Customer Reviews

Wenzel Beartooth 14- by 10-Foot, 5 Person Pentadome Family Tent

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My last tent started to die, the zipper broke. It was a Wenzel Sycamore. I like that tent. Fairly big, though. It has lasted us for at least 8 years so far.

But the zipper went. So, when I started to shop for a new tent, Wenzel was on the top of the list.

The beartooth looked very close to what we wanted. Slightly smaller than the Sycamore, which is what we wanted, or we would have just bought another Sycamore.

When we FIRST used it :- One of the poles cracked, a piece fell off somewhere and I couldn't quite find out where it was to go. So, it was pretty obvious, within about 1 hour, that it was going back. I was very disappointed.

It's a VERY odd shape inside. Some sort of pentagon, kind of. Sort of like a rectangle with a triangle tagged on to the top. The unfortunate problem is it makes the internal space quite odd. We have 2 queen size blow up beds, which worked fine with the Sycamore.

Now, they fit in this one. So size is not a problem but due to the rather odd layout inside the tent, both beds ended up touching each other right at the door, then had about 2' apart at the top; so a kind of inverted triangle. This meant we had to step over the beds to get in to the tent to start with.

Due to the odd internal shape, it was also not possible to push the beds right to the edge of the tent. It just wouldn't fit.

The fly sheet essentially lies flat on to the tent fabric. The Sycamore uses guy ropes to pull it out from the tent to give a bit of overhang. It just seemed more "weather friendly" on the Sycamore. It's not much of a problem, since we very rarely go camping during any sort of rainy season but it was just another nail in the coffin and was another reason to send it back.

When it came to packing away, due to the odd shape, it was rather weird. The sycamore, since it was symetrical at least, folded easily. The Beartooth, however, I could not quite figure out what way to fold it best. I suppose I should have taken some photos as I unrolled it to start with.

During set up, the poles seem to be under a great deal of stress, which is why I think one of the poles cracked. The "super 5 way quick set up" thing was just useless. It takes a minimum of 2 people to set it up; best with 3. The sycamore could be set up by one, but 2 is much easier (an adult and one child is fine).

So, it's been sent back. We still have our old Sycamore (it has zipper problems), and I think we'll end up buying exactly the same model again. I so wanted this tent to work. If it hadn't been for the pole cracking, we'd have put up with the other oddities.

Reasons for buying:

1. Cheap.
2. Wenzel, we had a great experience with the last one
3. Fast delivery from Amazon.

Reasons for not buying:

1. Cheap. The poles seem to be of poor quality.
2. Very odd shape.
3. Bits fell off.
4. A pain to roll up when done.

Recomendation: Buy the Sycamore.

I purchased this tent to take my two daughters on an all girl camping trip. My 10 year old and I set it up at dusk quite easily. The first set up, with reading the instructions, took about 15-20 minutes. Once we set it up following the instructions, the instructions were not necessary for future set ups. There is plenty of room inside for four adults, two air mattresses, and gear. I would only put five people in this tent if three of them are children.

For an inexpensive tent, it's a fairly good value. One disappointment was that the 14' x 10' footprint dimension is more of a triangle than a rectangle. I'd like to see square footage used in the product descriptions. It's best to set the tent up once before the trip to learn the sequence and the two lengths of poles. Overall, setup was easy. While you are doing the first setup, apply seam sealer - it's needed. There is one poor design aspect to the tent. The vertical sections of the zippers are not protected by waterproof covers, and therefore leak. On the fist outing, we were hit with a downpour (2" in a hour) and had some water in the tent. It only took one small towel to mop things up, but I went over the zipper material with an extra coat of seam sealer. We'l see if that helps in the next rain.

This is a terrible product. I purchased it and had it shipped so we'd have a bit more room in the case it rained. Setup went terrible. A back ring (with peg) was missing and we were short on time so stole one from another of our tents. The tent also shipped with deformed hooks on the rainfly which we also had to change out. Assembly of the main tent went fast and easy. The rain fly is a terribly tight fit though. It took 2-3 attempts to get it on and it didn't seem to want to sit evenly.

We had heavy rain on our camping trip. Nothing touching the walls and had sealed all the seams with seam sealer very well. The floor let water seep through (despite having another tarp under it). The walls let water through and the rain fly also caused water to drip right in the zippers on the side of the tent. We woke up extremely wet and having to dry off most of our stuff that wasn't in the exact center of this tent.

During disassembly a pole snapped (see other review mentioning this also). I ended up tossing it in the trash when we came home.

If you are in the market for a one use, disposable, large, sunshine only weather 100 dollar tent, buy this tent...

If you want a real tent that can take a bit of weather check out the bugaboo 2 for an extra 50.... Our friends with that had no problems.

This was not even in a shape I could return after 1 use. It ended up coming home and getting tossed in the trash. What a waste.

Very easy to put up and lots of room for a family. Highly recomended. Good quality for BURNING MAN also. You will not be disappointed, if you get it for $100 or less a great deal!

this tent is not what I expected. It appears far roomier and spacious than it really is. Also the tent is not square as pictured. It is more of a hexagon shape (with 5 sides) It is difficult to position an air mattress. YOu certainly could not fit 2 full size air mattresses in the tent! Would not recommend!

I am a moderately experienced camper and I recently purchased this tent to move up in size. Like all tents, I would not recommend that you place the number of people inside that the title states because they all have pictures of people lined up without any stuff. Assuming you carry clothes and other items, I believe this tent should be for two maybe three (and I feel that way about all tents). As for the tent, it was relatively easy to put up. The instructions say to have two people, but I was able to do it by myself easily the first time. There was plenty of room and good amounts of windows. It has basic pockets and three doors and not much extras. It appears to be well made and it rained the first time I used it and there were no leaks. There is a back vent that I don't quite understand, so can't tell you if it worked or not. Overall, I would say this is a good value for the money. I had plenty of room left over after placing a queen sized bed and would recommend it as a tent in this price range.

Field and Stream tents must be the worst. I had cheapo Coleman tents that held up perfectly fine in rain.

This one started leaking after about 1 minute of heavy rain, at first usage the same day we bought it. The problem is mainly that the rain cover does not cover all seams and zippers, and that's where it leaks. The zippers on the side windows leak, the seams where the the little bags inside are attached, and the seams where the inside straps are mounted.

Whoever designs and manufactures these tents should be forced to spend a night in Smoky Mountain National Park during a heavy downpour. Bring a snorkel!

We've had this tent out a couple of times and the set up is simple, the tent is very sturdy although I would recommend getting some metal stakes to spike the tent down with. The plastic ones are really only good if you're on a manicured camp ground. We slept two adults and one teen comfortably. Any more than four people might get a little cramped though.

After much research we ordered this tent from Wenzel based on reviews on amazon. About a week before our camping trip we set it up as a test run at home and discovered the hub piece (plastic piece at the top that all the poles fit in) was defective. Two of the holes the tent poles fit into were plugged with hardened plastic so the poles would not go in and the tent could not be set up. I immediately called Wenzel customer service and was informed they would send me a new piece at no charge but it would take up to 14 days to deliver. Since our camping trip is next week, I asked for a faster method. They said no problem, as long as I paid for it. Even after speaking to a supervisor they would not budge and we had to pay $15 more to have the defective piece sent to us via 3-day Fed Ex. Good customer service in my book is making sure your customers are taken care of and completely satisfied, which are not. If you do buy a tent from Wenzel, make sure you give it a test run weeks in advance so you know the parts are working. We are very dissatisfied with their incredibly poor customer service and will not buy another Wenzel tent in the future.