Bkn4thr wrote:

I bought and used this cabelas tent on a caribou hunt ,replacing for this mission my very heavy outfitters camp, it worked good but only tested this once so far. A little heavy I'm sure for what most of you are doing but we endured two nights of "barren ground" winds and the camp stood up to it and was very comfortable for three of us. The tent comes with its own poles but we only took the centre, corner and vestibule poles and used on site wood for the rest! We were able to find a very sheltered place as far as tundra camping goes. And temps didn't get less than -10 Celsius .

That looks like the Taj Mahal, not a tent! This website always comes through with other's hard-won knowledge. I really like that "Tent". Nice.

Cary wrote:

I bought the Big House 6. Junk.

I'm sorry to hear that. My Big House 4 has been as close to a perfect 3-season tent as I could imagine. Perhaps the increased size just puts more stress on it, with the BH6. Or perhaps yours might have done better if you'd added more tie downs. I have 4 added tie downs, and it's been through some monstrous winds, both rain and snow storms. I've been in it during some of those storms, and it doesn't move around much at all (well, the vestibule does)--but again, I've added 2 more tie-downs to each side, in addition to what came with it. I have not tried it in the winter--those snow storms I've been in were in September.

Cary

Tie downs matter. Agreed.

Mi also have the Big Agnes. Big House Four. Don't like having to get dressed lying on my back.

iceman wrote:

SkySteve wrote:

rw2 wrote:
[... but since it's been 20 years since you last camped... Make sure you get a comfortable sleeping pad (or cot). There was a thread on this subject here a few months ago.

... and, don't forget a good quality insulated sleeping pad or air mattress. Makes all the difference. Also was discussed in detail not long ago.

get a Wiggy's... best sleeping bag ever made... look em up on line... Wiggy's sleeping bags.....

X2 on wiggy's also. I have one for sale that my fat ass won't fit into anymore. Used on one mountain goat expedition. Found out I'm not much of a mountain goat hunter! But I swear u could sleep in freezing water with this bag!

New brand/company TICLA will have some nice well designed tents.. they will be out this spring. http://www.ticla.com/

when I was in Hawaii last month my garage got broken into and power tools and garden tools along with other tools were taken.... my wiggy's was on a bench next to my sons down bag as we used them in Idaho a couple weeks before... the bastards took my Wiggys and left the down bag.....so I got a new ultima thule on order .... not gonna use it till next spring but I gotta have my wiggy's now...

If you want a bullet proof larger tent, that you can ALMOST stand up in, take a look at the REI Base Camp 4. For seven years now, that's been my OSH home. As many of you know, the thunderstorms there are sometimes biblical.....and that tent has always kept me dry and comfy. Get up in the morning, and EVERYbody around me has all their gear hung all over their airplane, trying to get it dry after one of those late night t-storms.
One of those was owned by a good friend- a brand new Big Agnes tent. They returned it when they got home.

Hmmmm, good tent, that Base Camp. Time for breakfast.

Several years ago, after many years suffering nights on the ground with therma rest pads at work, I bought a GOOD quality air mattress.....self inflating with on board D cell batteries.......MAGIC! Suddenly, camping was fun again.

Now as the proud owner of a "new" PA 11 I'm re-adjusting my camp gear. The VE 25 is going to be my only tent now, bu the air mattress is still on the "must go" list. I guess I'm going to have to rely on friends to haul the beer......or switch to hard liquor.

MTV

I have a Big Agnes, forget which one but its a 3 man with a vestibule and a footprint. 4 nights in it so far, one trashed zipper already. Need to send it back as I'm sure they'd fix it. Seems to stay dry, not had it in any wind.

Best winter tent is Arctic Oven by AK Tent and Tarp. It will turn a c185 into a 2 place, but you'll be plenty warm.

8GCBC wrote:

TheRebeler wrote:Man, if I could fit that in my backpack I totally would. At least for now, my MSR 2 place seems to do the job and holds up decently for wind.

Do you use it 4 season? Good in rain/snow too?

I mostly use it 3 season, but it would be ok for a 4 season. With the ultralight backpacking pole setup it's a little light in wind, but I've had it in 40 mph and it did fine with some good staking. It does quite well at keeping heat inside on cold nights and light enough to solo backpack without a problem. I'd definitely get it again.

On my first date with my wife she brought her Black Diamond Megamid. I laughed openly and said "that's not a tent".

As she has repeatedly reminded me I was WRONG. It is awesome. Two disadvantages, a bit prone to humidity/condensation and not bug proof, but all in all my favourite. I am also pretty sure that I can hang it from my tiedown ring on my 170, but have taken the pole so far. It packs up so small you can leave it in the plane.

