Trekker Tent 4, Family 4-Person Backpacking Tent

SUMMARY: I like this tent a lot. I can (barely) stand up in it, and it looks great. It doesn’t breathe very well, though, so I had to mod it with clamps. Between that, and having to significantly waterproof it, I gave it four stars, but now I have it exactly the way I want it. SIZE This is a huge tent, per the stated dimensions. But a free-standing tent’s walls are much more vertical than a trekking-pole tent, as their poles concave outward, and the edges of the tent walls are attached to the poles to help increase the interior volume. A trekking-pole’s tent walls will at best be a straight line from the stake to the top of the pole, and will probably even sag a little bit, which compromises headroom. So with less floor space and headroom, a free-standing tent can feel larger than a trekking-pole tent. (For this tent, pull the floor edges tight and extend the pole as much as you can to get the wall edges straight; don’t think you can just pull the sides to get the tent to expand.) In addition, every tent by every manufacturer is advertised to hold more people than they can comfortably accommodate. The general rule of thumb is to get a tent for one more than how many people will be in the tent (for example, two people in a 3-person tent). That way you have elbow room, as well as have space to pull things out of your backpack. But with this tent, we have a pole taking up space in the middle. So how roomy is this tent? I measured this interior floor to be 106″ x 86″, and 77″ interior height (advertised dimensions are 108″ x 86″ x 80″). This means you have 106 / 2 = 53″ on one side, but accounting for the pole, it’s actually 52″. So that means that two sleeping pads 26″ wide will fit on one side of the pole. But to ensure that the wall of the tent isn’t in your face, two 22″ pads would work much better. Of course, that’s sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder. My wife likes a 28″ x 78″ pad, and my son and I use a 30″ x 76″ pad. With my wife along the 86″ width, and my son and I along the 106″ length, it works. So, therefore, three people can comfortably sleep in this tent. Even with only two people, you probably would want both to sleep lengthways. So no cuddling. WATERPROOFNESS It seems that very few tents are totally waterproof. Some of the expensive ones even tell you you’re going to have to waterproof it yourself. Even if it is waterproof, you’ll still have to waterproof it over time. It’s just something you should be prepared to do. This tent is mostly waterproof. It says the seams are taped, but it looks like only at the floor. I sprayed it with a hose for a few minutes, and didn’t have any leaks, but there were some puddles after a sustained rain. So I guess the hose test isn’t a very thorough test. Get seam sealer ($5) and silicone spray ($8), just apply a little at a time, and every few minutes, check for excess running down, as it will consolidate and harden to white spots if you don’t wipe it up. Plan on applying the silicone spray twice, after the first coat dries. Also turn the tent upside down and apply both to the outside of the floor. Give the tent at least 24 hours to dry, especially in high humid areas. VENTILATION This tent only has one vent. It goes the whole length of the back, but most of it is laying on the tent wall, so there is just a small opening. The vestibule walls go all the way to the ground, so no significant airflow there. Using a carbon dioxide monitor to measure air flow, with only one person sleeping in the tent on a night with no wind, my CO2 monitor measured 3,500 ppm. That’s high. For reference, the outdoors is less than 450, and your house feels stuffy at 1,200. At 5,000 , you start getting headaches. This lack of airflow helps explain why some people consider the tent to be hot. I bought some tarp clamps and cord ($15) and three tent stakes ($3). I used two clamps to open the vent the whole length, and pulled out the vestibule so there would be a gap of a few inches. This isn’t going to breathe like a two-door double-walled tent, but these modifications made a huge difference. No matter how cold it is, I want to breathe, especially if I’m not in the comfort of my house. But I might not want to use this tent where it doesn’t cool down at night. WEIGHT The advertised weight is 4 lb, 10 oz, but the tent requires trekking poles, but not the handles, but also a pole connector, and it’s not clear if the weight includes the poles or not, because if you were going to use trekking poles anyway, you probably wouldn’t include that in your tent weight. Per my scale: Two poles with no handles, no connector: 14 oz. Connector: 4 oz Two handles: 7 oz So that means the minimum weight you need to take are the two handle-less poles (14 oz) plus the connector (4 oz), which sums up to 18 oz. If you would take trekking poles anyway, then just add the connector (4 oz) to the weight of the tent. The weight of the tent, plus three extra stakes, two plastic clamps, and three extra guy lines for the previously mentioned ventilation, plus a fourth extra stake to hold the wall down with the loop provided in the middle of the door, is 5 lb, 4 oz. So the minimum you would have to carry with my mods is 6 lbs, 6 oz. I also waterproofed the tent a lot, so that could also account for a few ounces. DOORS & VESTIBULES Only one door and only one vestibule, but the vestibule large. OUTSIDE TOP LOOP Some reviewers said they didn’t get a loop on the outside at the top, where you could loop a guy wire over a tree branch, so you wouldn’t need to have the pole in the center. Mine had the loop. LOOKS It looks really cool. The color is an attractive army green that blends in well with the surroundings, and the shape looks historical. I call it my teepee.