Wild Country Trispace

I was looking for a good three man tent with a decent porch for storing gear that could be used for backpacking and offered plenty of protection for rainy nights on mountains.

I opted for the Trispace because at 3.65kg it was relatively light for its size and with an HH 4,500mm flysheet and an HH 10,000 mm groundsheet I thought I'd be kept dry.

Furthermore, Wild Country is part of Terra Nova so I expected quality, innovation and excellent customer service.

The tent itself is well made. Everything is ripstop and well taped. The tent was easy to put up and spacious inside although three people would be a squeeze.

The aluminum pegs are of poor quality and bent easily in harder ground. The tent bags are also very cheap and no effort has been made to package the tent in a way that allows you to minimize the space it takes up in your backpack.

I opted for the extended groundsheet which tore on the first night because the tension of the tent put too much strain on the groundsheet eyelets and one eyelet came away, ripping the material with it. Wild Country said they had no more replacement ground sheets and that I would have to pay to have it sent back for repairs.

The tent came with guy ropes missing and that made it hard to get the sag out of the flysheet mid sections. It rained hard on the first night and while we stayed dry water gathered on the roof of the tent rather than running off - again due to a lack of tension in the flysheet.

Ventilation was excellent and although the flysheet is dark green the inner is a nice pale colour that keeps the tent feeling light and airy inside.

There are plenty of pockets for light weight items and handy hooks for hanging lanterns. Water gathered between the groundsheet and the footprint giving a sensation of being wet and cold even when dry?!

The Web site video is confusing because they pegged out the pole support cords but my pegs didn't fit there. I asked customer support why and they told me that you weren't meant to peg out the pole support cords even though the do on the video guide on their web site.

All in all a solid 3 man tent for handling a wide range of weather conditions. But it is seriously let down by the lack of thought that has gone into its packing, cheap tent pegs, saginess and a footprint that is just too fragile.