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/ten ... 0ALL1.html

daedaluscan wrote:On my first date with my wife she brought her Black Diamond Megamid. I laughed openly and said "that's not a tent".

DA:

The first date and she is bringing along a tent! Obviously you were a lot better at wrangling first dates than I was!!

Interesting tent. Have you had it in any kind of heavy weather? I would worry about tents with no floors in heavy weather with lots of moisture. But for the weight, would be a great 2 person setup in the plane.

Regards, Larry

http://www.cowboycamp.net/

I've never had better gear than David Ellis.

Presently I use a Sierra Designs Stretch Dome, Mountaineering Tent (3.15 person tent). I used to use a Sierra Designs Bedouin 4. The problem I find with many tents is the trend towards lots of vent panels. Seems like a good idea, unless your in a dusty environment. If it was windy, then everything in the tent was coated with fine dust by the evening. At least with mountaineering tents, you can seal off the vents and keep the dust out. Not necessarily a big problem for everybody, but like now, I'm down in Hermosillo, Mexico. Going out to the field tomorrow, and camping at the mine site (about 140 clicks east in the mountains), is dusty here in the Sonora. That and all the machinery moving about during the day, albeit quite aways from the camp, still sends dust my way. I just hate feeling like I'm sleeping in a bag made from 220 grit sandpaper. It is so sad, I could fly the 185 to within 5 miles of the mine, but it is in a restricted zone. We where going to doze out a strip on the mine site, until the fateful conversation with the Commandante's office.

We were camping at Inskip Point, Queensland, AUS with a tent that was mostly bug screen and a rain fly. The "Trades" blew it full of sand and there was nothing to stop it. The sand and dust went up into the bug screen under the rain fly. The thunderstorms filled it with water too.

We always keep a small hand whisker broom which was used, almost daily, to sweep up the sand from inside the tent. Tent was thrown out after about a week. Bad tent.

Random mindless video using an iPAD at Inskip Point (Note wind strength)...

dogpilot wrote:It is so sad, I could fly the 185 to within 5 miles of the mine, but it is in a restricted zone. We where going to doze out a strip on the mine site, until the fateful conversation with the Commandante's office.

I PMed you.

mtv wrote:If you want a bullet proof larger tent, that you can ALMOST stand up in, take a look at the REI Base Camp 4. For seven years now, that's been my OSH home. As many of you know, the thunderstorms there are sometimes biblical.....and that tent has always kept me dry and comfy. Get up in the morning, and EVERYbody around me has all their gear hung all over their airplane, trying to get it dry after one of those late night t-storms.
One of those was owned by a good friend- a brand new Big Agnes tent. They returned it when they got home.

Hmmmm, good tent, that Base Camp. Time for breakfast.

Second on the base camp from REI. I bought the 6 this summer. The missus likes camping and dayhikes but the backpacking thing is something she's just not into. The 6 is HUGE. Maybe too big for some places. I can stand up in it and put a queen sized mattress in with room to spare. It is well ventilated and has a huge vestibule to store stuff you don't want getting wet under and keep your shoes outside. It's also the first tent I've ever bought that had enough room in the stuff sack to add more stakes, the ground tarp, and some guy lines. With said guy lines, it holds up in a pretty strong storm just fine.

Also have a Sierra Designs Clip 3 CD that's about 15 years old now and still works great for backpacking. My only gripe with it is it's not free standing. It's fine in the midwest but I trashed about a dozen stakes in Moab. It's stout but it takes a lot of guying to get there.

Haven't used either for airplane camping (yet) but have every intention of it.

You may want to take a look at this link before you spend any money at REI.
http://www.rei.com/content/dam/document ... pients.pdf
Every one of these groups (except the Red Cross) are actively trying to close down all motorized access to the back country. That most assuredly includes aircraft.
Plenty of great tents out there from companies that aren't spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to take away your right to fly.

Everything I have with a zipper seems to fail at the zipper. You know the scenario, it pulls apart in the middle. I have had good luck using pliers to close the gap on the slider. Not to much or it won't move.

G'Day

Zippers can be the weak point, but a lot of zipper failures can be avoided by appropriate use of zipper wax at least annually. Most people with large zipper-dependent items never wax the zipper. That's like running an engine without oil. Okay...not quite that bad...but get some zipper wax. You might be able to prolong your zipper function even if it has started gapping occasionally.

I wholeheartedly agree with S-12. There are some lists of donors that could be made up and invalid, however when the list is published by the donor themselves, it should be fairly accurate. When some groups are totally against our desires and we help fund their existence, its easy to be a hypocrite, especially if there are options.