Will I come home and just find the screenhouse gone, or will I see it blowing around in the street, trailing pipe segments? What about the rain, or the potential for 120-degree heat? For the moment, my dream of an extra room in the back yard has come true. One mad idea often begets another, and that is how this $34.95 purchase came about. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in the blog, I’m getting married in Joshua Tree on August 2nd, outdoors.
Adults as tall as 6-foot-3 can move about this tent standing upright. With a 44-square-foot vestibule, and 86 square feet of interior living space, the tent has plenty of room to house beds, cribs, gear, pets, and camping furniture. Zippered doors can enclose the vestibule fully, so it serves as a separate room for the tent, or you can leave one or both open, so the vestibule can act like a porch or mudroom. The main tent body has a giant front door that’s oriented to make entry and exit easy for all the tent’s occupants at night, and a smaller back window that doubles as a second door. Car campers who plan to brave miserable weather will appreciate the extra strength and protection of the REI Co-op Base Camp 4 Tent.
Orienting the fly took us a minute on our first try. (We were stubborn and didn’t look at the instructions.) Once you identify the front and back, the process is straightforward. The fly goes up and over the tent body, covering only the upper half of the mesh dome, and then forms the glorious vestibule with the aid of a third pole. Use the extra stakes and guy-lines provided to stabilize the vestibule as much as you need. Families who regularly pitch their tent in rainy locales need a wind-fighting tent with a good-size vestibule for storing wet shoes and gear, as well as a full rain fly for added weather protection. A footprint for each model is sold separately.
The Mineral King 3’s fly attaches intuitively with plastic buckles and has well-placed guy tabs. You can secure the fly to the poles with Velcro ties underneath the fly, so that the extra lines anchored the whole tent, not just the thin protective fabric, but we only needed to do so in very windy conditions. When the fly is fully deployed, the tent has two vestibules, which provide additional gear storage and also help ventilate the tent in inclement weather. And in a stroke of design brilliance, a small loop sewn into the top of the fly makes it possible to roll up one half of the fly, exposing the full mesh canopy while still providing shade and privacy.
We used it to put it over a little swimming pool for our children and it works great. We do get a lot of random rains during the summer so one of the 3-way gables broke (part of the corners of the frame) with the weight of the water that accumulated on one side. I called to get a replacement and the customer service person I talked to was awesome! She guided me through until I was able to find the correct serial number for the part and sent it to me right away. This product from the list of stuff that I wish I never had bought it would in the top two. Setting up the screenhouse you need an army of people to hold the frame in place to put the screen over.
Weighing just 7 pounds, the tent is light enough to double for backpacking trips, especially if you divide the pieces among hikers. Next day delivery isn’t available on certain items during sales or promotions. Check the items delivery info at point of purchase. Please allow business days of processing and production time for your order to ship out.
Its fly extends into a huge front vestibule that can store large items like bikes, or even accommodate a table and chairs. Adults over 6 feet tall will be able to walk upright inside this tent—which has almost-vertical walls that can easily accommodate beds, cribs, and cots—as well as in the vestibule. And this tent is easy to set up and pack down, especially considering its size. (It comes with a carrying bag equipped with duffle-style handles.) You’re unlikely to find a similar-sized tent that matches the Wawona’s quality and features for less money—most comparable tents we tested cost much more. As with most six-person tents, the Wawona 6’s footprint is sold separately.
When heavy trade winds buffeted our Oahu-coast testing site, we pitched each tent in full face of the blast. We then rotated the tents looking for structural weaknesses, and we tested their guy lines and tabs to see which tents had the best and most intuitive design for withstanding wind. If you can afford to spend more on a family tent, we recommend The North Face Wawona 6. Everyone who tested this tent loved it, and it’s not hard to understand why.
This dome-style tent has nearly vertical walls, high ceilings, and a single vestibule the size of an actual mudroom. It’s also straightforward to set up, and it is made with sturdy, light materials. It’s expensive, but you get value for your money. I have found it takes ozark trail screen house two people to put this screenhouse together. I have two of them and the only complaint I have is that when they are up and you sip the doors shut the bottom is two foot off the ground. But for the most part we like it and take both of them camping with every time we go.
Just had to comment after reading these old reviews of folks who couldn’t seem to set it up without either A. Decided to use it to go camping with my fiance and we were going to set up before we went. We put it back in the bag and said this is so stupid. I don’t know why the other commenter didn’t follow through. Once you actually get this thing set up, it is great.