After reading alot of the reviews, i feel compelled to write a review. We haven't used our tent in wild weather as of yet (which is why I can't give it 5 stars), but the complaints about it being difficult to put up simply show lack of experience. If you are someone who has put up dome tents before, you can put this up with ease. Single handedly, I erected he tent in about 10 minutes. There's plenty of space for a family of 5, but not if you're bringing your house with you. Go minimal people. Leave the excess at home.
This is a quality made product from L.L. Bean. It is simple and quick to put up and has a good amount of room for 4 adults + gear. On a recent 5 day canoe trip, we really liked the room and height, but the tent lost most of its ability to shed rain after taking it down and setting it up in windy, wet conditions. We ended up having to stake the tent out heavily to withstand 40 knot winds. We guyed the vestibule "roofs" UP to nearby trees to keep the tent from collapsing in the gusts. Bottom line, good tent for the campground, but get something more substantial for the backcountry.
I purchased this tent for an upcoming family camping trip, and was very pleased with many of the features - including the size of the tent, and how easy it was to set up. However, when I finished staking down the vestibule, we realized that there is no way to cover the outside window to add a bit more privacy, nor do the tent doors have any type of privacy covering like other LL Bean tents that I have owned (where the first zipper closes the mosquito mesh, and the second closes the door. In the case of this tent, the rain fly covers the rear door adequately in this regard, but the combination of the window on the vestibule and mosquito covering on the front door makes it possible to look straight into the tent. For this reason, I decided to go with another model in the 'Family Tent' category.
