REI Mountain 3 Tent

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

If I could add 5 more stars and check 'em off I would. After my son deployed to Afghanistan, I got a 3 min. phone call with a list of items to buy for him. He wanted a rock-solid tent that would withstand the wind and sand conditions of Afghanistan. I bought and shipped this tent to him and this is the ONLY tent of any soldier over there that met their needs. They all want one like his. I set it up at home myself before shipping it out to him and it was incredibly easy---love the clips. He came home on leave a month ago and showed me a video with that tent getting blown HARD and it is flexing--but not budging. It was worth EVERY dime I paid and now I'm getting the 2-man version for me! Of the 10+ tents we own---this one is CLEARLY THE BEST---bar none! It has every advantage you can think of. It lets me sleep at night knowing he at least has this over there. Proud mom of an 82nd Airborne SSG combat soldier!

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

I used this tent on a trial run at Pinecrest in CA. Our "trial run" ended up testing this tent beyond what I had intended. After a 3 mile snowshoe hike in deep powder, set-up was quick and easy. We expected snow overnight but were a bit surprised to find a foot of fresh powder covering everything (including the tent) the next morning. The tent held up and I was not concerned at all about collapsing. The only real downsides were the condensation buildup inside the tent (I still have to play with some of the venting options to see if I can improve this) and the interior space. For a 3 person tent it fits 2 guys comfortably, you could get 3 inside but it would be a stretch.

The large main vestibule is great, having the smaller vestibule is nice for throwing smaller things in that you don't want buried in snow.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

I was recently caught off guard in a blizzard in the Appalachian mountains.

Thankfully, this tent withheld being completely buried. A one day trip turned into four and I had a great time!

The picture speaks for itself.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

Actually I am not a professional guide, but am an instructor for Mtn. Club of Alaska with 30 years experience throughout North America. So I have had my share of tents. Had this one out for 3 ski/ climbing trips this last season and it is a great value for cost. Easy to setup with lots of headroom, but after a storm bound week near Denali (Mt. McKinley) a few design short-comings came up. First is rainfly could use a heavier coating as days of wet snow (and heavy condensation underneath from high humidity) appeared to soak into fly and froze rainfly solid on occasion, but no moisture came through to body. Second, as others have noted, the permanent fly pole is a pain to pack. Needs to be removeable (looking to modify with sleeve design and Fastex Buckle closure) but the vent windows under it are great for cross flow to eliminate interior humidity from wet clothes and gear. Third, would be nice if rear vestibule was centered on tent axis or used two stakes like front vestibule so front and rear were symmetrical and had the same anchoring strength. Otherwise need to watch orientation of tent to high wind directions. Fourth, more interior pockets like Mtn. Hardware Trango would be nice. If not permanent ones, then clip-in accessory ones that attach to clothesline loops like the gear loft does would be nice, so as to tailor to trip needs. Finally, I have concerns on guyline to rainfly anchor point strength (and the way the rainfly attaches with velcro loops), but I installed equalizing lines between points (similar to TNF VE 24) to spread the load between multiple guylines. Would be hesitant to take this above 14,000 on Denali, St Elias or Logan, but would have no reservations anywhere else in Alaska or lower 48 states.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

After spending a weekend in the Sage Creek Wilderness when the temps dropped to -7 (not figuring the 35 mph winds) I decided my flimsy coleman was no longer up to the challenge. I considered the 2 man because of cost but after a few nights w/ winter gear I realized I made the right choice. The vestibule provides enough gear storage for 3 packs, so 3 is definately doable in the tent. 2 fit lovely. For the extra pound I don't know why you'd ever want the 2-man.It's a bomber tent, and has handy features like the vestibule floor, included gear loft, etc. Sets up easily enough for 1 person. With 2 people who know what they're doing it's a cinch. You can tailor how many stakes you need based on the wind levels. You can fit like 23 stakes on this thing if you want, or go with as few as 3 (needed for vestibule.) The tent on it's own is free standing.My complaints, though not great, are: Velcro attachments for rain fly aren't located in an easy spot to get at. I will usually just not attach them if it's not real windy. I wish there was a way to make the front vestibule work w/out the 2 front stakes. Lastly, I agree with the other reviewer about not being able to remove the rainfly pole. It's nice to have it, but would be nice if it could come out for packing.Don't get me wrong, there are other great tents out there...but at [$]more it just doesn't make sense. I've spent a few nights in a Mountain 25. Nice tent but nothing there worth an extra [$] With the solid construction and the decent price tag, it's certainly one of the pieces of gear that I don't go "man...I wonder if I would have been better off with..."Happy camping,ZachPS - for backpacking, I've found the best way to split up the load is to put the fly and tent in the bag and that goes to guy A. Guy B will wrap the poles into the footprint and throw it all (w/ stakes) into the pole bag. Guy A obviously has the "bigger" load...but they both weight about the same.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

All in all, this is a great tent. It's incredibly roomy for two people (less so for three), and has many great features.

