I thought it would be fun to have a tent with a porch on it, but I was wrong.
Every time you go in and out of the tent, you have to bend over to the ground twice - once to unzip the tent, and again to zip it back up behind you. I found this to be hard on my back.
There are drainage holes in the porch floor which do not adequately let water out but do adequately let crawling bugs in.
The fly does not cover the entire porch area, so when it rains, the porch gets wet.
Because of the bugs and water, the porch is not a good space for keeping shoes at night.
In my opinion, this tent is better for dry weather, and with the porch doors tied up out of the way. You could put up a pop-up canopy or tarp over the porch to make it work in rainy weather, though.
I would not buy this tent again, and I would not buy any other tent with an uncovered or partially covered porch area.
Would be a 5 star, but the screened porch has a flaw when it rains- there should be some holes with grommets to allow water to pass through, rather than puddle on screen room floor. other than that- tent has been great- lighweight- easy setup and most of all- dry in sleeping area.
his tent is pretty fabulous - My boyfriend and I went camping with my dog for 4 nights (and one unexpected rain shower) and didnt have any problems. The dome of the tent is rather tall - Im 58 and can stand up straight in the center, though I did tend to move around bent over. We had a queen sized air mattress inflated in here with plenty of room for bags (and everything that got pulled inside when it looked like rain) and moving around each other. It functions pretty much the way it looks in the pictures - the rainfly provides ample cover for the main part of the tent - half the back wall is a window without an internal cover, and the rainfly covers the entirety of it. When it rains, everything in the screened in area is going to get wet - I surmised that based on the other reviews and the fact that its got an angled front with no rainfly coverage. You can tell this, too, when you have the tent set up - the floor of the porch is the thick-tarp-like material as the rest of the tent, but its flat (i.e. not a bathtub bottom like the dome part of the tent). Right inside the door, theres about 2 inches of standard tent bottom, then a mesh strip running the length of the tent for draining the water out (so make sure youre smarter than I was and pitch the tent with the front down hill). Overall, a great tent!
First things first, this is a tent, ok? In case you dont understand what that means, let me explain it for you by telling you what it is NOT. This is not Mountain Hardwear, Marmot, North Face or any big name, high performance brand. Its . You buy these at or Target, not REI. So understand that you make certain sacrifices in quality right off the bat with this tent and to complain about it is like buying a Chevy and getting upset that it doesnt have the features, craftsmanship, or design of a BMW.
That being said, lets talk about this tent.
Heres what I like: It sets up quickly, tears down just as fast, and you can still get everything back in the carrying bag it came with without giving yourself a hernia from overexerting. With the rainfly off, you get decent (although not great) ventilation for those hot summer nights. Its roomy. I love the screen porch as an entry to kick shoes off in that greatly minimizes the amount of sand and dirt that ends up inside the tent itself and therefore inside my sleeping bag. The price. For $130, you cant go wrong.
Heres what doesnt thrill me: As other reviews mention, the rainfly does jack squat to protect anything in the screened porch from moisture in the event of rain. It will get wet. And the floor will get wet too and will probably pool up water. Which you will likely step in unknowingly in an early morning pre-dawn, coffeeless haze and slip and fall and completely soak yourself when all you were trying to do was to drain your middle aged bladder that cant make it through one complete night in the flipping woods without waking you up. I mean, maybe you wont. But someone could. Or did. But definitely not me. But hypothetically, I bet that would suck. Also, the back panel is a completely open screen. With the rainfly on, it provides no additional ventilation and seems pointless. With the fly off, it allows for ventilation but cannot be closed so there is no option for privacy. Then again, youre in an 8-person tent. You gave up on the concept of privacy the moment you zippered yourself inside this nylon castle with a gaggle of other campers. Oh, and about the 8-person thing: thats relative. Sure, 8 people if youre cramming them in. Then again, why stop there? I bet the whole Thai soccer team could fit in this thing. But for us normal, slightly overweight Americans, 8-people is pushing it. Id say 6 at best, and even then youll have to get creative. But I easily fit two queen-sized air mattresses for my four kids and had plenty of room for myself and all of our gear. There wouldve been room for their mother to join us too if she hadnt run off with her bass player. But I digress... 8-person is a bit generous.
So there you have it. All things considered, this is a pretty good tent. If it got too close to the fire and completely melted, or if a tree fell on it and rendered it useless, Id buy it again. Probably.
The carrying bag was made rather poorly. After just one opening/closing, part of the zipper torn off from the nylon. Older s were made better than this.
Reviews
Easy setup and plenty of space
Bigger than I thought it would be. This is a quality tent.
Buyer beware
It came missing pieces and clearly used.
Theyre making me use a stupid headline
Got here fast. Its big, and really easy to put up. I love having the screen porch for the dogs.
