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Product Description
Amazon.com
The Klondike is made of rugged, weather-repellent Weather Armor polyester with a polyurethane coating for reliability, helping it keep water out and warmth in. The tent also includes double-stitched, lap-felled seams throughout the body, providing a shingle effect against water. Other features include a fiberglass frame, a removable fly, two hanging pockets for easy-access items, and a storage duffel.
Specifications:
- Base: 16 by 11 feet
- Center height: 78 inches
- Eave height: 61 inches
- Interior space: 98 square feet + 60-square-foot screened room
- Sleeps: 8
- Door: Inverted T-style, interior flex style
- Floor: Welded polyethylene
- Frame: Fiberglass
- Pegs: Steel and plastic
- Carrying weight: 27.3 pounds
- Warranty: 10 years
Amazon.com Tent Guide
Selecting a Tent
Fortunately, there are all kinds of tents for weekend car campers, Everest expeditions, and everything in-between. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Expect the Worst
In general, it's wise to choose a tent that's designed to withstand the worst possible conditions you think you'll face. For instance, if you're a summer car camper in a region where weather is predictable, an inexpensive family or all-purpose tent will likely do the trick--especially if a vehicle is nearby and you can make a mad dash for safety when bad weather swoops in. If you're a backpacker, alpine climber, or bike explorer, or if you like to car camp in all seasons, you'll want to buy something designed to handle more adversity.
Three- and Four-Season Tents
For summer, early fall, and late spring outings, choose a three-season tent. At minimum, a quality three-season tent will have lightweight aluminum poles, a reinforced floor, durable stitching, and a quality rain fly. Some three-season tents offer more open-air netting and are specifically designed for summer backpacking or other activities. Many premium tents will also feature pre-sealed, taped seams and a silicone-impregnated rain fly for enhanced waterproofing.
For winter camping or alpine travel, go with a four-season model. Because they typically feature more durable fabric coatings, as well as more poles, four-season tents are designed to handle heavy snowfall and high winds without collapsing. Of course, four-season tents exact a weight penalty of about 10 to 20 percent in trade for their strength and durability. They also tend to be more expensive.
Domes and Tunnels
Tents are broadly categorized into two types: freestanding, which can stand up on their own, and tents that must be staked down in order to stand upright. Freestanding tents often incorporate a dome-shaped design, and most four-season tents are constructed this way because a dome leaves no flat spots on the outer surface where snow can collect. Domes are also inherently stronger than any other design. Meanwhile, many three-season models employ a modified dome configuration called a tunnel. These are still freestanding, but they require fewer poles than a dome, use less fabric, and typically have a rectangular floorplan that offers less storage space than a dome configuration. Many one and two-person tents are not freestanding, but they make up for it by being lighter. Because they use fewer poles, they can also be quicker to set up than a dome.
Size Matters
Ask yourself how many people you'd like to fit in your fabric hotel now and in the future. For soloists and minimalists, check out one-person tents. If you're a mega-minimalist, or if you have your eye on doing some big wall climbs, a waterproof-breathable bivy sack is the ticket. Some bivy sacks feature poles and stake points to give you a little more breathing room. Also, if you don't need bug protection and you want to save weight, check out open-air shelters.
Families who plan on car camping in good weather can choose from a wide range of jumbo-sized tents that will accommodate all your little ones with room to spare. A wide range of capacities is available for three- and four-season backpacking and expedition tents. Remember, though, the bigger the tent you buy, the heavier it will be, although it's easy to break up the tent components among several people in your group. It's also helpful to compare the volume and floor-space measurements of models you're considering.
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Customer Reviews
The first room is great to leave all your bags,cloths,shoes etc....and it has a floor in it, so you are not walking on dirt like some two room tents...
The 2 nights we spent at the Grand Canyon (May 10-11,2010)-(to verify winds)we experienced 75 mph winds.. This tent DID NOT MOVE! And the reason it didn't move was because it securly tied all the way around. The only thing we could hear was the wind, not the sides flapping in the wind like most tents.. We have recieved many compliment on this tent..
I researched every 8-12 person,family tent out there with three things in mind..1) Tall enough to move and walk around in. 2) It had to have a screen ceiling. 3) Had to have shock cords...BINGO !! I HIGHLY recomend this tent to everyone. When Wenzell designed this, they found a winner.... I am so proud of this tent, We can't wait to go on our next road trip...
Walmart had the best price of anyone.. I "researched it!" :)
Overall, the tent is huge, nicely designed for sleeping and storing gear, but that design also makes it unstable in foul weather.
My 13 year old son and I were able to set this tent up in about 20 minutes with little difficulty. You really do need two people to get the fly over the roof, but one person might be able to get the main body of the tent up by themselves.
Things I like about the tent:
-plenty of room and a nice high roof that a six foot person could easily stand up in
-easy set up
-the screen room can be closed up and used for sleeping, and it has a floor
-construction seems very good, very little leakage on the seams in the face of 20+mph wind and torrential rain (and I didn't seal the seams as I'd intended to)
-the screen roof and lots of windows should make this a great summer tent
Things I didn't like:
-the large interior and open roof make it tough for two (or three) bodies to heat up. You lose most of your heat through the roof and we were cold despite sleeping bags, air mattress, extra blankets and thermals, and it was only in the low 50s that night.
-the windows do not fully zip across the top, so high wind will eventually blow them open.
-the design which gives you so much useable space inside creates hard corners and very long walls that make the tent very difficult to secure against wind. One corner kept falling down against the high wind, despite adding an extra guyline and attempting to angle the tent against the wind.
-easy setup with only four anchor points for the main support poles also contributes to instability. The long side of the tent is 16 feet long and you have only two main supports and an angled anchor pole for the screen room.
-the huge size makes it tough to find a completely level spot for the entire footprint. I think our tent fell in on one side partly because we had one corner at a slight uphill angle and that put a lot of strain on that one cornet pole.
-it's heavy and a little bulky. I think it is probably close to 25 pounds, so you aren't going to want to carry this baby very far.
-there are four angled joints that hold the roof poles to the side poles. The fit is not very tight, and if you lose even one of these, you are not going to be able to set up the tent. I plan to glue these to one of the poles, because they are black and easy to lose while breaking camp.
Lessons learned:
-I would try to set up so that the front door faces into the wind. The back side of the fly really does not come low enough to keep wind from getting under it. On this trip, that wasn't possible because this would have put the entrance about three feet from a significant drop off.
-seal the seams and waterproof the fly
-buy extra stakes (the guylines only get flimsy metal pegs that don't provide much holding power), and bright-colored guylines (the included lines are black which are invisible in the dark)
-I would not use this tent in temps below 60 or in winds above 10mph, especially if this were your only shelter option
-I probably could have used a tarp to create a more angled face for the tent side facing the wind, but 3am in a wind storm is not when I do my best thinking and really shouldn't be necessary.
Super easy taking down.
Plenty of room inside nice storage and windows and everything. Read more
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