 6 (US$350, C$387; www.eurekatent.com) sleeps six, which means more room for everyone, in a well-made tent that like the MEC and REI tents has aluminum poles (tougher and lighter than fiberglass).

For a mattress, I’d get an Aero Sport All-Terrain Mattress (www.thinkaero.com) in the twin size (US$70, C$78) or the queen (US$90, C$100). I mean, why not be comfortable?

Check out this year’s more than 400 must-have gear items, including a comprehensive tents section, in the 2006 Buyer’s Guide.