Camping cots offer a great way to bring bedroom comforts in the outdoors. They elevate you from the ground, provide a level sleeping surface, and, with the right ones, can even deliver a little bit of cushion. Since they do all those great things, why not just build your tent around the cot? That’s exactly what they’re doing with the Helinox Tactical Cot Tent.
That’s right, it’s a tent that installs on top of the outfit’s cots, essentially turning the cot into a fully-enclosed space. No need to pitch a separate tent and assemble the cot inside – this thing lets you turn your cot and your tent into a single elevated ensemble.
The Helinox Tactical Cot Tent is a single-person shelter designed to fit on top of the outfit’s camping cots. Specifically, they list it as being compatible with the Cot One Convertible, Cot One Convertible Insulated, Tactical Cot Convertible, High Cot HDB, and High Cot One, so you should easily be able to turn any of those into a comfy tent. It’s very portable, too, coming in at a collapsed size of 22.5 x 8 inches (length x diameter) and a weight of 3.85 pounds, so you can strap it down to your pack or stash somewhere in your vehicle. Since you’re also going to have to carry a camping cot, the outfit doesn’t recommend it for backpacking, instead recommending it as a shelter solution for motorcycle touring and car camping adventures.
The tent uses shock-corded poles that lock the frame in place, while pole clips attach the tent to the frame, making setup relatively simple. You secure it to the cot frame using ties and sleeves in the corners, while a quartet of included stakes let you anchor the whole thing to the ground. Like we said, it’s a straightforward setup, which should make for a convenient shelter at camp. The tent isn’t just compatible with the aforementioned cots, by the way, it can also work with those cots even with leg extensions installed.
The Helinox Tactical Cot Tent comes with zippered doors on each side, both of which can be fully opened and stuffed inside a pocket in the tent if you prefer allowing the air to flow through freely. You also get two ceiling pockets, two side pockets, and four interior loops you can use to hang bags, equipment, or supplies, so there are plenty of options for storage. The tent is available in two variants: one with full solid fabric and one with the upper section clad in mesh for maximum ventilation, with both tents available with an optional rainfly.
The tent uses proprietary DAC aluminum alloy and nylon resin hubs for the frames, a combo that, the outfit claims, provides their tents with excellent strength and minimal weight. Depending on which variant you get, the tent should be made with some mix of 70D nylon ripstop, PU-coated 70D nylon taffeta, and 40D polyester hexagon mesh. The stuff sack is made witg 75D polyester ripstop.
The Helinox Tactical Cot Tent is available now, priced at $279.95. The compatible rainfly retails for $174.95.