Pine Deluxe 6
We just bought (and received) a Pine Deluxe 6. Hopefully we'll get to use it this weekend for the first time!
Overall I am very impressed with the quality of the materials, the build quality, etc. The Deluxe model has upgraded fabrics so I can't speak to the material quality of the other models. I assume the frame materials are similar and I was also impressed with these and the "turbo joints" were very easy to use and seem very strong.
So far setting it up in the backyard it was very easy to setup, take down was also easy until it came to stuffing it back in the sack - the frame folds down easily but the material just does not want to wrap up as nicely as it was when it came out of the box. I'm sure we'll get the hand of it with more practice.
A tip for making the take down easier: pay attention when opening it the first time to how you have to lift these loops from the feet off of the turbo joint - you will need to put these back when packing up the tent to keep it from falling apart when you're fighting with the material - this wasn't called out in the directions.
One of the tipping points for us to the turbo tent vs a Kodiak/Springbar was that the Kodiak and SpringBar tents have to be staked out due to the design (someone please clarify if that is not the case as I don't want to spread false information). But since we sometimes camp on ground that is not easily staked this was a concern. The simpler turbo tent models can (in theory) be setup without staking them, though of course they recommend doing so at all times. I tested our turbo tent without staking it and it did setup and take down easily without being staked but YMMV
The Pine Deluxe models do not divide the sleeping area; if you want one of those then they have several options (this one seems to me to be the easiest to setup of the multi room models:
http://turbotent.com/www.turbotent.com/pinecrest.html). The videos don't show you how to setup the multi room tents; only the main room has the pop up feature; for most of the tents the secondary room is additional frame sections that you have to setup in addition to the main body, and then stretch the fly over the entire thing...I was told by one vendor that the Turbo Tent backup can take 20-30 minutes to setup...not bad considering how much space it provides but there is no simple fly option if you don't want to setup the whole entry way; i.e. if you just wanted to deploy the main tent for a single night, late night setup. That's part of why we went with the Pine Deluxe; if we find we want/need more room we can add on the deluxe fly and we'd still have the option of the basic setup too.
With regards to your question in the other thread about weather-ability, stability and snow capability, I can't answer those yet as I haven't actually used mine. Snow was not a consideration for us but I think each model will have different performance characteristics - I would guess that the simpler models would probably do the best. Nothing is guaranteed to be 100% weatherproof...a good vendor should be able to talk pros and cons with you about the different designs, etc. The Turbo Tent manual includes some comments about testing it out at home with a hose and seam sealing if necessary and that nothing is 100% weatherproof (I think that's a CYA comment as I found the build quality to be very good (I forget if all of the seams are taped; I'll have to check that)...if we don't go out this weekend I'll set it up in the backyard again and turn the hose on it).
We bought our turbo tent at
http://www.campingcomfortably.com/pop-up-tents.html and I recommend you check them out (I am not affiliated with them at all). I experienced great customer service when I called with a multitude of questions, and when you add the item to the cart the prices are significantly lower than at other vendors I looked at.
Hope this helps - let us know what you get!
