Customer Reviews

Swiss Gear Montreaux Ten Person Family Dome Tent

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Bought this tent, took it camping memorial weekend. We fit 9 people in this tent. 2 Adults, 5 teenagers, and 2 smaller children. We had 2 full air mattresses 2 twin air mattresses and 3 cots. Very roomy. We even had a freak thunderstorm, it never leaked. Air flows through very well. Can't wait to take it camping again!!

I was worried about buying this tent without any reviews posted, but I decided to take the chance anyway. Hopefully my review can help someone else out. I have not been camping in this tent yet, but it is currently set up in my back yard taking on the rain as we speak. First of all, the tent was very well packed and protected in a great bag when it arrived. The instructions said that two adults were required for assembly, but all I had was my four-year-old son. The instructions for assembly are sewn into the bag, so you cannot lose them! I set my son to work assembling the poles which he did with ease since they all have a cord inside that helps snap them together. The parts are not labeled, but they make sense for assembly anyway. After sorting all of the poles, I rolled the tent out onto a tarp base that I purchased to protect the bottom of the tent. We quickly inserted the poles into the top of the tent and had the main dome up in a matter of 10 minutes. After that, the rest of the assembly took only another 10 minutes, including the rain fly. The fly was a challenge to put on the tent with only one adult since the tent is so tall, but I managed to get it in place. So far, the rain fly is my only concern because after securing it in place, it caused the two smaller rooms on the back side of the tent to deform slightly. I did not mark this rating down however, as after looking at it, my back yard is somewhat unlevel, and I believe that is the cause for this deformation. I will report back after I have had a chance to assemble later on level ground on our first camping trip.

I have to say that walking into this tent for the first time was a real treat. This is the first tent I have ever owned which allowed me to stand upright inside. The two smaller rooms on the back side are shorter, however, I think most people will use these rooms for storage. The room divider runs parallel with the front door of the tent, with a single zipper that runs from top to bottom in the middle. The two halves of the divider separate and tie up at the sides so you can comfortably walk underneath. It looks like the 17.5 foot wide back half of the tent will comfortably accomodate two queen sized air mattresses, which is what we plan to put inside. This leaves the front half of the tent to put our other items. Of course you will be able to set the interior up however you would like. There are little pockets all over the inside of the tent which will allow us to stow smaller items like keys, phones, kids toys, or even shoes. As far as the build of the tent is concerned, it seems well made with good solid materials and craftsmanship. The floor is not a solid piece, however, it is "a sonic-welded polyethylene floor" and I have no reason to believe that the welded seams would ever leak. As I said above the tent has been out in rainy conditions for five hours now. Even without seam sealer, the tent has only one very small leak in the back, and that leak has amounted to about half the size of a dollar bill. Not bad for steady rainfall. I will be buying a seam sealing kit soon and taking care of all of the seams inside. Once that is done, I think this tent will be everything we need and more for a family of four.

(RATING) I just finished my 2nd trip in our new tent, and even though my final rating of this tent is 3 stars, I would guess that most people with my same overall experience would give this tent 5 stars. Swiss Gear makes a good tent, and I'm happy with my purchase. It's possible that my overall rating is a statement on tent design in general, but since this particular tent has some design flaws that I find unforgivable, my rating will have to stand, biased or not.

(SPACE) This tent is well built (good materials), very big, easy to set up, well ventilated, and we all sleep very well. I'm 6'7" and my head doesn't touch the ceiling when I'm standing inside. I must emphasize how rare this is. If you have the included room dividers installed, this is a 4 room tent, but with the room dividers up, the two "side" rooms are very small. However, they could still easily hold two children each, so if you have a family with small kids, this makes it perfect.

(SIZE) The main room divider is sewn into the tent and cannot be removed. The tent does have tie-backs for this divider. The two dividers for the side rooms are removable, and we didn't even use them since it made the rooms too small. We had two people each in the side rooms with heads under windows and feet shooting toward the middle of the tent. Between the feet of these four people there was a queen size air mattress. This tent is very big. This still left the entrance room completely empty, which could easily hold 3 people in sleep bags or a king size air mattress. In my opinion, this tent will very comfortably sleep 9 people and 10 or more, tightly. I say this because we all know that tents usually exaggerate the number of people that can sleep comfortably.

