Replacing broken or lost tent poles, particularly, for dome-shaped tents, can be as easy as a trip to the local retail or sporting goods store or a nightmare of searching, shipping and long waiting periods. Once the poles are in your possession, they may need to be measured, cut and threaded with elastic cord, before they can be used. The ease or difficulty of the entire replacement process, unfortunately, depends on the brand of the tent.
Replacing aluminum or fiberglass poles is less confusing if you purchase or order each replacement pole as a separate kit. Again, this depends on the brand name of your tent. Popular brands that have tents for sale nationwide will have replacement kits easily available, while specialty products may mean more online searching for manufacturer websites or buying each individual part needed to build a replacement pole separately. Nationally known brands such as Coleman, have become so popular that most replacement Coleman tent poles can be readily purchased in any store that sells camping equipment.
Aluminum poles for larger tents and canopies can frequently be found and purchased online. These poles are not as difficult to assemble and can be found in many different widths and lengths. These poles can sometimes be found locally in specialty store that sell awnings and large tents for special events.
When deciding on a new tent, researching the ease of finding and assembling replacement parts should be an integral part of your search for the best product; having the lightest or most waterproof tent available on the market, will do you no good if it has to be left at home because of an broken pole that cannot be replaced. Once you have decided on the new tent and purchase it, also purchase several tent pole repair sleeves. These sleeves are just slipped over the pole to cover a week or damaged area and then crimped in place. Using one of these sleeves before the pole is irreversibly damaged can save time and expense and allow you to keep using your tent for long periods of time without needing to replace entire tent poles.
All in all it is important to be able to find replacement tent poles for your tent. Usually the higher quality tents will have more replacement poles available. Other manufactures will offer upgraded poles for more specialized camping trips. Perhaps you got a tent that you like a lot but the poles are too heavy. You may be able to upgrade to a lighter pole. The same goes if you are going to a place with very high wind speeds. You will need a higher quality pole for that region.