RVs vs. Tents - The Ultimate Comparison

If you are planning a camping trip in Australia, there are two main choices as far as accommodation is concerned: a tent or a recreational vehicle (RV). Both have their fans, and there are good reasons to prefer one over the other for certain types of trips or destinations, but which one is right for you? Discover the definitive answer to your question with our ultimate comparison. By the time you have reached the end, you will know exactly which option to choose for your next camping trip in Australia.

RVs vs. Tents: Our Comparison Criteria

To determine whether a tent or an RV is the best choice for a particular road trip, we recommend evaluating how each option scores in the following key areas: cost, convenience, comfort, security and catering. Although you might think that some or all of these factors should remain constant no matter what type of trip you are planning, this is often not the case. If, for example, you are travelling to an area where petty crime is an issue, security may be higher up your list of priorities than it normally is. With this in mind, let’s explore each factor individually and consider how we should prioritise them for different types of camping trips in Australia.

• Cost - The tent is the clear winner as far as cost is concerned, no matter what type of trip you are planning. There are virtually no circumstances in which an RV will be cheaper to acquire or
• use than a tent. Cost is not the deciding factor for everyone planning a camping holiday: you will have to decide how important it is for each trip. As an example, consider how important the overall cost would be if you were planning a romantic camping holiday with your partner and then think about how important it would be when planning a short road trip with your friends.

Nobody can tell you how much weight to give to cost when deciding between a tent and an RV for a particular camping trip: we suggest that you let common sense be your guide in most cases. If the level of comfort and security required for a particular trip is higher than normal, give less weight to cost. If you are travelling with a group of hardy adventurers who think nothing of sleeping rough under the stars, the cost of your accommodation may be more important than comfort or security.

We stated earlier that there are virtually no circumstances in which an RV is going to be the cheaper option when planning accommodation for a camping trip, but there are some exceptions to this rule, as implied. If you choose an RV for your next camping trip, there will be no need to worry about transportation as your accommodation will also be your ride. On the other hand, if you decide to sleep in a tent instead, you will need to organise your transportation separately. In cases where your projected transportation costs exceed the cost of renting or buying an RV, a tent will no longer be the cheapest option. Whilst there may be very few occasions when a tent will be more expensive than an RV, it is always a good idea to pay close attention to transportation costs when weighing up your options.

• Convenience – You may feel that the winner is a foregone conclusion when considering convenience, with RVs boasting a myriad of super-convenient features. However, a large recreational vehicle is not always the most convenient choice of accommodation when camping in Australia, especially in some of the more remote sites that people visit regularly. When considering convenience, you need to think about your destination and the roads that lead to it, the time of year you will be travelling, the likely weather conditions, and the size of your party.

To make the task of considering convenience a little easier to understand, let’s run through a simple example. Imagine that you are planning a camping trip to a National Park in your part of the country, and you'll be travelling with 9 or 10 friends. Whether an RV or a tent would be more convenient will depend on how much your friends are prepared to spend, whether 1 or more of them can drive and the rules of the National Park you are visiting. You will also need to think about the camping site in the park: can it be reached by road, in which case an RV could well be an excellent choice, or is it way off the beaten track, in which case a tent is almost certainly going to be the best option to choose?

Convenience, in common with cost, is quite a tricky factor to evaluate when deciding whether to use a tent or an RV for accommodation, mainly due to the fact there are so many variables to consider for each case. For this reason, it may require a little practice to become proficient at determining which is the most convenient option for a particular type of camping trip.

• Comfort – When considering the previous two factors, we have to think about many variables. An RV, as discussed, could be more convenient and even more cost-effective for certain camping trips, whilst a tent may score higher in both areas for other camping holidays. However, when considering comfort, we can take a more objective approach that provides an answer we can apply to almost all types of camping adventures we may plan. No matter what sort of tent you own or what RV you drive, the level of comfort that each provides will remain constant on most trips you may plan in the future.

