Columbia Cougar Flats

This was the best tent ever and I hate myself for getting rid of it. None of the new ones since I let my Cougar Flats go even come close.

I got rid of my Cougar Flats after it got a few minor rips from falling tree branches, but had had it for years. Now I’m kicking myself for getting rid of it. In hindsight I should have just patched it up and lived happily with the patches; at least I’d still have a great tent.

I have yet to find another one like it anywhere of any brand… I liked the big window on the end, having the rain fly, having both entries on one side so the other room is enclosed, and the dividing wall that has a panel attached to the floor so that the divider flaps zip all the way closed.

All tents available now just have the flaps that hang down detached from the floor. I also loved the lower widows that pushed outward allowing for awesome ventilation and no rain getting in. This was literally the best tent ever made. I don’t understand why a tent that was designed so perfectly and was so popular was discontinued. If I knew how to start a petition to bring it back I would.

It’s going on 7 years now since I‘ve had it and I’m not settling for the crap that’s currently on the market that doesn’t come anywhere close so I’ve been without a tent all this time. If anyone know how reach the company to plead for them to bring it back, please do! 

Background

I’ve used this tent for primitive camping, RV camping, and camping with my daughter in our back yard. This was the very best tent and I hope against hope I’ll be able to find another one just like it eventually.

Starting our 2nd season with this 10'x15' "condo tent". Whatever you read about tents being waterproof and this one is no exception, don't believe it!!! You have to spray it with some anti leak/sealant stuff and even that's not enough in a major down pour. That said, last year we got caught in a storm and the tent got wet. "Never again", I said! So I spayed it and built a custom tarp system and now it's all good. Want pics or more info? Write me at jstwelve@hotmail.com

Went camping last Canada day long weekend in PEI (July 1-5, 2009) and it rained , no issues apart from the wet tear down, not much fun...

Bottom line, you're in a tent and not a trailer, if you can deal with that, this tent is the least expensive way to camp in style with breathing room. We also purchased the matching Columbia North Glacier Octagonal Screen House and it's great for preparing food, eating and other activities, but not waterproof!!

The colour coordinated poles do make it pretty simple to set-up and after a few times it's a breeze (roof first, green poles, raise red poles on 1 side, yellow in the middle and red on other side0. The bay windows, wind tunnel vents and the corner shelving unit and loft storage are cool, but the lights require uncommon and expensive batteries so I recommend purchasing a lantern type light with compact fluorescent that you can hang from existing rings on both sides and keep a few flashlights handy.

We have a sweet set-up inside. We are a family of only three, so for now we have 3 inflatable mattresses on one side (my wife and I use side by side separate mattresses because of the weight different issue which would pop her up when I laid down). On the other side, a portable closet, 3 drawer systems (for clothes), 12 volt cooler fridge, small kitchen set-up , pretty organized! We are currently looking at raised cots or beds cause you do feel the cold and humidity from the ground

We go camping 6 times a year maximum, I can't bring myself to purchase a trailer although they are easier and less time consumimg to set-up. If you're going to go tenting, I definitely recommend this Cougar flat model to anyone but again you will need to waterproof it and look a tarp system of some sort.

Hope this is helpful.

Jean-Simon Plouffe - New-Brunswick, Canada

I have used this tent for the last two years of camping(and we camp A LOT). I have been extremely pleased with the tent with the exception of a couple things.

I can, after a couple times, setup this tent by myself. It is easier with two people, but can be done. Everything is marked pretty well and it has good sturdy poles on the corners, not those fiberglass kind. You really need to stake the ends of the rainfly, or rain WILL collect in one end of it.

I have not had any leakage problems in the floor or elsewhere, but I did use seam sealer on all the seams and I did treat the rainfly and all exposed surfaces with a silicone sealant that comes in a spray can. Our tent is left set up on private property the entire camping season, and it has held up well thru lots of storms with no leaks.

I love the space and headroom in this tent. We have a queen sized cot that fits nicely in one end and use the other end for a living area that we put a couple chairs and a small table in.

I also love the bay windows. We leave them open and it does not rain in them. The windows on both ends are large and allows good ventilation when hot. We also like taking the rainfly off when we can since the ceiling is also ventilated and it is nice to look at the night sky!

