Tents discussion, eh?
It's funny stuff: there are so many bits of folk wisdom echoing about the atmosphere. The most pointed one, it seems to me, is "Buy quality, or repent at leisure." (What "quality" is, can be debated, for sure. Rubbish -- that seems readily evident, esp after a cold/wet/windy night in an inadequate tent.) It's not always the case, however, that "You get what you pay for." There are a few too many examples around of expensive mistakes, products with prices & reputations which exceed their performance.
I follow the "tents" discussions on crazyguy, as well as on some hiking forums, and it seems that a pretty good rough-and-ready guide has emerged: "Cheap, light, durable: choose any two."