User Review: MEC Tarn 3

Reviewed June 27, 2006 by Stephen Van Egmond

Rating: rated 4 of 5 stars
Design: three-season, three-pole, 1 door, 1 vestibule
Sleeps: 2
Ease of Setup: easy
Price Paid: $230

I owened a Tarn 3 for several years. I'm in the middle of selling it because it goes through poles like you would never believe. I've had a pole snap on three different trips. It could be me, but I'm starting to believe it's the tent. I think tents should be able to take a little bit of guff, like being picked up and moved (while empty) without snapping a pole.

I pitched a friend's Tarn 3, and I found it went up considerably easier than mine, without the "oh god, I hope I don't rip or snap something with this clip" feeling. Thus I think that MEC probably has, or had, a quality control problem with their tents with inconsistent stitching and placement of their clip bases.

All that aside, the tent itself is a great tent to travel with and live in. I bought mine for car camping, with the hope that I might take it motorcycle camping. The motorcycle camping never happened, but it would be a good tent for that kind of adventure. Mine has been to Killarney park in Ontario, Italy, the Caribbean for a beautiful beach camp, and to Nova Scotia. It sleeps two easily and three if you're friendly. The vestibule is enormous. There're two pockets in either side of the front door for stuff, and the slight diamond shape gives room to dump clothes, lamps, and whatnot.

Pitching it is a fairly straightforward process. Raise two cross poles, clip up the tent, put on the arch pole, finish clipping it. Easy enough for one person. You really don't even need to bother staking it except to build the vestibule.

With the fly, you're very warm and awake as soon as the sun hits the tent, because it turns into a sauna. Without the fly, the screen provides a great view of the stars, and you can probably drag your morning out a couple of hours. The front window has a screen for privacy that zips out for ventilation.

All taken together, I've had some good times with (and in) this tent, and am sad to see it go. I don't trust its construction, though, and don't enjoy the notion that I'll continue chewing through tent pole segments. If you are looking at this tent, pick one out, pitch it in the store, and if you have any doubts about it, grab another one, and give it a try. I suspect I happened to get a lemon, and am willing to give MEC the benefit of the doubt.

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