After having issues right before Thanksgiving getting so cold in couldn't warm back up, trying to make sure I've got myself prepared for the next time.

Does anyone have recommendations on a tent safe heater? I've seen the Mr buddy, and the Coleman catalyst heater recommended, but I'm not big on camping, thought I'd ask.

No backpacking or anything, will have car access to the site for setup.

I have the big Mr Buddy that can hold two of the small propane cans and am really happy with it. I like it because you can turn only half of it on or on full blast. It has a fan that helps distribute the heat. I also have the hose that lets me hook it up to a full sized propane tank. As far as heaters like that go it's pretty safe. That said I've never used it in a tent.

Mr buddy heaters work well, but you may have issues with the moisture inside the tent. Plus you need to dry it out once you get back home. Low O2 and tip over sensors are a big plus.

https://arcticoventent.com/tents/all-tents
If you are going camping in some extreme cold, check out the tents and stoves linked above.

Other tents from Cabelas or Seekoutside come with stove Jack's that can be used with a wood stove. Works well, but more setup required with a wall tent or big tipi and wood stoves.

I've used my Mr Buddy Little Buddy to warm up in a tent after getting rained on once, and another time to knock the chill off the air before getting out of my bag to change. Never all night. You better be dang sure nothing can possibly knock it over- those grills get hot. I don't think I would sleep to well knowing that thing was glowing near all my flammable stuff.

Might I ask what you sleeping set up was like, and the temps?

IMHO- You'll probably get more mileage from looking into an insulated pad and a properly rated bag w/liner. Think about trying to heat and maintain the volume of your tent, and fight the square footage of the thin tent for heat loss. Vs heating the volume of a sleeping bag and having all that insulation to fight heat loss.

I use a Klymit Static V insulated pad, and a good bag (but not expensive- I think it is a 20 degree). This year, I added a Thermolite Reactor Extreme liner to my bag- man what a difference!!!! A sleeping bag liner makes your bag more comfortable, and versatile. Summer nights, I'll probably sleep on top of my bag with just the liner.

Earlier this year I slept 2 nights at +10,000', lightly snowed on both nights, and never got cold in this setup. The whole key is DONT OVERDRESS. I wear very thin thermals (long Johns- almost silk thin), socks, and a nice warm hat. Most heat loss is through your head. You should be cold when you get into the bag. You should feel like you don't have enough on for the first little bit, that's when you know you are good. Your body will heat the bag, and you will settle into a nice zone. With a good pad under you, and a hat on your head, your not losing as much.

However, many people get cold, because they are too hot. They get in and are toasty warm, bundeled up and over dressed. They fall asleep, their body warms the bag, they start sweating a little... trouble. They wake up FREEZING cold, and can never recover and get warm because they are sweating (which is designed to cool you down).

I've had positive experience with the Mr. Heater Buddy and Coleman PowerCat. It's super sketchy sleeping with one in a tent and I don't recommend it. In my opinion, one would be best served investing in a temp rated sleeping bag. I would always pull all flamables away from the heater and turn it on an hour or so before getting in my tent with a CO2 detector hung inside. I'd turn it off right before getting in with my 0 degree sleeping bag all warmed up inside. I was cozy all night, then I'd fire it up upon waking to take the edge off the cold and get dressed. They're definitely great in moderation, but I'm not sure, without spending excess of $1000, that there's a truly "tent safe" heater. To expand on that, there are units you can place outside a tent that dissipate CO2 to the atmosphere with duct tubes and fans that'll blow heat into a tent all night, but since you said you're not big on camping, I assume there's no need for such an investment.

A good sleeping pad and a sleeping bag rated to 20 degrees colder than your expected low temperature.

A steady diet of beef jerky and beer all day should be enough to produce large amounts of hot gas by bed time.

Don't use a heater. Too dangerous and you will wake up to a soaking wet tent from the condensation. Get a proper bag and pad. Where gloves, hat, socks, and tights. If it's really cold, fill a good water bottle you know won't leak,with boiling water and put it in your bag.

If you are sleeping on a cot the pad is even more important. The cold air circulating under the cot will steal heat from you all night and keep you from getting warm. Remember you are crushing the loft in the sleeping bag that is underneath you. Without loft it can't trap your body heat to keep you warm. The pad fills the void.

A -20 degree sleeping bag and a warm tent when I turn Mr Buddy off and crawl in the bag. When my cell phone goes off in the morning I turn Mr Buddy on and when he has warmed things up I get dressed, turn him off and have a cup of coffee by the fire.




....then off we go.

ursusguy said:

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A good sleeping pad and a sleeping bag rated to 20 degrees colder than your expected low temperature.

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Thank you - I was wondering wtf is all this about tent heaters?

Tecolote said:

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ursusguy said:

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A good sleeping pad and a sleeping bag rated to 20 degrees colder than your expected low temperature.

