Unpopular opinion: that REI guy who told me to skip the footprint was right and I ignored him for 2 years
Two summers ago at the REI in Denver a worker watched me grab a $45 footprint for my tent and said straight up, skip it, just learn where you camp. I rolled my eyes, bought it anyway, and then watched it soak through twice in Rocky Mountain National Park while my buddy's bare-bottom tent stayed dry. So what actually makes a footprint worth the cash, or is it just gear store filler?
Read somewhere that a footprint mostly just saves your tent floor from abrasion, so on soft dirt or grass it does almost nothing. The waterproof thing is a trap too since the footprint itself can pool water under you if it sticks out past the tent edge. Basically it comes down to where you camp, not what you buy.