Any experience with Columbia tents?

[CampinLady]

I have a Big Agnes Tensleep Station 6 tent that is an excellent tent. However, I really like the feel of a roomier tent & individual windows that can be zipped open/close. I also love having full-length front windows/screen as it keeps my 2 Yorkies entertained by people watching. I am a bit claustrophobic & didn't take that into consideration when choosing a tent.

Anyway, I have tried out a couple different tents & am currently trying the Columbia Pinewood dome 10 person tent. The top is the only part that seems "dome-like" to me. I had an extremely difficult time placing the fiberglass very top/middle poles in their 3-way plastic pole connectors. There is a triangular piece of fabric on each side that these connectors are attached to. I (as a 62 y/o female) had to "reef" on the pole & connector & it tore this triangular piece of material which also tore a tiny bit on the tent. I am surprised the poles didn't break! I did get them inserted. There is elastic cord that attaches by being tied to the plastic & to the triangle shaped piece. I can loosen that some & believe that may help-may give me about 1/2" more "give on each side. Inserting all the pins in the poles were difficult for me to insert as well as a set of 2 front clips that attaches to the poles. I have put up quite a few tents in my life & some may have been a bit of challenge figuring out how to put them together but never have I encountered the strength this tent required. It had good directions & despite all the poles it was easy to figure out.

I contacted Amazon & they are overnighting me a new tent. I leave Friday for camping. Should I not receive it in time, I will still have this tent. It can be used as is as the rainfly will cover the torn area. I am really curious to see how everything goes together on the new tent. I will certainly adjust that elastic cording if it seems tight.

Anyone else encountered this with this brand or even other brands?

[tplife]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

The outdated design features of the Columbia guarantee performance light years away from your Big Agnes tent - and no wind or rain integrity for those reasons. The fact it broke at first pitch says it all. I'd be shipping it back and rating tents by real-world design and features vs. online reviews. Big Agnes, Marmot, Northface, Sierra Designs, EMS, REI, and Mountain HardWear are the brands I'd stick with, and nothing larger than a 10 X 10 footprint... For those needs we take more than one tent and all is well.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

I have a Big Agnes Tensleep Station 6 tent that is an excellent tent. However, I really like the feel of a roomier tent & individual windows that can be zipped open/close. I also love having full-length front windows/screen as it keeps my 2 Yorkies entertained by people watching. I am a bit claustrophobic & didn't take that into consideration when choosing a tent.

Anyway, I have tried out a couple different tents & am currently trying the Columbia Pinewood dome 10 person tent. The top is the only part that seems "dome-like" to me. I had an extremely difficult time placing the fiberglass very top/middle poles in their 3-way plastic pole connectors. There is a triangular piece of fabric on each side that these connectors are attached to. I (as a 62 y/o female) had to "reef" on the pole & connector & it tore this triangular piece of material which also tore a tiny bit on the tent. I am surprised the poles didn't break! I did get them inserted. There is elastic cord that attaches by being tied to the plastic & to the triangle shaped piece. I can loosen that some & believe that may help-may give me about 1/2" more "give on each side. Inserting all the pins in the poles were difficult for me to insert as well as a set of 2 front clips that attaches to the poles. I have put up quite a few tents in my life & some may have been a bit of challenge figuring out how to put them together but never have I encountered the strength this tent required. It had good directions & despite all the poles it was easy to figure out.

I contacted Amazon & they are overnighting me a new tent. I leave Friday for camping. Should I not receive it in time, I will still have this tent. It can be used as is as the rainfly will cover the torn area. I am really curious to see how everything goes together on the new tent. I will certainly adjust that elastic cording if it seems tight.

Anyone else encountered this with this brand or even other brands?

Sorry, I haven't seen that kind of roof construction and can't locate similar via youtube or google:(.
The only suggestion I can make is to put the roof poles together on the ground before inserting the side poles.

Have fun out there and hoping the weather is beautiful for you this weekend:cool:.

[CampinLady]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

Yes, the roof poles are put together on the ground & inserted into the tent sleeves, according to directions. There is no other way I would be able to accomplish this. Lol Thank you for taking the time to look further into this type of roof.

Despite all the poles, following the directions provided, the tent would be easy to put together if everything wasn't such an extremely tight fit. I realize that is necessary to a certain degree & I know I am not all that strong at my age, but when I cause tent fabric to tear that is just TOO tight IMHO.

[tplife]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

Yes, the roof poles are put together on the ground & inserted into the tent sleeves, according to directions. There is no other way I would be able to accomplish this. Lol Thank you for taking the time to look further into this type of roof.

Despite all the poles, following the directions provided, the tent would be easy to put together if everything wasn't such an extremely tight fit. I realize that is necessary to a certain degree & I know I am not all that strong at my age, but when I cause tent fabric to tear that is just TOO tight IMHO.

That is what I mean by outdated design - modern features like velcro adjusters and multiple pole attachment grommets allow you to pitch a tent, adjust it, and compensate for fabric stretch. D-ring and pole sleeve construction are what the Columbia falls back on, and only pays the royalties to Sierra Design to utilize the SwiftClips.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

Yes, the roof poles are put together on the ground & inserted into the tent sleeves, according to directions. There is no other way I would be able to accomplish this. Lol Thank you for taking the time to look further into this type of roof.

Despite all the poles, following the directions provided, the tent would be easy to put together if everything wasn't such an extremely tight fit. I realize that is necessary to a certain degree & I know I am not all that strong at my age, but when I cause tent fabric to tear that is just TOO tight IMHO.

When you are putting it up this weekend maybe take a coupla pics of the roof assembly so we can maybe help with some modifications for the future. It'll give some of us something to do during the camping drought known as winter.

Drive safe and have fun! I'm staying home this weekend (sniffles) so will live vicariously through others trip reports.

[CampinLady]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

That is what I mean by outdated design - modern features like velcro adjusters and multiple pole attachment grommets allow you to pitch a tent, adjust it, and compensate for fabric stretch. D-ring and pole sleeve construction are what the Columbia falls back on, and only pays the royalties to Sierra Design to utilize the SwiftClips.

Thank you for your explanation. It is very interesting & I learned something, which I love.

I did receive the new tent overnighted as Amazon stated (at their expense). Kudos to them. Two of the four tent poles did go in as they should. I did loosen the elastic cording for the other two poles (which were the issue previously) & I had a bit of a struggle with one. I am hoping things will stretch & loosen a bit on its own. I did take an end section apart from the rest of the pole sections & inserted it into the plastic connector & then put it back together with the rest of the pole sections. I am not sure if that is very smart but it caused less strain on the tent fabric & the pole was easier to (carefully) bend as needed.

Heading out in a couple hours for camping. Weather is predicted to be nice.

[CampinLady]

Re: Any experience with Columbia tents?

When you are putting it up this weekend maybe take a coupla pics of the roof assembly so we can maybe help with some modifications for the future. It'll give some of us something to do during the camping drought known as winter.

Drive safe and have fun! I'm staying home this weekend (sniffles) so will live vicariously through others trip reports.

Thank you. I will try to remember to do this. A great idea!!