Texsport Saguaro Single Person Personal Bivy Shelter Tent for Backpacking Hiking Camping

I like finding affordable, usable equipment and this tent certainly is both. OK, it's not a $200 mountaineering tent but it is certainly worth the cost. I don't understand why other reviewers compare it as such. Keep an eye on the price though, it's been creeping up but still a great deal. I paid $34 with free shipping.I set it up in the yard several times and the poles or clips did not break. The fly sets up nice and tight which is great for rain run off - see my added images. The poles are not terribly strong but I appreciate the low weight since I will be bicycle touring. I would not recommend squeezing two people in this tent unless it's realy cold and you enjoy the closeness.If you ever put up any kind of tent in your life - you can put this one up in your sleep - no instructions needed. The actual taffetta tent material seems to be good quality and the rain fly provides full protection while maintaining breathability. Althought the tent and fly seams are taped I plan on sealing and spraying with water repellant. A small area under the front part of the rain fly can be used for wet gear and footwear. The color is nice but I would prefer a more natural look to blend in.Leave this tent behind if you are climbing Mount Everest but for easy camping duty, weight concern and portability -buy it. I am very pleased.Update: 6 Sep 2010:Spent 2 nights in St. Mary's Wilderness, VA and I have no complaints. Light to carry, easy to set up, take down and pack. It's not too big so you can just pick it up off the ground after the poles are removed, shake it out and fold it in your arms while standing - this beats getting on the ground to fold it and makes early bug outs a snap! I found it a waste of time to slip it in its nifty bag so I just stuffed it in my pack. It compresses well and this saves weight, space and more time. No worries though - it is big enough to sit up in if you have to spend time in it due to rain... plenty of room for gear also. My son's bigger, bulkier tent was a chore compared to my Saguaro and I had to spend 5 minutes helping him after my tent was stowed. He is now getting the Bivy Shelter! It didn't rain or get windy on this trip but I did leave it in the yard for 10 days and it stayed bone dry when it rained. The poles or clips still haven't broken! Other wilderness hikers asked about my shelter and wondered if they could get one for under $200 as their expensive bullet proof tents weren't hacking it. You can imagine the look on their faces when I shared the price. Again, if you're not climbing Mt. Everest, don't pay hundreds of dollars for one of those name brands, get the Saguaro Bivy Shelter.Update: 5 Dec 2010:I want to officially change my rating to 5.5 stars. I spent another 5 nights in this tent under rough hiking conditions and the material, poles and clips still function like new. I've been waiting for these items to fail as others have experienced, even after just taking it out of the box, but I can't seem to do it. What a great little tent!Update: 13 Jan 2012:This will be my last update as I think this tent has passed the test. I have used it several more times this past year and still as good as new. I feel for the reviewers who have broke poles and clips... that's a bummer. I must have gotten some kind of weird experimental upgraded model because my clips and poles are super light and strong... they refuse to break. Enjoy!Update: 1 April 2014: I lied about the last update ha6 more nights over 4 different hunting trips and still fantastic! No rips, breaks or leaks. Original clips and poles are still in service. The tent gods have surely smiled on me. I will be turning 50 next week and thought about buying a new tent but it's just not necessary.

The tent set up easily and quickly (it would probably be good for warm weather camping). The rainfly however was another story. I spent several hours trying to get the rainfly to fit over the tent, but no matter how I approached it, the thing just would not fit. It was too small, especially towards the back. The only way to stake the back of the rainfly to the tent was to pull down on it so hard that the tent poles bowed, so much I was expecting them to break. Even then parts of the tent were left exposed.I contacted Texsport customer service and explained the problem. They asked me to email them photos of the rainfly not fitting the tent. So I did.I also took some measurements. I measured the tent poles against the circumference of the corresponding seams on the rainfly. (I measured the seams by taping string along the seam, marking the string, then laying the string flat and measuring it.) My findings were that the front seam on the rainfly was 2" shorter than the front poles -- and that the rear seam on the rainfly was 5" shorter than the rear poles. There is literally no way for this rainfly to properly fit this tent. It IS too small.Texsport immediately shipped me another rainfly.New rainfly arrived, I tried it on the tent. Nope. Exact same size as the original rainfly.I contacted Texsport customer service once again and explained that the new rainfly also did not fit the tent. So Texsport immediately shipped me a whole new tent. I've got to give it to Texsport, they really have excellent customer service.New tent arrived. You guessed it: exactly the same as the original tent. Rainfly still does not come anywhere near fitting properly. I was now the owner of two Saguaro Bivy tents and three rainflys, none of which fit the tents. And none of which are of any use to me. I sold one tent for a few bucks and gave the other one away. Fortunately I didn't lose much money on this whole ordeal, but I certainly wasted a lot of time.How difficult is it to design a rainfly for a tent? I don't know, but I'd think making it several inches SMALLER than the tent would not be a good idea. I would not ever buy anything made by Texsport again, as they appear to have no quality control over their products whatsoever.