(FLOOR) The biggest positive I have for this tent is the floor. This is the 2nd Swiss Gear tent I've purchased, and both floors have been exceptional. The floor is made of a tarp-like material, and is wonderfully durable. I want to note that the instructions are sewn into the tent bag, which is a good idea, since you can't lose the instructions, but it does make them awkward to read. I think it's a good idea though.

(MATERIALS) The general construction of the tent is solid. I love the fact that the main structure is held up with 6 steel poles. This is rare in today's tent world, and it makes the tent look and feel solid, even in the wind.

(WEATHER) This tent, as previously noted, is solid. (WIND) On our 2nd trip, we had winds gusting to 20mph, and the tent didn't bat an eye. That being said, this tent is tall and the walls are upright, not domed, so this isn't made for hurricane conditions. (RAIN) We sealed our seals with "McNett Seam Sure Water based Sealer Tube, 2oz" and sprayed the lower half of the tent with "Nikwax Tent and Gear Solar Proof, 33.8-Ounce" and the rain fly with "Star brite Waterproof Spray with PTEF, 22 oz". The tent was solid in the rain. I would suggest the Star brite spray for the whole tent though, because it worked great and it's quite a bit cheaper. Also it came with a spray nozzle, and the Nikwax didn't. All of the zippers are covered with orange nylon, which is great, but I didn't seal them, and that was a mistake. One of the zippers popped a drip during our thunderstorm. I don't believe this was the fault of the tent however, but in my thinking that I wouldn't need to seal the nylon covering the zippers. Make sure you learn from my mistake.

(COMPLAINTS) I have three main complaints about this tent. (and one minor one)

1) (TIE DOWNS) None of the windows have tie-backs. This doesn't make sense. How much expense would a few pieces of string be for the window flaps? There is one tie-back in the tent, and it's on the door. However, it can't be used to tie back the shade so that the window on the door is open, while the actual door remains closed. This tie can only be used to keep the door completely open. I might be weird, but I don't like bugs, and I tend to want to keep the door zipped, but have the window on the door open. If you do this, there is no tie back for the window flap.

2) (ZIPPERS) The zippers seem to get stuck frequently. I think the zippers are probably too small, and something about how the door is made causes them to bunch easily, so you have to use two hands the entire way around the door or windows. This is more of an inconvenience or annoyance that anything.

3) (RAIN FLY) The rain fly. It doesn't cover any of the windows well, so you can't leave the windows open during a rain. It also doesn't cover the door very well, so you can't leave shoes or anything else outside. Why not add an awning to cover the windows and door? I don't get it. If there was a larger awning on the door, and any awning on the windows, I'm sure that would have bumped up my rating to a 5. I could easily overlook my other problems if this was fixed. It should also be noted that on the longest side of the tent, going along the back-side, there is no tie-down for the rain-fly. This caused the back 1/6th of the top of the fly to hold tiny pools of water during a rain storm we had, where all the other 5 sections of the dome were tight and water just rolled off.

4) Minor complaint: The rain fly tie-downs are black and are basically invisible at night. I opted to fix this design problem (MORE RAIN FLY ISSUES!) by buying "Nite Ize RR-04-50 Reflective Cord, 50 Feet, Green". This green rope lights up like a Christmas tree when it's dark and a flashlight hits it, one package was way more than I needed to replace all of the black rain-fly tie downs.

(RECAP)

Pros:
Huge (Sleeps 9 extremely comfortably)
Floor (made of tarp-like material, which is very study)
Lots of head room. (I'm 6'7" and my head doesn't touch the ceiling)
Well ventilated. (lots of big windows, and a completely mesh ceiling)
Easy to set up. (My 10 & 8 year old and I had it set up in about 15 minutes the 2nd time at 11pm. The first time it took us about 40 minutes during the day, so if you are setting up at night, make sure you've had a previous trial run.)
I really like the mesh roof. We took off the rain fly on a clear night and watched the stars into the wee hours.

Cons:
No window tie downs.
Zippers are too small. (the door zipper separated on our 2nd camping trip, although we were able to fix it.)
The rain fly is poorly designed. (doesn't cover any windows, and barely covers the door. The back-side doesn't have a tie-down.)
You can't remove the main center divider. (sooo simple... why Swiss gear?)

