Customer Reviews

Eureka! Tetragon 1210 - Tent (sleeps 8)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was a little disappointed with this tent after I pitched it in my backyard to the seal the seams (manufacturer's recommendation by the way - and a must). The tent alone is nice. Obviously a 12' by 10' footprint is plenty of room. But the fly is poorly designed.

Since there are doors on either side, I thought the fly would cover the rear just like the front (in the picture) but that's not the case. The brim rods are thin fiberglass poles that fit through sleeves in the fly and they attach to exterior guide holes. But the umbrella fly can only be staked on one side.

I placed stakes where the loops are in between the corners to keep it up for 24 hours and let the seam seal cure. It held up nicely until a 15 mph (or so) breeze came through and turned it upside down the following afternoon. All loops that were staked, except the front two where the fly comes out, came out of the ground. Consequently, the left side of the fly completely ripped. So stake out everything/every time in case Mother Nature decides to sneeze on this tent.

You will definitely need a tarp to place underneath it since the floor is made out of the same nylon taffeta as the walls. And I would replace the yellow plastic stakes with aluminum/steel stakes. The tent may stay put in inclement weather but if it's really nasty, I suspect some rain will make its way through the mesh ceiling even with the fly on because the front/rear do not come below the ceiling like the sides.

The sewn-in gear loft is on the right and just below the mesh ceiling. It can be attached horizontally to store things just above the walls or it can be attached vertically but that will block the view from that window. It would have been nice if the whole thing was detachable. But it will work if/when needed.

The separate room divider can be attached/removed via dog bones fed through loops. It divides the tent into rooms starting from just above the ground and up to the mesh ceiling. If someone is tall, there goes your privacy.

That being said, I think the tent will be OK. I thought I was lucky when I got this on sale for under $100. But I'm glad that's all I paid. Fortunately, Eureka sells replacement parts so I ordered another fly for $39 plus shipping.

Update (May 25, 2008): I received the fly replacement and it is a huge improvement over the one that originally came with the tent. The new design does not incorporate the flimsy brim rods. And it arches over on both sides where the doors are located. One caveat: you will need to order the pole that has been incorporated into the new design. Otherwise, it will just hang down and could get snagged by the door's zipper.

When I went to pitch the tent at the camp site by myself, I noticed the fiberglass poles had stress cracks where the poles connect. So while the tent can be pitched by one person, having another person will help reduce that. I would have given this four stars with the new fly but since that happened, it's still 3 stars in my mind.

I had gone camping many years back and needed to upgrade my tent now that I had kids of age. This tent worked well for a family of five! We did a dry run of setting it up and it was fairly easy. I also took the opportunity to seal the seams. When we got to the campsite the dry run helped me to set up the tent in no time at all! Especially since it was starting to rain. The tent was dry throughout the night!

I also recommend a 16x10 tarp that can be placed underneath the tent. this will give you 4 feet of overlap that can extend from the tent entrance to place shoes etc. Great tent!

I was looking for a family tent for 4 people (2 adults, 2 toddlers) I had some basic requirements:

- Big, but not huge

- 2 doors

- Center divider

- Decent quality that would hold up to a number of years of Spring/Summer camping

- Although mainly to be used in Summer months, needed to be fairly waterproof due to occasional Northwest showers. I did about a week of online and in-store research before purchasing

I set up in our backyard last weekend in order to see how it looked, and to seal the seams. I did the setup by myself, which was not impossible, but definitely would have been easier with 2 people (issue mainly is dealing with the long poles that form the dome)

Quality seems good...not top-of-the line good, but for < $200, it's nice for the price. Height is OK (I'm 6'3"). I initially was looking at cabin-style tents due to good center height, but decided I didn't want to have a tent with that big of a footprint.

Since it came with tape-sealed seams, I thought I'd do a "quickie" seam sealing job. Big mistake, a storm came in and I ended up with a decent amount of water on one side of the tent floor (probably coming in from corners or side guy points) Once it dried out, I did a more thorough job, and all seems well now.

Overall very pleased with the choice of this tent.

We used a seam sealer, and then went on our first camping trip with this tent. Our first night out we had a severe thunderstorm - among the worst we've ever camped in. The tent performed wonderfully. We had only two places that had minor drips. We love this tent.

We have owned this tent for just over two years now. It has been camping with us in upstate NY as well as one trip to Virginia Beach. I was introduced to Eureka in scouting (their Timberline tents) and I will not buy anything else. I have never owned a Eureka tent that was this big, and I was skeptical as to whether it would perform as well as their smaller tents.

We set the tent up in the back yard to seal the seams. In addition to eight loops to stake the base of the tent down, there are four guy points on the fly. We added an additional four guy lines for a total of eight (two at each point) and the tent is not going anywhere. We have not had any problems with stitches coming loose where there are tension points (such as where the poles connect to the tent base, or the guy points). The stakes that come with the tent are not really suitable for anything except setting the tent up in the back yard. They are made of yellow plastic. For a tent in this price range this is typical.

The tent has performed well while camping. The fly coverage in the front and sides allows us to keep the windows partially open, even during rain, for good ventilation. Occasionally we have a small amount (8-10 drops) of water at the corners. The seams probably need to be re-sealed there after two years of use. The gear loft is a nice bonus, and it arguably more useful if it's attached at the top and bottom of the tent and used as storage pockets rather than a loft. We have put the tent through a lot... torrential downpours in VA and high winds in the Catskill Mountains. For such a large tent it does really well. It is stable in high wind when it's properly secured.