Like any tent, it's not perfect, but I think REI could fix the only two flaws I could find, if they wanted to:
i) the two side panels are large and are not well supported by poles. While they have a pull-out on the fly to rig a guyline to, I suspect when the tent gets heavy snow loads, the side walls may have a tendency to collapse and cave in, due to the lack of poles directly underneath. If they had re-positioned the poles differently to support the side-walls more, it seems it would fix this problem.
ii) The roof vent at the top is cleverly supported by a short pole segment, which holds the roof vents open. However, the pole is permanently attached to the fly (for some reason?), which means you cannot stuff you fly into a sack or compression sack -- you have to roll it up around the pole. This makes for a long package that is awkward to pack (e.g., it barely fits in my cycling panier, and is long and awkward in my pack). I'm going to try and figure out a way to fix the pole so I can take it out and put it back in -- the fly would pack up much smaller without the attached pole.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

A buddy and I went up to Crater Lake this February in the middle of a huge snow storm. With snow up to our thighs on snowshoes, we pitched camp. This tent was great. It went up in 7 minutes and with the fly on, we had a place to store our gear outside the tent, but out of the weather. The fly provides a gear storage vestibule big enough for 3 full packs. It is a little tight inside for 3 men, but that is the only con I have to report. Well worth the price.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

As an avid outdoor adventurer and packer, it was with reservations to select when to test this tent, it was a weekend of constant rain and cold weather that the maiden voyage for this tent. After setting it up with the footprint it was my sole shelter for a three-day rain soaked outing in the Cranberry Glades area, the entire gang discovered issues with leaks except this tent.

The spacious interior provides ample room for me and my pack with room to spare, the vestal has its advantages’ when Mother Nature is not agreeable with foul weather moving in. the tent provides ample ventilation via zipper flaps and airs out with little effort. It has also survived an ice storm; heat and just about every condition known for outdoor adventure on the East Coast, I highly recommend it.

The only side effect is the weight.

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

We recently bought the tent for a backpacking trip in the Arctic this summer, but its first outing was to the Cycle NC Spring Ride last weekend. Our tent, along with a couple hundred other tents, was set up on a grassy piece of land next to Albemarle Sound.

In the wee hours of the morning severe weather moved in. The wind grew stronger and stronger. Around 4:00 there was either a microburst or a mini-tornado. One wall of the tent flexed down and touched my husband's sleeping bag. A moment later the opposite side of the tent flexed down onto me. The poles immediately popped back into their normal shape and were fine.

We heard shouting all around us. More than half the tents around us were either destroyed or badly damaged--flipped over, blown away, shredded, flattened, ripped open... What a scene! Full-grown, healthy trees had come down, crushing a couple of tents, though miraculously not injuring any of the people inside.

After the wind, several inches of rain came down in the next couple of hours. The tent floated up like a water bed, but no water came in. It was an amazing experience. The tent came through like a champ. I LOVE this tent!

Comments about REI Mountain 3 Tent:

use the tent for winter mountianeering in the chugach mountian range. it's not as sturdy as the mountian hard wear ev's but at half the $ i think they are great. i wouldnt have second thoughts on using this tent on big mountians. it feels like a bigger tent then it really is due to the fact that its a tall tent with walls that go streight up. if using in high winds you would definantly need to build a wind break, but then again what tent wouldnt you. we have had mild condensation but it was easy to clear out. the vestibule is one of the best features, you can put two large internal frame packs in it i.e REI mars 85's and still have room to enter and exit. about the only thing i would change would be the rain fly. i am removing the 9 or so inch aluminum pool thats built into it and am having one made that is removeable with two wing nuts on each end so that i can compress the fly and add the support after i set the fly up. i would recommend that REI change this in the manufacturing to allow customers the ability to compress the whole tent.
good looking tent when set up also !!!!