So I got the tent in this past weekend and set it up in the back yard to inspect it. I did not guy it out completely as it was just a test. Here are my thoughts.
1. The roof does not have a separate rain fly, however the poly cotton material looked and felt incredibly durable. As directed by the manufacturer, I hosed down the tent after I set it up so that the poly cotton would get a initial soak and swell up to make it water proof. After hosing it, there was not water on the inside, however It did feel a little wet in a few spots. The tent has a coating on it which made the water bead off of it. After it dried (about 30 minutes), I soaked it again. Those same spots did not feel wet on the inside anymore.
2. The tent is heavy. It weights around 80 lbs. It was a PITA to move it around.
3. Setting up only took about 10 minutes. I unpacked it, staked 4 corners, inflated the 3 tubes, installed the metal pole on the awning, and staked the guy lines in the front. There was about 8 other guy lines that needed to be staked. I think that would have only taken another 5 minutes.
4. I had it setup on Saturday in Houston when it was 95F with around 90% Humidity. It was not uncomfortably hot in the tent. I was pretty happy about that.
5. The air tubes are supposed to be inflated to around 7psi. This seemed low to me, but I was very surprised by how rigid they were. There is some controversy regarding air tubes. When you leave them out in the sun, they are going to get hot and the pressure is going to increase. However, being a chemical engineer, I calculated that if I inflated them to 7 psi at 30F, the temp went up to 130F, the pressure would only increase to about 8.7 psi. The tents that have had exploding air pole issues were mostly related to the glue used to hold the tubes together melting in high temperatures. I talked with outwell about that and they stated that their new air poles use welded seams and a higher grade material.
6. There was a ton of space inside for my family (2 adults and 2 small kids) I could easily fit a queen and twin airbed in the "bedrooms" and an another queen in the living area.
7. The tent will not support itself with out been staked down. Meaning, after you inflate the poles, the guy lines for the metal pole in the front keep the front from folding backwards. Hope that made sense.
8. The the ground tub in the tent is a heavy PVC that comes up about 2-3 inches. I can't think of how water would come up from the bottom. I bought a matching ground sheet that is made of the same material and a fleece carpet for the living area as well.
9. Plenty of ventilation even with the doors closed up.
10. I hope the PVC windows last. I'm kinda concerned about that.
11. I feel like the tent fully staked out will do well in the wind. There are a bunch of guy points. The stakes they sent are crap, but I knew they would be. I have a bunch of MSR aluminum stakes already that I'm using for this tent. Outwell states that this tent is rated to a windforce of 10 on the Beaufort scale, which equates to around 55–63 mph.
12. It packs very easily. One you open the valves, they tent folds down quickly. Once you have it in the bag, it becomes cumbersome. See 2 up top.
I found online codes for 10% off and free USA shipping from the UK website. All in all, I spent around $1350 for this. I was going to get a RTT for my JKU, however the prospect of taking down the RTT everytime I wanted to drive somewhere pushed me to a get a quality tent. I hope that wasn't to winded. Here are some pics from the phone.
