Appy Trails Mark V 4-5 Person Tent

This product came exactly as advertised and definitely took me by surprise. I really love how lightweight and easy to set up this tent is! It is so easy to throw this in my larger backpack and forget about it because of how light this tent is. What I didn't like was the poor quality control on my particular tent unit. I will give the company the benefit of the doubt because the tent is absolutely fabulous otherwise, but it came with a couple pinholes and a slight fabric tear. I probably got the single bad unit out of hundreds of flawless ones. Fortunately in a pinch for time as I had camping dates set, I was easily able to apply small patches to ensure a perfect waterproof seal. I really love this tent and what this company does, but that aspect was rather disappointing.

I have only had the chance use this tent twice, so I can't really speak to its durability, but it has been perfect for my purposes. The second time, we ended up getting caught in the rain, and I was a little nervous about using a tent without a fly, but it kept us totally dry. In fact, I think the design may have been better for mild rain than other tents I have used because of the ventilation--we didn't wake up in a hot, humid, sealed up tent with no air circulation. It was also very easy to set up quickly in the rain.I don't know if I would use this tent if I expected strong wind and heavy rain, but I probably wouldn't go camping at all in those conditions. I also would definitely not recommend this to somebody who is squeamish about bugs; this is not one of those hermetically sealed jobs you see everywhere.

I bought this tent as a backpacking tent for three people. It is lightweight and easy to set up. It did not come with a footprint groundcloth, so I cut a piece of plastic sheeting to fit. The size was fine for three-- do not think 5 would fit. The major trouble is that, even though I had staked it as taut as possible, when it rained, the sides of the tent bent in to touch the sleeping bags of the two people on the outside, making the sleeping bags very wet. The moisture went right through the tent material. The middle person stayed dry. So, i would not recommend this tent.

Worked perfectly on a wilderness trip. Held out the rain during a full night of thunderstorms.

My son loves how easy it is to put up and how lightweight it is.

A 9 x 15 canvas dropcloth for painting is essential to have with you

We had a scout campout planned this past weekend, but there was severe weather warning, with winds 30-40 mph with guest to 50+ and then snow. Figured we would cancel or camp in the church. When we met, there was a lull in the wind (we were protected by the post office)and the boys wanted to go camping. I had forgotten my tent, but having ordered appy trails tent I went to the post office to see if it arrived. It was there, in a very small light package, with reservations, I took it along. The wind was a lot stronger then we thought, but our camping spot was some what protected, I figure the wind was averaging 20 mph with gust to 35+. Set up the tent with the back facing the wind. Went up fairly smoothly even fighting the wind. The tent sets up very taunt. The biggest problem I had was using the the line tensioners, just used to using a taught line hitch. The wind then proceeded to change directions to hit the full side of the tent with extremely gust, then it started snowing with wind changing again to hitting the front door of the tent. By morning there were 2" of wet snow on the ground an temperature dropped 20+ degrees. The snow slid off of the tent and sealed the bottom. Two other tents collapsed, and one lost its fly. The mark 5 took it all and I was warm and dry inside. It is a very well made product, they did not tell what kind of pole came with it but it was a quality variable diameter yellow anodized aluminum pole. The design appears very well thought out, with reinforcements where needed. Worried about polyester material, that's what most tent flys come with now, I like it better then nylon. Actually benefited not having a floor, the scouts tent floors were covered with mud. I used a space blanket that I aways carry for the ground cover, tent would need three to cover all the floors space. Get some tyvek and cut it to fit the floor plan. I believe two adults and two young kids would fit fine, or couple of pets. It would also be great for bike touring. A bike could possible fit inside. Great quality product at great price, I can not see how other light weight shelters want so much for their product. It is as light as the tarp I used to carry in the summer but will provide shelter when conditions are not very good. Buy it, you will not be disappointed.

Run a bungie ball through every stake eye, use 24" rear pole, then stake out with bungies streched 75% with 1-2 inch gap all around,..no sag, no pullouts, no condinsation even in torrential downpours, cut a tyvex sheet as groundcloth. Ive used this for two years. double stake front pole tyout to prevent pullout from midnight nature calls