The BWB Seek Outside vs. Traditional Wall Tents: A Comparison

The BWB Seek Outside Redcliff 2.0 Hot Tent Bundle 

VS

 Traditional Wall Tents

By Mark Scheeren

Austin and I were standing next to our Big Woods Bucks Edition Seek Outside Redcliff 2.0 hot tent that was set up as a display at our recent Henry Launch Event in Upstate NY (June 2026) talking to people about its strengths and why a hot tent is the ultimate remote hunting model to be used in the Northeast and beyond. When discussing, the most common question we got was, 

“How does the BWB Seek Outside Hot Tent compare to a traditional wall tent?”

This is a great question, and one we wanted to answer because a traditional wall tent is the type of tent that most people in the Northeast are familiar with, and they certainly have a place in the hunting tradition to be sure.

However, a traditional wall tent has a lot of age-old limitations that a hot tent has solved. This becomes quite evident when you are seeking the following challenges and goals: to have the ultimate in hunting and camping mobility, the ability to weather storms with snow, ice, rain and high winds, and if you are looking for a more overall cost-effective option as well for these functions and their advantages. 

To make things easy, we took the specs directly from a world renowned wall tent manufacturer and copied them in column two below, and then copied the Seek Outside Hot Tent specifications in column one. While the following two charts do a great job illustrating the differences and makes for an easy comparison, it doesn’t tell the whole story. That more detailed discussion continues below the chart…

BWB SEEK OUTSIDE HOT TENT vs. 8x10 WALL TENT

The Chart above is helpful for making the comparisons at a glance, but they do not tell the whole story.

What is the intended purpose of your camping/hunting trip?

When we discuss our Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle, we ask a lot of questions of the customer, the main one being: “What exactly do you want from your trip?”

Are you seeking to get into the backcountry a number of miles to get closer to bucks that have received very little hunting pressure? Do you want to hunt in areas where you won’t get cut off while on a track?

If so, the BWB Hot Tent makes imminent sense. Its light packability and one-person set up makes it a shoo-in for those who want to be mobile and get into trail-less sections of the wilderness where the big older-age-class whitetails exist in higher numbers. The hot tent coupled with freeze dried foods and a modern portable hand water purifier and some fire-starting sticks makes the hot tent a huge advantage for the remote hunting experience - especially in mountainous or swampy terrain.

This goal of the off-trail remote hunt is nearly impossible with a wall tent, in that, the weight and bulk usually require more than one person, and in many cases demand at the very least a trail system and/or a cart/s to get the tent, a large stove, and the supplies into a backcountry setting. If you add in higher peaks, rivers to cross, and no trail system or carts being available, a single person will not be able to carry what's needed for the traditional wall tent camp to get set in one trip - much less a trip that may last for a week or more without heading back and forth for additional supplies.

This is where the Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle absolutely shines!

Can Hot Tents work for the typical hunting outfitter?

Yes. If you are going to places with good trail systems or road systems, and you have more than one person or even groups you are guiding, and you want the tent to act as a base camp, both the larger models of hot tent and the wall tent are both great choices.

For example, if you are an outfitter with multiple clients and road system access, the wall tent can act as a base camp through accessing places on that road system (such as the North Maine Woods logging road system), and then the more packable hot tent bundle can be then used to bring up to 6 clients off that road system and into the backcountry. For this style of hybrid hunting, there are many hot tent options to choose from; from single-man hot tent options to group hot tent options. 

How many people are going with you on your trip? 

Let’s say you are not a guide, and it's just you or you and a couple friends hitting a hunt 1-to-5 miles in (or beyond). In this case or cases like it, there is literally no comparison between a wall tent and the Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle; the hot tent wins every time! Weight alone is the single greatest difference at a sub 12 pound weight including the stove (compared with the 153lb weight of the wall tent without a stove or stove pipe!).

The tent itself is packable in a space that's about the size of a basketball made oval, and the stove and stove pipe being the relatively flat size of a large notebook when broken down and placed in its included carrier bag. The entire shelter and heat source is carried in one man or woman's backpack. That efficiency is not even in the realm of the wall tent’s sphere of possibility.

What if you have 6 people with you?

Now if you have up to 5 of 6 people going on the trip, and it's early season and a stove is not needed, the Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle is perfect. Later in the season, your capacity is cut to 3 people with the addition of the stove. Either way, distributing less than 12 pounds of shelter and heat/dryer source amongst 3 to 6 people is an astonishingly efficient way to transport comfort into tough boreal fall and winter hunts! This level of convenience and efficiency is impossible to have with a traditional wall tent.

What if you want to hit a new spot once you are to your location?

Again, try packing up a wall tent, and then moving locations in a remote mountain hunt. Frankly, in most cases you're stuck in the location you’ve chosen - or you have a lot of effort and time wasted heading to a new and more huntable location. With the Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle, you can  break down the entire scene, pack up and head to your new hunt. The breakdown and repacking takes about a half hour to an hour (including the tent, packing gear, supplies and food, etc.). Setting up in your new location is the same as before - and you do not need trails or roads to navigate with a trim pack on your back, so getting to your new location is as challenging as you make it.

What about deep snow and high winds, etc.?

The Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle is based on the same basic designs used by the native Americans who lived in the mountains of Montana, the Great Plains, and Southern Canada for thousands of years, but with more modern materials. To say the tipi design is vetted for tough weather is an understatement. The boreal forests are no joke though - we get that.

We get high winds, wet deep snow, ice and torrential rain. This is why the Bundle comes with the full liner (so condensate and outside moisture can’t “rain” in on you) and the seams come sealed, and a full bathtub style floor system is standard. And don’t forget the drying racks that attach to the centerpole and the stove itself - these parts of the overall system dry your gear and your woolies just fine, and come standard in the Bundle package! 

Summary

Wall Tents have their place in the hunting world. But for a comparable price, the Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle is more mobile, is lighter, is highly water resistant (I’d say waterproof, but full disclosure - some moisture by its nature can find its way into the tent when you open the door to go get firewood, etc. during a rain or snowstorm), and provides advantages to hunt longer, harder and in more wild places than can be accessed with the same effort being made using a wall tent.

And our hot tent comes with a stove and stove pipe - that’s not an additional purchase as is the case with the comparably priced wall tent (making the wall tent price inevitably higher if you want a heat source during your trip). In the end, it all comes down to your intended goals, where you hunt, how far in your hunt, whether there are roads and maintained trails or access, and how much mobility you desire. Be honest with yourself about these factors and then make your choice. And of course - enjoy the hunt!

If you have any questions about the Big Woods Bucks Special Edition Redcliff Hot Tent Bundle, contact Big Woods Bucks Team Member, Austin Scheeren at ascheeren20@gmail.com or customercare@bigwoodsbucks.com