Despite my hatred of the rain fly design, I would recommend this tent, as it's a fair price for such a huge tent and it's made with good materials.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

I just went on a 7 dsy csmping trip with this tent and just like my last Swiss tent this one was worth EVERY penny! Tons of space, plus we had very wet weather this trip and of the 12 people that camped with us we were the ONLY ones that had a water tight tent! Ozark trail has nothing on Swiss Army! Not only was it Water tight, but while we were throwing the football around my boyfriend landed on the side of the tent and collapsed the whole side of it, I wanted to beat him for ruining my new tent, but all I did was pull one pole back into place and the whole tent popped right back into place! I will NEVER buy another tent that isn't Swiss Army brand!

We bought this for a family weekender to sleep between 4 and 6 people comfortably using air mattresses. I spend a lot (too much time according to my wife) investigating all brands for a comparable price/value/& features. We chose this on the web for what appeared to be the best value. We were not disappointed! The tent has plenty of room, and set up easily. It IS worth a dry run to set up because you won't look like a jerk when you have to set this up with others around the camp sight. :-) Plus a few tiny things required in the learning curve for a first timer.

The back "rooms" fit ONE Queen sized mattress for each room. (It's not a perfect fit but it works well enough. It's tight but your living space is between the "rooms" in the middle) We configured two twins flanking the outsides of the entrance way. This slept six comfortably and we could easily sleep another three with sleeping bags. (or say four kids). The center divider allows for good privacy and fun for kids.

We got no dew in the inside as the tent breaths well. Frankly the many time campers we camped with (10 families) thought we had the best tent. I was bragging about the $200 number for what we got. We didn't have time to do a seam reinforcement and I'll do that the next time we camp. We didn't have any nasty weather so I can not comment on the tents water integrity but it appeared comparable to others at the site. The tent looks great, has plenty of room, breaths well, and I would recommend it for a family that seeks comfort vs high end ruggedness or light weight.

Enjoy.

Mike

Easy to set up and take down. Strong zippers. Lots of room. Half hour to set up, maybe less. We fit two queen air mattresses in the two back coves. They fit, but touched the walls. We camped for two weeks and it was very dry, so that wasn't a problem. I did have to use a tent sealer, we had a tiny bit of water come in the back, directly across from the front door. We sealed it (and the rest of the tent) never had a problem again. It rained twice, but not hard. We had an extra tarp over most of the tent attached to trees. We put a twin size air mattress in the front on the right. It was a tight fit. The only problem is that people step on it as they come in and out of the tent. On the left would have been better, but that is where the outlet opening is located and we did not want to run the extension cord running across the front door. I think next year we will switch and try running the extension cord over to the right side. My husband is 6'2" and he was very happy with the height of the tent. Don't forget to buy a tarp for under the tent (all tents need a under tarp.) I know from stories told, that the zippers on the door is usually the first thing to give you trouble, so if you have kids or camp a lot you might want more then one door. This tent only has one door. We had NO trouble in the two weeks, but I can see now how much that zipper gets used. For $199 I don't think you can get two doors on a tent this size, without compromising something else.

Our old tent finally died in a heavy rain/windstorm and it was time to upgrade.
This tent has ample space for two people and all their gear. It was easy to set up and my wife and I had it up in about 20 minutes. The instructions are sewn into the carry bag provided. The privacy screens are a nice touch and allow better air circulation at the same time. The gap between the rain fly and the actual tent provide the best air circulation I have ever experienced in a tent. The rain fly "floats" above the main tent body providing not only good air flow but less chance for rain to penetrate the material. I spent the better part of three days applying seam sealer, inside and out on both the tent and the rain fly. I am so glad I did. It rained over an inch in an hour and the tent was perfectly dry.

My only suggestion(s) for improvement would be to add a zipper to the bottom of the partition to provide better privacy and prevent pets from circumventing its purpose as a barrier. Also, provide pegs and loops for the window screens when they are unzipped to neatly keep them out of the way. Other than that, we love our new tent and hope to have it around for a good long time. I inspected all the seams and they all seem to be well made and secure.

