Shelter ยท Gear Review
Emergency tents. A roof for one unplanned night.
An emergency tent is a tube of plastic film you hang between two trees and crawl into. It keeps rain and wind off you for a night and weighs about half a pound. The Go Time Gear Life Tent is the one most people buy, and it is our pick. Here is what it does well, where it falls short, and the one rule about heaters that matters more than any brand.
Top pick
Go Time Gear Life Tent
Typical price
About $20 to $23
Readiness tier
Survive
At a glance: Go Time Gear Life Tent
Strengths
- It weighs 8.7 ounces and packs into a 5.25 by 3.25 inch stuff sack.
- The included 20-foot cord lets you pitch it between two trees or posts.
- It has more than 11,000 Amazon ratings averaging 4.6 of 5.
Limitations
- Two adults fit only if they lie close together.
- It does not breathe, so the inside collects condensation on still nights.
- It needs two supports to hang from and gives little protection from cold ground.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from maker specifications, OSHA, CPSC, and owner reports. See our sources
The field
One clear leader, and a few honest alternatives.
The emergency tent shelf is crowded with near-identical orange tubes, most with only a few dozen reviews. These three have the longest track records. Specifications come from each maker or its Amazon listing; we did not test them ourselves.
Not sure a tent is what you need? Our emergency shelter handbook compares tents with blankets, bivvies, and tarps.
| Tent | Best home for it | Size | Weight | Reflective | Comes with | Typical price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go Time Gear Life Tent | Hiking pack, car kit | About 8 x 5 ft | 8.7 oz | Yes | Stuff sack, whistle, 20 ft paracord | About $20 to $23 |
| Swiss Safe reversible tent | Camping bin, car kit | 8 x 4 ft | Not listed | Not stated | Stakes, zip ties, tie-downs, 20 ft paracord | About $15 |
| Coghlan's Tube Tent | Rain cover, ground sheet | Two-person tube | Not listed | No, plain plastic | 25 ft cord | About $18 |
Our picks
Light enough to forget, there when you need it.
Top pick
Go Time Gear Life Tent
The best-known emergency tent, with more than 11,000 Amazon ratings averaging 4.6. It weighs 8.7 ounces, packs into a 5.25 by 3.25 inch sack, and comes with a whistle and a 20-foot paracord drawstring for pitching it. (Go Time Gear) It sells as Mylar, but Go Time Gear lists the material as coated polyethylene. It is about $20 on Amazon and $23 from the maker, in orange or green.
Find it on AmazonBudget pick
Swiss Safe Reversible Tent
An 8 by 4 foot tube for about $15, with a bright orange side and a green side, so you choose whether to stand out or blend in. It comes with stakes, zip ties, tie-down strings, and 20 feet of paracord, which makes it easier to pitch in places without two perfect trees. Its track record is shorter, with a few hundred Amazon ratings averaging 4.5.
Find it on AmazonPlain pick
Coghlan's Tube Tent
The old-style tube tent: plain polyethylene with a 25-foot cord, no reflective coating. Coghlan's lists it as fire retardant. It does the rain-and-wind part of the job and doubles as a ground sheet or gear cover. Choose it if you want a simple shelter and plan to bring your own warm layers.
Find it on AmazonAffiliate disclosure: New World Survival earns a small commission on qualifying Amazon purchases at no cost to you. This helps us cover operating costs and keep building new content. We only recommend gear we would put in our own kit. Commission never decides a recommendation.
What owners actually say
Small in the pack. Snug in the woods.
These patterns come from Amazon owner reviews and outdoor review sites, read November 4, 2026. Most buyers keep an emergency tent packed and never pitch it, so long-use reports are fewer than for everyday gear.
It disappears into a pack
The most consistent praise for the Life Tent is how small and light it is. Owners who set it up at home describe a quick, simple pitch once the cord is tied off.
Two is a tight fit
The two-person label means two adults lying close, with little room for packs. Owners who tried it with a partner say so, and those using it alone like the extra room.
