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SAGE/EARTH

REI Alcove Shelter

$109.00

(74)

Item # 794290

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The REI Alcove is a freestanding, floorless rain and sun shelter with substantial wind integrity—and it fits over a picnic table!

Structurally stable pole design has convenient color-coded hubs and poles for a quick, clear setup
Comes with durable powder-coated steel poles
Polyurethane-coated polyester fabric resists harmful ultraviolet rays and resists sagging when wet
Multiple guyouts secure the structure for added strength
Includes guylines/cords, 4 steel stakes and a convenient duffle stuff sack

Imported.

Item 794290

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REI Alcove Shelter Customer Reviews

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews

REI Alcove Shelter

3.6

(based on 74 reviews)

72%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

Easy to set up (63)
Lightweight (48)
Durable (31)
Waterproof (28)
Windproof (19)

Cons

Flimsy construction (13)
Leaky (8)
Collapses in wind (7)
Poor fly design (6)
Condensation (4)

Best Uses

Car camping (52)
Backyard (32)
Beach (24)
Day trip (3)

- Reviewer Profile:
- Casual/ recreational (55), Avid adventurer (16)
- What Is Your Gear Style:
- Comfort driven (45), Survivalist / minimalist (25)
- Was this a gift?:
- No (52)

Reviewed by 74 customers

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Displaying reviews 1-10

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Jun

2013

4.0

Great

By Sean Elias

from Portland, OR

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Easy to Use
Good Design

Cons

Bulky
Not Enough Pockets

Best Uses

Backyard
Day Trips
School

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

Pretty great item for what it is. It is a lot less expensive than a standard pop up tent and will keep your picnic table dry at a camp ground. An adult will have to duck under the flaps of the long side, which is only about 5' off the ground, but the short sides are high enough for an adult to walk under comfortably. The design of the poles is great and offers stability in a decent windy rain storm.

Comment on this review

May

2013

4.0

well worth the price

By migo

from cascadia

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Easy to Use
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Day Trips
Travel

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

only a few uses so far. very easy to set up, possible for one person.
leery bout the plastic hubs strength, but so far so good (really should be able to purchase replacements - How about it REI?)
have not had to deal with much rain or wind as of yet, tie downs are easy and accessible. we use this over our teardrop galley. and a way to keep out of the burning sun, or rain.

Comment on this review

May

2013

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Excellent Shelter when staked

By mr3wan

from Austin, TX

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Durable
Good Design

Cons

Difficult Setup

Best Uses

Backcountry
Day Trips
Sports
Travel

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I have been using my Alcove for about 2+ years now and have been very happy with the performance. While I will contend the shelter can be a little difficult to setup - This is mostly due to the poles that all fold down to keep the canopy at a manageable size. We wanted to avoid the heavy and bulky 'EZ-UP' shelters given our limited car space at times.

We have had this shelter at camps, soccer games, backyards and beaches. I find the shelter is quite stable even in high winds if it is properly staked out using both the corners and guy lines. We have withstood heavy winds at camping trips and beaches with no tears or pole collapses.

I would like to see a future model with high strength aluminum poles instead of steel to help lower the weight. However, aside from that I still find this shelter is quite worth it.

The setup can be a bit longer than the 'EZ-UP' style shelters. I am usually able to do it with one person unless it is very windy out.

I would also recommend getting one of the Wind Walls to match the canopy. I have found these are very useful at the beach or in windy conditions. We have even been able to hide behind it for a quick shower when camping

Comment on this review

Mar

2013

(3 of 4 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Excellent Shelter

By Bluegrass Camper

from Southern California

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Sturdy
Windproof

Cons

Best Uses

Car Camping

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

My fiance and I were at Joshua Tree Music Festival 2010. It was unbelievably windy. We had a Kelty shelter that I had just purchased. Our $100 Kelty shelter, along with every other shelter (standard ez up shelters, etc.) was torn apart and blown all over J-Tree. Except, for our neighbors. Who had this shelter. Needless to say, before our next trip, we owned one of these - along with one of the walls. It is the absolute best for sun shade. And just one Alcove Wall shades 2 of the 4 sides of this shelter. With our REI dividends this year, we picked up another shelter and a set of walls. Highly recommend! (side note: I called and sent pictures of their sub-par equipment, and Kelty was absolutely un-interested in helping.)

