Wenger Wintterhorn

I love this tent! It was a great value for the money I spent on it. I'm an American living in Tokyo and I bought this tent on a whim while shopping in Costco. I took it out for a weekend camping trip in Hakone where I suffered through two earthquakes and a small typhoon. This tent performed wonderfully.

I'm not a professional outdoorsman or even an avid hobbyist but I was able to assemble the tent for the first time alone in about 30 minutes in the rain. There was some minor leakage in the tent but the downfall was torrential and I was more concerned with flash flooding than a couple of drops. On the next night, there were two earthquakes in the region and the tent didn’t suffer in the least.

Overall, the tent was more than adequate for my needs and I didn't have to spend $200 for the luxury of having four polyester walls. If you are a beginner or are just looking for a good inexpensive tent for some weekend trips I would highly recommend this tent. It was relatively easy for one person to set up considering its size and it was very comfortable in bad conditions. It’s definitely a steal at this price.

Positives
o Relatively easy setup for such a large tent
o Comfortable environment with lots of extras: Gear loft/organizer, mesh utility pockets, carry duffel, color-coded set up, shockcorded fiberglass frame, shoe pocket, skyview, bay windows
o Can offer protection even in harsh weather
o Everything is in a logical place
o Looks great!

Negatives
o A little heavy (12lbs/6kgs)
o Too large for backpacking/hiking
o No “front porch” for sheltered BBQ/cooking in the rain
o No flushing toilet :)

I'd been following the tent on eBay for some time since the rain fly on our old tent was wrecked by a sudden storm (..that plus the UV damage over 7 years..). Ebay price seemed to average 'round $50, so when I stopped in at Costco and saw the tent for $30, I grabbed it. My wife and I took it home and set it up and determined that it really wasn't what we had in mind... eight poles (mostly color-coded sleeves helped), thin floor and a lot of "bells and whistles" which really aren't needed...bay windows and the like. It also took us about 40 minutes to set up which is not what we envisioned a "backpacking"/ cycling 4-person tent to be.

Yes, it is fairly light and, yes, the price was right but after a 50-mile bike ride hauling camping gear on a bob trailer I didn't want to be 10 to 15 minutes setting up a tent. Needless to say, we took it back and swappped it out for a three pole special which was up and staked in five minutes.

In short, it's nice tent if you want to haul it via a car and take the time to set up and if you feel you need the extra 'do-dads' but I ( we ) discovered that we prefered a simpler style.