MSR  Elixir 4 Tent with Footprint

Reading the other reviews, I’m not sure if we just got a lemon or what. In favorable conditions this tent is great. But the two times we’ve had it in a rain storm the fly began leaking < 10 minutes into the rain. The middle of the tent gets drenched and unusable. There’s about 8” of dry space around the edges where me and my kids huddle into. After a solid 8 hours of rain, hail and more rain, you can imagine what a flood we had inside! After the first storm /leaky tent adventure I was advised that because I didn’t use the guy lines, I didn’t create proper ventilation. So this time, despite no rain in the forecast, I set up the tent with the lines. Still a mess! The tent wasn’t touching the fly, the fly is just useless and not waterproof. I won’t be trying it a third time in the rain!

Very disappointing – water-resistant for less than 4 years! I always research camping equipment carefully and am generally happy to pay for something that works. I wanted a 4-person tent for family trekking holidays that was light enough for me to carry alone, but big enough to hold a family of 4. This tent performed reasonably well to start with. The basic design is fine, although it’s difficult to pitch so that the inner and outer don’t touch – extra guy-ropes needed? The two porches were good. We used it a couple of times and then Covid hit so it was stored in a cupboard in the bedroom for the last two years. On getting it out this year (4 years after purchase) for a canoe safari on the Wye we found that the flysheet had perished. We ended up spending 3 nights in rain in a tent that let in water – not a couple of drops, but rivers - hello soggy down and crying daughter, goodbye sleep and library books! It is effectively useless. In other circumstances, this could have been dangerous. On contacting MSR about the issue they pointed out that it was not their problem as it was out of the 3 year warranty (thus justifying this review). So there you go, if you are going to get enough use out of this tent to justify the cost in 3 years before the flysheet gives up, or you will use it where it never rains (e.g. East Anglia, England at the moment), then go for it. If not I would suggest another make – my North Face Tadpole is still going after 20 years of hard service all around the world with only a couple of minor duct-tape repairs...

Spent an evening in the tent during 90min severe thunderstorm with baseball to softball size hail. Four other families' tents were shredded, and ours came away with 2 small holes in the rain fly. The tent was severely deforming when large hail hit but it kept us safe and we didn't have to flee for protection. Our truck (potentially totaled) and windshield (hail penetrated) didn't survive as well as our tent. We have to repair or buy new fly, and will do so happily to spend more nights under the protection of MSR superior design and craftsmanship.

Great tent when you don’t expect rain. Easy set up. Lots of room. Buuuuuuuut, the first time in the rain it let water in through three of the four walls because the rainfly either isn’t waterproof, or the rainfly sags under the rain and touches the interior mesh and let’s water through. Didn’t even make at an hour in the rain before water started dripping on the inside. Poor design on the rainfly. I do not recommend this tent if you expect rain.

The tent is hardly rain proof. The outer layer (I don't even think it can be called "rain fly") is only water resistant in my opinion. For the price tag, this is not a good tent. BTW, the tent requires a lot of care, if you don't air it completely dry, it will flake and become total useless . And I can't find any place online to buy a replacement outer layer. After a few miserable trips, I through it in the dumpster, and got a Mormont limelight for less than half of the price. It worked great.

The MSR Elixir 4 is a pretty large tent for 2 people; would be nice for 3; four people would be like sardines. It's small and light enough that you could split between 2 people and take it backpacking if needed. The setup is pretty simple, but the pole design has two hubs that crisscross to add strength to the tent when it's all set up. That hub took a few times to get familiar with, but after that it was easy to remember how to manipulate. The rest of the setup is a snap with color-coded poles and corners. I really like that the footprint is included, and that the tent can be setup with just the footprint and fly if you want to go light. Inside height is not quite enough to stand up inside, but it's quite roomy. Overall, I love this tent.

I used this 3 times, first time was perfect, bc it was very sunny, but my last two time was terrible... rainfly was leak so all the rain came inside through the mesh. I am going to return this.

Used this tent twice. First time it wasn't wet out so it worked fine. The second time it rained at 3am in the morning and it leaked theough the roof horribly and everywhere. When you pay $450 for a tent you expect it not repell water. The floor matt (tarp) we used to cover our other backpacks we left outside and that didn't repel water either. Needless to say we had clothes, shoes, sleeping bags completely wet. We will definitely be shopping for another brand name after this. We cut our trip short due to this. Only positive about the tent is its super easy to set up but don't recommend using these in the rain.

In my previous review, I complained about a leaking rainfly that subsequently ripped in two places. The warranty/repair service contacted me two weeks later and offered 3 solutions : replacing the defective pannels, buying a new rainfly or sending me a list of places that could repair the rainfly in Canada. The costs of the first two solutions were reasonable and we opted for buying a new rainfly. Although the problem with the rainfly was frustrating (my score for the tent is still 2 stars), I feel that the warranty/repair service was efficient and compassionate. The proposed solutions seemed fair to me.

Took this tent camping in Iceland. Withstood massive downpours and a huge windstorm. We thought for sure the windstorm would damage it but it was totally fine. No leaking, absolutely perfect. Just got back from a weeklong lakeside camping trip where it rained each afternoon and early morning. We never once have had an issue. Truly stands up to the elements.