Comment on this review

Mar

2013

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

easy for gramma...

By Buffy

from North Central Fl.

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Backyard
Beach
Car Camping

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I recently bought a Trekker Trailer, very small teardrop, and wanted a sitting area/porch for entering/exiting. Looked and or tried various EZ up types. but never convinced I could put them up by myself.

I read all the reviews about this and decided to give it a try. I put it up all by myself in the yard on a breezy day. I have not yet used it for it's intended purpose.
Doing it by myself on a breezy day was a challenge! as it is very light, but I managed it! yay me! so, it needs to be staked out well! I do not expect it to withstand much more than a breeze or light rain. But I'm a fair weather camper,any who.

Comment on this review

Dec

2012

(5 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

1.0

Rain is its Kryptonite!

By stoic

from Southeast USA Camper

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Lightweight

Cons

Collapses in Wind
Collects Condensation
Leaky
Poor Fly Design
Rain Collapses Shelter
Rain Puddles On Rain-fly

Best Uses

Shade Shelter Only

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I'm a scoutmaster and have used this shelter many times. It's useless for Southeast USA camping because of rain. It's great as a sun shelter for shade until it rains. DON'T purchase this looking for a rain shelter! The rain-fly design doesn't allow you to stretch the rain-fly "taut-enough" to prevent puddling in a rain storm. Consequently, in a rain-storm it will collect enough rain water to collapse the shelter EVERY TIME. REI needs to redesign the shelter with enough guy-wires along the sides of the rain-fly so that you can stretch the rain-fly taut enough to prevent puddling. If they corrected this defect, then it would receive 5 stars out of 5 stars! Checkout the photos that other previous reviewers have posted showing this shelter collapse because of rain-water puddling.

Comment on this review

Nov

2012

(3 of 4 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

Pole required repair after first use

By steelersfan 100

from Northern Virginia

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up

Cons

Best Uses

Backyard
Car Camping

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I use this shelter when car camping. I set it up for the first time in my yard just so I would know how it went together. The next time I used it was on a camping trip and one of the locking spring mechanisms in a pole was missing. I had to pay to have it repaired by REI. So much for standing behind the product.

I would probably recommend the product but be advised that if something breaks, you'll be paying!!

Comment on this review

Oct

2012

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

VERY COOL!!!

By Two-Hop

from Wilseyville,Ca.

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Backyard
Beach
Car Camping

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I've only had my Alcove for 1 week and already it's been thru 3 days of storming wind & rain and I've slept in it every night without any problems. The windwalls are great and a must have if you're going to be out sleeping in the rain if you want to stay dry. I had very little condensation on the upper frame poles and it leaked a little bit at the guy-out points where it was sewn together, but that was minimal and not a problem. Overall, it's a VERY COOL shelter and have already recommended it to my friends. Go REI!

Comment on this review

Sep

2012

4.0

super easy

By agility mom

from Colorado

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Backyard
Beach
Car Camping

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

I needed shade that I could set up using mostly one arm due to a disability. This met my needs perfectly.

Comment on this review

Sep

2012

4.0

Good choice!

By Katherine213

from Seattle, WA

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Set Up
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Beach
Car Camping

Comments about REI Alcove Shelter:

Others have commented that this shelter performs poorly in the rain. That has not been my experience. I've only used it on one camping trip so far, but for me it did well through a wet night with 12 straight hours of rain. Granted it was a light steady rain rather than a driving downpour but the shelter held up for me and kept stuff dry. I agree with others who say that it's critical to use extra guy lines and make sure everything is tightened down.

Tall people may struggle with this shelter. Peak height is around 6 feet but the sides are much less, probably only around 5 feet by the time you account for the fabric that extends down beyond the frame. How much you like it may depend on how fast you learn to duck when entering/exiting the shelter at the short ends.

We mastered the set-up of this shelter quickly although I would recommend a practice run at home just to make sure you understand how it works. We elected to move it once it was assembled and we were able to do that easily without having to take the whole thing down.

There are taller shelters which are probably sturdier and possibly better in heavy rain but they cost twice as much and weigh twice as much (or more.) So far I've had no reason to regret my choice of this less expensive, lighter shelter.