Roomy and easy to put up
Very roomy! I thought a big tent like this would be hard to put up, but the instructions are clear and I put it up by myself in less than 10 minutes.
Porch area is not as usable as I had hoped
I thought it would be fun to have a tent with a porch on it, but I was wrong. Every time you go in and out of the tent, you have to bend over to the ground twice - once to unzip the tent, and again to zip it back up behind you. I found this to be hard on my back. There are drainage holes in the porch floor which do not adequately let water out but do adequately let crawling bugs in. The fly does not cover the entire porch area, so when it rains, the porch gets wet. Because of the bugs and water, the porch is not a good space for keeping shoes at night. In my opinion, this tent is better for dry weather, and with the porch doors tied up out of the way. You could put up a pop-up canopy or tarp over the porch to make it work in rainy weather, though. I would not buy this tent again, and I would not buy any other tent with an uncovered or partially covered porch area.
nice tent- recommended!
Would be a 5 star, but the screened porch has a flaw when it rains- there should be some holes with grommets to allow water to pass through, rather than puddle on screen room floor. other than that- tent has been great- lighweight- easy setup and most of all- dry in sleeping area.
Great for summer camping
his tent is pretty fabulous - My boyfriend and I went camping with my dog for 4 nights (and one unexpected rain shower) and didnt have any problems. The dome of the tent is rather tall - Im 58 and can stand up straight in the center, though I did tend to move around bent over. We had a queen sized air mattress inflated in here with plenty of room for bags (and everything that got pulled inside when it looked like rain) and moving around each other. It functions pretty much the way it looks in the pictures - the rainfly provides ample cover for the main part of the tent - half the back wall is a window without an internal cover, and the rainfly covers the entirety of it. When it rains, everything in the screened in area is going to get wet - I surmised that based on the other reviews and the fact that its got an angled front with no rainfly coverage. You can tell this, too, when you have the tent set up - the floor of the porch is the thick-tarp-like material as the rest of the tent, but its flat (i.e. not a bathtub bottom like the dome part of the tent). Right inside the door, theres about 2 inches of standard tent bottom, then a mesh strip running the length of the tent for draining the water out (so make sure youre smarter than I was and pitch the tent with the front down hill). Overall, a great tent!
Great tent, all things considered
First things first, this is a tent, ok? In case you dont understand what that means, let me explain it for you by telling you what it is NOT. This is not Mountain Hardwear, Marmot, North Face or any big name, high performance brand. Its . You buy these at or Target, not REI. So understand that you make certain sacrifices in quality right off the bat with this tent and to complain about it is like buying a Chevy and getting upset that it doesnt have the features, craftsmanship, or design of a BMW. That being said, lets talk about this tent. Heres what I like: It sets up quickly, tears down just as fast, and you can still get everything back in the carrying bag it came with without giving yourself a hernia from overexerting. With the rainfly off, you get decent (although not great) ventilation for those hot summer nights. Its roomy. I love the screen porch as an entry to kick shoes off in that greatly minimizes the amount of sand and dirt that ends up inside the tent itself and therefore inside my sleeping bag. The price. For $130, you cant go wrong. Heres what doesnt thrill me: As other reviews mention, the rainfly does jack squat to protect anything in the screened porch from moisture in the event of rain. It will get wet. And the floor will get wet too and will probably pool up water. Which you will likely step in unknowingly in an early morning pre-dawn, coffeeless haze and slip and fall and completely soak yourself when all you were trying to do was to drain your middle aged bladder that cant make it through one complete night in the flipping woods without waking you up. I mean, maybe you wont. But someone could. Or did. But definitely not me. But hypothetically, I bet that would suck. Also, the back panel is a completely open screen. With the rainfly on, it provides no additional ventilation and seems pointless. With the fly off, it allows for ventilation but cannot be closed so there is no option for privacy. Then again, youre in an 8-person tent. You gave up on the concept of privacy the moment you zippered yourself inside this nylon castle with a gaggle of other campers. Oh, and about the 8-person thing: thats relative. Sure, 8 people if youre cramming them in. Then again, why stop there? I bet the whole Thai soccer team could fit in this thing. But for us normal, slightly overweight Americans, 8-people is pushing it. Id say 6 at best, and even then youll have to get creative. But I easily fit two queen-sized air mattresses for my four kids and had plenty of room for myself and all of our gear. There wouldve been room for their mother to join us too if she hadnt run off with her bass player. But I digress... 8-person is a bit generous. So there you have it. All things considered, this is a pretty good tent. If it got too close to the fire and completely melted, or if a tree fell on it and rendered it useless, Id buy it again. Probably.
Older s were made better than this
The carrying bag was made rather poorly. After just one opening/closing, part of the zipper torn off from the nylon. Older s were made better than this.
Hey, thats pretty good
It worked great with no problems. Definitely recommend it. Would maybe put better instructions in it though.
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