Suisse Sport Yosemite Tent

My fiancee and I realized our current 3 person tent would not have enough space for our queen air mattress and our newly acquired dog to sleep in. So 3 days before our camping trip, we had to find a new tent - Amazon Prime to the rescue. I'm 6'3" and hate having to practically do a backflip to change pants inside the tent, so I wanted a tent I could somewhat stand up in. And knowing that we were camping in the desert of Southeastern California where winds can come out of nowhere and destroy a tent, I didn't want to spend a lot in case it turned into a loss. I read the reviews on this one and picked it up for $67. It arrived the next day.Set up was a snap. Since it's just a simple dome without any weird side extensions, it uses just two main poles going through sleeves, and two poles across the rain fly. Super easy. We attached the rain fly with the hooks to the bottom corners of the tent, but didn't bother with the guy wires. Didn't use the inner "curtain" either, so I can't comment on those.Once up, I really liked the double opening front door. Made it convenient to exit the tent on one side, or open the door of the tent while laying down on the other side to let the dog out. The zippers seem to be good quality and never snagged, although I did have to use two hands to open or close the door. This may be prevented by pulling the tent more taut next time before staking it. The height of the tent was great and I was able to mostly stand up inside, which made changing or going into the tent to just retrieve something very easy. The windows seemed to work as they should, but we kept them closed to keep dust out. We set up our queen air mattress sideways, so we had room next to the mattress for dog to sleep, and a ton of room at the end to put our stuff.First night's sleep was great. Temps were in the mid 40s with no wind. My fiancee said it felt a bit drafty inside but I disagree. Second night, the aforementioned desert wind decided to blow early in the morning, with some pretty strong gusts. The tent held up fine structurally, although we did have to move the air mattress more towards the middle to keep the fabric sides from whipping us in the head - again, this may have been avoided if we pulled it more taut. I was afraid of losing the rain fly since we didn't use the guy wire, but it survived. As we were packing up and moving our gear outside the tent, the wind finally got the best of the supplied stakes and the tent started to blow away. We caught it, but this illustrates the downside of a tall tent, and the need for better stakes. I intended to pick some up but didn't have enough time before the trip.Folding it up in the wind was a struggle, and I was not able to undo the knot tied to keep the rain fly attached to its poles, so we had to cut it - my fault. And we were not able to fit all of the supplies back in the bag. We'll try re-folding it at home. On that note, it would have been nice if the storage bag had a draw string to pull closed.Overall, this is a great deal. It's not the best or most feature packed tent out there, but it survived some rough weather (my friend's REI tent didn't) and was plenty roomy and comfy for car camping. For the price, I can forgive the quality of stakes and storage bag, but it would get a 4-star rating if it cost over $100. I can't comment on how well it does in the rain (the tarp-like floor is a nice feature) or how long it'll last, but it suits our needs just fine.

I will admit I was a bit skeptical to invest in this tent due to the low price tag. I ordered from Amazon and it arrived the next day! After using if for several camping trips, I feel I can now report back to say what an excellent buy this is. I took my friends advise and set it up before my first outing and seam-sealed it. This allowed me to get used to the setup and explore my purchase too. I recommend two people to set this tent up. Mainly when it's time to erect the crossing poles. Brain surgeon not required. My 8 year old does a terrific job helping. The main issue I have during setup is with the rain-fly. It not only looks like a kite when it's setup, but acts like one too! So if you have even the slightest breeze come by after you install the rain-fly poles, you better have a second person on hand to help you keep your kite under control until you can snap it in place over your tent. Once it's in place, you don't have to worry about it. The rain-fly does an excellent job of providing shade and shelter over the windows, but it does bury the roof vent. Thankfully this tent has windows on all 4 sides, which offers excellent cross breeze ventilation.I was pleasantly surprised to see additional features not listed in the description like side pockets, ceiling shelf, light loop and electric cord poke-thru. I almost bought the larger 10x12 version of this tent due these features not listed on this 8x10 size. So I was really pleased when I got the features I wanted with the size I preferred. The interior curtain I never use despite my 8 year old's plea. We did set up once and does not turn this into a "two room" tent. It's simply one room with a very thin curtain that makes the tent feel small when using it. I went out of my way to buy a dome tent because I do not like guy lines. I don't like setting them up and I always seem to trip over them. This tent does have guy lines as an option for the rain fly only. I've only used them once when a very serious storm hit us. They were long enough to tie to trees which is even better than using the chintzy stakes that come with this tent. Do yourself a favor and buy some aftermarket coleman stakes. They are superior to the ones that come with this tent. That's really my only complaint. And I read that from another review so I was prepared to upgrade the stakes for $3.Regarding that storm I mentioned... It rained nearly 5" overnight with 30-40 MPH winds and the tent did have a little water in two corners of the tent. I considered that highly acceptable considering the severity of the storm. During normal rain, I see an occasional drop try and slip through the door zipper here and there, otherwise it stays perfectly dry. Overall, I love this tent. It's easy to setup (with two people) and it does what a tent is supposed to do... keep you dry and provide shelter & privacy.The Good:The rain fly is optional.Rain fly can be staked or tied down but is not usually necessaryTwo interior wall pocketsOne net shelf near ceilingTall enough to stand in (I'm 5'9") with room to spareVery affordable priceElectrical cord holeCeiling loop to mount tent lightExcellent ventilationWindows on all 4 sidesInterior curtainThe Bad:The corner and guy-line stakes are a joke (way too flimsy)Zippers work best using two hands (one to keep the tent wall taut)Barely fits back in the storage bag. - Fold carefully!Uses pole sleeves instead of clips.