Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

This tent is awesome. I had a hard time deciding between this tent or the Kingdom 8. I feel this tent will hold up better in any storm that it faces. The Kingdom 8 has more head room and can have an attached garage to make it bigger, but the whole thing looks like a big caterpillar. I was afraid it wouldn't hold up in a bad storm with lots of wind. The Flying diamond 8 looks and feels stable when properly anchored down. It does have room to stand in to change which I like. It does have some mesh but not the whole thing which I like because I like having less opportunity to tear or get ripped. I have only taken the tent for a test run in the back yard, but we had pretty good storms and pretty high wind gust. It all so has plenty of mesh pockets on the in side. You can roll of the fly half way up to let more of a breeze in if you like on a nice day. Over all I think I made a great choice going with the flying diamond 8. I would rather have a piece of mind knowing that I took a more weather proof tent over comfort. By the way it does have lots of space that me and my family can enjoy.

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

I bought this as a new family tent. We set it up in the backyard for a dry run and were please with setup and space. definitely a car camping tent.
While taking it down I noticed bends in some of the poles. Albeit slight, a tent pole should be straight prior to set up and after. This is upsetting due to the price. Will camp again this weekend and see what gives. This may be a product I need to exchange. Will post again.

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

I own the Big Agnes String Ridge 2-man tent and fell in love with its simplicity and overall comfort that Big Anges put into it. I have 4 growing boys plus their friends that enjoy going out camping with the Boy Scouts and required a larger tent to accomodate them all. So without skipping a beat I immediately ordered the Flying Diamond 8 knowing I was going to receive yet another quality product from Big Anges and my expectations were indeed met in full with this beauty. I was amazed at how easy it went up and how compact it packs down. You can easily divide the components of this tent up among several backpackers and hike this tent into backcountry easily. Yet another home run from Big Agnes! I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a tent that can accomodate 8+ people.

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

We bought this tent to accommodate our growing family of 4 and all of our gear. We had a 6-man tent but frankly that just held the air mattresses and NO bags. We wanted something bigger so we could spread out. We also wanted something that would afford us a bit of privacy. This tent was perfect for that. During the day we had the partition open to circulate the air but at night we put our 2 small kids (4 & 6) in the back area (with their bags, air mattresses and all the stuffed animals, LOL!) and zipped it closed--plenty of room for them. They loved having their own "room" but still being able to come to see mom and dad if they got scared of the dark. Then my husband and I had our 2 thermarests together in the front with TONS of room left to walk and for our bags. Could have easily fit a queen air mattress in there. Although I'm only 5' 3" and most dome tents fit me okay, I loved being able to stand up straight and still be able to reach up above my head. The built-in vestibule is large enough for me to stand in as well and has enough room for muddy gear or boots. Lastly, when started shopping we didn't realize that most tents this size do not offer a full rain fly which is a must in my book for any extended camping trip and this tent's full-coverage rain fly performed very well when the rain came. The quality of the material is top notch and the poles seems pretty solid and easy to assemble. The directions were very simple and it took 2 of us about 30 minutes to fully stake it out. Once set-up, it was quite sturdy. I like the briefcase design of the stuff sack--felt very organized and easy to find all the components. Overall, VERY thrilled with this tent and so glad we bought it. it will sure to last us for years with our kids. Would totally recommend this to anyone who loves to car camp and needs the size.

Why not 5 stars? For a tent this size (and price), it REALLY needs to have more interior gear pockets. As is there are only 4 in the front (2 tiny and 2 super huge) and 2 huge ones in the back. There should be more varied sizes to better organize one's gear. I added the footprint and an interior gear loft and plan to add a second loft but quite honestly, because of it's price these things should be included. Because it's so large I would also love to have a way to roll up the sides of the rain fly to better ventilate the tent on sunny days without removing/unstake the whole thing as opposed to just the windows--similar to the way the doors in the front and back roll up. Then there is the size--it's heavy and huge, but we car camp and wanted a large tent to feel like we could stretch out and be comfortable so we actually like the size. Could be a negative trying to find an adequate space on a site to accommodate it though.

