I bought this tent for car camping on what turned out to be a damp 3 nights (but no real downpours). I love having the screen house as kind of an air lock for mosquitoes. I would go into the screen part, kill anything that followed me, then go into the main tent. Cooler and one camp chair stayed in the screen house. The screen house is also good for taking off damp footwear away from insects but outside the main tent, and I applied bugspray in there too. I looked at so many tents before buying that I didnt realize this one didnt have an electric port, but bringing it in through the door worked fine.
It seems to me this would perfectly fill an unfilled niche if the screen house had zip-down flaps to keep the water out that could then be put up on poles as an awning in front of the tent. Since I only got passing showers the screen house never got too wet though, so it didnt really effect me this trip.
This was going to be a four star review until I got home and set the tent back up to dry. The shock cord in the screen houses pole had already snapped. In the old days this wouldnt have mattered, as the pole pieces fit together tightly enough that they would hold together while you fed it through the pole sleeve. These days the shock cord is mean to hold the pole together and without it you the feeding process is much slower. It seems that, much like Craftsman, has traded quality for affordability. As a recent returnee to camping, I suppose cheap worked for me. If I start doing more of it, Ill buy a tent for quality, but for now Ill stick to this one. Its a shame too, because the attached screen house isnt something you see in many models. Many of them have a screen door with a divider you can put up to simulate this arrangement but then you dont get the full mosquito-lock affect that this one provides - nor would I be comfortable applying bug spray in the main cabin of a tent.
(Mostly) Great design, poor quality
I bought this tent for car camping on what turned out to be a damp 3 nights (but no real downpours). I love having the screen house as kind of an air lock for mosquitoes. I would go into the screen part, kill anything that followed me, then go into the main tent. Cooler and one camp chair stayed in the screen house. The screen house is also good for taking off damp footwear away from insects but outside the main tent, and I applied bugspray in there too. I looked at so many tents before buying that I didnt realize this one didnt have an electric port, but bringing it in through the door worked fine. It seems to me this would perfectly fill an unfilled niche if the screen house had zip-down flaps to keep the water out that could then be put up on poles as an awning in front of the tent. Since I only got passing showers the screen house never got too wet though, so it didnt really effect me this trip. This was going to be a four star review until I got home and set the tent back up to dry. The shock cord in the screen houses pole had already snapped. In the old days this wouldnt have mattered, as the pole pieces fit together tightly enough that they would hold together while you fed it through the pole sleeve. These days the shock cord is mean to hold the pole together and without it you the feeding process is much slower. It seems that, much like Craftsman, has traded quality for affordability. As a recent returnee to camping, I suppose cheap worked for me. If I start doing more of it, Ill buy a tent for quality, but for now Ill stick to this one. Its a shame too, because the attached screen house isnt something you see in many models. Many of them have a screen door with a divider you can put up to simulate this arrangement but then you dont get the full mosquito-lock affect that this one provides - nor would I be comfortable applying bug spray in the main cabin of a tent.