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Well, my daughter absconded with our old Sierra Designs Comet 3-person tent leaving me with the poorly packed, whiff of mildew Meteor Light "2 person" tent she had previously borrowed. I have learned that nighttime condensation in New England camping is a big problem and knew that I didn't want to stuff into a tiny tent and fill it up with water vapor every night. So, I took advantage of 30% off winter sales last year and bought a Marmot Halo 4 for $300.
I'm doing strictly car camping (with day hikes in the White Mountains), so ultra-light wasn't a consideration. On the other hand, I'm not doing any winter camping and I'll cancel if a hurricane if forecast, so I didn't need a bomb-proof expedition tent. But, I also want something that is solid in normal rain/wind. The Halo is the beefiest of Marmot's 3-season "four person" tents. It weighs in at 13.5 pounds. Measures 8 ft x 8 ft square. 59 inches tall in the center and has two vestibules, each extending 4 feet for a total footprint of 16 ft x 8 ft.
With the fly and without:
It's just a basic two pole dome tent, but with two additional "halo" poles that pull the walls of the tent outwards at the side and above both doors, proving extra strength and nearly -vertical doors/walls. I suppose they could have extended these down to the ground/corners and made a bomb-proof expedition tent, but this this is very, very solid for 3-season tent, especially when it's guy'd out.
Set up is a breeze. I bought the custom footprint, which has exactly the same corner guy straps as the tent. So, I just stake out the footprint, then lay the tent down and slip the four corner straps over the same four stakes. Two long poles slip thru continuous sleeves in an "x" pattern. The sleeves don't snag, but are the only tricky part of the setup. Then, just insert the four ends of these poles in grommets on the stake tabs the and tent is raised. Clips attach the rest of the tent to the poles. Then, circle the tent with the two halo poles and attach with clips. Easy to manage with just one person. I added a couple of doormats that stake out to the same points as the vestibules. Leave the dirt and shoes there, and the tent stays clean. The tent is pretty good sized, but I don't think I will have any problem fitting into the car camping sites around here.
Great features on the tent:
Love the reflective logos and guy points. Combined with reflective cord, I finally can keep from tripping over tent lines!
Really like the four vents in the rain fly. These open up just enough to provide some ventilation higher on the tent to fight condensation. If it's raining sideways, they flip down and seal with velcro along the entire bottom edge. Should be plenty rain tight. If it's not raining, the vestibule doors at both ends can be opened for cross ventilation from mesh at the top of both doors.
Tons of storage with big mesh pocket in all four corners. All doors either stuff into these pocket or tie up to keep out of the way.
Inside, it's big enough for queen air mattress with 18 inches of open floor space along both sides. That, along with the two ample vestibules provide enough storage.
I finally got smart and realized that, for car camping, there's no need to neatly roll a tent up and try to get it back into that stuff sack out in the middle of the woods. So I got a duffle bag. Poles go in the bottom of the duffle. Tent and fly go in the stuff sack. Tent stakes go in a pocket, etc. And, when breaking down camp, I can just loosely fold it because the duffle is bigger than necessary. Then, get home, shake and dry off the tent properly, and put it away neatly -- all in one duffle ready to go the next time....
All in all, a very successful multi-day outing with a new tent. The Halo 4 (and the 10 x 10 Halo 6) seem like good solid car camping tents -- a good middle ground between ultra-iight backpacking tents, bomber expedition tents, and family cabin tents that are roomy but not weather-proof enough for the White Mountains.
I'm doing strictly car camping (with day hikes in the White Mountains), so ultra-light wasn't a consideration. On the other hand, I'm not doing any winter camping and I'll cancel if a hurricane if forecast, so I didn't need a bomb-proof expedition tent. But, I also want something that is solid in normal rain/wind. The Halo is the beefiest of Marmot's 3-season "four person" tents. It weighs in at 13.5 pounds. Measures 8 ft x 8 ft square. 59 inches tall in the center and has two vestibules, each extending 4 feet for a total footprint of 16 ft x 8 ft.
With the fly and without:
It's just a basic two pole dome tent, but with two additional "halo" poles that pull the walls of the tent outwards at the side and above both doors, proving extra strength and nearly -vertical doors/walls. I suppose they could have extended these down to the ground/corners and made a bomb-proof expedition tent, but this this is very, very solid for 3-season tent, especially when it's guy'd out.
Set up is a breeze. I bought the custom footprint, which has exactly the same corner guy straps as the tent. So, I just stake out the footprint, then lay the tent down and slip the four corner straps over the same four stakes. Two long poles slip thru continuous sleeves in an "x" pattern. The sleeves don't snag, but are the only tricky part of the setup. Then, just insert the four ends of these poles in grommets on the stake tabs the and tent is raised. Clips attach the rest of the tent to the poles. Then, circle the tent with the two halo poles and attach with clips. Easy to manage with just one person. I added a couple of doormats that stake out to the same points as the vestibules. Leave the dirt and shoes there, and the tent stays clean. The tent is pretty good sized, but I don't think I will have any problem fitting into the car camping sites around here.
Great features on the tent:
Love the reflective logos and guy points. Combined with reflective cord, I finally can keep from tripping over tent lines!
Really like the four vents in the rain fly. These open up just enough to provide some ventilation higher on the tent to fight condensation. If it's raining sideways, they flip down and seal with velcro along the entire bottom edge. Should be plenty rain tight. If it's not raining, the vestibule doors at both ends can be opened for cross ventilation from mesh at the top of both doors.
Tons of storage with big mesh pocket in all four corners. All doors either stuff into these pocket or tie up to keep out of the way.
Inside, it's big enough for queen air mattress with 18 inches of open floor space along both sides. That, along with the two ample vestibules provide enough storage.
I finally got smart and realized that, for car camping, there's no need to neatly roll a tent up and try to get it back into that stuff sack out in the middle of the woods. So I got a duffle bag. Poles go in the bottom of the duffle. Tent and fly go in the stuff sack. Tent stakes go in a pocket, etc. And, when breaking down camp, I can just loosely fold it because the duffle is bigger than necessary. Then, get home, shake and dry off the tent properly, and put it away neatly -- all in one duffle ready to go the next time....
All in all, a very successful multi-day outing with a new tent. The Halo 4 (and the 10 x 10 Halo 6) seem like good solid car camping tents -- a good middle ground between ultra-iight backpacking tents, bomber expedition tents, and family cabin tents that are roomy but not weather-proof enough for the White Mountains.
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