Alps Mountaineering Osage 3-Room Tent - Special Buy

I bought this tent when our family of five decided to try some car camping for a change.


We all love its spacious room - you can fit five people AND bring in your luggage! I was also very delighted with the mostly mesh ceiling so I can see some stars without pesky mosquito problems. Without the rainfly on, and with the four windows open you still feel like you are outside, which is exactly the way I want to feel when camping.


A few issues to watch out for:


1) quality - after one season of very light use (2-3 times) there were issues with a seam pulling apart. The store where I bought it offered to replace (I requested repair), so I agreed. The replacement tent has some interior loops in the wrong place for the toggles that go with some interior nylon flaps.


2) waterproofing - even with rainfly, there were leaks during rain showers. Granted, there is enough room inside to move over and away from the drips, but after one wet night, there were huge puddles inside and I had to move twice to get out of the drips.


3) sheer size - can be a good thing in your back yard or on an RV pad in a campground, but if you try to car camp in the wilderness you may find that the tent pads (or even Mother Nature) don't accommodate this beast.


I'd live with the issues to have that space and design, but the waterproofing problem is a huge one for me.