The one huge thing that I am disappointed with is the door zippers. The zipper will get off track and come apart on you. I carry a pair of pliers with me and when that happens, I run the zipper all the way to the end, get it lined back up right, and pinch the back of the zipper with my pliers, and it will work again, usually for a long time.

Also, the problem with water pooling in the rainfly. Just make sure you stake the ends!

Overall, I love this tent and will be buying another soon!

We took the Cougar Flats out for a four-night camping trip. It definitely needed two people to put it up, and was a little difficult to figure out the first time. Now it seems easy and I quite like the design that gives maximum headroom walking through the tent. I'm 6'0" and have no problems with standing tall anywhere in the tent.

On making it to the campground one of the corner ceiling seam joins ripped partially but stayed fine the rest of the time during a heavy rain thunderstorm. We took it back and received a brand new one with some hassle after finishing the trip.

The positives:

- Great height throughout the tent

- Strong floor, no rain inside during the rainstorm anywhere on the floor seams

- Good venting system, would likely give good air flow during hot humid weather

- Lots of windows, plenty of air flow if desired

- Guy ropes tuck away in tent to make it easy to put them out

- Gear lofts, well designed, the roof one held four light coats without any seeming stress on the seam joint

- Great storage bag, though a pain in tight luggage situations, it opened up to put in your folded up tent, then zipped down to store it

- Pegs were steel and very sturdy, I hammered one through a tree root actually and couldn't get it back!

The negatives:

- Rain fly collected water on top of tent

- End windows are big and not covered by fly, thus they collected water and leaked, after putting on seam seal, one seam still leaked again the next night

- Door zippers were constantly getting stuck

- Middle divider is not removable as I had hoped, our king size air mattress just barely got in and into the back room

Overall a nice tent, perhaps a little pricey considering the faults but a nice one nonetheless. I hope to get some good years out of it.

Tent is great in all seasons. Have owned this tent for three years and during that time we camped for over 28 different places for 80 nights, some two niters and some week long. Third year we sprayed rain guard on the tent as we began to see some leakage in the rain fly.

After reading other reviews it reminded me that there is an issue with the zippers as they begin to wear out from use plus they are sometimes hard to just open (the zipper pull doesn’t want to set right) would also be great if the rain fly was a bit larger around the doors.

Other than that the tent is great with lots of room for cots and air beds. This one has held up to heavy wind and rain several times. Carrying case is also great with additional extra space when unzipped completely. Air ventilation is great in the summer and warm in the winter.

It’s like having two tents in one. Looking at a tent and its cost this one is worth the money. I have also had great results with the company on replacement parts for free.

Absolutely LOVE this tent! Bought this tent 2 seasons ago and have enjoyed it from May - September ever since! We sprayed it with some anti leak/sealant stuff, and it worked. Went camping last Canada day long weekend (July 1st) and it rained lightly, no issue. Went camping in June and it poured down rain the one night so hard. The tent stayed completely dry.

So much room for your bed, and a dressing area! It really is like a mini cottage. Once you set it up once, you become a pro as it's easy, and has colour coordinated poles to make it simple. The bay windows and the corner shelving unit and loft make it even more like a house !

I definitely reccomend this tent to anyone who is considering it or looking for a great tent. We also purchased the queensize sleeping bag and WOW! It keeps you warm even in weather that is below 0. It is a flannel sleeping bag with fleece at the bottom to keep your feel extra warm, and zips all the way up to keep the heat it!

The folks who reported that their tents leaked in the rain may not have set the tent up correctly. We have never added any waterproofing to the tent.

Our first time out, we went through a severe thunderstorm with pouring rain and high winds. We had several inches of water pool on the rain fly, but it never leaked into the tent. We did have some minor leakage through the bottom of one of the doors.

However, both issues were due to our not correctly setting up the tent. If you make sure everything is taught on the rainfly, bow windows and doors, with no inward sagging, and be sure that nothing on the inside of the tent is touching the walls, there should be no leakage. We have used this tent on 4 trips, going through another soaker last weekend, and still have been dry.

My only complaint about the tent is that I haven't been able to figure out how to roll it up to get it to fit back into its case!