After two years, two of the fiberglass pole segments fractured lengthwise (stress fractures). Eureka replaced them free of charge (we had to pay shipping in one direction). They stand behind their products. I am not sure if we will continue to have problems with the poles. Eureka does sell replacement pole sections as well, which for me, is enough to make me not worry about it. I'd rather buy a new set of poles than an entire new tent if the bulk of the tent is in good condition.

Overall this is a great tent if you need more space than a standard dome tent can provide. If I were rating purely on a price/performance scale, this would get five stars. Eureka makes better dome tents (the Sunrise line) which are worthy of the five star rating for construction and durability.

The first time I set it up the thick main poles (of which there are 2)goes though the little short sleeves at the top of the tent but I missed that top single loop,I wondered what it was for and now I know.. Also the the brimmed poles for the fly that go over the doors and side windows are different size,the longer are for the fount and rear doors and shorter ones for the side windows we are talking about the fly that goes over the tent...

It does take 2 people to put this tent up or in my case, myself and a 4 year old...the fiber glass tent poles are weak with all the tents weight on end of them and you on the other end is to much stress and can fracture easily with >> ( one person ) setting up the tent, (Two people reduce the stress and eliminate this problem though). They are fine once you have the tent set up.

Tent has 2 doors, 6 windows, plus 4 roof vents for superior ventilation and nice head room for a six foot person.

Like Jason said in his review will sleep up to 6 people not 8...less if using air beds.

The hooded fly provides enough coverage over the front and rear door windows to enable you to leave the window partially open for even more ventilation even in rain.
Twin track zippers for separate operation for the windows and screens in the doors...

External guy points on the fly help secure your tent in high winds(see my pictures).Buy some good tent stakes the plastic ones provided are no good.

I bought a 8' by 10' ground tarp that fits under the tent nicely and does not stick out to catch any rain that might come in the middle of the night.

Brimmed door and windows look good also and helps the ventilation.

( See my pictures on this site for more help with this tent ).

You seem to loose a lot of room using the room divider...

I have owned Eureka tents in the past and when my last tent (an Outbound) was too old and I couldn't find replacement poles as the company went out of business I decided to search for a replacement and stick with tried and true Eureka.

The is meant as a 2-3 season use tent, mostly with my family. Luckily, Amazon had the tent listed on sale for $95. Then I had a $25 gift certificate and since I didn't need it quick, too the super-saver option. Added to that there was a $10 rebate inside that I didn't know until arrival. So a $170+ tent delivered for $61 started this off well.

Next task, initial setup. Do not even bother trying this alone. With other reviewers comments about potential damage to poles, not worth it. Also, one reviewer didn't like the rain fly. It IS different but gave us no trouble. Flip over the setup instructions and take note of how to guy out the tent. They recommend 8 for best protection. It only comes with 4 lines so I have already invested the $8 for 40 ft line and 4 more adjustment clips. Made a HUGE difference in the wind.

Also note that you MUST seam seal this tent but any normal/frequent/experienced camper knows that you should do that with all tents. Third day of use, it poured and no leaks.

It "feels bigger" than I was anticipating. My last 2 tents were domes with no straight sides so front-to-back gave unexpected room. Also liked the gear loft that can be clipped to the side wall or overhead. We used the sidewall more as we clip our battery lantern overhead.

Would I buy again at normal price, YES, definitely. Am I thrilled I saved over $100, an even bigger yes.

This is our second new "family" tent in 15 years. I'm not sure how you could put it up with one person as some reviews state, it took two adults and two kids "helping" to go up easily even after a practice session. We had no inclement weather to test the water resistance. My only negative comment is about the zipper size: The pulls are small as are the zipper teeth, smaller than my old tent. And it does take two hands to operate the door zipper to keep the fabric from getting caught in the zipper. Not good when you have a bunch of stuff in your hands to go inside.

It for sure can only hold 4 people with gear. The room divider does get in the way for family camping. The hanging gear loft also gets in the way of standing. It cuts the headroom down to about 5'. But I think it will do just fine for our casual use camping.

I don't know about 8 persons, but this tent is the perfect size for two adults and one toddler, including two air mattresses and a pack-n-play. It's big, it's roomy, and the best part is YOU CAN STAND UP! I'm 6' tall and I love the feeling of standing up in a tent having spent my camping life crouched over all these years. It is a bit of a chore to set up with just one person, but totally doable. Also, it has GREAT ventilation, a room divider, and tons of windows and doors. As it never rains in southern California, I can't speak to it's rain performance, but I sealed the seams anyway. (That takes a while. There are a lot of seams on this big a tent.) I HIGHLY recommend getting a 12'x'12 or 12'x14' tarp to go underneath to protect the tent from ground wear. All said, we've used this tent probably ten times now and love it every time. I do wish the tent bag had a handle, but what can you do. Highly recommended.

The tent is roomy for a couple of people and easy for an adult to stand in the area near the center.

The "tent clip webbing" and the "shock-corded tent poles" are not matched color coded, as I interpreted the text about the tent.

The "shock-corded tent poles" do not stay connected when "pulling" on the poles for installation and removal. This is annoying since the only way to get the poles into or out of the "tent clip webbing" is to pull on them. It means that you have to walk on the collasped tent to reassemble the pole joints.

The "Assembly Instructions" do not seem to include instructions for the installation of the seperate "Rain Fly". I've yet to figure out how it attaches to the tent.

Typical of plastic "tent stakes", they break easily when setting them or removing them.

The photo illustration for staking the tent down seems to be in conflict with the text under the "Staking" section in the "Assembly Instructions" or vice/versa? The text could be made more specific as to the preferred method of staking.

I looked at several brands and models of tents on-line before choosing this tent. I am satisfied with my choice because I suspect that other tents would have similar if not worse negatives.

This is not my first tent!

George L. Getz