First time camper, need some advice on a tent

[drekiztheman]

Hi,

I'm a first time camper and need some advice on picking out a tent. I'm looking for a 7 person tent that has enough height for someone tall and decent ventilation. The most I'd be willing to spend is $500 but a good deal on a decent tent would be great. Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks

[renodesertfox]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

derkiztheman, welcome to the boards! I moved your question to the Tent Camping section, you'll get more answers here and by jumping into the tent area, you just might find other info from other campateers concerning a tent purchase. Cruise down the tent camping section here and there is a thread on Family Tent Options, a great thread to look into.

[Johnny Test]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

D,
I use a eureka titian. Look it up. It is one of the best tents made, and if fits your requirements.

-Johnny

[renodesertfox]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

JT, I did look it up, took 'bout .3 second. Gotta be kind and gentle to new campateers, but hey not that kind and gently! Haha, here's what U & I found, maybe just me cuz I looked it up:

http://www.amazon.com/Eureka-13-5-Fo.../dp/B000EQ81N8.

Looks like a real nice tent and I have always like Eureka Tents, even-though the plastic zipper wear out over a couple of years. Had mine replace a few times it's a Copper Canyon 1010. I had posted an earlier reply to another question and told everyone I have five tents.....wrongo Brento! I just spent two hours in the garage and counted 15 three season tents plus the Kodiak for a total or 16 tents!! Dang I could open a store! Some are missing stuff...that's next, it'll take weeks finding all I need to find! I hate moving but love this new base! LOL!!

[Johnny Test]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

Fox,
How do u get zippers replaced?

I will do a thread on the titian, I like it so much.

[renodesertfox]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

First, send an email to Eureka at their customer service center http://www.eurekatent.com/home.aspx.
Telephone: Eureka!® Camping Tents Customer Service U.S.A.
1-800-572-8822 At the bottom of their website is "contact us" click that and that will get you started.

They might offer to send to you at no charge replacement plastic zippers, but if the teeth are worn the entire zipper and fabric will need to be replaced. Here's what their website says:

If your Eureka! product needs service or repair due to normal wear and tear, animal attack, accident or some other reason that is not covered under the warranty, we will provide prompt service at minimal charge. We require that products which will be returned for any repair are properly cleaned, according to our recommended care instructions. Please return your product or component that requires repair (e.g., tent fly), along with our completed warranty return (RA) form. Clearly mark or tag the area on both the RA form and the product in need of repair.

What we requested for our Copper Canyon 1010 was heavy-duty steel zippers just in the door, not the windows. It took about 6 weeks for them to return it. I paid for shipping both ways and the cost to replace just the door zipper was $35.00. Well worth it if you like Eureka and the same goes for almost all other major manufactures of tents. Tent makers today stand behind their products. All together with shipping the cost was $57.87.

[Johnny Test]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

thanks. that is good to know. I wish eureka would put those swinging flap doors that coleman uses, so no zipping. Kids go in and out a million times.

[tplife]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

Any of the high-end manufacturers like Big Agnes, Sierra Designs, Marmot, NorthFace, or Mountain HardWear sell tents in your price range that are lifetime-guaranteed, are tall enough to stand up in, have continuous zippers, SwitftClip and Hub pole connections, use anodized aluminum poles, polyester rain flies, full length vestibules, color-coded assembly, pack into a very small size, and offer lots of useable verticle space due to modern designs. I'd insist that any tent I bought have those features, otherwise they're outdated model Ts, in my opinion. I buy mine new-in-the-box off Ebay for 60% off, I've done it three times already. Eureka! offers some quality tents, but unfortunately they have many low-end models in their lineup, making picking out the good ones difficult. I would not over look them as long as you keep that in mind. If you are a canvas campateer, several of the resident posters on this forum use high-end models that will last just as long as any polyester tent, provided you give them the proper care they deserve, have the carrying room, and are willing to wrestle with the larger-diameter poles needed to support their added weight.

We replaced one of the screens on our circa 1988 Sierra Designs BaseCamp 4-man tent around 2007, and paid $15 shipping and 30$ to replace the screen/zippers. The screen was a different color than ours, so they repaired both sides for no extra charge and they paid the return shipping. I had one 6" pole segment break two years ago on the same tent in a 55-60 mph windstorm and they covered that free for just one-way shipping of $2. Not bad customer service.

[swedishfish]

Re: First time camper, need some advice on a tent

I just bought the Cabella's Alaskan Guide 8 person tent and I love it! It's a little pricey at $630 (aluminum pole version), but the polyester fly and floor have 2000 mm/3000 mm coatings respectively which is better than many other brands I looked at. I'm impressed with the geodesic shape holding up well in the wind and the fly opens up on three sides for ventilation and closes right down near the ground when you want the protection. The picture is a little distorted. At 6 feet, I can stand up in the middle with about 6 inches to spare. It's about 12' across the flats of the hexagon shaped floor.



Others I looked at were the Marmot Halo 6 and Big Agnes Flying Diamonds 8.