User Review: Hillary 3 Room Dome Tent for 6-7 People (Big Horn)

Reviewed August 18, 2004 by Dave

Rating:
Design: Tiny and misstated
Sleeps: 4
Ease of Setup: Pretty Easy... Not too hard at all.
Weight: 20 lbs
Price Paid: $89.99

We have a big family; there are seven of us. We went looking at tents and picked Hillary for two reasons: We have owned Hillary tents before and they held up well, and also because of the size it CLAIMED to be.

According to the box, the tent measures 18 ft x 10 ft. That should be big enough for seven people, right? So we get out in the middle of nowhere on our camping trip and put it up. Behold, the 18 x 10 tent that measures only about 14 x 8 (being generous). And yes, we physically took a tape measure to it. Yep, not near as big as the box claimed. How do they keep from getting sued over that?

Anyway, it is supposed to be a "3 room tent." They have a different "vision" of what a "room" is compared to me though. The two smaller rooms are tiny. My 8-year-old daughter couldn't even fully extend her legs in them. We didn't take actual measurements, but the rooms measure about 36" wide by 24" deep by about 24" tall. You call this a room??? Who is supposed to stay in these rooms, Thumbelina or Tiny Tim???? C'mon! It's ridiculous!!!!

The second day we used the tent, it rained. 0.56 inches of rain in about six hours. Not much, right? For the most part, the tent did okay, but the windows in those two "rooms" leaked water, and got our mattresses and bedding wet. Marvelous...

Now then, the box "claims" the tent will sleep 6 to 7. Well, perhaps if they are all about 3 ft tall. We took the measurements and did the calculations, and the tent only has about 100 sq ft total, then minus the two little bogus "rooms," you end up with about 88 sq ft. Well, all I can say is you MIGHT fit 6 or 7 gay mountaineers in this thing together comfortably and happily, but there's no way in heck you will EVER fit 6 or 7 averaged size STRAIGHT men in it. Totally impossible.

Final word, Hillary lost my confidence with this piece of crap. We ran as fast as we could and took this thing back to Sears after our trip was over. Next time, I buy Coleman.

All in all, we were pretty disappointed by this tent. I wouldn't suggest buying one. I've seen worse, but by golly I've darn sure seen a hell of a lot better too!

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