My husband & I have used the King Pine Dome (6 person) for the past three years. This tent is very comfortable (for 2 adults) using a queen mattress there is room on each side to get in & out. of the tent. We love the screen room that extends our evenings sitting bug free, or a place to sit during an afternoon rain. We recommend the (additional) footprint that will keep you dryer, but the side & front flaps of the tent that are supposed to tuck under the footprint do not stay in place especially if there is any wind or a heavy rain. We would love to see some type of loop or velcro that keeps the flaps attached to the footprint, so we are not always having to re-secure it. The screened room is great, but we would love to see D-ring/zipper in the future so the top of the door/canvas (just under the awning) could be opened during heavy rains for ventilation &/or just to look out. Rain tends to spash in from the bottom if there is any wind since that part is not as protected by the awning. We do agree as others have written regarding the zippers being pretty taunt and difficult to zip open/close even after 3 years use, it really stresses those seams, we do worry how long it will be before something tears around the bottom zippers. Other than those "picky things", we have camped from early spring to late fall in this tent. It closes up securely enough to stay warm during those cold nights and has great ventilation during a hot spell. This is by far the most comfortable and dry tent that is easy to set up and take down, we just love it!!!
We purchased this tent after reading a lot of reviews on tents from an assortment of manufacturers. The price concerned us since it was higher then many of the other is this size range, but I knew a bad experience would be the last experience in camping so we bought it. We have used it twice now before our BIG trip to see how it worked. Assembly is amazingly easy with only four poles and color coding. The cover makes this tent completely waterproof. The first night it rained and was windy. I was surprised to find that unlike our other tent this tent breathes well when completely zipped up. I was impressed by many of the features like the window at the top you can close or open to see out with the cover on, large side pockets for storing stuff, hanging space for lights etc. Only two issues, the outside door from the sleeping area has an awning that you can put up but they do not include the poles, also the floor tarp that they sell to go under the tent should be included as well. These items are easy to get but you will want both of them.
Being a family of four, we figured we'd splurge and buy the six person King Pine Dome tent for some extra room. After setting the tent up, I thought that perhaps a mistake had been made and we were sent the four person tent by mistake! But, no, it was in fact the six person tent. The floor plan diagram showing four sleeping bags placed shoulder to shoulder plus two additional sleeping bags placed perpendicular at the feet of these is TOTALLY deceiving. I'm 5'11" tall, and with my head at the back of the tent, there were perhaps two feet between the bottom of my sleeping bag and the front of the tent. Additionally, after just two set-ups, some of the tent pole connectors have started to distort/bend. On a positive note, the main tent area was very waterproof, as advertised. However, because of the room issue I will be returning this tent.
Good- well constructed, withstood two days of Maine downpours/windstorm (use the guy lines), minimal bug invasion (a few june bugs and no-see-ums thanks to the 5 yr old), ventilated, swag pockets, good hanging hooks for lights Caveats- need to use the extra purchase footprint, two sets of zippers (tent and screen room) becomes tiresome, not a "family of 6" tent, fiberglass poles remember their bent shape a little, no poles for the rear fly to be a canopy
Overall this is a great tent for a family of 4 or fewer. Like all tents, the six rating means minimal night movement or gear inside. Don't blame LLBean, this is just how tents get rated size-wise. We have three kids, and after placing a queen and full air mattress inside (yeah, not really camping) there was minimal room so we (wife and I) took turns sleeping in the screen room.
It is easy to set up, take down, withstands a storm and stay dry. What more do you really want? Oh, a bigger bag because I am not an origami ninja!
