Customer Reviews

Eureka! Spitfire - Tent (sleeps 1)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In January of 2008, REI put their Chrysalis UL single person backpacking tent on sell (115 dollars). I had just received an Eureka Spitfire (not UL) tent as a Christmas gift (89 dollars). Both of these two wall tents received many favorable reviews on the internet. Both tents advertise a weight of ~3 lbs. I decided to do a non-outing tent to tent comparison. If you look at all the web reviews available, it is clear both these tents can handle weather that you would prefer not to be out in. That was not my concern. I was more interested in which of these tents worked best for me and if there were any show stoppers between the two.

Component weights (ozs):
--------------------------------------------------------
Eureka Spitfire
Poles:................8.875
Fly:...................18
Body:..................17
Stakes:...............6.25
Stake Bag:............0.375
Pole Bag:.............0.625
Stuff Sack:...........1
Guy Lines:...........0.5
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Total wt:...........52.625
Ti Stakes:...........2.5 (8)
Total wt. with
Ti Stakes:..........48.25
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Min wt. (poles,
fly, body,
Ti Stakes,
Guy Lines):..........46.875
................(2 lb 14.875 oz)

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REI Chrysalis UL
Poles:.................12.125
w/o pole repair tube:..11.75
Fly:...................16.125
Body:..................17.375
Stakes:.................3.375
Stake Bag:..............0.25
Pole Bag:...............0.5
Stuff Sack:.............2.75
Guy Lines:,.............1.375
------------------------------
Total wt................53.875
Ti Stakes................2.25 (7)
Total wt. with
Ti Stakes...............52.375
-------------------------------
Min wt. (poles,
fly, body,
Ti Stakes,
Guy Lines)..............49.25
....................(3 lb 1.25 oz)
--------------------------------------------------------

The component weights show some of the compromises that were made in packaging the tents for sell. The fact that the Chrysalis is free standing results in a higher pole weight. The steel stakes that are standard with the Spitfire weigh too much. The Chrysalis UL's stakes are lighter, and of better quality, however I personally do not like the design. I strongly suggest the stakes for both tents be replaced with Ti stakes. The stuff sack used on the Spitfire is a simple no frill sack. The Chrysalis UL stuff sack has provisions for compressing the radius of the sack. This results in extra weight without any real advantage. If you wanted to use a tent compression bag, it should be the tent fabric parts only, and compress both the radius and length.

Both tents have a vent in their fly to help control condensation. The Spitfire also has a zipper at the top of the tent body that allows you to access the vent. When examining this zipper, I noticed as others have that the zipper does not completely close. A small opening about 1/2 the size of the radius of a tent stake remains open. A little better zipper termination would have eliminated this issue. This should be of no major concern, but it distracts from the tent's design. In the Chrysalis, the tent door needs to be opened to reach the vent.

The overall quality of the materials, sewing, and finishing of both tents is very good. The Chrysalis is a little better than the Spitfire, but this should not be an issue for either of the tents. When examining the fly coverage of the tents I noticed that the very end of the Spitfire tent body was not completely covered by the fly. There is about 1 to 2 inches of seam right at the end buckle that you would need to be sure you sealed. I do not consider this a major issue, but again something that could have been avoided in the tent design.

Both tents are very easy to set up. As mentioned before, the Chrysalis is free standing. The Spitfire is not free standing. The Spitfire is so easy to setup, I do not consider this a major reason for choosing one tent over the other. One of the advantages of a free standing tent is that the poles and fly can be put up first in rain and the rest of the tent pitched under the protection of the fly. In the case of the Spitfire, Velco ties on the underside of the fly and the tent body's external clip system also allow the fly to be setup first in the rain. You do have to improvise a loop on the fly end snaps (both ends) to do this. In this manner, both tents can be setup as a fly/poles only tarp.

The Spitfire's vestibule is only large enough for boots. It is triangular shaped with a ground apex of ~ 1 foot. A second similar area is available under the fly, but only accessable by being outside and reaching under the fly. The vestibule is considerably larger in the Chrysalis (apex ~2.5 feet). You could put your boots and a small pack in it. A large pack would not fit. The Spitfire has some built in pockets in the mesh side that are big enough to hold glasses and a flashlight. Head room in both tents is adequate for me to sit without touching the roof. The Spitfire has a few extra inches of head room compared to the Chrysalis UL.

The Spitfire has considerable more mesh than the Chrysalis. This would be an advantage when a person wanted to do without the fly. The Chrysalis has a little porthole window in the fly, and the tent body has some panels of translucent fabric that make it very light inside. The porthole window is intriguing. It would be easier to look out at the weather with the fly on, but I would need more data on whether it would hold up. It seems a little like a gimmick.

When I lay in both tents, I came across a show stopper. I was able to lie in the Spitfire with over 6 inches at both ends of the tent to spare. Not all of this space would be usable by a taller individual, but it was there never the less. I was able to roll side to side without touching the tent sides. In the Chrysalis, my feet were touching the bottom of the tent and my head was touching the front of the tent. It was very uncomfortable. I'm 5 feet, 8 inches tall. The Chrysalis floor plan is nonsymmetrical at the wide end and narrow end of the tent. It forms an uneven parallelogram like shape. This results in an large unusable area next to your head and a similar small area at your feet.

My decision was to keep the Eureka Spitfire and return the REI Chrysalis UL.

