Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ok, We set this up and camped in it this weekend. I am going to give you the observations and pros and cons. Pros: Spacious: What can I say! just WOW! alot of room for kids, the dogs, the wife, me, and our gear. I am not a small guy by any means 6'4 and about 350 pounds, I fit in this tent and have room to stand and move around. Ventilated: this tent has great air flow due to the multitude of windows in the tent. Extremely durable bottom: the bottom of this tent is extremely thick and able to withstand the rugged conditions we were camping in. the side of that mountain had alot of jagged rocks there, you can only clear it so much, no punctures, no tears. Very waterproof: had a nice downpour during the trip, no leaks and it withstood a decent wind as well. Easy setup: once you know how, and I recommend setting up at home in your yard to get feel for tent. we did and it saved us a ton of time. The cons are few and far between but there are a couple. Cons: short canopy: the canopy on this tent is short, as you can see in the original picture the windows are slanted past the canopy, this makes it so you cannot open windows while raining. Makes it a bit warm in there. doors do not have screens: I know, minor complaint, esp. since there are so many windows. initial directions are horrid (FYI sewn into the bag): the instructions leave alot to be desired. at the end of this I will post some helpful tips on initial setup. no inner pockets: ok this is another small issue, easily alleviated. We stripped the removable pockets from our old tent. we giving this one a way, the new people cant complain, free is free. The con list does seem long but extremely piddly. Now instructions. To give you a break down we will divide the tent in fore and aft areas, the fore section in the sun area, and has 6 windows. The aft area, where we shoved the kids, has 2 windows. The first thing you need to be aware of is the manufacture forgot to tell you on the top page that 2 poles are shorter. This was either an oversight, did it for a laugh, or the manufacture hates you. These shorter poles go in the last section(aft) my recommendation is to find these and mark them, we used red nail polish. These are placed on the sides of the aft section. in the middle section are nylon braided loops with metal rings. dont run the poles through them, no matter how much you want to. I makes it impossible to get the canopy on later. Follow this order for a little less stress when putting the four pole systems in this order from fore to aft.... D A B C Staking out the tent is a must. I would suggest doubling the fore and aft stake sets. the canopy can have the guy ropes place, I recommend this. page 2 of instructions tell how. Putting away: This took as a while to get good at, however once you get it down it is an easy venture to say the least. fore and aft sections folded inwards to make a rectangle.(about 2 feet of aft and 5 of fore area), now fold in half and then into thirds. Place tent bag and folded canopy in middle and roll. When placing in bag we found once you get it zipped half way there are buckles on the sides. this allows you to 'clip and zip' making it easier to pull the zipper shut. All in all and magnificent tent with only a few minor draw backs. I do not regret buying this tent, and would recommend it to anyone with a large family.