Quality, Sturdy, Wind-Resistant Beach Tent—Fantastic Color and Feature-Packed!
Wow, this beach tent is where it’s at! For years, we have had and used beach umbrellas (the very sturdy, well-featured type) and high-quality stretchy fabric beach shade sails on the beach. When we go to the beach, we go to an uninhabited island reachable only by boat, hike for miles, and then primitive camp in the middle of what seems like “nowhere” for 3-4 nights during the spring/summer. We have to pack everything (including water) in and out (including trash). Thus, ultralight gear is a must for us! Another necessity for us is gear that can withstand constant strong winds and abusive wind gusts.

This Elegear beach tent well covers both of those bases! When packed up inside its carrying case, it is marvelously small and light. When it is fully set up, it is stable and secure against constant winds. These two features alone are enough for me to love this beach tent, but it does not end there.

This tent is designed to keep you as cool as possible on a hot summer beach. The reflective coating on the inside of the tent cuts the UV rays coming through. The ventilation openings allow cross breezes to blow, even when they are closed to keep the sun from shining on where you sit. The cupping shape of the structure helps create and ensure prolonged shade, even as the sun and its shadows slide across the sky over the course of a day and evening. Then, the awning projects precious shade out over the extended tongue of this tent, while not obscuring views of the waterline abroad.

Another plus for security is how you can stake down the four corners of the tent, the four guy lines (although where to connect the guy lines to the tent was unclear, but seems to be more typical for some tents these days). I would recommend sand stakes, however—because the stakes provided with this tent are worthless in sand—completely and utterly, lol! Set aside the stakes that came with this tent, and use them with regular sleeping tents set up on dirt, not sand. For this tent, be sure to get some sand anchors (preferably the plastic twist / screw type with deep threads). That type of sand anchors are well worth the investment, and can be used with all types of gear. We have a big bag full of this type, which we use for varying gear whenever at the beach or on top of sand or extra-loose earth. To aid in wind security, there are five sand bags you can fill, to help weight down the tent against winds and wind gusts. I’d still recommend sand anchors of some sort, though—and that advice comes from over a decade and a half of remote, primitive beach camping along the East Coast. There is little as stressful as finding your tent cartwheeling away from you across the beach like a wild cross between a circus clown and a runaway kite. My philosophy about sand anchors is: better to have them and not “need” them, than to need them and not have them—it’s often too late then!

The two front poles for the awning comprise four sections apiece, which means that they can be set up full-height (4 sections high) for maximum view; or they can be set up partial height (2-3 sections high) for extra shade or for a morning/evening sun low on the horizon (depending on which coastal side of the US you are camping). The poles are coated with paint to help prevent rust, especially with salt spray from oceans; but wherever the paint may scratch, that protection fades, of course.

I appreciate how there are three hanging hooks inside the roof of this tent, from which one may hang fans or lights—especially fans! That is a huge plus to me, since I am very hot-natured. Not every beach tent could bear the weight of gear hanging inside, but this tent is so stable, I do believe it can easily handle such things.

Another cool feature of this beach tent is how the front floor flap can be zipped up on either side to the ceiling, for privacy and to create a changing area right there on the beach (for those who prefer more populated beaches, lol). If it were still spring and not too hot, one might be able to even take a short nap inside, with this front floor flap zipped up—but I’d probably be too hot, at least on summer days. That is probably just me, though.

Finally, we love the Elegear brand—and have been impressed with whatever gear from them we’ve tried and used. We used some of their self-inflating camp pads on a 3-1/2 week, 8,500-mile cross-country road trip—where we camped every single night but one and only ate out (non-camp food) twice. Those Elegear pads kept us comfortable sleeping well every single night. So, this beach tent seems to be made from the same well-thought-out design and quality. We look very forward to our first chance to use this beach tent! As a widely experienced remote, primitive beach camper, I heartily recommend this tent!