i'll start off with the things that made me give this 4 stars instead of 5: - porch floods/not 100% waterproof - dinky stakes - one of the poles broke after a few uses and now for the more in-depth review: TEMPERATURE it's definitely not supposed to be a 4 season tent, but i camped in it in below freezing weather and did just fine. the fact that it does not seal up completely means you have enough ventilation not to have to worry about condensation. cold wind does come in the back even with the rain fly on, but as long as you have warm clothes and a good sleeping bag, i think you should be fine. however, i work 7 days a week outside and therefore am pretty used to the cold/know how to prepare for it (this past winter i worked 15hrs in -10F weather). if you're not used to the cold and are looking to camp in the winter, i would get a tent geared toward winter camping. since this tent is so large, all the ambient space does make the interior colder. WEATHERPROOFEDNESS if it rains, the porch DOES flood. i expected this from the reviews and also just looking at the construction of the tent. i really really loved the idea of a tent with a porch, so i got it anyway. the porch is probably my favorite part of this tent, flooding aside. i like to put a little folding chair in it and sit out there in the morning with my vape and a thermos of tea. great for summer when you don't feel like being gnawed by bugs. also drastically reduces the amount of dirt/mud that makes it into the rest of the tent if you leave your shoes in the porch. the inside of the tent is, i would say, about 95% waterproof. i had absolutely no issue with water coming up from underneath, but after a night of rain it does get slightly damp inside. a little water comes in through the back, and a little somehow makes it up to the top and drips through the screen. nothing terrible, no water pooling inside or ruined belongings, just a slightly damp pillow. i'll live. you get the best experience with this tent in warm, dry weather. i love that most of it is screen, so you can see the sky/stars and get pretty good airflow with the rainfly off. the screen back offers no privacy at all, so consider that if it's important to you. i really have no shame so i don't care. i haven't had to try it yet, but i imagine that if you had to have the rainfly on in hot weather, you would probably suffocate between the heat and humidity and lack of air flow. SET UP, TEAR DOWN, STORAGE set up and tear down are quite easy, even with just one person. without the rainfly, takes 5min to set up and 10 to tear down. putting the rainfly on with one person is quite literally a balancing act, as you have to get it to kind of sit on top of the tent while you attach it. difficult but not impossible with one person, pretty easy with two. i've yet to manage to get both the tent and the rainfly back in the bag, however. i'm sure it's possible, but i have carpal tunnel and therefore i think my hands are just too weak to roll it tight enough to cram back in. i can get the tent and poles back in pretty easily and just keep the rainfly in a trash bag (it's usually wet anyway so this is fine with me). once packed up, it's relatively light and small enough to just stick on a shelf somewhere. it's also easy to wipe down/clean off, if you're into that kind of thing. personally, i just get the bottom dry enough to avoid mold and call it a day. CAPACITY it's quite roomy inside. i think to say it's a 6-person tent is pushing it, though. i guess it depends how closely you want to cram in there. personally, i would max out at 4 people, assuming 2 queen airbeds with 2 people on each. when i've used this, i put a queen sized airbed in the middle with the top against the back of the tent and this leaves quite a lot of room for your stuff and changing on the sides and at the front of the tent. i'm 5'4" and can stand up in the middle of the tent, which i like because i can actually stand up to get changed instead of wriggling around on the ground. if you're any taller, you won't be able to stand all the way up, but i imagine most people could get upright enough to change clothes wriggle-free. WEAR AND TEAR i've had this tent about a year and have used it at least once during each season. i haven't been particularly hard on it. i haven't had any issues with zippers or any tears, which surprised me since so much of the tent is screen. this thing even survived a coyote getting tangled in the guy lines and trashing about for like 10 minutes. however, the last time i took it out, i saw that the string inside the pole for the rainfly had snapped. luckily, i didn't need the rainfly, and the poles for the tent itself were all intact. i'm sure i can get a replacement for relatively cheap but i was disappointed that it only lasted for 6 or 7 uses. the stakes are also not great. i will probably have to replace them with sturdier ones eventually, as theyre getting bent out of shape from being hammered into frozen/rocky/tree root riddled ground. but, they do their job, and as long as you drive them in far enough that the top part is flush with the ground, there is no issue with guy lines or bits of the tent coming off, even in wind and rain. BOTTOM LINE i do like this tent! for the price and the 2 day prime shipping, it's great. i'm not a hardcore camper and don't need a hardcore tent, at least not yet. but i love that, whenever i want to get away for a few days, or just spend extra time outside by camping in my yard, i can count on this lil tent to keep me comfortable and mostly dry. if/when i need a new tent, i can see myself repurchasing this one, or one very similar to it. the porch really seals the deal for me, i love that thing. i will never ever have a porchless tent again.
