So my take on this tent, in areas where more often than not, mild weather will be encountered, I believe it will be a great tent. In areas where serious weather will be encountered more often than not, I don't believe it will serve your purpose. Such as Alaska, I would not buy this tent for any serious mountain hunt or any serious walking trip here in Alaska. You would be daring trouble to come find you if the weather kicked up.
I'm not afraid to admit when something wasn't quite as good as I thought it out to be, so I'm going to send this back for a refund. I always think of "Buy once, Cry once". I just had too high of hopes for it. Now, again, don't get me wrong, in an area of the country where weather tends to be more mild than bad, it would be great. What did I expect for a 120 dollar tarp tent? Well, for 120 mass produced tent I think it could be a little better, even for 120 dollars, being as it doesn't have any kind of inner tent body. I'm going to save my DIY money for a tipi/pyramid tent sewn up with sil-nylon that I'm going to build from the ground up later.
The seams aren't too bad, but I did not see any real improvements in the grommets, from what was explained to me, over the older versions of this tent. See the photo. A small piece of nylon strapping was placed into the grommet. These should not be grommets, they should be strap loops sewn in with a reinforced patch.
The peak of the tent is the same style of grommet with a plastic reinforcement. This could work, but it needs to be made a little tougher. See photo.
The pole, it is tapered, don't know why it makes no sense. From the ground up it is 14mm then in the mid-section of the pole there is a taper to 10mm, very bad idea. I can see where it will become the weak link in a strong wind and bend/break the pole at the taper junction. See photo.
The weight of the tent is good, it's light, but being light does not mean it can't be stronger. Strap loops for the stake out points, a few guy out points on side, beef up the peak where the top of the pole locks in and have a straight 14mm, or even 20mm pole versus the tapered pole. With the kind of cost of production in China, I believe for another 20 or 30 bucks added to the retail price, it could be a really decent tarp tent.
Again, I'm not trying to give a rip on the company, it's just an opinion of the tent for worse than mild weather. From getting to see it up close, without setting it up outside, I can tell you that, the way it is designed now, I wouldn't buy it again.
Would have taken more photos, but work has got me busy and it's going back in the mail today.
