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Spending a few days in the great outdoors is a nice diversion from the usual confines of the adequate indoors.

Replicating shelter and sleeping accomodations when camping or hiking, though, require a modicum of compromise on the usual standards of comfort and space.

Making that compromise as seamless as possible is the job of a well-made (and well-selected) tent and sleeping bag.

The selection of a tent requires a solid analysis of one’s needs; factored into that analysis are the number of occupants, the climate and pestilence level of the area to be tented; the length of the intended sojourn into the wilderness; the weight and portability of the tent; and the amount of storage space you may need in the tent.

Oh, and then there are cost considerations. As in most aspects of life, one gets what one pays for - so if the buyer intends to make camping a regular and revered lifestyle, retailers should encourage buyers to pony up.

Tents are available in four basic configurations:

The Dome Tent requires no support tethering, as it is propped up internally by poles inserted into pockets built into the tent.

The A-Frame Tent resembles the North American Indian tepee, its sloped walls allowing for easy water evacuation.

The Walled Tent is more complex and more intended for use by a greater number of occupants. It has four walls like a house, with window flaps, some have entrance porticos with awnings and other niceties. The walled tent, as might be expected, is not quite as portable as the dome or a-frame tent.

The Partial Dome Tent combines some of the features of the walled and the basic dome tent. It provides additional floor space and higher ceilings, helpful if your occupants want to be able to stand straight up inside the tent.

An army/navy retailer with a strong seasonal camping customer base should have a good sense of what tent styles and price points work best. Regardless of tent styles that work best for a given retailer, it is the accessorizing portion of the sales process that is perhaps the second most important consideration, after, of course, ensuring that the customer is sold the right tent for his or her needs.

BAGGING IT

Seasonal factors weigh heavily into sleeping bag selection. Camping in warmer climes will enable the use of a lighter, more compact sleeping bag while that three day kegger in the Yukon in December will call for a sleeping bag imbued with a greater warmth capacity.