The media could not be loaded. I have only set this tent up in my front yard, it will be used for a 3 day backpacking trip in the Eastern Sierras next week so take this review with a "grain of salt".

This tent was purchased so that my family of 5 (2 adults, one 16 yr old, one 8 yr old, and one 4 yr old could go backpacking and attempt to keep things lightweight.

-Extremely roomy. We can all fit and probably squeeze 1 more person in. You can even stand in it.(SEE PIC)

-Very lightweight. This was important to us because there is a lot for ua to carry. Breaks down to less than a pound per person.

-Packs down small. Can be compressed smaller than the bag it comes in. Downside is that it requires you to carry trekking poles (which I use anyway) and an extension piece.(Maybe something that can be redesigned?) Unless you're willing to look for a stick to use in it's place.

-Quick setup. Took me less than 6 minutes to setup by myself.

-Durable and Waterproof. All the seams are taped and the tent is covered in Durable Water Repellent on the entire tent. I drenched the tent for about ten minutes with my hose and saw no leaks inside, The water repellent on the tent worked very well.(SEE PIC)

Keep in mind I haven't used this on the trail but from my initial inspection and set up at home and testing of water, the tent seems like a keeper. I will revise this after my trip next week if I need to.

-Thomas

My friend and I took this tent in our first backpack camping trip in Northern Minnesota in mid-July with my 2 children (8 and 13 year olds). It was a 3 night camping trip, one of which we experienced a few hours of severe thunderstorms. The tent kept us dry for the most part with some manageable leaks that mostly occurred on the corners and on top. But before you write this tent off, let me explain some things I'm pretty sure we could have done better.

The tent is considerably light, which is amazing for the price and space. I looked around quite a bit for a lightweight tent that could fit all of us, and this tent really cannot be beat. Smaller tents with same similar weight are generally at least $50 more expensive. The tent set up is super easy; you stake down the corners and front and use combined trekking poles to pitch the middle of the tent up, then go around stake down the guylines already attached to open up the tent, vent and vestibule. The tent was spacious enough for the 4 of us, including our packs inside the tent, but please note that none of us were taller than 5'1" (my daughter). 3 of us had sleeping pads and my friend had more of an air mattress type of pad, and we still all fit. There's a ring towards the top where you can hang a lamp or light also, which was handy when we were stuck inside playing cards during the storm. I like the fully mesh entrance and the fact that we didn't have to deal with a rain fly to lay down and see the night sky and/or to minimize condensation; we just tied the vestibule to the side. This also made it easier to close up in case of a sudden downpour.

I liked that trekking poles came with it and I liked that we could combine the lightweight trekking poles to pitch the tent, but I did find it a bit annoying that we had to also pack and carry an extra middle part that combined the 2 poles together. Maybe there's a way to combine the 2 poles without needing the middle piece, but I can't figure it out. The extra piece is not heavy or anything, so it's just a minor irritation; I just wish they figured out a way to combine poles without it, especially since the handle parts become extra for tent set up.

Before the trip, I sprayed the tent with waterproofing spray and let it dry. I neglected to put seam sealant, but I know I read somewhere that I should definitely seal the seams because they are not taped, so that was my fault. We did end up sitting a night in the tent during a severe thunderstorm, and it did leak a bit at the seams/corners and one on top. We wiped them down as they came down so it was pretty manageable and we did not get soaked, but I definitely plan in sealing the seams before our next trip. The other thing is that the tent walls shifted a little when I was securing the guylines to prepare for the storm. That also really didn't help us during the storm. It was an easy fix, although we only fixed it after the fact.

With 4 people in the tent, there was a lot of condensation. We decided to leave half the vestibule open to allow more airflow when it wasn't raining, and it worked perfectly. I've had tents that took a day or more to dry after rain, but this tent dried pretty fast (maybe an hour or so in sunlight?)

Overall, this is a great lightweight tent that provides a lot of space and easy to set up, but seam sealer should be applied, and trekking pole design needs a little improvement.

The media could not be loaded. I'm very pleased with this tent! I bought it for duel purposes, to backpack but also as a Paddle boarding touring tent. The tent itself is very spacious as long as you stake out the side guide lines. It will probably fit 4 people with no gear snuggly but it is more suited for two people gear and a child.
Set up is super easy and the stakes are high quality that look like they will last a long time.
The tent itself can roll up pretty small but I wonder how small you could get it if stuffed in a stuff sack.
The trekking poles look to be good quality and it comes with extra rubbers for the bottoms. There is an extension peice that fits into the poles that makes the set up for the tent easy.

I was using this tent for backpacking purposes. We hiked 10 miles and set up camp deep on the national park. It works as advertised. I was able to fit 4 25x78 sleeping pads into it and my family could sleep away from the rain. Only problem is bot me and my kids are around 6 feet tall and my wife is 5'5". She kept rubbing her face on the tent wall and one of my kids was consistently rubbing and kicking on the tent wall. It stayed up and held strong but everyone had a hard night's sleep. Besides the size it's a great tent for a family with two smaller children.

We've been looking for a way to do an overnight backpacking trip with our family of 9. Individual tents are not an option, especially with some kids who can't carry their own gear, and the hammocks the older kids favor won't work for the younger kids. We bought one of these to try out, and the younger kids eagerly tested it out in the backyard. We love it! It's light enough to fit in an adult pack, can be pitched with just the trekking poles it came with, and it was super easy to get up. Don't expect the room of a traditional tent, but for a backpacking tent it's super roomy! I can stand up in the middle (I'm 5'8"), and there's plenty of sleeping room when your tent mates are kids. We camped out with me, a pre-teen, and 2 young kids comfortably, and I found enough room to stow my backpack and the stuffed animals who were invited along. Overall, 2 adults with gear and a small child added in are the max I'd try to fit, but since our plan is to have an adult and a couple kids in each tent, it suits our particular needs perfectly. We will be buying 2 more pronto, and planning our trip!

I followed the directions and used some waterproof sealant to reinforce the corners before use, but all the seams arrived well sewn and well waterproofed with sealing tape, so I feel confident in putting this tent to heavier use than just our backyard. From the directions the seam sealing seems to be recommended yearly maintenance, but it was very fast to do and cured up in 24 hours.

I used a Free Soldier 118 x 116" ultralight ground sheet, and it was also just right. I was able to pitch the tent on it with enough overhang that the little vestibule created by the tent door had a footprint under it for our shoes, so we could get in and out of the tent easily. We can't wait to try this out in the field, and we're super excited we found an American-made quality product in our price range. I noticed they have reasonably priced sleeping pads as well, so I expect we'll be testing some of those out to see if we want to add those to our kit. Good job, River Country Products!