User Review: Eureka! Solitaire

I recently purchased and used this tent for an outing and had mixed feelings. The biggest complaint is setting the tent up. You have to constantly adjust the stakes until you get the 'perfect' fit so you can have maximum space in this small thing.

There's also a confusing part in the instructions where it talks about tying 'one large cord to the loop on the end of the fly and two small cords to the loops on the side' and being able to adjust the tension with the slider on these and that these cords must be staked because it's not a free-standing tent. Problem is that it doesn't say how to tie these cords so that the slider can be used, it just says they have to be staked, which if that's the case, the sliders are of no use. And you don't need these cords to be staked in order for the tent to stay up.

However, I did come up with my own way of using them to get maximum space out of it. I also went to the website for Eureka tents and looked at the assembly instructions for the same tent. Problem here was that they tell you 'two large cords on the side and one large cord on the end'. Um...... that only added to the confusion.

Once I ignored these directions and set the tent up as I saw fit, I was able to create enough space for my 5'7" body to fit into this thing. I kept most almost all of my gear outside for the night in dry bags because you can only fit the small things in....flashlight, mini lantern, book, water bottle...etc.. If you're any taller than me, I wouldn't recommend this.

Also, if you plan on using it in a place where it's hard to get the stakes in the ground, avoid this tent at all costs because it's all about where the stakes are.