ashenWe’ve talked about lightweight backpacking tents earlier because we adventurers prefer to be as minimalistic as possible, at least I am. Some of us adventurer travelers prefer solo or 2 person travels while some would opt for group camping (check out this tent). However, it would not hurt to occasionally have a night out camping with your family right? Therefore in this post we will talk about the amazingly spacious CAMPROS 8 person tent. If you are a group adventure traveler rather than a solo, then this post will help you decide on the best tent to use on your next trip. Let’s start off with the specs.
CAMPROS 8 Person Tent Specs
- Capacity: 8 people
- Weight: 17.4 lb (7.9 kg)
- Dimension of 14 x 9 x 6(H) ft.
- 15.7 ft² per person
- 72 in (183 cm) peak height
- 185T polyester material with PU1000mm water-resistance, 8.5mm Fiberglass pole
- 1 large mesh door, 5 mesh windows & mesh tent top and s separator curtain
- Warranty: 12 months
CAMPROS 8 Person Tent Review: Design and Build Quality
As you can gather from the specs, this tent is a 2-room, free standing type tent. Yes the height allowance isn’t much and for someone over 6 foot, it could be a bit challenging. But it isn’t like we are going to spend the entire time indoors. The tent is a tunnel type design with the four poles creating the arch structure. The freestanding nature is brought out by the ridge pole crossing the arches and attaching to the tent at its two narrow sides. The 5 mesh windows are such that there are 4 separate windows and one on the door. Together with the mesh tent top, they allow the breeze to come in and keep the bugs out.
As for the divider curtain, please note that it merely acts as a separator and not much for privacy. Additionally, you can use this curtain as a screen together with a projector, to enjoy a movie at night. According to CAMPROS, 2 people could set up the tent easily in 5 minutes. The tent also comes with a partial coverage rainfly so you can enjoy the surrounding views. Imagine using this in the north pole to witness the northern lights while relaxing in your sleeping bag. That would have been an experience of a lifetime. Speaking of sleeping bags, you can have 8 of them as mentioned above on paper, and without any interference with each other. However, let’s see if that is so in the customer feedback section.
Build Quality
Wouldn’t hurt to know a little about the materials used to hold the tent together yeah? So the tent’s fabric is 185T polyester with the 1000mm polyurethane hydrostatic rated coating. What does this mean? well, the T stands for the number of threads used horizontally and vertically per square inch of fabric. In this case it is 185. Generally, the higher count accounts for tighter weave and greater density of the fabric. Now this polyester fabric is not waterproof, hence the coating(1000mm PU). Hydrostatic head is the waterproof measurement of the fabric. The popularly accepted measurement is 1500mm. So does this mean the CAMROS is lower in quality? No it isn’t because you don’t need that level of standard since you aren’t camping in the rain clouds. The 1000mm is more than sufficient and will hold up well even in steady downpours.
The floor materials contain flame retardants thereby ensuring optimum safety. The poles as mentioned are fiberglass. Why is this important? They have quite a few outperforming factors compared to other materials. These include impact resistance, corrosion-resistant hence ideal for any location, even the coastal area. This also means low maintenance cost. Finally, fiberglass poles are capable of withstanding wind speeds even as high as 180 MPH.
Ventilation, Weight and Extra Features
In terms of ventilation, the tent has large mesh panels on the entire ceiling and the windows. However, most experts suggest that it would have been fulfilling to see ground vents which are quite important during prolonged rains to maintain fresh air through continuous circulation. Nevertheless, you can keep the two windows on the narrow sides halfway open with the mesh to allow air circulation. Because the rainfly falls over them partially. The weight paired with the dimensions makes this tent well portable. You can choose to carry it in your backpack, back of your van, motorbike etc.
As for extra features, the tent has an electrical access port and a couple of pockets on the wall to store your accessories such as mobile phone, wallet and flashlight and a lantern hanging hook in the middle. They should have added more pockets of course since this tent is built for 8 people and not 2. Speaking about the number of people, although on paper it says 8, in reality it would work best with 6 people given the area per person value. Also, the tent is best used in the spring, summer, early autumn and not during winter. Since the roof is fully meshed it is questionable if the tent will retain heat indoors during cold weather.
What The Users are Saying About The CAMPROS 8 Person Tent
Okay here’s the thing. It was very hard to find a negative feedback for this tent and if you do, please leave a comment! It was well accepted within the camper community, especially for family camping. Users are loving every feature of this tent and surprisingly it seems to be holding up exceptionally well in wet and dry weather equally.
The fact that it is a best seller on Amazon conveys a lot. Most feedback revolves around the spacious nature of the tent, mesh that keeps mosquitoes out, strong zippers, easy setup(even done by a single person) and the quality of the material. There was one user who complained about the outside zipper stating that it was extremely unreasonable to have just one zipper making her unzip the whole thing to get in and out. However, that was just one customer and the rest are pretty satisfied with their purchase and the value to price offered. Note that we did not come across individual reviewers who have actually camped in this with 7 others. So it is best to assume that a maximum of 6 can be comfortable inside.
