Sierra Designs Bedouin 4

My wife and I use the Bedouin 4 on warm summer camping trips and when the weather is expected to turn wet. The Bedouin 4 provides a huge amount of room for 2-3 people with a lot of gear. It will snuggly hold 4 people with no or a very modest amount of gear.

The tent, which is 92" x 93", weighs in at almost 13 pounds. Way too much for packing, but it works great as a base camp tent. Interior height is 5' 4"- more than enough head room to stand up to put on pants.

The fly, in a bright light blue, comes all the way down, buckling into the tent body at the 4 corners. The fly has a large reflective Sierra Designs logo on each side and reflective guy points for night visibility. The vestibule is large enough for gear and even cooking.

The tent has a lot of mesh on the upper half, as well as a 3" strip of mesh around the bottom. The door is fabric with mesh on top. All the mesh allows for great ventilation.

The fly also has buckles that are above the bottom 3 " mesh strip. This allows you to roll the bottom of the fly to a point above the lower mesh, providing privacy and shelter from dew and light rain while maintaining superior ventilation. That ventilation with overhead shelter was important when we woke up Saturday morning dry and cool after a heavy morning dew.

The tent has performed great on 2 recent experiences. The first was 3 solid days of rain. Not a drop got in. The second was heavy dew with relatively high temps through out the night. The airflow and ventilation kept us cool while the fly kept us dry.

The tent came with Sierra Designs clothes lines- a handy feature to dry out wet clothes.

What could be improved? Not a lot. I would add a second door for convenience. Other than that, the tent is comfortable, stable, secure and has kept us dry in very wet weather. I highly recommend this tent.

This tent retails for $289, but you can find it cheaper. I bought the tent at REI for $75.

Sierra Designs customer service is first rate.

Simple common cross pole design made with high quality materials and a few more accoutrements than the average 4P tent. A reliable 3-season family style camping tent that will last you a long time. Standing room.

The Bedouin is a solid 4P tent that performs well in three seasons and can be used for four seasons with little concern. It goes up easy, has plenty of headroom and storage, and is made from high quality materials. 

Setup: The tent uses a common cross pole design. I have the older model (2004) so there is a floating pole that goes across the top of the other poles for the fly.

The cross poles are pre-molded to be slightly bent which takes off some of the excess stress and allows you to insert the corners a bit more easily. Since the tent is tall, it's tough to throw the fly over on the first try but that's common in most tall tents. 

Stability: Tall tents don't traditionally do as well in higher winds but the Bedouin guys out well and the material is durable so it has an advantage in this respect. The corner straps cinch down for a tighter stretch.

Weather Resistance: The floors are sealed well and the fly stretches low so it is very effective in shedding water and snow. 

Ventilation: Since the fly is low, there is more of a chance for condensation although you can vent the fly from the top of the zip to mitigate the problem a bit. The bottom of the sides of the tent have a thin 4 inch  screen skirt that encourages cross venting (top pic). (Update: I've since found out you can roll up the bottom half of the fly to increase venting but still keep dry)

Room and Storage: Plenty of headroom. The vestibule is surprisingly big.


There is a small area under the backside of the tent fly with limited room. It's not intended to be a vestibule and it is not accessed from the inside of the one door tent (older model...the new model is double doored). 

Plenty of pockets across the back and front wall of the tent (6 tower pockets and 2 long wall pockets).


It also has a full shock cord cross bar on the ceiling to hang clothes and lights. 

Packability: Average. Comes in a rectangular case with handles. This is not intended to be a backpacking tent. Even when split, there are many 4P models out there that are significantly lighter and more compact.

Conditions: Bought it used. Did not realize this: I saw some clips about 1/2 up the exterior of the fly. I wasn't sure why they were there. I read on another Trailspace review of this tent that you can roll the fly up halfway to vent the tent but keep out rain! Cool. Can't wait to take it out again and try it. Thanks, Trailspace and Mr. B.

As a Canadian tree planter working on the west coast, I needed something large enough to live in comfortably for three months, along with all of my gear. I found the Bedouin 4 to be a well made tent; it was relatively light for its size, easy to set up, and--most importantly to me--nicely ventilated.

The rain cover held out well, keeping the inside of the tent dry; however, I was disappointed to discover a small leak in the vestibule where the seams had not been adequately taped. After a few days of hard rain and wind water began collecting at this point, and dripped through. I was a little miffed at having to put on wet socks and boots the next morning.

Other than that small problem, I found the Bedouin 4 to be sufficiently reliable, and was enthusiastic about its roomy, efficient design.

We went to Yosemite in late spring, it was raining every day. Bedouin 4 saved our trip!

This tent is very durable and absolutely waterproof. This tent is relatively light weight and small in packing size so it was very easy for us to travel by air.

I like the height inside, you can stand up straight in this tent. The space is pretty good for 4 person with heavy winter sleeping bags and sweaters.

Great tent for wet environments. I personally did not like the lack of windows or a screened door. There is ventilation on bottom of tent but you have to be laying on a big air matress to look out. I love the tent but need a screen on the door so I can look out.