I cannot recommend this tent enough.
Why did you pick this product vs others?: I picked this tent because it stood on its own, meaning stakes and guidelines were not necessary, in calm weather, and most importantly, because of how easy this tent is to set up. Full transparency, I also have considered maybe even buying the floating platform, but I didn't at the time of writing, due to the tarrific additional costs on the tent, at check out, which boosted the cost from $369 to $509, in "special taxes, and fees" at checkout. I can only imagine what an additional $600 floating platform, would've added in tarrific costs. The tent generally takes just over 5 mins to set up, if you put in the four door poles, and stake it down, that time was after watching a video on the setup of the tent, prior to it arriving, during my first time setting it up. Pretty straight forward, you pull the side handles, and then go in, push the middle of the top up, throw over the rain fly, put the rain fly poles on, and you're basically done, minus the door poles if you want to put those in for high wind gusts. In the pics, I added digital USMC pattern cami netting, with a winter pattern (meaning some white is sprinkled in there), for some heat reflection. This is a four season tent, so it does retain the heat inside. So having a tarp, or some second layer, above the rain fly, is gonna be key, if you want to enter, to get something, without dropping 5lbs of water weight, during high temperatures. The color I got was Moonstone. Like the military, Acacia struggled with naming the color black, with black. The military calls the color black, Navy blue, and Acacia calls black, Moonstone. I've never been to the moon, but maybe someone in Space Force can tell me if Moon rocks are in fact black, otherwise, my tent is black, and it was really hot inside in June. The roof, is great if your tall, period. I imagine someone on the shorter height side, might struggle with popping up the top, but at 6'2, not having getting a pain in my neck, from stooping over, was awesome. This tent has had probably the best rain resistance, I've seen, in a tent, and I grew up camping, and have been a Scout Leader for both my sons, and my daughter, for about 13 years. I've had a few tents, over the years, and this one was the most rain resistant, in a soaking downpour, that I've ever seen. Even with all the windows open, and only the door screens zipped up, no water got in. To be fair there was no wind, during the two heavy soaking rains, and I didn't pick a swamp to camp in, for the water to get in, from underneath. I imagine if I zipped everything up, secured the rain fly guidelines, zipped up the door flaps, and if need be, added a ground tarp, this tent would be bone dry under any weather condition, minus a hurricane. *NEVER camp in a hurricane, check the weather, and if something crazy sneaks in, that this tent can't handle, go home. Don't have a Lt. Dan versus the storm moment, just so you can finish out your camping trip. That's plain darwinism. The tent is roomy, I think 4 is probably the max, for comfort, but you could do 6, if you're in a bind, or you're friends/family, are fine with some feet in their face. If you're using individual cots, probably 3, maybe 4, is the most you wanna shove in there, but I would say 4 is a bit optimistic. I've had two cots in there, along with a weeks worth of gear, in two waterproof trunks, a couple packs, and still had plenty of room to get up, put my boots on, get dressed, without bumping elbows, and able to stumble about, to find whatever I can't find, due to 0645 morning brain fog. This tent is not something you're gonna wanna hike any significant distance. Check the weight, but it'd be way too heavy for the average person to throw up, and hike on, for a couple of miles, without hating life, and having regrets. I love the Hexagon shape, as the footprint isn't ginormous, if you're camping with other tent folks, or even those pseudocamping RV folks. I wanted something easy to set up, and with a dome design, or something close to it, and this was perfect. This is a four season tent. You can put a stove in it. I'll never try that, as the Marine Corps instilled a hatred for extreme cold weather camping, that I've yet to get over, 20 years after my service. If you're into that sort of thing, then this is an awesome four season tent, for low price, when compared to other four season tents. That's if you consider that parts of the walls retain heat like a space blanket, and you can add a stove, so I would imagine I'd be comfortable in some pretty cold environments, if I were ever so inclined, which I will not be. The floating platform is a cool feature, if you have a bunch of disposable income, but I can't see much use for it, unless you're near a pond, or a lake, specifically in a no wake zone. To put this on a river, with the potential to be carried away by a moderate current, seems like a bad idea, but maybe you're in the market for some mild white water rafting, while inside a tent. The Velcro floor, is nice to clean/dry out the inside, if water or mud/dirt got inside, and you wanted to clean it out, after your excursion. I would advise checking the seal of the Velcro, on the floor, after setting it up, otherwise you'll get a few small crawlies inside, who've exploited any gaps that might be open. My first campout in the this tent was in Ohio, with 4 straight days of real feel temps at 111°F. I was comfortable at night, with a small fan on top of my trunk beside my cot. During the evening, I could even lay down inside, after a brutal day of sweating, thanks to the cami netting, making the tent cool enough, and being in the very sparse available shade. Having some sort of second layer above the rain fly is key, if you're going to be in a hot area though, whether it's a tarp on poles, or something, especially if you get the tent in the color moonstone/black. I'm very confident that the moonstone color would be extremely ideal if you're camping in colder areas. The stakes are not those cheap, coat hanger type stakes. You could definitely beat something to death, if ever needed, with one of these included, heavy duty tent stakes. The several windows, the two screen doors, and the screen roof on the main body, provide plenty of air circulation inside the tent, and the zippers are heavier duty as compared to what most tents come with, and they never got snagged, while I was zipping them up. The stitching on the seams appears very durable, that I never felt compelled during the 3 days of heavy rain, to spray the seams down with Scotchgard. I watched several of the other 20 or so campers who had the rectangle shaped, box/canopy style, or dome shaped tents, scramble to put tarps over their tents during the heavy rain, as they had leaks. I cannot highly recommend this tent, enough, if you're a frequent camper, and especially if you're tall. Read more
