REI Co-op  Skyward 4 Tent

1. - 14.4 pounds. This is a basecamp / carcamp tent, not a backpacking tent. For its size and quality, I think it's a good weight. It comes in a robust, sharp-looking stuff sack with sewn handle. - You get 10 solid ground stakes. I had to use a hammer to put them into the frozen ground when I set this up in the wild. (sorry no pics) All 10 stakes came out straight and smooth. - Six highly visible guy ropes. Thank you for making them bright orange. These things are easy to trip on when they're black. As you can see from my pic, I had to retie them to my preference, but that took all of 30 seconds per rope. - high strength, lightweight, highly flexible tent poles. 2 roof poles (curved), 4 leg poles, 1 awning pole. Also, comes with one pole fix in case of a break. - tent body and rainfly both of high-quality - You will note the absence of a tent ground tarp. They're are always nice to have, but almost never come with a tent. 2. Setup in a controlled environment is easy. Out of the box I set this up in my yard. I set it up myself in ten minutes following the directions provided in the stuff sack, and this time includes retying my six guy lines. However, in the park I had to set this up in sustained 15mph winds with 35mph gusts and could not do it by myself. I had to have help to stand the tent body up with the leg poles even though I had already secured it to the ground with several lines. If I hadn't secured it so heavily, it would have been blown away. However, it is a four-person tent. It is never meant to be set up by one person in the howling wind. 3. Three adults and a big dog or two adults and two kids can comfortably call this tent home for a long trip. I mean that. With the vestibule and windows this tent has ample airflow, and it has room for the gear outside of the tent itself yet still covered up and dry. This tent can pack and move with a car camping family quite easily, and it looks robust enough to last for a long time. The zippers are high quality with taped off and sewn seams. I'm struggling with calling it a 4-person tent if the intent is to mean 4 adults. With three adult sleeping pads abutting one another there was not room for a fourth pad without layering them all like potato chips (see the photo with my dog). Can you sleep 4 adults in here if you were all fine with sleeping shoulder to shoulder and using two large sleeping pads rather than 4 single pads? Yes, you can. I don't know how many people want to do that. 4. Performance. This is a good, really good tent. I slept three nights on the North Country trail inside Allegheny State Park in February in this tent. When you shut the window and close the awning this tent retains some heat and does not condense much at all on the two single walled sides, nor did the tent floor become wet though the tent comes with no ground tarp. In the end, my only quibble is how tight the space is inside the tent for four adults. That's not a very big quibble. Great tent, REI.

Pros: *This tent is a great size. Four people can easily fit, but it would be perfect for two or three. The headroom is great as well. It's always awesome being able to stand up all the way in a tent (with room to spare). *Even though it has a lot of room, it doesn't have too big of a footprint, which is nice when setting up when space is limited. *Set up is pretty easy, but requires two people. The rain fly is a bit difficult to get on, but I think with more use it would stretch a bit and be easier. *It did well in the wind. We had it set up during a very windy day, and it held up great, although the rain fly worries me in the wind (see comments about the rain fly in the cons section). *The tent seems well constructed and not too flimsy like some tents can feel. *The carrying bags are nice and tough and will be able to handle some abuse. Cons: *The rain fly only covering the top of the tent is worrisome and reminds me of ones I see on cheap tents. Although I have been unable to use this tent in the rain, I feel like rain would come in under the rain fly if it's windy, particularly in the back of the tent where the rain fly can't be tightened like it can across the front. This would be a good rain fly for warmer conditions, though, since ones that go all the way to the ground don't allow for a ton of cooling air flow when it's warmer out. Which leads me to the next con. *There are only two windows. I'm not sure why there aren't windows on all four sides but feel like there should be, especially since I would lean towards using this tent when it's warmer out and would want to open up all four sides. *The vestibule opening would not be fun to use in the rain. Again, I have not been able to use this tent in the rain, but know from experience with other tents with similar entries that it is very hard to open the vestibule door without getting water from the door on you (and possibly in the tent). Also, because of it's small size, it doesn't offer the best transitional space if you need to take off some wet or muddy items before entering the tent.