I've been buying tents for years. Already I've gone through 5, when i bought this tent in April of 2009 I could tell this was right for me.

It is very spacious (I'm sitting in it now) the room divider is so private you even have the option to unzip a built in window in it! The light it came with was bright enough for me to read a book while sleeping in it. Its air system keeps it cool enough throughout the day. The large window at the front (whichever you have the tent positioned) provides a panoramic view of your surroundings. The shelf is great for storage aswell as the over hanging storage space.

A few tips on setting the main body up:

-always keep it level
-start with the roof first and the rest comes up with ease
-secure the green coded poles second
-When the roof is done and the green poles are in start with the red poles and end with the yellow poles

We purchased this tent (Cougar Flats II) to use as a family tent and did lots of research before buying it. The tent has everything we were looking for in a family tent. We haven't tested it in the rain yet therefore I cannot comment on that aspect.

Putting the tent up was extremely easy. The instructions were not very good so we just ditched those and followed the color coding on the tent. It took less then ten minutes first time with myself and my husband. I believe it could be set up with just one person.

It packs away easily also. My husband is 6'2" and can stand up in the tent. Air circulates well through the tent. We can't wait to take our family camping. It seems like Columbia thought of everything for this family tent.

We bought this tent to accommodate our 4-person family. It is fantastic, we love it! It is big. Could easily sleep 6 without air mattresses. An adult can stand upright all the way to the walls. I love the special features like the gear loft, abundant loops and tabs for hanging things inside, and especially the cyclone venting and bay windows. The tent bag is superb. We have camped in the rain, not gully-washer thunderstorms, but slow, steady rain for hours, and we stayed dry.

The only drawbacks are that it takes 4 people at one stage of the set-up, getting the corner poles up. After that, 1 or 2 people can finish. Also a little confusing to set up the first time, but after once or twice, you remember and don't need the directions.

It is the most comfortable tent I have owned, spacious, a lot of room for air mattresses and I love the overhead storage and drink holders. Half of the tent can be used as an extra "bedroom" or as a kitchen area, so those reviews stating that it doesn't have a covered storage canopy are misleading.

The only downside for me is that it is heavy and I needed a tall helper to set it up. I also keep getting the zipper caught, and it caused a tear in the fabric that covers the zipper. One of the shock cords broke.

At first it took us forever to set up the tent. The first time I used it I just fell in love with it, we had enough space to run around. Then the second time it was pouring, I had to wake up in the middle of the night just to scoop up all the water.

I bought it cause I thought Columbia would reach my expectations. I was told not to buy it because it looked really complicated to assemble, but I wished someone had told me it wasn't waterproof.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and am an avid camper and have used this tent for the past 3 years it is the best tent I have ever owned. Roomy comfortable and easy to put up. This tent replaced two other large and expensive tents that fell way short of this tent. I have never used any rain proofing product at all on this tent and have been caught in rain storms many times and the tent stayed absolutely dry.

Great tent if it doesn't rain. Bought it, loved it, first time out. 2nd time out, it rained, not hard by any means, and it leaked from every seam and every zipper. Don't waste your money.

Just to top it off I contacted Columbia to tell them about it and I haven't gotten any response. I'll go back to my old Coleman tent that I've had for years and never had any problem with.

I like the tent, went camping this weekend and it did rain. I sealed the seams before this trip, the seams on the floor let water in and my sleeping bag was very wet and where the bay windows are water was soaking in the fabric. Tent is nice if it does not rain. Bring a big tarp for the top of the tent to cover the windows.

Great tent.. set up by myself in 10 min, color code bars make it nearly foolproof, spacious well thought out design, durable and overall a excellent investment of my camping dollar. Will have for years to come for use in the great northwest and its unpredictable weather.

Hats off to the Columbia engineer who came up with this one.

Best tent I have ever owned! Survived 50-60 MPH winds in wicked southern Kansas thunderstorms! Stake ALL guy as instructed! Tent stayed 98% dry after 2-3 inches of rain with seam sealer and protective waterproofing spray (2 cans needed). Highly recommend for windy areas.

Very easy to put up and take down. Directions sewn into storage case. Buy two 8x12 tarps for ground cover. This tent is spacious and comfortable. I am very happy with this product.