Many years ago in a far off land.... Have you ever arrived at your campsite after dark, after a few too many beers (him not me), and tried to put together one of those tents that require nothing short of an engineering degree to assemble? Well we have and I'll tell you that the headlights from the car will practically blind you if you have to get close enough to look at the complex instructions for your camping confines and the don't give you the type of light you need to put up a tent in the pitch black forest.

Deciding to save my eyesight and my marriage I gave up on assembling this nightmare of a tent. But this was only after I had inflicted a small but none to nice injury on my husband from a shoe thrown none to gingerly at him and his friends. I decided to forgo the assembly and just sleep in the car. I don't know and to this day don't care where the drunk idiots spent their evening, but I awoke and headed directly to a sporting good store about an hour from the campgrounds. There I quickly proceed to purchase and new tent.

Epinions gives us some guidelines when writing about certain items and I can actually see where some of these would be important to other shoppers so I'm going to address them here.... (like a happy little Epinionator/Camper that I am).

Does the functionality of the tent justify its weight? This is an extremely lightweight tent. It comes neatly stuffed into a duffel bag for easy transport and while it may not be light enough for a backpacker it's perfect for a couple or very small family who are site camping.

How has the tent held up over time? What maintenance is required? We've had this tent for two years now and it's not showing any real signs of wear. All the zippers still function properly, we have no leaks or tears. We did however seal all the seams with in order to prevent leaks during our first season of using it. When we are ready to break down camp we sweep it out and when we arrive home I re-assemble (takes around 5 minutes) and wipe the tent down with a sponge and soapy water, then allow it to air dry.

What do you love or hate about this tent? Well I love that by purchasing this tent we have been able to continue camping without hurting each or or divorcing over how to put the tent up. I like that it has door flaps for extra protection against critters and the like and has windows for enough light when you want it. I'm hard pressed to find something I don't like about this tent. All the stakes are strong, the rain stays out, the assembly couldn't be easier unless it did it itself, which it almost does.

The 2 poles snap together to make insertion into the place holders very easy and you almost don't even have to read the instructions if you've ever put together a dome tent before. If you haven't it's basically this easy: take the support poles and snap them together. Slide the poles into their sleeves on the tent itself and stake the baby to the ground. This tent is so easy to work with that once during the middle of the night we had found an ill placed rock under the floor of the tent. No matter where we seemed to move inside the tent the rock followed. We arose, stepped outside the tent, removed the stakes and picked the tent up in one piece and moved in over a few feet and went back to bed. Piece of cake!

With a 7 foot ceiling at the center of the tent even the taller members of your family. The tent is 9 feet wide and give you plenty of room to sleep 3 easily and still have room for gear, clothes, etc.

For what situations and conditions do you recommend this tent? I recommend using this tent when neither of you have an engineering degree or an extra day of camping just for tent assembly. We have used ours in the rain, in the heat of a Texas summer and even in Colorado where we found it just wasn't quite warm enough. It did however keep out the rain, and was cool in the blazing heat of a Texas summer. This tent is great for singles and small families alike, happy camping.

Recommended: Yes