At age 55 and chasing SCOUTS all over the country, I need a light weight edge to keep up. I had a EUREKA ZEUS single wall but did not like the slight condensation that accumulated inside nor the inabilaty to take off the rain fly. I like to be able to star gaze and avoid the bugs. On our last adventure, to the Chiago Basin in Colorado, the Spitfire kept the rain out during frequent thunderstorms and the bugs at bay. It is as light as the single wall and I had the ability to fold the rain fly back for some fantastic night time views of the sky. I had NO condensation problems at all. The onlt problem was the stakes it came with were steel. Phurchased titanium stakes , Problem solved. GREAT BACKPACKING TENT

I purchased this tent new from Amazon.com for [...]. Elsewhere it was seling for [...] so I got what I considered a great deal. I think Amazon.com was normally selling it for [...] or so.

I'm tall (6' 4") and fit in this tent with a little room to spare for gear. I've only used it once on a Boy Scout campout and it worked fine (we had a rainshower one night). The tent has a lot of netting which allows for good air ciculation. I had no condensation on the underside of the fly during the campout. My only issue with this tent is that when it is fully staked out tautly, the rainfly rests on the head end of the tent (the netting above the front tent stake). This COULD allow any condensation that collects on the underside of the fly to end up in the tent. I didn't experience this, but I could see where this might be an issue. For drier climates, this shouldn't be a problem though.

Two other issues: I replaced the steel tent stakes with aluminum ones and the stuff sack for the tent is pretty tight.

The tent weighs 3lbs. 6ozs. on my scale (with the aluminum tent pegs) and easily fits in my pack. The quality of materials and stiching looked decent. I expect this solo tent will serve me well for backpacking in the Sierras in the summertime.

Let me start by saying that I have only been camping for a few years now. I purchased this tent because I wanted a lighter tent and didnt want to pay an extravegant price for it. This tent fit the bill. It is fairly light ~3 pounds, packs pretty well, and takes nothing to setup. You can do it with just 2 stakes if you really want to. It has plenty of room for me (Im a little guy ~130pound), and my pack. My last camping trip me and my brother both where inside playing cards (It was pouring rain), he is a little guy too. My only complaint i would have , is that i have a difficult time getting the rainfly as taunt as i would like, thus when it rains out i get small leak points where the fly touches the tent. I am sure this is my inexperience and not the tent design though. Even though i get these small spots the tent held up well in about 6-8 hours of rain, thunder and lightning on a trip i had a few weeks ago. So for the price i dont feel i have anything to truly complain about. Just my two cents.

very cheap. very light. worth it. the steel stakes are a pain to have because they are heavy, but they are easily replaced. warm with the fly on; cool with the fly off. great tent, well worth the money.

On any backpacking trip, weight and shelter are huge considerations. This tent delivers with an ultra-lightweight package while still providing ample room. The tent is easy to setup, taking only a few mins without any strain. It folds down easily and comes with its own stuff sack. The tent is not freestanding, however that was not a concern in my case. The rainfly provides sufficient coverage to keep mositure out, and the ability to open the vent from inside the tent is a great feature. I am about 5' 7", and was able to comfortably sit up and manuver around in the tent, not to mention streatch out fully without being pushed up against the walls.
I only docked the tent a star because the vestibule area is so small; a bigger area would have been great, but it would not stop me from buying this tent again.

great tent, im 6"5 and it fits me and my gear. I have a bigger tent for cammping parties. But this one comes in handy if i kayak to an island and choose to stay alone. Sets up fast, and easy. Lightweight and good poles.
Might suggest buying the 2 man instead, i think i would have prefered that extra space. I fit in it just fine but youre very close to your gear. Hope this helps you tall people out there.

On my first outing, I camped in this tent at 11,200 feet in a Sierra basin. There was a very big blow with gusts over 60 mph and the temp dove to below 15 degrees. The tent was subjected to a good thrashing. This was my biggest concern with the tent when I bought it. There was a fair amount of blown sand and dust that came through the mesh under the fly. As others have noted, it is difficult to get the fly taut and it really showed in this storm with a lot of flapping. A tent stake came lose in the middle of the night, even though I had replaced the cheesy steel stakes that came with the tent with a combination of longer aluminum stakes. But the tent came through the test without a rip, a tear or any damage. All in all, the tent performed extremely well. I am going to look into a way of converting the front and back tent fly points to accept stakes, instead of buckling into the tent body as was designed. This should make the fly more taut and the entire tent stronger. I think this tent has the almost perfect combination of size and weight for a solo tent. I really like the side entrance. Most solo tents have a front entrance that you have to crawl into. The tent fabric and poles are stronger than Big Agnes products. I really don't understand how Eureka could afford to price this below $120, but its the best bargain I have seen in a long time.

I was a little queasy about ordering a tent online--not being overly familiar with lightweight, single man tents, I thought it might be safer to check them out in a shop. But, hey, this is a cool tent! It sort of exceeded expectations--better looking than the ad, more vertical room than I'd anticipated, goes up and packs away nicely.

I was expecting to be a little dissapointed at first considering the relatively low price of this backpacking tent. But for a staked tent, its actually quite sturdy and does a really good job at keeping the rain and bugs off..provided you go over the seams with tent sealer before first use as recommended.
Probably the only complaint I ahve is that the tent stakes could be a tad better.

All in all, a good buy.