Damp inside, hard to repack
Like every non-breathable shelter, it collects condensation on a still night. And once it is out of its sack, owners find it hard to fold back into one that small.
The one thing to know
Never bring a fuel-burning heater or lantern inside.
A tube tent is a small enclosed space. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says never to use fuel-burning portable heaters or lanterns while sleeping in enclosed areas such as tents, campers, and vehicles. CPSC also notes that people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning from portable camping heaters, lanterns, and stoves used inside tents, campers, and vehicles. (CPSC) Warmth inside the tent comes from your body and your layers.
To pitch one, Go Time Gear's directions are to run the cord through the tube, tie it 3 to 4 feet off the ground between two trees or sturdy objects, and weigh the corners down. With nothing to tie to, it works as a blanket or a bag. Face an open end away from the wind.
Then deal with the ground and the damp. Put a pack, a coat, or anything dry between you and the floor, because the film stops rain but not the cold below. OSHA notes that wetness, even from sweat, speeds heat loss, and that wind carries heat away faster. (OSHA) Change out of wet clothes before you settle in, and leave both ends a little open so moisture can escape.
How they fail, and what they cost over time
A one-night tool, priced like one.
Nothing to hang it from
On open ground, a tube tent has no shape. Stakes help, and so does a car door or a fence. Without supports, wrap it around you like a blanket instead.
Tears at the floor
Thin film punctures on sticks and rocks. Clear the ground first, and put something under the floor if you can. Tape patches a small hole.
Wind at the open ends
A tube is open at both ends by design. Point one away from the wind and partly close the other with a pack or by gathering it with cord.
The cost
About $15 to $23 once. Treat a used one as a backup or a ground sheet, and replace the tent in your kit after a real night out. There is nothing else to buy.
What we didn't pick, and who should skip
Look-alikes, and better fits for some kits.
The $7 to $10 clones
Many listings copy the Life Tent's look and title for half the price, often with a few dozen reviews or none. Some may be fine. With so little track record, the few dollars saved buy a lot of uncertainty.
Frelaxy Emergency Tent
Sold as twice as thick as average, with 26-micron film, for about $22 and around 150 Amazon ratings. That film is about the same as the Life Tent's 28 microns, and its track record is much shorter.
Skip a tent for the car
In a car, one emergency blanket per person, plus real warm layers, is simpler than a tent. See our emergency blanket picks.
Skip it above the tree line
With nothing to tie it to, a bivvy you climb into works better. Our emergency shelter handbook compares the two.
Skip it for more than a night
If you might be out for days, a real tent or a tarp and cord are worth their weight. An emergency tent is for the night you did not plan.
Skip the multi-packs for one hiker
Bulk packs of ten or twenty make sense for outreach groups and shelters. For one household, a single good tent per pack is enough.
Where it fits in your readiness
For the hike that runs long, and the bag by the door.
An emergency tent belongs in the Survive tier, in a day pack or the bag you would take if you had to leave home in a hurry. It earns its place when you are outdoors and help is hours away: a hike that runs past dark, an evacuation, or a winter storm on a back road.
Questions people ask
About emergency tents.
What is a tube tent?
A tube of plastic film, open at both ends. You run a cord through it, tie the cord between two trees or posts, and crawl inside. Your weight holds the floor down. It keeps rain and wind off you for a night, and it weighs a few ounces.
Can two people really fit in a two-person emergency tent?
Two adults fit if they lie close together, which also shares warmth. There is little room for gear. For a family car kit, one emergency blanket per person is simpler than one tent for two.
Can I use a heater or stove inside an emergency tent?
Not a fuel-burning one. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says never to use fuel-burning portable heaters or lanterns while sleeping in enclosed areas such as tents, campers, and vehicles, and notes that people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning from camping heaters, lanterns, and stoves used inside them.
Is an emergency tent better than an emergency blanket?
For a night outdoors with trees or posts nearby, yes: it keeps rain and wind off without you holding it closed. For a car, a home kit, or anywhere you cannot hang it, a blanket is simpler. Many hikers carry both.