Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATED: I thru-hiked the 2,655 mile Pacific Crest Trail with this tent from Mexico to Canada in 2012 & it lasted the whole trek. I am still using it right now even after! Along the way I had experienced a lot of different types of weather scenarios. It made it through the scolding deserts shielding me from the sun, through the Sierras shielding me very well from the mass hordes of mosquitos & rain, and through the cascades keeping me warmer than I would have been in a tarp when it was cold. It's a nice beginner lightweight option, though not really ultra-light, but proved to be worth the low price paid. On my postal scale it weighed in at exactly 3lbs with stakes, & poles in the stuff sack it came with. Pretty good especially if the rest of your gear is light too. It's kind of strange, because at first I hated this product. Why? It would become so wet from condensation each morning, I'd awake to a pool around me...but it began to grow on me after seeing so many -more severe- problems from other PCT hikers who did not have this tent. The condensation issue seems to only be a -major- problem when it's sealed up with the rainflap on. Otherwise, only randomly would it be a problem, mostly in more humid weather. Depending on how achy/lazy I am feeling, this tent takes me an average of about 2 minutes or less to set up even in the dark, it's just so easy to do; stake it down, 1st pole in, 2nd pole in, your done. The poles are pretty strong and there are only 2 of them (see bottom about 1 issue I had though), and I've never once needed more than 4 stakes to hold everything down even with brutal wind, & pouring rain. I have not had one leak yet, not even a drop get through this tent....through the worst of STORMS! I was shocked it was so rain protective, and very thankful about it. One morning I woke up and everyone was soaking wet from a bad T-Storm, another hikers $500 tent collapsed, and everyone who brought a tarp for weight was regretting it in that moment. My tent was just how it looked the previous night, like nothing had ever happened. (Again, I only had 4 stakes in too). Raincover stayed put even with insanely crazy wind blowing in all directions. + if you don't care about privacy when you sleep and you keep the rainflap unzipped it is as if you are sleeping under the stars. Bugs never got inside unless I accidently left it unzipped. I had even slept on an anthill once, and they were not getting in. So far, other than condensation I have not been able to think of another con, well, except that you cannot sit up inside this thing easy. It's more like a bivy than a tent. I am a 5'2 female(pretty short), fit and I am definitely a hunchback inside when I need to change clothes or do anything that involves sitting up. The only other issue is when you do need to sit up, and if you have messy/thick hair like I do, your hair will most likely get ripped out from the double zipper above you which can get extremely irritating! This happens to me nearly every single night in the tent and it's pretty unavoidable. Also, I don't find the colors of yellowish-orange & black on the tent to be very appealing in the middle of nature, but have not seen this tent made in other colors. Other than these small issues, so far, it's a great tent. ______________________________________________ UPDATE 2 (1 issue I had) : One night while resting at Kennedy Meadows the back tent pole snapped while setting up and could not be fixed because my hiking partner messed it all up "trying to fix it", but Eureka replaced it for free over the phone & I never had a repeat issue. They were very nice about it and actually sent me a spare for the front just in case as well, no charge. I think the woman on the phone said they usually charge a small fee to replace them though. Also I should add that I was not the one setting up my tent the night the pole snapped! So I learned my lesson about letting others set up my tent! I think the hiker setting it up for me out of kindness was trying to force it in when I wasn't looking out of laziness, or just didn't know any better since he was a tarp guy and doesn't use tent poles ever, but that's a whole other book chapter....I never had a problem with the tent poles otherwise. All in all everything worked out great with this tent and I will be using it on future adventures.