Marmot Zenith

We have been searching for the perfect tent and really have yet to find it; however, this is a nice little guy. We were stuck between this and the Sierra Designs Meteor Light. The Meteor Light is two pounds heavier. It is mostly no-see-um netting, which gives great stargazing opportunities and I could spend a buggy evening playing cards in here. There is plenty of headroom. Not much vestibule space but we just use our packcovers. I wish it had two side doors instead of one D-shaped door at the head but that's my only complaint. It's kind of a pain to get in and out if the fly is on but that's the tradeoff. Marmot seems to have trouble fitting their flies to their tents: the poles get in the way of the zippers. I LOVE Marmot's burrito sack.

On a recent backpacking trip I was faced with a very rainy first day and had my first experience with my brand new Zenith tent. I was not at all happy with the fly arrangament which does not provide any coverage over the door opening when the vestibule is zipped open to allow access to the tent. Rain can easily enter the front of the tent while loading in sleeping bags, etc., and lots of it fell into the tent.

During the night the fly leaked excessivly through the fly/vestibule joint, leaking into the tent through the screen door. I am not at all happy with this tent and would not recommend it to anyone.