Bull_n_heat
WKR
I have a fair amount of experience with hot tents, having both used a wall tent for years and a smaller Seek Outside Redcliff for a handful of seasons as well. Don’t get me wrong; that Seek tent is excellent for what it is, but when it that sil-nylon gets wet, it sags to the point that it’s no longer really a stand-inside kind of tent, and the usable space really takes a nosedive.
Thus started the chase… Having a small string of llamas, I knew that I could probably get away with a slightly heavier tent in exchange for a bit more usable space, but the lighter you can go, the easier it is on everyone. My criteria were fairly simple: less than 30-40 pounds with stove, ability to stand up in the tent, hopefully breathable, doesn’t break the bank. I consider the micro-canvas modified wedge style Snowtrekker tents to be the gold standard of this group, and Beau at Wilderness Ridge Trail Llamas definitely took a huge stride in developing some of their tents to be specifically sized to fit into llama paniers. They also are made in America by folks you can call on the phone. But alas, when coming in at close to 2 grand, I wanted to see if there were some other options. They say “buy once, cry once”, but might I be able to not cry at all?
Enter: Pomoly. I was looking around the interwebs and somehow stumbled on this brand, which appears to be a company based out of China that makes tents, stoves and camping accessories. They have a nearly staggering variety of tents and stoves, but the website appears to be translated from another language and less slicked up than most US-based companies. The prices were staggering as well, but online reviews seemed entirely done by Influencer type folks that took the tent out of a bag at a developed campground and sung Kumbaya while reheating mac and cheese over the wood stove. Not exactly confidence inspiring.
I hemmed and hawed for several months last winter before I finally settled on trying one out myself, explicitly holding myself to doing a review here so as to provide something worthwhile for users like me. They had several intriguing tent styles, but I ultimately settled on their Circle 6 model. This is a bell style tent, but rather than having sidewalls to form the bell, it’s a modified teepee design that includes a 6’ diameter circular ring (the bell) that sits in the top of the tent and greatly increases the standing room. The tent comes in around 14 pounds with stakes, about 17 pounds with the floor, and stands about 6’6”. I (at 5’11”) can stand up in the tent anywhere under that ring and the walls are nearly vertical so it uses space well. Innovative design….would it just be a sail in the wind?
I ordered the tent through their website and also picked up the floor for the tent. They have some goofy gimmicks on their site where you can spin a digital wheel for free shipping, or $13 off you order, or some other such silliness. After spinning the wheel (and hopefully not giving most of my retirement account information to the Chinese), I wound up only 280 bucks into the package.
I bought a used Pomoly stove from another guy on Rokslide – they make many, but I think this was the T1 Ultra. This is a fairly standard folding, titanium stove with a rollable stove pipe, damper and a pretty innovative spark arrester. All told, I think the stove tips the scales at about 7 pounds. I have to say, the folding assembly was easily worth another pound or two of carry weight. After packing in somewhere, I’m not a huge fan of an elaborate construction project that comes with some of the other backcountry stoves I’ve used. This sets up in less than a minute, is sturdy enough to cook off of, and honestly has one of the best drafting designs I have ever seen. If you have a flame in the stove and close the door, whatever fine fuel you have in the stove essentially ignites. I found it very easy to get a fire going, and I credit it almost entirely to the design of that stove, however they achieved it.
The tent arrived in a week or so, and everything that was supposed to be there was. A telescopic aluminum center pole is a bit heavy, but could be swapped for your own cut pole if you wanted to save a pound or two (my llamas did not know of the potential for this weight savings, but probably would not have complained if they did). It also included a light aluminum ring that serves as the bell. There were a pile of triangular tent stakes included, and enough guys for a European soccer team. The whole package fits easily inside a set of panniers.
As the tent is a twelve sided polygon (“12-agon” if you are into precise geometric terminology), I would highly recommend getting the floor if for no reason other than to guide you in actually setting the tent up. I found if easier to stake out each of the corners of the 12-agon and then loop in the tent than try to figure out the spacing with my crude understanding of angles. The floor also has a heat resistant pad for the stove, which is pretty nice. And it fits well with the tent such that there are no major gaps between the floor and the tent. A generous apron/sod skirt on the tent itself really helps keep it pretty weather tight.
Setup of the tent wasn’t too bad initially. I would recommend against asking your mother in law to help the first time, but that’s not a knock on the tent. I would recommend you put the ring in the tent before you hook the tent to the stakes. Getting the inner ring in the tent is a little bit like Roger Bannister’s 4 minute mile… you have to believe it can be done before you are able to actually achieve it. After some finagling though, I got it mounted in. Then, it’s as simple as inserting the center pole and telescoping it to your preferred tightness. Guying out the tent was no problem as there were plenty of attachment points. I actually took about ¾ of the surfeit of guys out of the bag and stopped carrying them. If the tent isn’t pitched on completely level ground, that ring can look a little funny as it conforms to the ground surface. But this does not appear to limit its functionality. I might also recommend you swap out the stakes that come with the tent for pegs that have hooks on them, to hold the tent loops snug with the ground. I used cheap-o stakes, and actually think they were just the ticket.
It seems like there is ample room in the tent, with a circumference approaching 13-14’ in diameter (100 ft2 total footprint) and the standing space above 6’ was nearly 7’ in diameter. We comfortably had three hunters in the tent for a September deer hunt, and a buddy and I spent 6 days in the tent in October chasing elk. It proved to be a reliable base camp, kept us and our gear dry, and was plenty warm. There is a pair of ceiling vents in the tent, as well as one doored vent at the base of the tent. Overall, the design seemed to breathe, while also holding heat reasonably well. The stove did a great job of keeping things warm and could reasonably hold coals and some heat for several hours. In my experience, most small stoves can’t maintain that.
If you are going to use the stove jack (and I don’t know why you would buy this tent and not), you will have to cut your own stove hole. It seemed like the easiest was to just notch a “cross” pattern with a simple hunting knife to achieve this. Then as the stove pipe slides through, it will seal fairly well around the stove hole. Just be sure to cut it a little smaller than you think you need and expand as needed.
Now, we had a relatively mild October in western Wyoming, so I wanted to really get a test for the tent so that I could actually comment on its performance. I had a late season deer hunt near the wind tunnel they call Cody, WY with my father at the end of October. The forecast called for 4-8” of snow and the wind that typifies that part of the Cowboy State. As it was a car camp, we were staying in the regular canvas wall tent. But I took the opportunity to set up the Pomoly and shacked up in it for several days.
In short, the tent performed well. You can see from the photo that the top of the tent would be prone to accumulating some snow along the circle ring, but this is easily ameliorated with a shake every few hours, or a more elaborate snow removal exercise every few hours. I would also recommend sweeping off the apron from time to time to keep the side walls as close to vertical as you can. However, if you left some snow on the windward side of the tent, that might help curtail some drafts. In terms of wind performance, I was really surprised by how it did. It certainly shifted and shook in the wind, but everything remained standing and it seemed like there was just enough “bounce” in the tent that it didn’t topple.
Overall, I was really pleased with the tent and most of my concerns about its performance were alleviated. For less than 300 bucks I had a very serviceable tent that’s easy to set up, pretty easy to carry, and works well in the elements. This certainly will not be a tent I’ll pack on my back, but it fits nicely as both a backcountry tent and for a truck-based camp. I’m certain I’ll still lust for one of those American made canvas beauties from Snowtrekker, but I will comfortably, and happily, enjoy my time in this tent for many seasons. And I’ll have no shortage of fond memories from this season to look back on that this tent helped provide.
Feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback.
