Poler two man tent – First impressions

Not a review, as I haven’t actually slept in it yet. These are my initial thoughts after unpacking and setting it up in the backyard.

First off, I got this tent on clearance at $75. List price is $250. I’m going to give a seventy-five dollar tent a lot more slack than one costing more than two hundred dollars. I bought this tent for the kids. They are both getting into scouting and I wanted a tent that they could carry and set up.

First off, it’s heavy. It weighs eight pounds. This is not suitable for a through hike of the AT. That being said, it’s perfect for car camping especially if you have a small car, or trips where you have to walk in from a distant parking lot (music festivals).

What’s included?

The stuff sack has compression straps and a handle stitched to the outside and tent pitching instructions sewn to the inside.

This tent ships with decent stakes. They are a Y-shaped aluminum extrusion with a cord loop at the top for easy removal. The package includes 12 stakes; to fully stake out the tent and fly requires 16. Though to be honest, if you have 12 stakes on the fly, I’m not sure how much difference four more on the tent will make

The guy lines are reflective (nice) but I don’t like the fact that they were packed in a single bundle. Also included is a repair kit with two patches each for the floor, fly, screen, and tent splints

The Tent

The body is mostly mesh, so condensation shouldn’t be much of an issue. The floor is a heavy nylon, so I think it will hold up pretty well. The tent is as wide as a queen bed at 60 inches. Most two man tents run about 48 inches. Also, the side walls slope out, that roof panel is wider than the floor, so there is a ton of room to sit up inside. There is a small storage pocket on each end and two hooks in the ceiling to keep your stuff organized.

Because the tent is suspended from the pole with hooks instead of continuous sleeves, you can’t pitch the tent under the fly. If you have to pitch the tent while raining, it’s going to get wet inside. This is the first tent I’ve seen in a LONG time without a bathtub floor. I worry that water running along the ground will get inside.

The Fly

The fly reaches almost to the ground and has a clear vinyl window on each end. I’m not sure if these windows are pros or cons.

There are grommets to secure the fly to the roof cross bars and Velcro loops to secure it to the Y at each end. The fly requires six stakes to pull it away from the tent body, two for each vestibule and one at each end.

There are six guy lines. I generally leave guy lines attached to the tent, but only use them if I’m expecting heavy weather. {I don’t want to look for them when I need them} I wonder if the guy lines at the vestibule doors will interfere with the doors.

There isn’t a high vent in the fly, I wonder how well this tent will breathe in hot weather.

With the door in the middle of each long side, you have a wing on either side of the door, ostensibly for gear storage. I think the wings are too close to the tent body to keep a pack in the vestibule and use that vestibule as an entryway. That being said, if you decide to use the rear vestibule for storage, you will have to climb over your tent mate if you need to get up in the night.

Overall impressions

At $75, I’m pretty happy with this tent. Had I paid full price, I’d probably return it. My two main concerns are the floor having seams at ground level and the design of the fly. Really, the fly is terrible. Four grommets and six loops of Velcro that you have to work blindly and the guy line placement are just poorly thought out.

It seems like it will stand up the the abuse of scouts but only time will tell.

I really wish the vestibules stood a bit prouder of the tent so a pack could be stored easily under the wings.

I bought a dark orange color. Poler calls it “sienna”. They offer this tent in several other colors – from black to camouflage to bright crazy prints.

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