Eureka Tent

[familycampman]

I'm in the market for a new 3-4 person tent. What do people think of this one? Worth the $$? It'll be used primarily for car camping.

http://amzn.com/B000EQ8296

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance
Eric

[tplife]

The Sunrise is not a bad design for very mild conditions, but for $50 less I'd rather be inside the Eureka Tetragon 8 when the wind kicks up and rain falls. The Sunrise will need consistent waterproofing as its exposed openings will bring in moisture and its sides don't go low enough, if not making it cooller and breezier inside and possibly becoming a sail whose rustling may not lull you to sleep. Another option is the Sierra Designs Bedouin 4, watch Ebay and you can pick these up for about $30 more than the Sunrise and have a tent with lifetime guarantee. All in all, the Sunrise is a good "family" tent for mild conditions. You can't go wrong with Eureka products.

[camo]

I just purchased a Kelty Teton 4 and a Eureka Tetragon 8. I haven't had a chance to set them up yet. I'm thinking of sending the Eureka back to the store and trading it in for other camping supplies. I like the look of it,but I decided I rather have a tent with a vestabule and aluminum poles. Thats why I got the Kelty. I've had a Kelty before and it held up great,never leaked during rain storms. The only concern I have is it has alot of mesh screen panels. I just hope mosquitos and fly's won't chew holes in it. I noticed alot of high dollar tents are almost completely all mesh panels. I guess theres nothing to worry about. Has anyone else camped with a Kelty Teton tent ? Anything I should be concerned with. Should I keep the Eureka and send back the Kelty ?

[renodesertfox]

Howdy Camo,
Let your self be your guide. If you like a vestible, so be it! What is good for the goose is not so good for the gander, that is what camping is about. In the past, long ago I liked Kelty tents, they have served me well, but now they are a little cramped for me and I'm not young any longer. Eureka 3 season tents serve me fine, happy camping!

[Scrib]

Like tplife says, the fly on the Tetragon has better coverage. The Teton really is a nice tent, for not much more (I see it for $166 on Amazon). The clip-style tents are so much easier to setup than the sleeve style (which I have).

[RAMAMAKE73]

Eureka Tent

I am preferential to a tent, but that would depend on what yall or used to and where you would be most comfortable.

[jtbeck]

I've got a Tetragon 5 and a Tetragon 8 and I like them both very much. The only thing I DON'T like about them is that they have fiberglass poles instead of aluminum. It was almost a deal-breaker for me. If I hadn't gotten really terrific prices on them, I would have gone with a Kelty or an ALPS Mountaineering Taurus 8.

The Sunrise is a little to "open" for me. Doesn't look like it would keep really foul weather out. One of my friends has one, so I guess we'll see.

[Sample]

JTBeck...are the floors of those eureka made out of the wall material or something different and if so...how has it held up on wear and tear and keeping water out?

[jtbeck]

Sample,

The floor is a slightly heavier material than the walls, but not by much. I guess it's a weight saving thing. I wish they would offer them with vinyl floors as well as the nylon floors. I'd snap one of those up in a heart-beat!

What I do is always cut a custom-fit ground cloth out of reasonably heavy-duty tarp. I cut them a little bit smaller than the actual footprint of the tent so that any rain run-off won't find it's way underneath the floor. So far I haven't had any holes or tears using a ground cloth and no water has ever made it in, either.

Also, Eureka makes ground cloths specifically for each of their tents that you can purchase. They're made out of pretty heavy material. I've seen them at most of the larger outdoor stores (Gander Mountain, Bass Pro, Cabelas etc.)

I also canoe camp a couple of times each year and that means camping on river banks where the ground is nothing but rocks, and so far even that hasn't managed to hurt my tent floors.

I don't think I would care to take my chances without using a ground cloth with the light weight bottoms, though.

I also try to take care about what I put inside the tent. I like to sleep on a small collapsible cot (fold up to about the size of a camp chair in a bag), but I worry about the legs tearing holes in the floor, so I wrap them in pieces of water hose to even out the weight a little.

It seems like most of the tents these days are made this way.

I've got a large Gander Mountain Condor 8 that has a super-heavy floor on it and I like that a lot. But the darn thing is HUGE. 15' x 17' and weighs in at 35lbs and has about a million poles. Not really appropriate for the canoe.

[Sample]

Hey Jtbeck...question for you...that Gander Mountain...do they sell anything similear but a little bit smaller?...the biggest I saw was a 10x12 tent.

[jtbeck]

Sample,

I'm not sure what they've got now. I got mine 2 or 3 years ago, but it seemed like they had a few right around that size.

I'll try to post a couple of photos for you here. I hope this works:








Hopefully that last shot will give you an idea of how tall this thing is! Also, maybe you can sort of make out that the floor is a different material than the sides.

Here's one with the rainfly on (it's not much of a rainfly, though):



You can see that you wouldn't want to touch the sides in a rain storm in this thing. The fly isn't full coverage at all. Other than that, this is a really nice tent. You can divide it into 3 rooms, and it's also got 3 doors.

[Sample]

Nice PIctures....I think after seeing your pictures,I"m a little more partial to the Giga I'm about ready to buy....just curious...that room divider is it sown in or is it removable?

[jtbeck]

There is a hanging divider (not shown in the pictures) that separates the "back" room into 2 rooms. It is completely removable. The divider between the "front" and "back" rooms is almost exactly like the front door to a tent. It's sewn firmly in place and zips closed.

Which Giga tent are you thinking of? The Mt Kinsman?

[Sample]

Probably Mt. springer..thought about the wildcat or mt barren

[jtbeck]

I just took a look at the Mt. Springer and I like it. Those close to vertical walls will really make it huge on the inside. Looks good.