Sierra Designs Antares 3 Tent - '08 Closeout

Comments about Sierra Designs Antares 3 Tent - '08 Closeout:

I had been eying this tent for quite sometime and basically my needs were to have a 4 person tent to use for backpacking with my wife and two large golden retrievers (my dogs carry the poles). I had been using a North Face derived LL Bean 3 person backpacking tent but it was too cramped with the dogs.

Now I come from the school of thought that if your in the business of designing outdoor equipment, than make sure that gear works perfectly out of the box. And don't leave it up to the end user to "fix", "prepare" or "modify" the gear to actually make it work how it is suppose to. This brings me to my review:

1. I did not like the top pole design. The tent is basically a dome tent with an added 3rd pole to support the vestibule/fly. You have to put the pole ends into a plastic sleeve. Then the vestibule/rain fly goes over top. There is an obvious spot where the fabric is stretched over the pole ends and in my opinion this area should be reinforced (but it's not) I could imagine in a heavy wind that the pole could rip through, leaving you SOL.

2. So On my first outing with this tent, I looked off into the distance and noticed some dark clouds. "No worries"; I thought "this then is probably bomber". So since it was getting late and I'd already hiked 15 miles, I set up the tent, cooked some grub and went to bed. That night a mild thunderstorm rolled through and I didn't pay much attention. However as I was snuggled up in my nice warm sleeping bag I thought I felt a drip of water on my face. "Nah must be condensation" I thought.....Nope! The seam from the zipper was leaking badly. A drip every few seconds made for a wet miserable night. After that horrible experience I got the tent home and actually read the directions to see if I had screwed something up. No, apparently I needed to seam seal the entire tent before using (Including the fly). Well not that I mind seam sealing the tent body, but I refuse to seam seal a fly...since this is the job of the manufacturer to make sure the fly is water proof by design.

I promptly packed up this tent back into the box and back to REI it went.

So in conclusion: I do not feel that this tent had the design attention that it should have from a company such as Sierra Designs. Friends of mine swear by Sierra Design gear but I beg to differ. I think if I was making tents I would have designed the tent so that ZERO preparation was required before using it.

I replaced this tent with a Mutha Hubba from MSR. I have never had a problem with MSR gear and the Mutha Hubba was no exception. Perfectly waterproof, light weight and huge.

Service and delivery comments:

As Usual REI service was great!

Comments about Sierra Designs Antares 3 Tent - '08 Closeout:

I have backpacked with this tent a few times and it was great, if a bit heavy for two people. I have also spent over 200 nights sleeping in it on two long roadtrips and it still basically new. I've put a couple of small holes in it that I fixed. You can set it up in your sleep it is so easy, a bystander in Nova Scotia said he timed me at 4 minutes start to finish with the fly. Definitely fully stake it out in a big storm. I've never used the cup holders, but the "attic" is great and at this price to come with the footprint it's a steal. It's roomy for two and comfortable for three. I would highly recommend this for 3 person backpacking or a compact car camping tent.

Comments about Sierra Designs Antares 3 Tent - '08 Closeout:

I have to brag a little bit first, I found this tent on a [$] clearance tag [$] The tent is very quick to set up... the timed estimate of 4 minutes from the other reviewer is quite accurate, if not quicker. The attic and footprint is a great bonus [$]. For the square area you get from this tent, it's fairly on the lighter side. Overall, great for car camping.

Comments about Sierra Designs Antares 3 Tent - '08 Closeout:

Cool product a little shaky on the fly though BUT if you use the supplied guyout's on the loops at the base of the two non-walled sides it works perfect!