As the level of comfort that a specific tent or RV provides will remain constant for almost all types of journeys (we will come to the exceptions in a minute), your main focus when considering comfort should be on how important it is to you and the other members of your travelling party. If you are all fit and in your twenties, comfort may be less of a concern than it is for older camping enthusiasts, but this is not always the case of course. Some older adventurers have become acclimatised to sleeping in rougher conditions than most people could tolerate for any length of time, and for these people, comfort is of little importance. You may also find that comfort is more important to you and your travelling companions on certain types of trips. If, for example, you are planning to take your parents on a special trip to celebrate a noteworthy wedding anniversary, comfort is probably going to be very high on your list of priorities as far as accommodation is concerned: a fully equipped kitchen, quality mattress and pleasant bathroom will make all the difference on such a camping holiday. Conversely, if you are organising a weekend meditation retreat in the outback for a group of hardened adventurers, comfort may be of far less importance.

In almost all cases, an RV will be the most comfortable option, but this will depend on the condition of the RV and the features it boasts. If the only vehicle you can get your hands on is a poorly maintained RV with rock-hard mattresses and malfunctioning plumbing, a tent could well be the most comfortable accommodation option. There are also, as we mentioned earlier, a few general exceptions that need to be considered when comparing the comfort offered by tents and RVs. In locations where an RV cannot be hooked up to a mains electricity supply and it’s not possible to recharge the battery by running the engine, for example, a tent may be more comfortable. This is especially the case in warmer weather conditions that can make the prospect of staying in an RV without air-conditioning a grim one.

• Security – In common with comfort, security is a factor that will remain constant for specific recreational vehicles and tents. What may vary is the level of importance attached to security for individual camping trips. If you are organising a school camping trip for 9-year-old students, you will place great importance on security throughout the entire holiday. On the other hand, if you are planning a camping adventure for a group of thirty-somethings who can all look after themselves, security may be far less important.

Not all RVs are secure, so you also need to consider the condition of the vehicle you have access to before you can conclude it will be the superior option in terms of security. It is also important to remember that camp security can be improved for those who choose tents, with a variety of useful camping accessories. Lighting, lockable storage containers and mobile video surveillance systems are all possible solutions to camp security issues when sleeping under canvas.

With no additional security equipment or measures, a tent is always going to be less secure than an RV in good condition, which means it is the importance you place on security that matters most. We have already considered how the level of importance may vary from one demographic to another, but it may also vary from one type of camping trip to another. If, for instance, you will be staying in a place where dangerous wildlife is known to frequent, security will be of paramount importance. If you are planning a trip to a family-friendly camping area with professional guards onsite, security will be far lower down your list of priorities.

Whether you decide to sleep in a tent or an RV, it is worth checking out the latest camp security equipment that can be used to make sleeping under canvas a safer proposition in all types of locations.

• Catering – If the ability to create delicious meals in remote locations is important to you, an RV will be your preferred accommodation option in the majority of cases. This does, however, depend to a certain extent on the type of camping equipment you own, your abilities in the kitchen and the locations you will be visiting. Of all the factors to consider when comparing tents to RVs, catering is perhaps the most subjective.

Given the subjective nature of this factor, it may help to run through a couple of examples. Let’s start by considering a camping trip on which you hope to spend most of your time fishing with your friends. On such a trip, it is unlikely that you’ll want to spend any more time than is strictly necessary on food preparation. Meals that can be eaten cold, preferably straight out of the packet in which they came, are often the best choice for this type of trip, and there's no need for any special kitchen equipment to prepare them. This being the case, a tent will suffice just as well as an RV, as far as catering is concerned on such a trip. Compare this example to a camping holiday on which you plan to propose to your partner. On this type of trip, catering is likely to be of great importance.

If you are not particularly concerned about what you eat on any type of camping trip, it’s probably a good idea to let the preferences of your friends be your guide when deciding how much importance to attach to catering for your next adventure.

Whether you choose to sleep in an RV or a tent on your next camping adventure in Australia, you can make your accommodation more comfortable, convenient and secure with a range of camping equipment and accessories that can be found in our online store. Order what you need from RV Parts Express, and we’ll carefully pack each item before dispatching your consignment via our secure delivery service. We offer a nationwide distribution service and stock thousands of RV and camping products, all of which are competitively priced.