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

For years my family had used a well made family tent that sported a full-cover fly. The one thing that we wished we had was a large vestibule.

After investigating to see what other tent manufacturers had to offer, the Flying Diamond 8 by Big Agnes rose to the top of our list of "best family tents".

We bought the Flying Diamond 8 and have used it several times this year.
It's size is perfect. It's construction and finish show great care and clever design. The quality is apparent in every detail. For example, the reflective guy lines, the well-placed fly vents, and the tent's compartmentalized carry bag. Oh yes, don't forget the vestibule - oh that vestibule. It's just what we'd been looking for. It's large well made. It's a perfect entrance and storage area for our entire family and our gear.

Well done, Big Agnes. Well done.

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

We'd previously owned one of the cheaper 6-man family tents. The quality was so-so (it started leaking/falling apart a bit after just a few seasons of light use) and was missing some features (no vestibule/area for muddy shoes, etc.).

I used this recently on a daddy-daughter campout. It exceeded my expectations! The quality is bomb-proof, the features highlighted below are great and there was more than enough room for everyone. I was also able to set it up by myself (I'm 5' 11") with just a bit of help from my 2 young daughters.

Great features:
Vestibule - it is VERY roomy and absolutely perfect
2 Doors - really like the secondary entry at the back
Lots of pockets, etc.
Nice vents to keep airflow moving

I spent the extra money this time to purchase a tent that will last our family for many years and I'm confident it was the right choice!

Comments about Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 Tent:

Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8, (3.5 Season Tent)This is truly one of the nicest tents I have seen or had the pleasure of owning. As a seasoned camper who has done backpack camping and car camping for many, many years; the Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 is at the pinnacle of car camping tents. The tent was not difficult to assemble considering it was my first time doing it. The duffle bag that comes with the tent is designed well with nice sized compartments for all components of the tent along with an attached instructions list; it even has room for the foot-print (sold separately). I highly recommend purchasing the foot-print for this or any tent you buy. After skimming the directions to get the color coding for the front door, the assembly was pretty typical for a tent like this; you done one, you could do them all. It took me about 20-25 minutes by myself and I'm only 5'9"! This tent is very user friendly and any camper could set this tent up without problems.My wife and I are avid campers and we had our first child (a boy!) earlier in the year and we couldn't wait till the day we could take our son camping. Well, that day came over this years Halloween weekend. We went to Big Sur, Ca to break in the new tent and what a great experience it was! We went with a few friends, one of which had a child as well, and we quickly became "Base Camp" with the new Big Agnes. One of the best features has to be the vestibule. We keep so much gear in the vestibule it was ridiculous. Everything from ice chests to an off road jogging stroller! And there was still enough room to get in and out of the tent without problems. The inside of the tent is like a palace! Ample storage compartments throughout the tent, nice retractable partition to make second room in back and well ventilated even with all of the fly vents closed. The temperature was pretty normal for this time of year…70-75 high, 37-42 low, with winds in the evening around 5-10 mph (didn't need to use the guy lines…this time). We have had some multiple day down pours with wind gusts around 35+ mph at Big Sur in past experiences with our Wenger backpacking tent and held up well; so I have no doubt that this tent will hold up to those conditions and then some. Since this was our first time camping with a 6 month old we packed heavy. We had a queen sized blow up bed and a pack-n-play with plenty of room to walk around without bending over due to the wonderful height of the tent. We also had a nice crawl space for our son when he was over stimulated in the outdoors. This tent really is like…a Condo! Super Nice!!Overall, Big Agnes has done their homework and produced a high quality tent that I would recommend to anyone I know! The logo for Big Agnes is, 'b a' which is also known as….[*]!! Thanks Big Agnes for making a great tent…and Thank you too REI!