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Thank you - I was wondering wtf is all this about tent heaters?

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You couldn't pay me to sleep with a heater in a tent

From ground up

Wool blanket
Sleeping pad
0 degree bag
Wool socks and thermals, beanie
Wool blanket over top.
If u want to, put a rock from the fire in a sock and place it in the bottom of bag
U will sweat ur balls off


No cots

C4D said:

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From ground up

Wool blanket
Sleeping pad
0 degree bag
Wool socks and thermals, beanie
Wool blanket over top.
If u want to, put a rock from the fire in a sock and place it in the bottom of bag
U will sweat ur balls off

No cots

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This is exactly what I used snow camping in Cloudcroft NM. Slept like a baby and it was around 0 degrees every night.

Doc C said:

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C4D said:

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From ground up

Wool blanket
Sleeping pad
0 degree bag
Wool socks and thermals, beanie
Wool blanket over top.
If u want to, put a rock from the fire in a sock and place it in the bottom of bag
U will sweat ur balls off

No cots

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This is exactly what I used snow camping in Cloudcroft NM. Slept like a baby and it was around 0 degrees every night.

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Beanie yes, thermals no. You'll sweat and actually get cold.

You ****ers start putting propane heaters in your tent, you'll sleep for a bit longer than you like.

Deats said:

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Doc C said:

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C4D said:

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From ground up

Wool blanket
Sleeping pad
0 degree bag
Wool socks and thermals, beanie
Wool blanket over top.
If u want to, put a rock from the fire in a sock and place it in the bottom of bag
U will sweat ur balls off

No cots

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This is exactly what I used snow camping in Cloudcroft NM. Slept like a baby and it was around 0 degrees every night.

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Beanie yes, thermals no. You'll sweat and actually get cold.

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THIS. Wool socks and a wool beanie. If I'm in sub freezing, I will put on some silks at the very most.

I just bring a buxom blonde and it really works well.

BrazosDog02 said:

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You ****ers start putting propane heaters in your tent, you'll sleep for a bit longer than you like.

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Ancient proverb says: build a man a fire, and he will be warm for a night. Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

I made the decision a couple years ago to never be cold or wet for long while hunting or hiking backcountry.

So nice. So light. Minor pain in ass (and noisey) to set up.

Very nice setup. That's freaking sweet.

Care to share some details? Especially that stick burner...

cbr said:

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I just bring a buxom blonde and it really works well.

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I'm hunting one of those, thus far no luck. The one I had there last year was crazier than I am.


That being said, guess I should have explained a bit more.

Temps in the 20s(I like being outside.... then coming back inside at night, I really don't camp much!). I was sleeping on a cot that probably did not anywhere near sufficient insulation below it. I also had a back spasm(flipping myself off the 4 wheeler in September aggravated a back issue from a combination of some intoxicated poor decisions involving horses, and a fall carrying scuba gear down the stairs that I'm lucky didn't break my back), got incredibly cold(slept in the car for two hours to warm up), then got dehydrated. Pretty much trashed the event I was there for. I really never realized how badly the cold could dehydrate you, I do now.


So the whole reason i idiotically ended up in the tent was a re-enactment event. the clothing I was wearing was Elizabethan era, and honestly not particularly warm, and I got extremely cold before I ever hit the tent and cot.

Part of my interest in heating the tent is being able to change clothes, or retreat into warmth without having to change out of complicated garb and be able to warm up. The friends Mr buddy ended up in my tent the worst of the two mornings, I ended up not being able to get into armor and spent a couple of hours trying to just be fit to get up. They're supposed to be low/no CO2 production and have monitors on them.


Thank y'all for all the feedback, I will definitely look in to the bedding recommendations, and work to improve my setup for the half dozen events I'll be at over the year!

Just taking notes, getting things ready going to take the nagging wife camping up in the mountains.

Mr. Buddy and Coleman Heater with NO CO2 detector
40 degree sleeping bag, no liner and no heating pad.
Should I wrap the tent with some sort of tarp?
Super glue to ensure a quality seal on zippers?
Ensure and open flammable source around the heaters or would this be overkill errr perhaps too much.

What else am I missing besides an alibi?

Mr. Buddy heaters are actually rated for indoor use (at least the one I have is), because they burn efficiently enough to put off minimal carbon monoxide (I assume that the CO2 that people have responded with is an autocorrect). So, from that standpoint you should be at least as safe as a small wood stove like the one pictured above.

That said, for changing clothes, just having the radiant heat hitting you would feel great, and you probably don't need to heat the tent all night. I don't think they last very long on a small propane bottle, so you'd need a full sized cylinder if you'll be there more than a night.

