Customer Reviews
Bought this tent, took it camping memorial weekend. We fit 9 people in this tent. 2 Adults, 5 teenagers, and 2 smaller children. We had 2 full air mattresses 2 twin air mattresses and 3 cots. Very roomy. We even had a freak thunderstorm, it never leaked. Air flows through very well. Can't wait to take it camping again
(RATING) I just finished my 2nd trip in our new tent, and even though my final rating of this tent is 3 stars, I would guess that most people with my same overall experience would give this tent 5 stars. Swiss Gear makes a good tent, and I'm happy with my purchase. It's possible that my overall rating is a statement on tent design in general, but since this particular tent has some design flaws that I find unforgivable, my rating will have to stand, biased or not.
(SPACE) This tent is well built (good materials), very big, easy to set up, well ventilated, and we all sleep very well. I'm 6'7" and my head doesn't touch the ceiling when I'm standing inside. I must emphasize how rare this is. If you have the included room dividers installed, this is a 4 room tent, but with the room dividers up, the two "side" rooms are very small. However, they could still easily hold two children each, so if you have a family with small kids, this makes it perfect.
(SIZE) The main room divider is sewn into the tent and cannot be removed. The tent does have tie-backs for this divider. The two dividers for the side rooms are removable, and we didn't even use them since it made the rooms too small. We had two people each in the side rooms with heads under windows and feet shooting toward the middle of the tent. Between the feet of these four people there was a queen size air mattress. This tent is very big. This still left the entrance room completely empty, which could easily hold 3 people in sleep bags or a king size air mattress. In my opinion, this tent will very comfortably sleep 9 people and 10 or more, tightly. I say this because we all know that tents usually exaggerate the number of people that can sleep comfortably.
(FLOOR) The biggest positive I have for this tent is the floor. This is the 2nd Swiss Gear tent I've purchased, and both floors have been exceptional. The floor is made of a tarp-like material, and is wonderfully durable. I want to note that the instructions are sewn into the tent bag, which is a good idea, since you can't lose the instructions, but it does make them awkward to read. I think it's a good idea though.
(MATERIALS) The general construction of the tent is solid. I love the fact that the main structure is held up with 6 steel poles. This is rare in today's tent world, and it makes the tent look and feel solid, even in the wind.
(WEATHER) This tent, as previously noted, is solid. (WIND) On our 2nd trip, we had winds gusting to 20mph, and the tent didn't bat an eye. That being said, this tent is tall and the walls are upright, not domed, so this isn't made for hurricane conditions. (RAIN) We sealed our seals with "McNett Seam Sure Water based Sealer Tube, 2oz" and sprayed the lower half of the tent with "Nikwax Tent and Gear Solar Proof, 33.8-Ounce" and the rain fly with "Star brite Waterproof Spray with PTEF, 22 oz". The tent was solid in the rain. I would suggest the Star brite spray for the whole tent though, because it worked great and it's quite a bit cheaper. Also it came with a spray nozzle, and the Nikwax didn't. All of the zippers are covered with orange nylon, which is great, but I didn't seal them, and that was a mistake. One of the zippers popped a drip during our thunderstorm. I don't believe this was the fault of the tent however, but in my thinking that I wouldn't need to seal the nylon covering the zippers. Make sure you learn from my mistake.
(COMPLAINTS) I have three main complaints about this tent. (and one minor one)
1) (TIE DOWNS) None of the windows have tie-backs. This doesn't make sense. How much expense would a few pieces of string be for the window flaps? There is one tie-back in the tent, and it's on the door. However, it can't be used to tie back the shade so that the window on the door is open, while the actual door remains closed. This tie can only be used to keep the door completely open. I might be weird, but I don't like bugs, and I tend to want to keep the door zipped, but have the window on the door open. If you do this, there is no tie back for the window flap.
2) (ZIPPERS) The zippers seem to get stuck frequently. I think the zippers are probably too small, and something about how the door is made causes them to bunch easily, so you have to use two hands the entire way around the door or windows. This is more of an inconvenience or annoyance that anything.
3) (RAIN FLY) The rain fly. It doesn't cover any of the windows well, so you can't leave the windows open during a rain. It also doesn't cover the door very well, so you can't leave shoes or anything else outside. Why not add an awning to cover the windows and door? I don't get it. If there was a larger awning on the door, and any awning on the windows, I'm sure that would have bumped up my rating to a 5. I could easily overlook my other problems if this was fixed. It should also be noted that on the longest side of the tent, going along the back-side, there is no tie-down for the rain-fly. This caused the back 1/6th of the top of the fly to hold tiny pools of water during a rain storm we had, where all the other 5 sections of the dome were tight and water just rolled off.
4) Minor complaint: The rain fly tie-downs are black and are basically invisible at night. I opted to fix this design problem (MORE RAIN FLY ISSUES!) by buying "Nite Ize RR-04-50 Reflective Cord, 50 Feet, Green". This green rope lights up like a Christmas tree when it's dark and a flashlight hits it, one package was way more than I needed to replace all of the black rain-fly tie downs.
(RECAP)
Pros:
Huge (Sleeps 9 extremely comfortably)
Floor (made of tarp-like material, which is very study)
Lots of head room. (I'm 6'7" and my head doesn't touch the ceiling)
Well ventilated. (lots of big windows, and a completely mesh ceiling)
Easy to set up. (My 10 ; 8 year old and I had it set up in about 15 minutes the 2nd time at 11pm. The first time it took us about 40 minutes during the day, so if you are setting up at night, make sure you've had a previous trial run.)
I really like the mesh roof. We took off the rain fly on a clear night and watched the stars into the wee hours.
Cons:
No window tie downs.
Zippers are too small. (the door zipper separated on our 2nd camping trip, although we were able to fix it.)
The rain fly is poorly designed. (doesn't cover any windows, and barely covers the door. The back-side doesn't have a tie-down.)
You can't remove the main center divider. (sooo simple... why Swiss gear?)
Despite my hatred of the rain fly design, I would recommend this tent, as it's a fair price for such a huge tent and it's made with good materials.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
Product Description
17.5'x14' family dome tent
Price : $180.79
You Save : $75.20 (29%)
Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 83 x 210 x 168 inches ; 39.5 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 39.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- ASIN: B006CQTZNO
List Price :
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