Mini review, I guess.
Got the 49". The tent itself is pretty awesome. After this trip here are the things I’ve noticed:
Pros
- Sets up in like 30 seconds and tears down in around 45. Super easy
- Love the extreme low profile look
- Feels really well built. Was hesitant about the gas struts, but they held solid in 20ish mph winds no problem. Pretty sure there are no other aluminum hardshells with this build quality at this price. In fact there are no aluminum hardshells at this price period.
- Has a little ventilation window on the inside. Lets air flow through without sunlight also coming through.
- Interior LED light strip is a nice touch. It's super bright.
Cons
- I can’t get a good seal when I close it. I can latch it closed just fine, but there’s a small gap. Not sure if I’m doing something wrong or what.
- The black anodized finish on the some parts of the frame are wearing away already and browning. Freespirit is aware of this issue and has said they are working on a fix.
- The mattress is pretty shitty. Im coming from a Tepui memory foam one so this was a step down. Probably going to buy a mattress topper and just roll it up and stuff it in the car when not in use.
- You cant fit anything inside the tent while closed besides maybe a blanket or two. I knew this before buying though.
- Not a fan of the way the ladder latches onto the frame. It doesnt really latch on, it just freely sits in channel. It's a little unstable. This should be easily fixable, but I'm not sure yet
- Wish the production version had the black top. Can be fixed with $70 of black vinyl, but I was hoping it would come looking like the prototypes.
- Wish it had a moonroof like my previous Tepui, but that's just me being picky.
Honestly sounds like a bunch of negatives, but I do love the tent. The only one I'm slightly concerned about is the premature anodizing wear. I'm interested to see how they handle this.