I went on an elk hunt with a couple buddies this season. Early October in MT, had temps in the 20's most nights. We had a wall tent and wood stove, which felt great getting ready in the morning. BUT... that damn thing had to be fed every 1.5 hours to not die, so I never slept worth a crap. I was either too hot or too cold all night. Would have preferred a Mr Buddy to just pop on in the morning, and bundle appropriately for the night.

oneeyedag said:

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Just taking notes, getting things ready going to take the nagging wife camping up in the mountains.

Mr. Buddy and Coleman Heater with NO CO2 detector
40 degree sleeping bag, no liner and no heating pad.
Should I wrap the tent with some sort of tarp?
Super glue to ensure a quality seal on zippers?
Ensure and open flammable source around the heaters or would this be overkill errr perhaps too much.

What else am I missing besides an alibi?

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Dont forget a cot with nothing under it.
And dont forget your boots that arent waterproof or insulated.

oneeyedag said:

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Just taking notes, getting things ready going to take the nagging wife camping up in the mountains.

Mr. Buddy and Coleman Heater with NO CO2 detector
40 degree sleeping bag, no liner and no heating pad.
Should I wrap the tent with some sort of tarp?
Super glue to ensure a quality seal on zippers?
Ensure and open flammable source around the heaters or would this be overkill errr perhaps too much.

What else am I missing besides an alibi?

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Also: don't forget to bring all cotton clothing, thick as you can find, to sleep on.
And a battery powered humidifyier for the tent- very low humidity in the mountians.

Colorado two years ago, we were in the single digits several nights. We gave up on the idea of the wood stove about two hours into the first night. All we had around was aspen and spruce. Anything you put in it was ash in about 45 minutes. We got to where we only messed with the stove in the evening when we were shooting the breeze. I had a cheapo Slumberjack bag rate to 0 that worked like a champ. I do use a cot, but I still use a good sleeping pad.

One thing that needs to be mentioned (not remotely a shot), there is a big connection between sleeping warm in cold weather and hormones. Simply put, dudes have it much easier cranking out heat. With that in mind, you might adjust the 20 degree recommendation to 30.

cupofjoe04 said:

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Very nice setup. That's freaking sweet.

Care to share some details? Especially that stick burner...

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Seek Outside Silvertip Tipi with Lite Outdoors titanium stove. Whole setup is under 5 pounds. Floorless is the way to go.

I also use a piece of tyvek under my thermarest neo pad, which would be another good addition for OP.

It rained 8 hours straight at 12k feet the night before I took that pic. I had run into a young girl (college aged kid) just a couple hours before dark on the CDT who was through hiking the whole thing. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and had a pack which appeared to contain basically nothing, I can't imagine she had a good night.

C4D said:

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From ground up

Wool blanket
Sleeping pad
0 degree bag
Wool socks and thermals, beanie
Wool blanket over top.
If u want to, put a rock from the fire in a sock and place it in the bottom of bag
U will sweat ur balls off


No cots

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Just make sure that wool blanket over the top isn't so heavy that it collapses your bags insulation, especially if down. The loft of the insulation is what keeps you warm. Piling heavy blankets on top can smash the insulation, which renders it useless.

It's the same reason you need a good sleeping pad; as your body collapses any of the insulation on the bottom of the bag, which makes it pretty ineffective.

Skintight wool top, skintight wool bottoms, wool socks, and a beanie of your choice are your biggest allies.
Pair that with a decent bag and an insulated pad and it's all you need.

If you do everything above and are still cold...boil water, pour into your water container, and slip it into your bag by your feet. It'll get everything going and then you will have fresh water when you wake up.

all this thanks to meateater podcast.

TwoMarksHand said:

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If you do everything above and are still cold...boil water, pour into your water container, and slip it into your bag by your feet. It'll get everything going and then you will have fresh water when you wake up.

all this thanks to meateater podcast.

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That's a good one.

LEJ said:

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I had run into a young girl (college aged kid) just a couple hours before dark on the CDT who was through hiking the whole thing. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and had a pack which appeared to contain basically nothing, I can't imagine she had a good night.

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sounds like you missed an opportunity. Did she know how to make biscuits?

I am firmly in the "near nekkid with beanie on in a warm sleeping bag on a warm pad (closed cell or reflective...not a therm a rest) with no heater" camp with one exception. If it's really cold I fire up the stove in the tent and start boiling water before I even think about getting out of my bag in the morning. Just a little stove burner will get a tent toasty quick. Maybe I breathe some CO but pretty sure I'm gonna crack the door before I decide to go back to sleep.

Oh tossing a nalgene bottle full of hot water in the bag with you when you climb in is heavenly. Nobody probably uses nalgenes anymore though

See, and I've had great success with the same Thermarest for going on 25 years.

Don't lie, you know it's a ridge rest.

Boil water and put it in a good quality Nalgene bottle that seals well. Then put that in your sleeping bag and it should keep warm for several hours.

I say good sealing bottle from experience... well not my experience, but my buddy, who woke up with ice in his bag after using a cheap-o walmart bottle.