I highly recommend for those that want a very good product at a fair price.

We bought this tent for our first camping trip with our three girls. The tent is huge! We were able to put in two full air mattress and a pack and play in the back section and still had the entire front empty. There is a room divider that you can use to separate the back portion from the front and that was useful for us when we were trying to get our baby to take a nap. There is a little flap for you to run electric into the tent which also helped because we ran a fan in there to help drown out campground noise and get the little one to sleep. I have camped for many years and had a couple tents. The only thing I didn't like is when when you open the windows they just hang down. My other tents you could roll them up and tie them so they were out of the way. The other thing is when you tie back the room divider it doesn't move it out of the way enough. You can only walk standing up through the middle. Not a huge deal. There are windows all over the tent so we got good air circulation. It didn't rain on our trip so I don't know how it would stand up in regards to that. Overall I am really pleased with the tent and the girls keep asking us to put it up in the yard so they can go camping again! OH, and it is super easy to set up. I did it with my husband while holding a baby in my arms.

I wanted to wait until after we camped with it a few times to review this tent. I spent almost a year looking at various large tent models in preparation for our summer camping. My wife and I have 5 kids, oldest is 8, and we needed a tent we could "grow" into over several years. After a lot of back and forth I eventually settled on this tent and I'm very happy with that choice.

Pro's
- LOTS of room... the back 2 compartments can each hold a queen size bed. It isn't even a "tight" fit. There is plenty of room between the two mattresses (3-4ft) for a walkway in the center. The front compartment can hold either a single mattress on either side (creating a walkway in the center) or a queen mattress with a walkway on the side. In our case the front compartment held a single mattress and a fold-up playpen.

- Quick setup... our first setup took approximately 45 minutes because there is a slight learning curve to setting up the poles. After having set it up several times I can now get it up on my own in 20 minutes!

- Mesh top... since the weather was clear we left the cover off and the kids were able to "sleep under the stars" without any bugs flying in. This was actually a major selling point for me.

- Wind resistant... had to set it up in the wind and I have to say for a taller tent it holds up well! However I do recommend buying good stakes as the ones it ships with are cheap.

- Privacy curtain... I wish it had a 3 room divide instead of a 2, but for the price you can't have it all.

- Great ventilation... big windows, open top, means lots of fresh air circulating.


Con's
- Zipper on the door sometimes gets caught in the flap

- Ships with cheap tent stakes (any tent these days does)

- Good luck getting it back in the bag it shipped in. I recommend buying a duffel at an Army/Navy surplus and using the "ship with" bag for stakes/hammer/poles and other sharp objects.

- Must be staked in to setup. I was slightly disappointed with this design because I wanted to do a dry run setting it up on the driveway... and ended up needing to move it to the lawn (hence the 45 minute learning curve setup). Again... this is more a comment on modern tent design not really on the design of this tent specifically.


I would recommend buying a duffel to put this monster in, buying a tarp to set it on, and buying a good set of stakes. I bought a large duffel to put the air mattresses/tent in, and used the "ship with" bag for the pump, stakes, poles, and anything else that is "sharp".

My first use of this tent involved getting to the campground late and having to put this up for the first time with no sunlight.
I would recommend for anyone to put the tent up before going camping, just in case something like that happens :)
Aside from a lack of light, and mosquitoes, this wasn't too bad putting up. It took some troubleshooting the directions to get it together.
Now that I know how it all goes together, I could probably put this tent up in less than 15 minutes by myself.
Since it is a bigger tent, it's helpful to have extra hands and you could put this up really quick in that case.
Once up, this tent really offers a lot of room.
With 3 people, the tent space was well used, and there was still plenty of room to get around without stepping on anything.
It's also large enough to keep the cooler inside of the tent.
The best thing? Being able to stand up straight (I'm 6'2")
The airflow with the windows zipped open is very good.
The tent kept nice and cool when it was roughly 90 degrees outside.
The weight of the tent isn't bad either. Not your backpacking tent for sure, but this is no hassle to carry 500ft.
Handled some light rain with ease.
Getting the tent to fit back into the original bag is not the easiest of feats.
Make sure to clear the ground area before laying down the tent!