belfert
Shoreview, MN, USA
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Joined: 10/06/2004
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Our Boy Scout troop has purchased around 30 Eureka Sunrise 8 and 9 dome tents over the past nine years. The ten tents purchased over the past three years have been junk. We've broken about 3/4 of the poles on the new tents on the 1st or 2nd use. It takes weeks or months to get replacements from Eureka and the last few times they sent the wrong length poles.
We really like the design of the Sunrise tents, but the pole issues are pushing us to look at other tents. Can anyone recommend a decent dome tent with aluminum or fiberglass poles? We don't want the cheap discount store tents with plastic floors. Neither do want a super expensive tent either.
Our hope is over the years to replace all of our tents with the same model. It makes it easier for the Scouts when all the tents are the same. The setup is the same and no arguing about who gets what model of tent.
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xesse
Helotes, Texas
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Joined: 09/16/2009
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I have an ALPS Vertex 4 tent that I really like. It's 7'6" X 8'6" and has a full rain fly. It does not have much mesh so I would consider it a cooler weather tent.
As far as the quality for the ALPS brand, I own several tents & sleeping pads by ALPS and they are great. Their customer service is awesome like their tents. I had an issue with a rain fly window getting cloudy and returned a piece of the bad rain fly and they sent a new one right away.
Campers: Nature's way of feeding mosquitoes.
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the bear II
Torrance CA.
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Joined: 02/14/2008
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I ran across this site a few years ago.
http://www.armytents.com/
Haven't bought anything from them but kept the site to order a tent to keep in my "just in case of an earthquake" kit.
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tplife
SoCal
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Joined: 09/17/2007
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The Eureka! Tetragon 7 is a decent 3-man (2-man) tent for the same price point, but once you get into the Tetragon-8 or Tetragon-9 larger sizes you're back in the same spot as the pole diameter is too small for the amount of "canvas" being suspended by the tent. As a plus, the rainfly comes down a lot more than the Sunrise model and I've been in rain & snow with one with good success, for a tent in this price point. Otherwise you're into the high-end group to gain long-lasting quality from brands like Big Agnes, Sierra Designs, Mountain HardWear, etc. There's not much middle ground out there.
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RockDodger
Northeast Illinois
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Joined: 06/05/2011
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Get army surplus pup tents. They aren't dome, but scouts can't wreck 'em! They're indestructable.
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TMMull
Virginia
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Joined: 02/03/2008
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Go to http://www.scoutdirect.com/ and register. They sell http://www.alpsmountaineering.com/ at a very good price to scout troops. We bought 6 http://www.alpsmountaineering.com/alps/p........s/tents/outfitter-tents/taurus-outfitter tents for a good price. The outfitter tents are heavy duty and will hold up to more abuse.
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belfert
Shoreview, MN, USA
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Joined: 10/06/2004
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The Alps Mountaineering tents look like a decent option. I like the Meramac 4 outfitter, but I wish they had a larger option for three boys. We usually put two boys in a 4 man tent and three boys in a 5 or 6 person tent.
One thing I don't like about a lot of the tents are the full coverage flys. The vestibule just means another zipper to break. There is also a lot less ventilation.
I don't think the Sunrise poles are breaking from too large of a tent to support. The older Sunrise tents we bought in 2003 have broken at most one pole amongst a dozen tents and 9 years of use. The newer tents have broken poles on the first or second use. I think the manufacturing of the poles changed.
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belfert
Shoreview, MN, USA
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Joined: 10/06/2004
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We sure as heck aren't going to do the army tents. Insect screening is a necessity in Minnesota for the spring, summer, and early fall. 25 years ago the Scout troop had army type pup tents and they were just too small plus they got moldy as the material takes forever to dry. The Boy Scout summer camps will rent canvas wall tents pretty cheap, but then the Scouts have to bring mosquito netting.
We used to use Timberline tents, but some of the leaders wanted fiberglass poles and the roominess of the dome tent design. The issues with the Timberline was the zippers. The Scouts would grab the corner of the door and just pull which killed the zippers. Galyans had Eureka make a special version of the Timberline for them and they had #10 zippers that lasted a lot longer.
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wilfwolf
Atlanta,GA
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Joined: 03/30/2012
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The Eureka! Timberline (2 or 4-person) is definitely the standard among Scout troops and similar groups. Just about any time I run into a big group on the trail or in a campground -- Scount troops, summer camps, college outing clubs, you name it -- they're using Timberlines.
I've no house in the city, just a camping tent in the wild.
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shum02
Burlington ON CDA
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Joined: 04/22/2005
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Our Troop has been using the Eureka El Cap 4 for several years and love them. Great three season tent(4 in a pinch). Great rain and bug protection, packs down great, durable, love the AL pole system, easy to set up even in the dark while it's raining  Can't beat them for the money!
El Capitan 4
The Sunrise series your using I consider fair weather family tents. I'd only use a system with a full fly for starters.
Sunrise 8
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