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Posted by Bill S on May 7, 2008 at 8:53:53 pm EDT
In reply to Can Northpole make a good tent? (real question) posted by Astrostrat89 on May 7, 2008 at 2:28:13 pm EDT

There are some Gander Mountain tents that are ok for car camping, IF you don't put them to really hard use. There are several problems immediately apparent from the description you linked, which are among the reasons that Trailspace decided long ago to not do reviews or answer questions on such tents.

1. fiberglass poles - these break easily and are not repairable in the field, with most of the breaks being of the "green stick" variety.

2. it says "full length rainfly", yet the image shows the typical top-only rainfly found on tents like this. When you have blowing rain, it comes in under the fly. Have the door open for ventilation, and the mesh is completely unshielded, and in comes the rain (or snow or dust).

3. Ah, yes, but it says the tent body is polyurethane coated nylon - waterproof, right? Yes, and non-breathable, which means condensation on the walls if it is at all humid. Such as during one of those heavy thundershowers or during a continuous misty rain when the humidity gets up to 100% and the temperature of the walls becomes the outside temperature, which means condensation.

4. Did you look at the weight? Even with the wheels it says the storage bag has, this is going to be heavy.

Ummm, and what's this about "easy accessibility for electric cords"? Sorry, this is not appropriate for Trailspace.

Car camping maybe. But don't count on long life. By the way, you have to make sure to completely dry the tent before storing it, or the flash coating will peel right off. Then again, the advantage of this is that the tent fabric will become somewhat breathable.

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