Marmot Halo 6P

Summary

Big tent, bigger fly.

This tent is big. The fly makes it even bigger. Would I take this tent snow camping or backpacking? NO. Will I take this tent car camping, scout camping, and week-longing? YES.  

The advantage is the size.  I love it.  Vertical, tall walls.  Does it stand up to wind? only mild wind. If you want a 6-person for the basecamp of Everest, you'd better spend more than $500. This will beat the pants off a Coleman or any other Target-sold tent. Easy setup, handles most weather conditions, and has space to spare.

6-man? Maybe an understatement.  10'x10', with vertical walls and 6+ foot ceiling all the way around make this tent great for lots of people. Party in a tent.  

Our first trip in this tent was eight nights in Sequoia National Park. Four days of sunshine, three days of rain, and one day of snow. The tent performed beautifully. Take better stakes for rocky ground as the metal ones provided bent pretty easy.

No leaks, no problem with gusty winds. Even got our two bikes inside one of the vestibules.

Only problem was the bugs. They get between the tent and the fly and stay right above your head on the screen top. By the time we broke camp there were more than a hundred mostly dead bugs and flies. Not a pleasant sight when laying down for a nap in the afternoon. If you can live with that, the tent is a keeper.

We have camped and backpacked in the Sierras for more than thirty years now.

Love the room and relative ease of set-up (recommend 2 ppl.). General build quality is very good.  We've used this tent for about 20 days total over the past season and have encountered rain, heavy, windblown rain and snow.  Never a leak. 

Vestibules are roomy. Ventilation options are very good and easy to set. 

Unfortunately, the main poles are of inadequate strength for a tent of this size at this cost point.  We have major deforms in 4 sections of 1 pole from a 30mpg wind - hardly an uncommon weather event when camping. The tent will still set-up though it appears a bit lopsided and the rain fly no longer reaches the ground for full coverage in two corners.

I have sent the bent pole for repair or replacement to Marmot's warranty service via UPS at my own expense. It remains to be seen if I will also have to pay for a new pole or replacement of the bent sections (do not think that would be reasonable for an obvious design flaw).

I would avoid this tent if you are going to be camping in any weather other than a very mild breeze.

Out of the box both main poles were bent. I'm still waiting to see how Marmot will respond.

We spent 4 days in this tent in off and on rainy weather, generally light rain. On the last day we endured 6 hours of moderately heavy rain with moderate wind. The fly soaked through and was wet to the touch EVERYWHERE.... this was not condensation as the dampness was in areas condensation would not accumulate, plus it was heavier near some seams... the floor also had soaked through in two corners and in a large patch in the middle. Thank god we were using cots of we would have been very uncomfortable. We were not in standing water and were using a footprint.

On the design side, the fly is poorly designed for windy conditions. No matter how tight you pull it down it is excessively loose around the bottom, especially on the side. Wind comes in under the fly, wraps around the tent, and tends to pull the stakes on the far side.

Design changes should include more guy-out points, more stake points on the fly, and a friggin water-PROOF floor and fly. Other than this the tent is roomy and comfortable.

After 37 years of camping with many styles and brands, this is truly the best quality tent we have ever owned. The ventilation is outstanding and you do not feel damp at night or in the morning. The headroom and space is outstanding and the quality of the poles and zippers is unlike anything I have seen before.

This will be the last tent we ever have to buy. If you want quality, and you want to stay dry no matter what the weather than this tent is what you need.

As long as there is dry weather the tent is perfect. Very good conditioning. Plenty of space .

If you have windy conditions the clips are rubbing off the "waterproofskin" of the outer tent with the consequence, at the next rain the water ist coming through.

After 3 weeks of using the Marmot Halo 6P the waterproof strips behind the stitching is completely going off.

Sorry but I can´t give more than 1 point for good tent, with good details, but bad quality for the outer tent, which doesn't keeps you dry.

This tent is great~~ 3 or 4 season, it does the job. It is comparable to one of the more expensive expedition tents. Tons of space/ standing room, great ventilation, reliable under severe weather conditions, but most of all...best bang for the buck. I bought mine new out of the box on ebay and got a killer deal...But I'd still pay full price, now that I know what a great tent it is.

Stormy weekend camping, we stayed dry as a bone. Windy condition, no worries! Awesome tent, with lots of room for me, my cot, and three kids.