Slumberjack Trail Tent

Last year I bought a Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 (from Amazon) and its custom fitted Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 Tent Footprint with the expectation that it would be used as just a spare backpacking "beater" tent. This tent is the cheap, downgraded clone version of Kelty's Salida 2 Tent (Slumberjack and Kelty are both owned by the same parent company: Exxel Outdoors, LLC). Being quite inexpensive, I expected to occasionally use the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 for a season or so in some rough camping places that I would not want to risk damaging or "dirtying" better, more expensive tents (such as the Kelty Salida 2 Tent). If the Slumberjack tent became too damaged or dirty, I expected to consider it disposable at the end of the season. However, after using the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 for a while, I was quite happy with the tent's size, durability, and performance for the most part. The freestanding tent was more sturdy than I expected and quite waterproof. For just myself, I liked the size of the tent. I liked the tent's full coverage rain fly. I liked the tent's vestibule. I liked the tent's lightweight polyester floor and its durability when paired with the tent's custom fitted Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 Tent Footprint. MOST importantly, I liked the inexpensive price of the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 when compared to its upgraded, more expensive clone: the Kelty Salida 2 Tent. I ended up really liking the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2, but I knew it was not ideal as a good backpacking tent as it was a bit heavy due to some of its cheap parts. I then began to think about how to inexpensively retrofit this small tent in the hopes of creating a lighter weight tent with better quality components.There were a couple specific components of the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 that I did not like. The tent comes with typical cheap, heavy steel stakes and a couple of cheap, heavy fiberglass main tent poles. I started searching for affordable alternatives to replace these two inferior components of the tent. First, I searched on Amazon's website and purchased a set of the JOGR 8 pack 7" Ultralight Aluminum Alloy Y Beam Tent Stakes for $12.50 plus shipping  JOGR 8 Pack Ultralight Aluminum Alloy Tent Stakes Y Beam . Next, I searched on Amazon's website for comparable sized inexpensive tents that offered aluminum tent poles. I found out that the Ledge Scorpion Tent has nice aluminum tent poles. I then went directly to the Ledge Sports company store website (ledgestore.com) and bought a set of aluminum replacement tent poles for their Scorpion Tent. The replacement tent poles set comes in a pack of 2 aluminum tent poles for $20 plus shipping. When I received the replacement aluminum tent poles from Ledge Sports for their Scorpion Tent, I found out these aluminum tent poles were 3 and half inches longer than the fiberglass tent poles of the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2. I thus had to cut the aluminum tent poles down by 3 and a half inches so that they would fit the Slumberjack tent. This is a very simple procedure. Just pull an endtip from one end of the aluminum tent pole, untie the knot of the shock cord, remove one aluminum tent pole section. Next, measure with a ruler 3 and a half inches from one end of the aluminum tent pole section and mark it with a magic marker. Cut off this 3 and a half inch piece with a hack saw and then file the trimmed edge a little bit with a metal file. Next, rethread the shortened aluminum tent pole section with the shock cord and attached it back onto the full tent pole by retying the knot through the pole's endtip. Again, trimming down the aluminum tent pole was a very simple process. If I can do it, anyone can!My Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 has now been transformed into an affordable, decent lightweight backpacking tent with nice quality components such as strong, lightweight aluminum alloy Y beam tent stakes and lightweight, sturdy aluminum main tent poles. The tent and the retrofitting parts combined price came to $102.50 per tent ($70 for the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 and $12.50 for the JOGR 8 pack 7" Aluminum Alloy Y Beam Tent Stakes - both from Amazon, and then $20 for a 2 pole replacement aluminum tent pole set from Ledge Sports for their Scorpion Tent), plus shipping costs. An optional custom fitted Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 Tent Footprint for $24 is also available for purchase through Amazon as well (note: I strongly recommend this item in order to protect the tent's nice polyester fabric floor from damage, dirt, and moisture)  Slumberjack Trail Tent Footprint . The only remaining complaints I have regarding the Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 is that the tent does not have any fly vents in the roof/ceiling of the tent's fly to enhance ventilation, and the fact that Slumberjack has not included (but should have) an overhead mesh gear loft. In a frustrating and illogical manner, they have included the 4 loops on the ceiling of the tent to allow you to tie or hook on an overhead mesh gear loft, but they do not provide the actual gear loft. I find a gear loft to be very useful and handy in small backpacking tents where storage space is limited. The material and construction costs of producing such a mesh gear loft for this small tent would be minuscule. I truly believe that Slumberjack (or parent company: Exxel Outdoors, LLC) can easily afford the extra tiny expense to include such an inexpensive accessory with this small tent for free. Hopefully, the Slumberjack parent company (Exxel Outdoors, LLC) will become more generous and wisely include such an inexpensive accessory item as a mesh gear loft with their Slumberjack Trail Tent 2 in the future!

