Tentipi Safir 7 CP

The Tentipi Safir 7 in cotton-poly blended fabric from Sweden. There is a smaller Safir 5 & larger 9 and the tents also come in a lightweight synthetic material. We like canvas tents for breathability and condensation control.

Supposedly a 7 man tent but better suited for 3-4. The floor diameter is 14 plus feet and the peak is almost 9 feet so this is a big tent. Being a tipi design the sides slope in so you can't take advantage of all the floor space but there's still plenty of room for 4 people to store gear, sleep and move around in.

The doorway is about 6 ft so you may stoop a little to get in but then you can standup with 3 ft of headroom above you, which is nice.

Features: easy-up one pole design, built in stove chimney jack, upper and lower venting system, storm tie-downs for 40mph + winds, bottom edge of tent is water-proof snow flap for durability and prevent soaking of the canvas, fully water treated for 100% moisture resistance, protect doorway zippers, screened entry way, super high quality European design and construction. This tent has been used on several arctic expeditions and had extensive use in the Scandinavian north country.

What's nice about center -pole tipi designed tents is they go up very easily. Stake 8 pegs around the perimeter and the center pole. One person working 10-15 minuets, that's it. Very quick setup for a family or base camp tent.

There is no floor with the base model tent but you can get Tentipi's ground cloth, although it's very expensive. We use a cheap RV astroturf mat in the back half of the tent where we have our sleeping bags and that workout perfectly.

The front half by the entrance is left uncovered so any dirt and moisture ends up on the ground and not tracked into the sleeping area. Also if you have a wood-stove, it will sit directly on the ground and not be in danger of melting a hole in the ground cloth and possible starting a fire.

We love using this tent and have been tenting as opposed to using our camper van. We throw this into our jeep and go camping way up in forest service land. We usually use a small wall-tent wood stove inside to heat and cook on. It makes it just about like camping in a heated cabin.

At the campgrounds it draws lots of attention which can be fun or annoying depending on your point of view. We've had countless people stop by and want to take a tour or enquire about obtaining a tent like this. It's fun talking with people about gear, just not too many people. With just 2 people and a dog, we have plenty of room for cots, a table, wood stove, chairs etc. Tent camping at it's very finest. 

I gave this tent a 4 star rating based solely on the fact that it is expensive and hard to obtain in North America. I really like this tent in terms of form and function but there's no denying that it is very expensive for what you get. You can buy a very nice wall tent for less than half and there are a couple of USA made tent-tipi designs can be sourced for much less money. Then there's the shipping and a hefty $110 buck duty fee.

I also noticed that the prices have gone way up on these things since we purchased at the end of 2009. If however you can justify it, go ahead and pop for one. You will be getting an excellent tent, designed to last a lifetime with proper care.

The tipi design is a joy to setup and use. Having a wood stove capability will turn camping into a 4 season affair. Nothing like winter camping with a nice warm place to come back to after a day playing in he snow.