User Review: Eureka! Timberlite 3

The Timberlite 3 was long the lightest, cheapest roomy tent for two persons. Then it was redesigned with heavier and, I assume, more uv resistant fly and floor material.

To keep the weight down the vestibule, which is thankfully now one piece with the fly, was made smaller by eliminating the ridge pole for the vestibule, thereby losing a lot of headspace and cubic volume. And the fly was made smaller and no longer comes close to the ground, especially at the four corners, allowing a driving rain to penetrate the inside tent wall.

Likewise with the vestibule: it no longer comes down to the ground, leaving gear unprotected. The old vestibule had short floor flaps attached to bottom edges of the walls, allowing you to stuff the vestibule to bulging with packs, etc. Not so anymore.

Another unfortunate change: at the four corners the fly is buckled to the bathtub floor in such a way that tensioning is awkward, especially on uneven ground, which is usually the case in backwoods situations.

I was excited to learn that this new version of my old favorite was on the market--until I recently saw it in action for 10 days in Algonquin Park, hence my remarks. What a shame. Now I'm beating the bushes for the next great three (really two) person tent.