Sierra Designs Orion CD

Light for a freestanding tent, and simple to set up, but at a price. Ventilation isn't great. The vestibule is small, its zipper is hard to reach from inside the tent, and the vestibule sags when it's opened, dumping water on your gear. The tent does OK in moderate rain and snow (6" is the most it's seen), but doesn't handle true NE summer downpours well. The brow pole makes a level triangular surface with the 2 other poles, and water pools on top of the fly. Add a wicking fly attachment snap to the middle, and you've got a constant drip in heavy rain. No amount of seam-sealer on the fly attachment snap seems to be able to fix this problem. I note that Mtn Hardwear and Marmot make tents of similar design, but their brow poles are higher than the arch formed by the other poles, so the water presumably doesn't pool.

Overall workmanship is fair. My next tent won't be an SD.

I've had this tent for 15 years and have used it numerous times every summer, on backpacking trips as well as just car camping. It's come with me from Eureka, CA to New Jersey, to upper peninsula Michigan, and now to Colorado. Never once has it ever leaked even in heavy downpours, moderate snowfall, and high winds. The footprint is perfect fit, and the tent is still in excellent shape. There has been one small tear in the floor which was easily repaired.

The one negative to the tent (the reason I don't give a full 5 stars) is that with rainfly, footprint, poles and stakes the whole thing weighs 6.4 lbs. A little heavy for long backpacking trips especially when newer all-inclusive models now are weighing under 4 lbs.

At first glance it seems to be a nice design, but I had the same problems John did. In a hard rain the ties on the inside of the fly wick water into the inside of the tent, and the vestibule pole design does create a depression causing water to pool on top of the fly.

This made for a very sleepless night right in the middle of a 90-mile hike. My solution was to tie baggies around the fly-ties with dental floss. The baggies collected the water, but I was already wet.

What was most disturbing was the attitude of the SD (Customer Service-?) Dept. They admitted the design flaw and sent me seam sealer (which I had already done).

No more SD for me.

This is a great tent -- as long as it never rains.

I've been caught in downpours several times in this tent, and every time it's leaked...A LOT. I tried tying out the fly in every possible angle with whatever I could find (extra shoe laces, cord whatever). I put plastic between the fly and the tent body, anything I could think of -- but nothing worked. I was stuck for a month backpacking with it and was completely miserable. I sent it back to Sierra Designs -- they told me there was nothing wrong with it...so I re-seamsealed it, took it out, and it still leaked just as badly.

I bought this tent on the recommendation of a friend. I spent some time seam sealing the fly and floor, but haven't had it in the rain yet. It handles condensation well though and also has good ventilation in the summer heat. I like the way you can sit up inside and comfortably dress or undress without being cramped. This is a great tent!

This free standing tent is well made, relatively light, and easy to setup. It is a bit small for two people (32 sq. ft + 10 sq. ft vestibule area), but very roomy for one. There's a small pouch on each side of the tent to store flashlight, etc.

Negative: the mesh door opens downward, possibly picking up mud, dirt, etc from the ground.

I took it to West Virginia to the Blue Ridge Mts. and it performed beautifuly. I set up and had my gear inside before most people had a chance to unfold their tents. It takes abuse well even from Boy Scouts. I recommend this tent to buyers who want a good three-season tent.

This tent is the easiest to set up you'll ever own ! I've been trekking in British Columbia for a month and I really enjoy using this tent. Lightweight, solid, waterproof, etc. The only bad point is that it's only a 3-season tent, but it's the best one I ever used.

We slept warm and dry in el nino conditions. A great tent with very good ventilation. We seam sealed the fly and floor before use. We would recommend this tent to anyone.

Vestibule is small, but I'm very happy with the tent. Good ventilation and very dry. It pitches nice and taut. It's probably the best tent I've seen in this price/weight range.

Excellent tent! Easy to set up. Wide door opening makes entering and exiting simple. If I were only going to have one tent, this would be it.

This tent is very well made and has great ventilation. I stayed dry in it during a very heavy rainstorm. I am very happy with this tent.

This tent is absolutely great. Took it on the A.T. for a month and i highly recommend it. Rain or shine this tent is great.