Customer Reviews

Wenger Massif II 4-Room Radical Dome Tent

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

 

 

I wanted to include this cause it didn't say on the decription...This tent comes with a life time warranty and the poles of the tent have a one year warranty...I called and asked the company to ask.

I tried to research this tent as much as possible before making my purchase. I even went as far as to call wenger and speak with customer service rep. This tent is model year 2004 and wenger did not make a 2005 version. The Massif II, or any other Massiff, is no longer listed on the wenger web site. The floor of the tent is shaped like a square (18' by 18') with a quarter circle cut out of each corner. This leaves a cross like shape that has a large center area that is surrounded by four vestibules. Each vestibule has a zippered door attached, so one can enter the tent from any of the four vestibules. The tent also comes with divider curtains for each vestibule. These curtains fasten to the tent walls using a button loop method at four points. The curtain does not seal the vestibule from the rest of tent. In fact, there are very large gaps betweeen the walls of the tent and the curtain. The curtain does not a have zipper, so you must detach it from the tent to pass through the vestibule. The dimensions of each vestibule are 53"(across the door) by 76" (across the curtain) and is 43" deep (from door to curtain). This clearly isn't much room for sleeping. A vestibule might make a nice entry or gear locker, if the curtain sealed the vestibule from the rest of the tent and/or included a zipper. I my opinion I can't see much use for the vestibules, and I don't think I would ever use the curtains to cordon off a vestibule. The tent has twelve mesh windows. There is a window in each of the doors and then a window on each side of each vestibule. Three windows per vestibule, times four vestibules, equals twelve windows. Each window has a zippered flap. Completely unzipping a window flap exposes a small pocket into which the flap may be tucked. The pocket is actually part of the window flap, so there is no danger of water collecting in the pocket when the flap is sealed shut. I thought this was a clever solution to the flap storage isssue, as most tents just use a hook and button style strap to secure the flap. The roof of the tent is made almost entirely of mesh (including the vestibule roof), with exception of a small circle of polyester fabric at the very center of the roof. The roof is supported by a pole that stands in the very center of the tent. No one, anywhere, said anything about a pole in the middle of the tent. This tent is called a "radical dome". I guess radical means a pole in the center of the tent. Needless to say I don't like this additional pole. The floor of the tent is made of polyethylene, at probably 1000D. It looks and feels very much like a tarp. I like this material for floors because of its durability. The floor has several seems which are not stitched but instead are, for lack of a better term, laminated. Wenger calls this process a sonic seal, and claims it will not leak. It would more than likely leak if a stitch was used, so maybe thier on to something. I have seen this method of floor seeming in other tents, so it probably works quite well. The floor is attached to the walls, at ground level, and the seem is stitched. All of my research indicated that the walls and floor were seemed using the 'sonic seam'. This would, in effect, give the tent a bathtub bottom. This in not the case and anywhere there is a stitch then there is a possibility of a leak. Yet another minus for this tent. The rain fly is sturdy and covers the entire top of the tent. It extends only a few inches over the sides so it doesn't offer much protection to the tent walls. It is raised about three inches above the tent roof so air can circulate. The rain fly is your only protection from rain on the roof, since the tent roof is made of mesh. Putting the tent up is not extremely difficult, but it will require two people. There is a fiberglass spider pole (hub with 8 short poles) that is placed in sleeves in the center of the tent roof. This gives arch to the roof and provides a place to mount the annoying center pole. Over each vestibule door is a fiberglass cross-member pole that runs through a sleeve and then again attaches to the tent, at each end, using sewn in hooks. On each end of the cross-member pole is a socket for a steel upright pole. The steel upright poles run from the cross-member pole to the ground. When the tent is up, most of the support for the tent is provided by the cross-member and upright poles. The center pole (inside the tent) is used to vault the roof. The cross-member poles place tension on the tent at the sewn in hooks, this causes a slight flex in the cross-member pole as it pulls against the sewn in hooks. This tension is so exterme that one can see threads in the sewn in hooks as they are being pulled from the tent shell. I did not like this as it looked over-stressed and prone to failure. Rasing the upright poles requires two people, one on each side of the vestibule. Getting the tension on these poles correct was difficult. The bottom of the upright poles do not have a place on the tent where they are fastened, instead you place them on the dirt next to the tent. When the botttom of the upright poles were placed in the same manner as indicted in the picture on the box, the stress on the tent would be so great that the stakes near the vistibule door would pull out of the ground. This was a real pain and took a while to get right. The rainfly is easy to attach to the tent. The rainfly has elastic hooks for each upright pole. The upright pole has a hook to which the rainfly hook is attached. There is also a peice of velcro attached to the rainfly at each upright pole. This velcro strap wraps around the upright pole quite easily. The bad part is that the rain fly has 12 guy lines that help pull it away from the tent. There are two guy lines for each vestibule and one guy line between each vestibule. Not only is that more stakes and work, but imagine how many people are going to trip over you guy lines. Imagine triping over one in the dark! It wouldn't be that hard since each entrance is guarded by two guy lines. The stuff bag for the tent is very nice. It is made of tough nylon canvas and has wheels and sturdy handles. Also nice about the bag is the tent actually fits into it. The tent also includes a small table with four built in drink holders. The table has a hole in the center so you can optionally run the center pole through the center of the table. It is probably a good idea to run the center pole through the table, so someone does not knock down your center pole. The center pole is only held in place, at the bottom, with a small rubber foot. The tent also has four mesh pockets near the roof. The pockets are small and more suited for storing keys or a flashlight. The stakes are made of plastic, and like most plastic stakes, aren't very durable. It takes 16 stakes for the tent and 12 for the rainfly guy lines. You will need to purchase 28 metal stakes to replace the cheap plastic ones. Well there you have it. For me, the tent has to many design flaws for the money. Maybe that's why they discontinued the tent.

The tent was great - size, set up, etc was fine. The only downside was the room dividers were hard to get around, plus a queen air bed would not fit in the rooms, so if you get this tent, make sure you have no bigger than a double air mattress.

This tent is very large and spacious, and WELL WORTH the money! It is very easy to put up after you understand it the first time around. One thing to keep in mind with small children is the center pole(this is necessary because the center height is so high). I thought this would be a problem with my 3,7, and 9 year old, but it was not. There is a square fold up table with 4 drink holders that can be used in the center (the pole can be placed right through it) or used outside the tent. Plenty of room to sleep, move around and get dressed and store camping goods all in one tent. Lots of windows for great ventilation. A must for families who want comfort when camping. I was also impressed with the nice rolling bag the tent comes stored in. Not just one of those cheap type bags that may rip. This is a nice durable bag that reminds me of a golf bag. Easy to transport around and no problems getting it back in the bag. LOVE IT!

This tent solved all my complaint issues with all my previously owned tents. It is tall enough so that I don't have to crouch to get around in it. It has lots of windows for great air circulation. It has soo much room inside for my two large cots plus my son's playpen!! It is a tough tent, even my pet ferret can't scratch through the material! Too bad it was discontinued or else I would highly recommend this tent.

With the windows open on all sides and the fly off, this tent is like a huge screenhouse. Even without dividing off the four sections of the tent, placing your sleeping bags in the satellite areas leaves the middle area plenty of room to stay comfortably in bad weather. The tent is well-made and easy to assemble. The Wenger Company put a lot of thought into the design of this tent. The tent stayed dry through a very bad rain and wind storm. This is the Cadillac of large tents.