A few weeks ago my wife gave me the go ahead to order the new tent.. seeing how our old tent had seen better days.. but was still in great shape.. We've elected to give this tent to those in need which is yet to be determined.Perhaps we will take the spare Kelty mantra 5 along with us and give it to a camper along the way. Although Kelty is a great brand and we would have order the same tent once again.. Kelty had stop production of this tent in 2005. So we've shopped around looking for the same type of tent but within our budget.The main positive side the next tent must have is the internal hight. it must measure 5' 10" or more and typically these tents average capacity is 5 or more.. which meant the tent would be very big for just two people. We were faced with two options and both were within our price range and height requirements..The first tent was Eureka's dome tent.. but one draw back to this tent was that on the fly, there was a large opening which didn't have a zipper door.. The second tent was SlumberJack's trail tent 6 We were leaning more towards this tent do the the fact that it had a nearly total coverage fly.. and today that another plus..The fly must be full or more then 3/4 coverage for the fly to really be usable or repel any rain.. less then that and you may end up waking up with a few inches of water on your tent floor, It was all settled..We bought the SlumberJack trail tent and it just arrived this afternoon.. the first thing I noted was the box containing the tent. The box appeared to be smaller then I had expected and I feared that Amazon made a mistake.. But after reading the label.. it was the trail tent 6 as ordered.This was extremely odd, our Mantra tent arrived in a box three times lager and heavier.. Opening the Box I was going to attempt to have this tent setup before my wife return home. But realizing that the tent required two persons for set up. So I waited..Once my wife was home I told her that the church across the street said we could set the tent up for a short time just to see if everything fit correctly. It is very important that when ordering a tent that you per set up the tent and check the seams and hardware.Now that my wife was home, we elected to set the tent up in the basement. Starting unpacking the tent and it's hardware.. everything was in it's lace and clearly marked.. unrolling the tent the tent poles fell out and the fly was revealed afterward. It's almost like SlumberJack hired someone who use to fold parachutes for a living.. it was that neat.The tent went up very easily but again the two person requirement could be a hindrance for someone wanting to use this tent solo. The tent was up and fully covered.. the first thing I noticed was that the bottom of the door openings.. was flared upward, off the ground about 8 - 10 inches.. and this could be an issue for those early mornings, not realizing you must lift your foot to get out of the tent.. Granted the tent's "lip" wouldn't allow anything to enter or simply craw in on its own power.As far as I can tell there really isn't any draw backs to this tent and for the price: $169.99 it would make some of those more expensive tents look like real homes.. I just can't see spending 300.00, 400.00 or even more for a tent.. But thats my own personal view.On a scale rating of 1 - 10 the SlumberJack Trail Tent 6 gets a firm 9.5 and the only because we haven't went camping in it yet.

La tienda esta super practica y ligera para viajes tipo caminata o car camping. Se arma y desarma rapidisimo. Ver la referencia de Mr. Tent Austin en youtube, viaje 4 dias a la sierra de queretaro, tuvimos lluvia, dormir sobre piedras, vientos, y calor, para todo funciona de la mejor forma. Lo unico que veo como un punto a mejorar es el piso, que luce muy delgado, recomiendo comprar un floor tent para colocar debajo cuando se acampe en terrenos dificiles y no dañar la tienda.

Buscaba una tienda resistente, muy impermeable y con el espacio suficiente para mi esposa, dos perros y yo, esta tienda lo cumplió todo, nos mantuvo secos y sin condensación excesiva en una lluvia bastante fuerte que se prolongo por unas 6 horas, el costo no es muy alto y sin duda es una excelente tienda y se nota en los materiales, la amo, nunca regresare a las que venden en Walmart.

Es en verdad amplia y no pesa tanto, la he usado en varios viajes y siempre la llevo dentro de la mochila. Ha aguantado lluvias y vientos ligeros. Sin embargo, el viento se puede llegar a colar y eso enfría el interior.

Super bien el producto, solo le falta el vestibulo un poco mas amplio, o de menos un suelo para el vestibulo, pues luego se dejan cosas fuera, y se llegan a mojar con el suelo

Llegó unos días antes de lo esperado, solo las varillas tenían polvo y una parte metalica de una está un poco maltratada el acabado, pero creo que no afecta, me gustó mucho la tienda, buen espacio para 2 personas, fácil armado, ahora falta probarla en una buena salida