REI Co-op  Half Dome 2 Plus Tent - Rainier Print

I bought this tent with my dividend and one-item discount after test driving a friend's Half Dome for the past couple of summers, and have already put it to use on a couple of trips this year, and love the small improvements made on my friend's older version, like all of the stash pockets, pole system, and all of the interior loops for hanging lights, fans, and disco balls! However I wasn't compelled to write a review until this tent became the MVP of a comedy-of-errors weekend. I planned to use this at a music festival in upstate New York that ended up being canceled due to excessive rain and flooding in the region. Depressed, we decided to camp out anyway with other displaced fans and make the best of the weekend. Not long after we set up camp in the "lush grass spot" did it start to downpour. I was focused on keeping the fire going and getting items out of the rain under a tarp when, about 10-15 minutes into the storm I hear "baby, we're under water." the EZ-Up I had put over our tent had collapsed from the rain onto the tent, and water had risen about 8" up the side of the tent. I nearly cried! Could this weekend be any more of a disaster!? Well, when the rain finally gave way to the sun, we went into the pool of water to pull out the tent, expecting the worst. Turns out, it was bone dry inside!! It still spooks me to think about how that could be so? WHO KNOWS— I chalk it up to the integrity of REI products. The whole scenario lit a fire in the group and renewed our general sense of hope and joy. The weekend turned out to be a wonderful one— we packed up camp the next morning and stayed at a different KOA each night for the rest of the long weekend (setting up this tent is SO simple, the poles allow it to be done by one person in just minutes).

I loved this tent until our last trip, when the glue sealing the seams flaked off, the velcro fly-to-pole fasteners and the fly tie-backs fell off, and the fly leaked during rain. I took it back to REI (it has been more than a year since purchase) and was very condescendingly told that I had stored it wrong and should have had it in a mesh bag in the off season. If this is the case, why isn't one included (my sleeping bag did include a cotton storage bag, for example)? Why aren't customers informed of this VERY IMPORTANT piece of information at time of purchase? Why is there nothing about storage included in the directions on the tent?