User Review: Hillary 4 Room Family Tent

Reviewed June 28, 2004 by Adam Atkinson

Rating:
Design: four room Hillary dome
Sleeps: 6+
Price Paid: About 90 bucks

You get what you pay for. I bought my particular model Hillary tent with four rooms for bluegrass festivals, which in my neck of the chilly woods start up in the spring and last until fall. Both my wife and I go along with our 3-year-old.

First of all, let me state unequivocally that if you are going to a festival of this sort it really isn't camping. Second of all, I personally never even use a tent when wilderness camping if I can help it. Debris huts and tarps work the best in terms of insulation and ventilation. Now on to the Hillary.

The ventilation sucks and it leaks, seemingly two conflicting views. The main problem with mine is the rain fly which is like the equivalent of wearing a thong on your backside. The thing doesn't cover the main tent doors and windows. The small protection it does give covers up the main ventilation which is in the ceiling. It still gets better cross breeze with all the windows open than most cheap tents, however. (I must add here that I got the thing for under a hundred bucks because it was on the floor during the big Father's Day sale and I had a gift card left over from Christmas.)

Leaking: The tent is sort of loosely stitched. I seam sealed and silconed the rain fly which helped tremendously, but during a recent deluge we still got leaks along the main upper seam. At the doorways, the tent leaked like a the Bush Adminstration on CIA operatives married to dignataries with conflicting opinions about Iraq. The design of this tent or any other cheap tent means leaks. Any tent should have a raised heavy mil floor which comes up onto the side walls of the tent. And they all should have a rainfly which comes all the way down the sides to be staked out away from the tent and into the ground.

Barring all of these problems. It's roomy as hell and space wise is perfect. We even put our solar shower station inside and a minature play room to keep our 3-year-old occupied. But, I am currently looking on-line for heavy duty, but light (ala Eureaka) rain fly material so I can make my own rainfly, preferably with a canopy pullout or vestibule set up. Other than that buy silicone and seam sealer and dedicate an afternoon to soaking your Hillary with the stuff.

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