I bought this tent for our annual camping trip in Vermont. It was intended to replace our Coleman tent, which is maybe 8 years old. I also purchased the $40 footprint for this tent.
This tent is easy enough to set up, with the color-coded straps and easy-to-follow directions.
We had a couple rainy nights, and woke to find the floor of the tent damp anywhere where something was sitting on it. (Also, I'm going to make a guess that a 'six-person tent' means it fits six rather small people. We were able to fit our four-person family and our mats and sleeping bags inside, but not much else. Maybe it's like trying to understand the sizing for baby clothes.)
We ultimately found that there was water sitting on the footprint, which trapped it underneath the tent. Since the bottom of the tent is made of the same material as the sides, that trapped water leaked through to the inside. The tent had been placed in the exact same spot we'd put our Coleman tent the year before. (The Coleman tent has a nice, durable bottom to it. We never put a tarp or anything else underneath it, and we never had any water problems.)
In thinking I'd put the tent in a low spot, we moved it to another location. (We first hung the footprint to dry and turned the tent on its side to let the bottom dry. Both were completely dry before we put it back down.) The next morning, same thing -- the bottom was wet again.
We had a couple move into the next campsite over near the end of our stay, and they had the same King Pine Dome 6-person tent. We noticed they only had a tarp underneath the tent section. They told us someone at LL Bean told them not to bother with the footprint, as it was useless.
The footprint is designed to be slightly smaller than the tent itself, which you'd think would prevent water from collecting beneath it. Since the footprint and the tent aren't really attached (at least not by anything more than the plastic clips that clip onto the tent's metal rings), it significantly increases the odds that water will become trapped, and will soak the bottom of the tent.
I thought maybe I’d put the footprint on upside down, but the color-coded clips all lined up with the same colors on the tent. After getting home, I decided to do an experiment to see if maybe the ‘coated side’ was on the wrong side of the fabric. I put some water on the bottom of the footprint, but it didn’t leak through to the other side. So no matter what, if any water gets on the footprint, it’s trapped there until you do something about it.
The vestibule area did come in handy, as we were able to remove our shoes before entering the tent. It also might help keep the bugs from entering the tent, as long as you pretend you’re dealing with the air locks in a spaceship and only open the tent after closing the screen/door in the vestibule.
That being said, the design of the screen coverings in the vestibule is poor. Since the zippers that allow you to close up the screens to keep out the rain are on the bottom and the middle of each triangular door, you have to close them entirely if it’s going to rain. If they were designed more like the doors in the main part of the tent (in the shape of a D), you could open them from the top and still let some air through. Also, the triangular design of the vestibule doors prevents them from being tied back easily. The doors are too tight, so the doors and/or screen covers can’t be opened far enough to be out of the way when you want them to be.
Bottom line -- This tent has a poor design (a thin bottom that I wouldn't expect to be very durable) that's only exacerbated by the footprint. This was the first LL Bean tent I’ve ever had, and I expected a lot more from it. I’m planning to return it (thank God for a satisfaction guarantee, or else $409 [$359 + $40 footprint] would have been an enormous waste of money) and buy one with a more solid floor and a better design.
This tent is wonderful. Fits my three person and one golden retriever family quite nicely. We have used it twice now and have no complaints. We have to keep reminding ourselves that we can stand up all the way in it!!! THe pockets are great and being able to open everything up like a screen room is a real treat for those naps. LL Bean you have done it again. Thank you
We went camping with the tent last week and had a day of strong winds and thunderstorms. The tent stayed nice and dry! Love the vestible - we had our chairs there during the rain. I think having that extra room actually kept our sleeping area cleaner.
One big complaint I have is that the stuff sack is just too small. It fits everything beautifuly when it arrives in the mail, but we still haven't figured out how to get it all back in the carrying bag with room for the zipper to close!
We bought the 4-person King Pine from a Bean outlet and it was great, decent room for me and my wife for a week and during a downpour kept us dry as a bone. The footprint worked great for the screen room as well. But when we took it down, two poles showed cracks. Freeport didn't have replacement poles available and the outlet didn't have another so I returned it and bought the 6-person (Bean's service and return is why I shop here.) This worked out even better. All the same quality but with a ton more room. Screen room is plenty big for sitting and the tent has great circulation. Easy to set up as well and the poles are thicker than the 4-person so I'm not fearful of them cracking.
