Walrus Zia

I've owned the Walrus for five years now. I'm sold on Walrus and sad to hear ZIA sold out to MSR. I use this tent in the summer and have used it twice for high altitude elk seasons.

This tent has done battle here in Colorado. It's held up with a foot of snow on top, has never leaked under a Southern Colorado micro burst shower, but finally buckeld under a massive hail storm at Queens State Wildlife Area on Memorial Day '05. Repaired by Pendra.

See you out there, John.

I bought this tent for canoe camping, but I've also used it on the trail when a four-some deteriorated into a three-some and this tent became our team's lightest option. It's wonderful -- taut set, waterproof, well-ventilated, roomy, and a very functional 3-way vestibule that allows cooking in a lee no matter what the wind direction. On our last Adirondack canoe trip, we sat out Hurricane Floyd in this tent with no problems. Highly recommended if you need one this size.

I own five tents including the VE-25. The Zia is, by far, the most preferred. It is not ultra lightweight @ 9.5 lbs, but is roomy, easy to set up and big vestibule with good ventilation. In wet and windy weather, no problem. Sweet tent. I just can't find them anywhere anymore, as Walrus sold out to MSR. I'd buy another if I could find one.