So many tents... so what's the difference?

Rental World's inventory of tents is the broadest and largest in South Texas.  Rental World carries such a broad tent line because each tent style has unique attributes.  These attributes  enable us to provide affordable tents that best meet each customer's unique needs.  One tent does not fit all!

TENT EXTERIORS - The first tent attribute most people notice is the exterior tent appearance.  In general, frame and pole tents look quite similar from outside.  Both tent styles have constant slope roofs and stand at virtually identical heights.  Structure tents also have constant slope roofs but typically stand taller than frame and pole tents.  Tension tents, along with frame & cable tents, have increasing slope roofs with higher peaks than similarly sized frame and pole tents.

Frame	Pole	Tension &	Structure
		Frame/Cable

TENT INTERIORS - Tent interiors are typically differentiated by either having interior poles or not having interior poles.  Both pole tents and tension tents have interior poles that take up floor space, while frame, frame & cable, and structure tents have unobstructed interiors.  Standard tension tents generally only have centerpoles.  Pole tents have centerpoles, and they typically have interior quarter poles as well.  Frame tents have rafters every 10 to 20 feet to support the tent canvas.  These rafters provide multiple opportunities to hang small accessories at virtually any point inside the tent.  Structure tents are engineered, and instead of simple round tubes as supports, structure tents have large profile aluminum beams every 10 to 20 feet.  These engineered beams can support heavier accessory loads such as light trusses.  Frame & cable tents have tensioned cables across opposing corners that provide support for "flying" centerpoles.  These "flying" centerpoles enable unobstructed interiors while providing the great exterior look of tension tents.

TENT ANCHORING - An extremely important attribute in choosing the best tent style for your specific application is the method by which the tent can be secured.  Both pole and tension tents must be secured with exterior straps or ropes attached to ground stakes, screw anchors, or concrete bolts.  Thus, both pole and tension tents require some type of hole to be made in the ground.  Frame tents, along with frame & cable tents, may be secured using the same methods as for pole and tensions tents.  However, both frame and frame & cable tents may be anchored with weighted ballasts such as water barrels or concrete barriers.  Unlike all the aforementioned tents, our structure tents do not utilize exterior straps or ropes.  Our structure tents can be staked through base plates, bolted to a secure understructure, or even secured with a special steel plate and ballast system.

TENT COMPARISON CHART - The following chart summarizes basic attributes of the most common tent styles.